We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!
Go to form
Harbor Springs women reflect on Ukraine war after time with refugees
Julie Bacon and Sujo Offield of Harbor Springs went to Poland in March to help refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.
Ecuador's presidential election to have a runoff -Official
TVE
Lenin Moreno set for faceoff with Guillermo Lasso
QUITO
Petroleumworld.com 02 22 2017
Ecuador's presidential election will go to an April runoff between leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno and ex-banker Guillermo Lasso, the electoral body said on Tuesday, after a nail-biter first round over the weekend.
Moreno needed 40 percent of valid votes and a 10 percentage-point difference over his nearest rival to win outright. He was the clear leader of Sunday's election, pocketing 39.21 percent of valid votes versus 28.34 percent for Lasso, with 95.3 percent of votes counted.
With the Andean country on tenterhooks and the opposition protesting for prompt results, the electoral body said the results could not change although it was waiting for all ballots to be counted before officially proclaiming a second round.
"No, it's not possible," electoral council president Juan Pablo Pozo told reporters, when asked if a runoff could be avoided. "But we have to wait for official results to be 100 percent."
Opposition protesters had massed in front of the electoral council headquarters in mountainous capital Quito since Sunday to denounce what they say were fraud attempts. The government retorted they were inciting violence and urged patience.
Ecuador's fragmented opposition is now expected to close ranks around Lasso in a runoff amid anger over an economic downturn and a series of corruption scandals, potentially ending a decade of leftist rule in Ecuador.
Should Ecuador move to the right with a second-round victory for Lasso, it would follow on the heels of Argentina, Brazil and Peru which have all swerved away from the left as a China-led commodities boom ended.
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.
Some Lasso supporters honked their horns in Quito, but others were more cautious.
"We can't celebrate until they've officially announced a second round," said Maria Isabel Pino, 36, in the coastal city of Guayaquil.
LASSO VS. MORENO
Still, some disillusioned Correa supporters see Lasso as an elitist who might slash social programs, and the ruling Country Alliance remains popular with many of the country's rural poor.
"The second round will be tight," said pollster Blasco Penaherrera, who has not yet run any surveys about the runoff.
Moreno, who is paraplegic since being shot during a robbery some two decades ago while he was out buying bread, on Tuesday expressed confidence he would become one of the world's rare disabled presidents.
"Do you see me desperate? It's because we're going to win the elections just like we won the first round," said Moreno, who promises support for single mothers, the elderly, and disabled Ecuadoreans.
Many Ecuadoreans link Lasso with the 1999 banking crisis when hundreds of thousands lost their savings and many migrated to Spain or the United States.
"We don't want a corrupt banker as president," said Moreno supporter Tatiana Manosalvas, a 45 year-old taxi driver.
"We can't return to our history of instability when the richest stole our money with impunity."
Lasso has defended himself by saying the bank he ran for almost 20 years, Banco de Guayaquil, was solid and survived the meltdown. He says it is Ecuador's leftist government that is hiding corruption behind a false rhetoric of helping the poor.
Bribery scandals at state oil company Petroecuador and Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht are indeed weighing on the ruling party.
A fugitive former oil minister regularly accuses Moreno's running mate Jorge Glas, the former head of Strategic Sectors, of being "the ringleader" of a graft operation at Petroecuador. Glas has denied the accusations.
Under pressure, Moreno has vowed "major surgery" to remove malfeasance and Glas has kept a low profile towards the end of the campaign. But corruption is now one of the top issues for Ecuadoreans alongside the economy and jobs.
And after a decade of governance by mercurial president Rafael Correa, many in the country of 16 million say they are also tired of his confrontational style and alliances with Cuba and Venezuela.
"This has to end, it's ended in Argentina, now it will end in Ecuador, and next up is Venezuela," said student Carlos Vallarino, 24, who voted for Lasso.
Vegan eating has skyrocketed in popularity over the course of recent decades, with more than 1,400 plant-based restaurants opening all across the US. While Philadelphia is historically known for cheesesteaks, countless vegan restaurants now call the city home. This is
The quickly shifting reality of live theater has been a way of life for Paige Price.
The Philadelphia Theatre Company's newly appointed producing artistic director was one of Broadway's most durable dancers in Saturday Night Fever until a 2001 injury meant she would mainly be an actress. And in doing so at Theatre Aspen in 2007 during a production of The Last Five Years, she suddenly found herself acting as executive artistic director and getting the establishment out of debt. Plus taking a vice presidency with Actors' Equity Association.
Her Philadelphia appointment - announced this week and succeeding the 35-year tenure of Sara Garonzik - means giving up spectacular Rocky Mountain scenery but having a near year-round, locally based audience and a theater with running water. You heard that right. "It was the fanciest theater tent you ever saw," says Price of her Aspen venue, "but it was definitely seasonal."
Theater professionals hailed the appointment. "I have watched Paige's career progress from a Broadway leading lady and the national vice president of Actors' Equity Association, to the artistic director of the Theatre Aspen, where she totally transformed that struggling theater," said Todd Haimes, artistic director of New York's Roundabout Theatre. "I can't think of a more exciting choice to lead the Philadelphia Theatre Company...."
In a phone interview Saturday, Price, 52, admitted that, with an appointment so recent (she's still doing the Aspen job through March 31), she has yet to develop a vision for going forward with Philadelphia Theatre Company, whose current season was developed under Garonzik. Price talked about honoring the past and revitalizing the brand, but in a less guarded moment said, "I'm looking forward to seeing what I can get away with." She feels a greater sense of mission in the wake of the November election - which has come with lots of questions around arts funding.
"This is an opportunity to do some serious work that maybe has a bigger impact on the community and reaches into topics not often covered in summer theater," she said. "That's what's really appealing ... as well as to do serious work and reflect the voices of American artists. I'm aware of the artists in Philly. But my first marching order is to listen and learn."
Then, in another unguarded moment, she said, "I'm shooting for the moon."
She was credited with doing so in Aspen, though in a resort town that meant creating a first-class production of Les Miserables with extremely limited means. In Philadelphia, aiming high means keeping up with the artistically competitive smaller companies that have sometimes swept the Barrymore Awards. "They can be more nimble," she admitted, but added that her version of PTC won't be "your grandmother's theater."
Such idealism also comes with a practical side. Having begun ballet lessons at age 3 while growing up in Middlesex, N.J., she knew by age 4 that she would have a life in the theater. During backstage moments, she was always curious how any given theatrical mechanism worked, who did what, and how much it cost. With her position in Actors' Equity (which she will relinquish), she learned how to negotiate contracts. She's aware that PTC has sometimes been used as a trial ground in collaborations that can involve other regional theaters, as well as New York producers. "But I would choose my partners carefully," she says.
Perhaps most key - considering Philadelphia Theatre Company temporarily lost ownership of its Suzanne Roberts Theatre in 2015 due to financial shortfalls - is her fund-raising ability. In Aspen she increased revenue by 127 percent - while she was also keeping one foot in acting, having done the play Sex With Strangers at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts last year.
"I wish I could say that I had a master plan. My mother always warned me about being jack-of-all-trades and master of none," said Price. "But who knew that not specializing would be so helpful."
READ MORE: Chad Dion Lassiter
I was fresh out of undergrad, coming from a historically black university, Johnson C. Smith University, when I went to the Million Man March in 1995. I thought that the call was necessary given what was happening at that time with the breakdown of the black family and police brutality against black men.
There were Muslim women making salat for a peaceful journey, and there were Christian women anointing our heads with oil for protection. They were holding on to us, kissing us, and saying they loved us. A lot of people were fearful because they didn't know what to expect. Not because of us, but because of a government that has a history of tyranny and oppressive behavior toward blacks when they unite or speak truth to power.
The march was an amazing moment, because it was black men of all faiths and non-faiths from all around the globe who were united in their humanity to transcend their communities and themselves. The message was manifold. It was about cleaning up our community, not standing in trash and talking trash. It was about economic justice, personal responsibility, accountability, a message of peace, self-determination, and a message of respecting the women in our community.
What impacted me the most was seeing black and brown men hugging, high-fiving, and crying. Sharing their pain and vulnerability and their plans to change themselves and their communities. It was such a God-inspired moment.
It was very inspiring against the backdrop of the media, which attempted to whitewash the numbers of attendees but also suggested that there would be conflict. This was a moment to atone to our communities, our families, and our children. Moreover, it was peaceful throughout.
After the march, which wasn't given much credit, there was an increase in mentoring; you saw an increase in programs that dealt with instilling in boys and men a moral compass and dealt with value clarifications. More black and brown people were owning their own businesses.
It was very surreal and very spiritual. I'm getting choked up just thinking about it. You saw brothas there with two sons, three sons, four sons. It was love on public display. I'll never forget heading to the Mall and women handing us water, Gatorade, nuts, and fruits, telling us they loved us. I don't know this sista from D.C., but she loves me. She sees my humanity.
Share your Black Joy story: We want to hear from you. Click here for the details on how to share your story about Black Joy and read more stories from around Philadelphia.
HARRISBURG Three weeks of state budget hearings began Tuesday with legislators scrutinizing Gov. Wolf's proposals to enact a new tax on natural gas drilling and raise the minimum wage.
Members of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees questioned officials with the state Independent Fiscal Office about the Democratic governor's calls to raise the minimum hourly wage to $12 from $7.25, the federal level, and his plan to impose a 6.5 percent severance tax on natural gas drilling, an industry that has provided an economic boost to pockets of the state.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor (R., York) said taxing a particular industry could lead to the loss of jobs to other states.
"We have to keep in perspective our economy, what taxes we put in place and how it affects job creation here in the future," he said. "We have a spending problem, not a tax problem."
Wolf this month proposed a $32.3 billion spending plan for the next fiscal year that would use expenditure cuts and agency consolidations to close much of Pennsylvania's budget shortfall, which current projections say could swell to more than $2.8 billion in the next fiscal year if not addressed. Unlike his past proposed budgets, the latest one does not call for increases in the state sales and personal income tax rates.
Republican legislative leaders have criticized aspects of Wolf's plan like the natural gas severance tax, which he has called for before but in general have sounded more receptive than in previous years.
Rep. Joe Markosek of Allegheny County, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, even suggested Tuesday that Wolf's plan was like one a Republican might offer.
"We are looking at a Republican-style budget proposal from a Democratic governor," he said.
The possibility that actions by Congress to change the Affordable Care Act could affect the state budget came up when Rep. Stephen Kinsey (D., Phila.) asked if the office had looked at the issue.
Deputy director Mark Ryan said that if the cost-sharing between the state and federal governments for people insured through Medicaid expansion were to be changed from a rate under the Affordable Care Act to the standard federal-state split, it would cost Pennsylvania about $2 billion more, if those people remained covered.
The House panel also heard from the Department of Revenue and the Department of State, while the Senate Appropriations Committee heard from the Independent Fiscal Office and the Treasury. Both panels are expected to hear later this week from officials of the State System of Higher Education and the Attorney General's Office, among others.
Budget negotiations typically intensify in June, ahead of the start of the state's fiscal year July 1.
A former Cherry Hill lawyer accused of orchestrating a $13 million Ponzi scheme with his father pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court in Camden.
Michael Kwasnik, 47, of North Miami Beach, Fla., and his father, William, 68, of Marlton, were indicted on charges of wire and mail fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. William Kwasnik also pleaded not guilty Tuesday before Judge Karen M. Williams.
The alleged scheme targeted more than 40 clients of Michael Kwasnik's law firm between 2008 and 2011, when funds from the clients' trust accounts were diverted into accounts the Kwasniks controlled, authorities said.
The Kwasniks spent at least $10 million of the stolen money on office leases, car payments, credit card payments, and the cost of defending themselves in various lawsuits, among other expenses, according to court documents.
Richard Klineburger, Michael Kwasnik's attorney, said after Tuesday's hearing that his client was not a criminal and that this was a case of bad investments.
"He never stole any money," Klineburger said.
The Kwasniks appeared separately in front of Williams on Tuesday, acknowledged basic instructions and spoke little otherwise.
The firms Michael Kwasnik operated have closed: Kwasnik, Rodio, Kanowitz & Buckley P.C. and its successor, Kwasnik, Kanowitz & Associates P.C. He had offices in Cherry Hill and Philadelphia.
Prosecutors said Michael Kwasnik named himself his clients' trustee and told them to transfer money into their trust accounts. He and his father then laundered the money through entities they controlled including Abby Grant, a Cherry Hill insurance company William Kwasnik owned and spent it, authorities said.
Michael Kwasnik's law license has been suspended in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He has faced similar charges in the past.
In 2011, he pleaded guilty to money laundering charges for bilking a 96-year-old Cherry Hill widow out of $1.1 million. Jail time was limited to the five months he was held at the Camden County Jail after his arrest.
In 2015, in a civil case, a judge ordered him and two other men to pay $14 million in restitution for running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded scores of elderly investors in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Clutch-type rear derailleur in long and mid-cage options.
Mid-length levers and servo-wave actuation. The 6000 calipers accept XTR finned brake pads.
Choose a two or three-ring crankset with XTR styling.
Equally newsworthy was what was not included in the press release: No eleven speed for M6000, so it won't be cross-compatible with its pricier siblings. The basic Deore will remain a ten-speed transmission, and there is no mention of a one-by (single chainring) option. Instead, M6000 customers can choose from a number of two and three-chainring cranksets (no surprise there) paired with a new wide-range 11 by 42-tooth cassette, or Shimano's longstanding 11 by 32, 34, or 36-tooth cassettes. To assist OEM customers, Shimano will offer front changers with every possible cable and clamping arrangement.
Side-swing front mech for the entry level Deore group.
SLX One-By and a Wide-Range Cassette
On the heels of the M6000 Deore ensemble, came the announcement that an SLX-level one-by drivetrain has finally been approved for production, and with an eleven--speed, 11 x 46-tooth, wide-range cassette - both of which will be released this Spring. The affordable one-by transmission, big-boy cassette and the concurrent release of XT-level wheelsets with Boost axle spacing reflect a large-scale adjustment in the Japanese parts maker's range, presumably, to pull alongside SRAM in the OEM market and to ensure that those customers have the proper tools to outfit mid-priced performance mountain bikes with tip-to-toe Shimano componentry.
Entry Level Trail Pedal
Shimano also added an SPD Trail pedal to its range that is reportedly priced to match the M6000 ensemble. The PDED500 pedal once again, puts one of Shimano's most-wanted products into the hands of entry-level riders. Expect to see the 500-level pedals on demo fleets world wide. No price was available at the time of the press release.
Boost Wheelsets
Wheels have gradually become a staple product for Shimano and, while wide rims are still on the horizon, to keep in step, their wheel range is now available in Boost-width as well as standard-width axles. Two new 29 and 27.5 Deore XT wheelsets have wider axle options - a 110x15mm e-thru front- and a 148x12mm rear-axle spacing. Shimano says that the new wheelsets increase stiffness. Also new are rear thru axle hubs (AX-MT700 and AX-MT500) with smaller housings and lighter weights that feature greater clearance for frames and brake calipers.
Wheels have gradually become a staple product for Shimano and, while wide rims are still on the horizon, to keep in step, their wheel range is now available in Boost-width as well as standard-width axles. Two new 29 and 27.5 Deore XT wheelsets have wider axle options - a 110x15mm e-thru front- and a 148x12mm rear-axle spacing. Shimano says that the new wheelsets increase stiffness. Also new are rear thru axle hubs (AX-MT700 and AX-MT500) with smaller housings and lighter weights that feature greater clearance for frames and brake calipers.
MENTIONS:
Shimano's latest press release reminds us that, as much as we would all like to own a ten thousand dollar trail bike, many avid riders, and some first-time mountain bikers will be hitting the trails this season aboard far more modest steeds. The new M6000-level Deore component ensemble is targeted at the entry-level enthusiasts and cash strapped shredders who would much prefer XTR, but have not yet purchased a winning lottery ticket.Highlights of the new group are a clutch type Shadow plus rear derailleur, a four-arm XTR style crank spider, Centerlock brake rotors and hubs, and while the Servo-Wave brake levers and ICE-compatible calipers are modeled very close to the ergonomically pleasant XT and XTR stoppers, you'll have to pony up for the finned brake pads, because they are not standard fare.
The star, named TRAPPIST-1, is a fairly inconspicuous star in our Milky Way. Small (8% the mass of the sun) and cold (half the temperature of the sun), it is a member of an ultra-cool dwarf population that represents 15% of the star population of our galaxy. In 2016, Gillon and his team detected the transit (i.e., the shadow of a planet passing between its host star and us) of three exoplanets at the inner edge of the habitable zone of their star.
Energized and excited by this discovery, the team requested and received additional telescope time to follow up on this system during the second half of 2016. The NASA Spitzer telescope is one of the facilities they selected for an ambitious program that called for monitoring the TRAPPIST-1 system almost continuously for twenty days. Spitzer and other ground-based telescopes allowed the team to detect thirty-four transits, more than they had anticipated, suggesting the existence of additional exoplanets in the system.
After an careful analysis, the data revealed the presence of seven Earth-sized exoplanets (named TRAPPIST 1b, c, d, e, f, g, and h) in orbit around this M-type star. Because their orbital periods are short (less than twelve days for planets b to g), several transits were detected during the campaign. Accurately measurements of those tiny events (0.6% dimming of the star) provide a wealth of information about the planets orbits, sizes, and even masses by measuring precisely the timings of the transits which are perturbed by the gravity of other planets.
Chinese staff prepare to unload Bao Bao. [Photo/Xinhua]
After a flight lasting almost 17 hours, an aircraft that left from Washington in the US with panda Bao Bao on board landed safely at Chengdu airport, in Southwestern China's Sichuan province, at 6:59 pm local time on Wednesday.
Bao Bao, a 3-and-a-half-year-old female giant panda that had lived at the Smithsonian's National Zoo, left the United States on Tuesday afternoon, aboard a FedEx Panda Express 777F airplane.
The 200-pound animal will spend one month in quarantine in a 100 square meter "apartment" for the returning overseas pandas in the Dujiangyan Panda Base, where she will be greeted by her new keepers from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda and get acclimatized to the accents of her new keepers and the local food.
She may have the opportunity to meet her brother for the first time 12-year-old Tai Shan, who returned to China from the US in 2010. Both are the offspring of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian. The parents still reside at the zoo in Washington.
It is not yet known whether Bao Bao will continue to live at the Dujiangyan center after her quarantine is over. She will eventually join the giant panda breeding program after the reaches the age at which pandas mate - between 5and 6 years old.
Bao Bao, which translates to precious treasure, was born on Aug 23, 2013 through artificial insemination. At her naming ceremony when she turned 100 days old, Chinas first lady Peng Liyuan and then US first lady Michelle Obama sent video greetings.
Under a bilateral agreement between the National Zoo and China, panda cubs born at the zoo to pandas on loan from China belong to China and should be returned to China before they reach the age of four so they can join the breeding program.
When and how?
NASA officials say the Clipper mission is still on track for a mid-2022 launch.
Using a powerful boost from NASA's new heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System, the Clipper would fly directly to Jupiter and arrive in 2025. Without SLS, the journey would take five years longer, and require flybys of Venus and Earth to reach the right trajectory.
Flying past Venus means flying closer to the Sun. Flying closer to the Sun means extra heat shielding. And extra heat shielding means a heavier spacecraft. Though Congress has ordered NASA to use SLS for both the Clipper and lander missions, the agency is still keeping the extra heat shielding in the Clipper's design for nowjust in case anything derails development of the yet-to-be-flown rocket.
Without SLS, the lander as currently designed might not be able to fly at all, according to the SDT report. That's because the spacecraft will be heavy. In addition to the lander itself, there are three other components: a carrier and relay stage, a de-orbit stage, and a descent stage. Officials aren't publicly saying how heavy the entire package might be, but it would currently require a deep space thruster burn and Earth gravity assist to put it on the correct path to Jupitereven with the added boost from SLS. The earliest the lander would launch is 2024 or 2025, putting it at Jupiter around 2030.
Once in orbit around Jupiter, the lander spacecraft would spend 18 months slowly spiraling inward to Europa, swinging past Callisto and Ganymede on the way. At Europa, the carrier and relay orbiter would separate and act as a data relay satellite. The Clipper, ideally still operating in an extended mission, would be used as a backup relay. The lander would not have the capability to talk to Earth on its own.
Remember the Curiosity spacecraft's seven minutes of terror, during which it plunged to the Martian surface in a harrowing process known as entry, descent and landing, or EDL? Since Europa has no atmosphere, and the descent begins in orbit, a new acronym is in play: DDL, which stands for de-orbit, descent and landing.
First, the de-orbit stage will pull the descent stage and lander out of orbit. As the thruster-powered descent stage approaches the surface, it will perform the same skycrane maneuver that deposited Curiosity onto Mars, where a tether lowers the lander. The descent stage then cuts loose and flys away for an intentional crash-landing.
Once the lander is safely on the surface, scientists will have to work fast to gather their data. The spacecraft is powered only by a 45-kilowatt-hour battery designed to last between 20 to 40 days. Why not find a way to stay longer? Because the carrier relay orbiter, which will be bathed in Jupiter's radiation, is expected to fail in just a single month.
Awaiting the greenlight
Federal fiscal year 2017 began back on October 1, 2016, but Congress has not yet passed a 2017 budget. As of now, with the notable exception of Orion and the Space Launch System, NASA is operating under 2016 funding levels.
In 2016, Congress earmarked $175 million for the Clipper mission. In proposed 2017 spending bills, the House allocated $260 million to be used for both the Clipper and lander, while the Senate did not mention the missions at all. One source I spoke with said NASA is internally estimating a cost of $2 billion for the Clipper alone, and that doesn't include the cost of the Space Launch System, which could have have a price tag between $500 million and $1 billion, according to statements by various NASA officials.
That means that despite the progress, there are a lot of hurdles to overcome before humanity gets a chance to search for life on Europa. But NASA missions have endured far worse; look no further than the 16-year struggle to get the New Horizons mission to Pluto on the launchpad.
And in this case, the end result could be a confirmation of life beyond Earth.
"Just imagine if that ends up being the case," Srinivasan said. "That's transformative, to be able to say that we lived in a time when that discovery was made."
A man will spend at least 12 years in prison on third-degree murder, drunken driving, and other charges for a wrong-way crash that killed a western Pennsylvania police officer, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Clair Fink III, 33, was sentenced today by a Westmoreland County judge.
Fink pleaded guilty in September in the head-on crash that killed Ligonier Township Police Lt. Eric Eslary in May 2015. The crash left Eslarys police dog, Blek, injured.
Ligonier Township Police Lt. Eric Eslary was killed in a crash in May 2015 that injured his K-9. (Photo: Ligonier Township)
Police said Fink and a co-worker had been drinking for hours in a work vehicle before winding up driving the wrong way on Route 30 -- a divided highway -- at around 1:45 a.m. on May 5. The van that he and the co-worker were in was cresting a hill when it slammed into Lt. Eslarys marked sport utility vehicle, killing the lieutenant and injuring his police dog.
According to the affidavit filed in the case, Mr. Fink's blood-alcohol content at the time of the crash was 0.197, more than twice the legal limit in Pennsylvania. He also tested positive for marijuana, police said.
Finks sentence is 12 to 30 years in prison. The third-degree murder charge, the most serious Fink faces, carried up to 40 years in prison.
The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office received a donation of eight ballistic shields from a local Firehouse Subs restaurant. (Photo: Charlotte County SO)
A Florida Firehouse Subs restaurant has donated over $10,000 worth of safety equipment to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office posted photos to Facebook Tuesday honoring the restaurant on Veteran's Boulevard at Tamiami Trail for donating eight ballistic shields, Fox 4 TV reports.
Officers of the Northampton (MA) Police Department greet students arriving at school. They got the idea from a presentation at IACP, but have now ended the practice over concerns it might make some children uncomfortable. (Photo: Northampton PD/Facebook
Northampton (MA) police officers are ending a program they "really enjoyed" after hearing concerns that it may have made certain children feel uncomfortable.
Northampton officers got the idea for "High Five Friday" last fall, during the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in San Diego. The department said it was a free way to "positively engage" with youth in the community.
"We loved the idea! We reached out to Superintendent Provost and asked him if he would support the program and if he would communicate with the four Northampton elementary school principals to see if they were interested in having us visit once a month on a Friday. Everyone was on board," police explained in a Facebook post.
The program continued for several months, with the department posting photos from their visits.
Although the department said it received great support on social media, concerns were raised during a recent school committee meeting. The chief faced questions about the long-term impact of the program and whether all children felt comfortable with the officers at their schools, WCVB TV reports.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Print
As concerned citizens all across the country flood town halls in Republican districts, Virginia GOP Congressman Dave Brat came up with what he thought was a genius plan hold his event a whopping 60 miles away from where most of his constituents live.
The voters of Virginias 7th district werent having it.
So many of Brats constituents showed up to the town hall that the street was lined with people hoping to attend the event, which was held at a restaurant in Blackstone.
The beginning of a long line outside the town hall for Rep. Dave Brat in Blackstone, Va. pic.twitter.com/E1RTaRSNnU Patrick Wilson (@patrickmwilson) February 21, 2017
The venue quickly reached its full capacity roughly 200 people and many were forced to attend the event from the sidewalk just outside the building.
Video:
Lots of folks stuck outside of Dave Brat town hall theyre at capacity at around 200 ppl pic.twitter.com/eqm4Bdw87i Alexis Levinson (@alexis_levinson) February 22, 2017
One woman who stopped by Brats event said, according to her handmade sign, that she drove 165 miles to get there and, no, she wasnt paid to attend.
Picture:
No one paid her to be there: we the people pat YOU #davebrat #Blackstone pic.twitter.com/kpbbCZiOJF NastyGO (@gwenorel1) February 22, 2017
While many, many constituents showed up in hopes of getting inside and sharing their concerns, there were also large crowds of protesters outside the town hall expressing their displeasure with the Republican congressman:
Protesters outside Rep. Dave Brat town hall in Blackstone, Va. pic.twitter.com/eE9U0lN6fS Patrick Wilson (@patrickmwilson) February 22, 2017
Let this be a lesson for other Republicans planning to make it difficult for their constituents to find them. Instead of dodging town halls or making it more difficult for folks to attend, just have some courage and face the people.
Hiding from your constituents, after all, only motivates them more, as Congressman Brat found out on Tuesday.
video video video
Bao Bao, the beloved female panda born in Washington D.C., is heading to southwestern Chinese city Chengdu. Bao Bao has boarded her "Panda Express", a FedEx charted flight, accompanied by staff members and bamboos.
Bao Bao, born in August 2013 at the Smithsonians National Zoo, is the offspring of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, who have lived at the zoo since 2000.
Shellie Pick, a keeper of Bao Bao, has shared the joy of raising the three-year-old panda during an exclusive interview with China Daily in Washington. Let's take a closer look.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Print
Sen. Joni Ernest had one public event today in Maquoketa, Iowa, and the Senator who as a candidate bragged of being cutting farmer and castrating Washington by cutting pork faced a political neutering by an anti-Trump crowd that chanted your last term, as she entered the event.
Video by Iowa Starting Line of a crowd that they estimated as 80% anti-Trump:
Given amount of people taking part in chants, I'd say 80% of people here for Ernst forum are anti-Trump pic.twitter.com/jDhUVFLSFM Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) February 21, 2017
Sen. Ernst being greeted with chants of your last term:
Joni Ernst walks in to deafening chant of "Your Last Term!" that overpowers the applause pic.twitter.com/Wc9TKh31Cz Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) February 21, 2017
The event was supposed to be a veterans roundtable, but it turned into an expression of constituent outrage directed at the Trump supporting Senator from Iowa. After the veterans issues discussion, the focus of the event turned to Obamacare, where the Senator was booed for her position on repealing the ACA.
After 45 minutes, Sen. Ernst ended the event, and the crowd erupted in anger:
Crowd explodes in anger as Joni Ernst ends forum after about 45 minutes pic.twitter.com/gP59grAHE1 Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) February 21, 2017
Republican members of Congress who were not in office when the ACA was passed have no idea how to handle these events. Ernst was trying to lay low by not scheduling any town halls this week, but the crowd turned out to the public event on her schedule to give her an earful.
The public outrage is real, and it is happening in red states all across the country. People understand that there is no replace in the Republican plan to repeal and replace the ACA.
The outsider candidate who once ran this ad:
Is now a Washington insider who is being held accountable for her positions.
The shoe is firmly on the other foot, and Republicans cant hide from angry Americans who dont want to lose their health care.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Print
Thousands of low-income Texans will still be able to receive access to cancer screenings, birth control and other important services after a federal judge on Tuesday ruled that the state cannot cut off Medicaid money to Planned Parenthood.
According to the Associated Press, the decision by U.S. District Sam Sparks makes Texas the sixth state where federal courts have kept Planned Parenthood eligible for Medicaid reimbursements for non-abortion services.
The GOP onslaught against the organization has been ongoing for years, but it intensified in recent years after anti-abortion activists secretly recorded and released videos they claimed were proof of wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood.
However, as the AP notes, Investigations by 13 states into those videos have concluded without criminal charges, and Planned Parenthood officials have denied any wrongdoing.
In his decision, Sparks slammed state leaders for limiting access to Planned Parenthood for low-income Texans based on non-existent wrongdoing by the organization.
More from the AP report:
Sparks decision preserves what Planned Parenthood says are cancer screenings, birth control access and other health services for nearly 11,000 low-income women at 30 clinics. Texas originally intended to boot Planned Parenthood in January but Sparks told the state to wait pending his ruling. Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi and Louisiana have also had similar efforts blocked.
Sparks unsparing opinion excoriated Texas for not providing any evidence of Planned Parenthood wrongdoing and stalling on the ouster for nearly a year.
A secretly recorded video, fake names, a grand jury indictment, congressional investigations these are the building blocks of a best-selling novel rather than a case concerning the interplay of federal and state authority through the Medicaid program, Sparks wrote. Yet, rather than a villain plotting to take over the world, the subject of this case is the State of Texass efforts to expel a group of health care providers from a social health care program for families and individuals with limited resources.
Despite Sparks ruling in Texas, it remains to be seen what Donald Trump, who has proposed defunding Planned Parenthood and criminalizing abortion, will now do on a national scale as president. With control of both chambers of Congress and the scales of the U.S. Supreme Court also tipping in their favor, Republicans are only likely to step up their attacks on womens rights over the next at least two years.
For now, though, thousands of women (and men) in Texas will still be able to receive access to vital health care services.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Print
President Trump took to Twitter to complain that liberal activism and organization at Republican Congressional town halls is making him sad.
Trump tweeted:
The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2017
Trump tried to question the legitimacy of the crowds by referring to them as so-called angry crowds, which serves as a testament to just how strong President Trumps ability to deny reality really is. The crowds are angry, and they are definitely real. People dont like the direction that the country is moving in, and they are making their voices heard.
President Trump also believes that there is something wrong with liberals organizing and participating in the political process. Trump still hasnt figured out that his constituency is every citizen of the United States. He is not only the president for those who voted for him.
Trump also wants America to know that increased participation in the political process is making him sad. Yep, the President Of The United States wants fewer people involved in politics, because if more people get involved, it is going to take a lot more than 78,000 votes in three swing states for him to win reelection.
Keep up what you are doing, America. Go to the town halls of your local representative and senators. Make your voices heard if for no other reason than your protests are bumming out Trump.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Print
The childish new president took to Twitter on Tuesday for his latest tirade, this time directing his anger at the flood of Americans attending Republican town halls urging the GOP not to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
In his tweet, Trump said the so-called angry crowds are full of liberal activists. This isnt far off from earlier suggestions by the president that the avalanche of post-election protests is made up mostly of paid professionals.
Tweet:
The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2017
With all due disrespect to the president, the people flooding these town halls in GOP districts are angry. There is nothing so-called about it.
In many cases, these are people who rely on the Affordable Care Act for medication that, I dont know, keeps them alive.
One gentleman in Iowa today explained it quite perfectly to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, telling the Obamacare opponent that hes going to create one big death panel in this country if he repeals the health care law and pulls the rug out from under millions of Americans.
Video:
Did that man look like a savvy and well-connected political activist? No, hes a farmer in rural Iowa hoping that the new president and his spineless Republican henchmen in Congress dont make it harder for him to afford his medication and to live.
Unfortunately, though, this is the type of childish lashing out we should expect from a thin-skinned president who has spent his first month in office demonstrating complete mental instability.
Instead of concentrating his anger on Americans worried about losing life-saving insurance coverage, the president should direct it toward, say, Russia for waging a cyberattack against the United States or perhaps the wave of post-election hate crimes blowing up from coast to coast or maybe even at his own staff for running the most inept administration in modern history.
But this is Donald, after all, and he is only passionate about praising those who love him and attacking those who hate him.
There is no in between with our so-called president.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Print
*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*
By now, it should be obvious that if anyone only ever only listened to liar-in-chief Donald Trump, they would firmly believe that the only terrorist threat to America was from adherents of Islam emigrating or traveling to America. It is too bad, too, because for the third time in a week another white domestic terrorist was arrested with nary a peep out of the Trump.
In fact, the response from the Trump administration to the dangers from homegrown white terrorists has been as absent as their non-acknowledgment that a white terrorist attacked a Mosque in Canada and killed six Muslims during their prayer services. It is likely what Trump and Steve Bannon considered a righteous Christian taking their religious crusade to the Muslims while they were peacefully praying.
The latest white supremacist, and ex-convict, to be arrested was Benjamin McDowell, an ex-felon, and avowed white power advocate. McDowell was arrested after buying a handgun and ammunition from an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Associated Press (AP) reported that law enforcement authorities began an investigation into McDowell in December after see him complaining on Facebook that his comrades in the white supremacist movement were all talk and no action.
McDowell wanted to show his racist brethren how to take action and threatened a synagogue going so far as to tell an undercover FBI agent that he intended to launch a terror attack in the spirit of Dylann Roof according to Horry County Sheriffs Office in South Carolina. Dylann Roof was convicted, and sentenced to die, for murdering nine African Americans in their place of worship in another white supremacist terror attack incited by racism. Police had already been keeping track of McDowell after being released from prison specifically because he made connections with white supremacists while he was behind bars.
The white supremacist even explained to the federal agent that in his racist mind, Screaming white power just wasnt going to get the job done. He indicated he desired a deeper response according to law enforcement officials. He also told the agent that he would be committing a terrorist attack outside of Horry County so he could get away without being caught, but he didnt give a specific time or place because he hadnt chosen his victims yet. However, he did tell the FBI agent that despite not having a specific target in mind that he might just shoot up a party of black people. I got the heart to do that s, but I dont have the good training McDowell told the undercover agent.
The white terrorist had some particularly harsh words for members of the white supremacist movement that supported Trumps bigoted rhetoric, and candidacy, for not putting Trumps words into action and start feasting on the enemy that stole their heritage. He wrote:
All they wanne (sic) do is stay loaded on drugs the Jews put here to destroy white man and they feast on the drugs. they should be Feasting on the enemy that stole their Heritage and their bloodline and trying to run us off of this Earth, if you aint got the heart to fight for Yahweh like dylann roof did, you need to shut the f up.
Barely a week earlier, another white man describing himself as a White Racial Loyalist who belonged to a white separatist organization, The Georgia Church of Creativity, was arrested after law enforcement found traces of ricin in his car. The white racial loyalist, William Christopher Gibbs, showed up at a Georgia hospital complaining to the medical staff about being exposed to the deadly toxin ricin.
A quick law enforcement investigation of Gibbs vehicle revealed ricin had been in the car prompting his arrest on state charges of reckless conduct and probation violation. Gibbs is currently being investigated by the FBI; likely to discover where the rest of the ricin is, and who the intended victims were. The FBI has plenty of reasons to be duly concerned because ricin was used by other Georgia white supremacists as recently as 2014.
Two Georgia white supremacists were sentenced to 10 years in prison for hatching a plot to make ricin and disperse it against their perceived enemies. An investigation into the 2014 plot turned up a recording where one of the men talked about the pairs list of intended victims including government employees, politicians, and members of the media he said just had to die.
At about the same time that Gibbs was being arrested, agents with the FBI and ATF arrested another white guy, Mark Charles Barnett, in Florida after he offered a confidential source (CS) $10,000 to place improvised explosive bombs in Target retail stores up and down the East Coast. Barnett had made and delivered, 10 bombs to the confidential source that explosive experts said were capable of causing property damage, serious injury, or death to nearby persons upon detonation. A follow-up search of Barnetts house by federal agents revealed components consistent with those used to create the explosive devices.
It would be curious why Trump is not raging about the threat to Americans from white terrorists if he wasnt a racist and laser-focused on practitioners of Islam. One might tend to believe that three arrests of white terrorists intent on three separate acts of terror against other Americans would incite at least a passing comment from the Trump for all his bluster about protecting Americans from terror attacks that only he can prevent.
But none of the arrests, or terror plots, involved Muslims or people with Arabic-sounding names; they were all white guys and at least two were avowed white supremacists and all were arrested in within one week. In any other administration that flurry of prevented terror activity would have elicited at least a passing comment by an occupant of the White House; if for no other reason than to praise the intelligence community and law enforcement for their due diligence in protecting innocent American lives.
These incidents reveal exactly why Trump attacking the intelligence community, going so far as to call them Nazis and low-lifes, is beyond reprehensible; it is un-American. While the Trump is raging, threatening, raving and tweeting about the threat from Muslims, the IC and law enforcement are doing their jobs with due diligence and investigating and arresting white terrorists. All while Trump ignores the white supremacist threat, badmouths the intelligence community as Nazis and low lifes, and invents terror attacks by Muslims in America and overseas.
**The above article includes news reports with commentary by R Muse**
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Print
Its been a depressing few months after our country seemed to have elected a Russian Trojan Horse with an aversion to knowledge and an affinity for emotional tantrums better suited to a two year old.
We looked around at our neighbors and family and wondered why and how they could have voted for this person, who has made our country a laughing stoke around the globe.
But take heart. Heres a round up of patriots of whom you can be proud, storming town halls to demand answers from Obamacare to Russias influence over our election, courtesy of Bradd Jaffy of NBC News.
Well start with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) looking all, Nope I dont do this thing were you people get to talk back.
Angry constituent gives Mitch McConnell the what for, Jaffy wrote above this video.
Angry constituent gives Mitch McConnell the what for pic.twitter.com/tyHseJVtqd Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 21, 2017
Angry constituents confront Chuck Grassley in Iowa: If it wasnt for Obamacare, we wouldnt be able to afford insurance! Jaffy wrote above this clip.
Angry constituents confront Chuck Grassley in Iowa: If it wasnt for Obamacare, we wouldnt be able to afford insurance! pic.twitter.com/vrbhbOiBMM Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 21, 2017
Crowd erupts at Joni Ernst event in rural Iowa, Jaffy commented.
Crowd erupts at Joni Ernst event in rural Iowa pic.twitter.com/cSd829Q4YC Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 22, 2017
Heres a patriot who screams back, You guys wasted a lot of money on Benghazi! Waste a little on Trump!
Crowd asks Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) to investigate Trump/Russia. Wait for it, Jaffy teases.
Crowd asks Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) to investigate Trump/Russia. Wait for it pic.twitter.com/4siV7A0cOR Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 22, 2017
In Chicago, an estimated 18,000 callers participated in a telephone town hall with Rep. Peter Roskam.
This is but a small taste of what your U.S. congressional representatives and senators are facing around this country. Some people deal with it better than others.
Republican Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota isnt going to be tolerating any of your free speech nonsense. If anyone shouts or chants at his town hall, he says will cancel the event. So there.
Emmers behavior reeks of the Republican approach to the people, as Republican Senators Toomey and Cruz made it impossible for constituents to even call local offices to leave a message, when their D.C. phone systems were broken, perhaps due to an overwhelming number of calls.
On the other side of the coin we have Senators like Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey, whose staff have gone out of their way to try to make it easier for the people to share their opinions and thoughts, by being available on social media in addition to traditional contact methods.
This might seem like a partisan thing, but as Jaffy pointed out, the angry about Obamacare guy is a pig farmer whom Grassley greets as an old friend.
Paid protester? Not so much. Try these are real people with real problems, and they arent buying the Republican lies about Obamacare or excuses for letting Russia undermine our country via the Republican President.
Republicans thought they could curl their lips at the people who pay their bills, but they are getting a lesson in accountability that has been a long time in coming. The smug contempt of assumed privilege isnt disappearing just yet, but give it time.
American patriots are out in force, and they dont show any signs of weakening their objections and protests.
The only real question left is why dont Republicans care one whit about this country, the integrity of our elections, an aggressive and antagonistic foreign power interfering in our election, and Donald Trumps clear connections to Russia. America first? Not by a long shot.
The narrative of angry Americans demanding answers from cowardly, dodging Republicans is sticking because with winning elections comes accountability, and governing is not something this modern day Republican Party does well.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Print
Protesters were waiting for Mitch McConnell outside of the Jeffersontown Chamber of Commerce luncheon, so Sen. McConnell showed his true colors by hiding from the protesters by sneaking into the building through a hotel back door.
After last nights disastrous interaction that made national news with McConnell getting an earful from a constituent, the Senate Majority Leader opted for a different strategy on Wednesday:
Mitch was a coward today. He completely avoided the protesters and sneaked in the back of the hotel. #Resist #Persist pic.twitter.com/0pCPw0urFO KY Democratic Party (@KyDems) February 22, 2017
Here are some pictures of the protesters:
Here are some photos of the protestors. McConnell scheduled to speak at noon in front of J-Town Chamber of Commerce. pic.twitter.com/CC3CJLvHEE Justin Sayers (@_JustinSayers) February 22, 2017
McConnell is under fire for the Republican plan to take health care away from tens of millions of Americans. He is also facing a ton of heat from constituents who are demanding an investigation into Donald Trumps relationship with Russia.
A true leader doesnt sneak in through the back door. Real leaders dont hide when they are faced with protesters. Sen. McConnell is in hiding because he knows that the Trump/GOP agenda is very unpopular. He cant defend it, so he is running away from those who want to confront him.
Republicans cant run away from the rage of the American people. There will be no back door to hide from the ballot box in 2018.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Print
In a bit of heartening news after so much Trumpean darkness, a Muslim-led crowdfunding campaign to restore a vandalized Jewish cemetery near St. Louis where over 150 headstones were knocked over tripled its goal in just three days, reports Haaretz.
You can see the damage done in this report by NBCs affiliate KSDK News in St. Louis:
An up-close look at the damaged headstones at Chesed Shel Emeth, the historic Jewish cemetery in University City. @ksdknews pic.twitter.com/UNtBqSJxiO Kiya Edwards (@KSDKkiya) February 21, 2017
According to Haaretz:
Over the weekend, more than 100 headstones were damaged at the historic Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery near St. Louis. The incident coincided with another wave of bomb threats against Jewish community centers across the United States.
The crowd-funding campaign, launched by [Tarek] El-Messidi and [Linda] Sarsour, had set $20,000 as its goal. Within less than a day, it has already raised close to three times that sum from almost 2,000 donors. Any additional funding raised beyond the $20,000, before the campaign ends on March 21, will be used to finance repairs at other Jewish centers that have been vandalized during the recent wave of anti-Semitic attacks.
The United States has seen an alarming rise in anti-Semitism and has a president who refuses to address the issue without talking about his electoral win. He has been widely condemned for his tepid response.
The Anne Frank Center called his words Tuesday a Band-Aid on the cancer of anti-Semitism that has infected his own Administration.
To say Trump addressed the problem of anti-Semitism would be an overstatement. Given his level of support from anti-Semitists and his employment of anti-Semite Steve Bannon as his chief advisor, he would find it difficult to denounce this frightening trend.
El-Messidi founding director of Muslim non-profit CelebrateMercy told Haaretz about one message he received in response to his efforts:
I knew we Jews needed to stand with Muslims. I never thought wed need you to stand with us. Bless you all. Well stand together to get through the darkness.
Indeed. We must all stand together in the face of the rampant and reckless hate unleashed by the Trump administration and the anti-Semite at is beating heart, Steve Bannon.
Trump claims he is the least anti-Semitic person in the world, but his every action (or inaction) belies that claim.
The Muslim response, and that of the community itself, to this latest Trump-inspired anti-Semitic attack shows that the American people are not without the power to denounce hate and to respond to Trump in the most visible and self-affirming way possible.
Photo: Screengrab from KSDK News St. Louis
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Print
A new Quinnipiac University poll shows that many of the factors that are necessary for the American public to support impeaching a president a now present in Donald Trumps poll numbers.
According to the Quinnipiac poll, Trumps net approval rating has cratered to a new low of a net (-17). Only 38% of respondents approve of Trump, and 55% disapprove.
Unpopularity alone does not justify impeachment.
Trumps character and how he is viewed by the American people is the dry brush that is one lit match away from becoming a forest fire.
Here are the numbers on Trumps character:
55 40 percent that he is not honest;
55 42 percent that he does not have good leadership skills;
53 44 percent that he does not care about average Americans;
63 33 percent that he is not level-headed;
64 32 percent that he is a strong person;
58 38 percent that he is intelligent;
60 37 percent that he does not share their values.
Sixty-one percent of Americans dont think that they can trust Trump to do what is right.
The one element that is missing from the impeachment equation is a scandal with a smoking gun. Congress is getting more and more interested in the question of Trumps potential collusion with Russia. However, there is no direct evidence to prove that Trump colluded with Russia. If evidence surfaces, Trumps bad poll numbers could plunge even more and reach impeachment territory.
The only thing saving Trump is his popularity with Republicans. Because he is popular with the base, Republican members of Congress are unlikely to do a serious investigation of the President.
If Democrats win back all or part of Congress in 2018, Trumps firewall vanishes.
No president has been this close to impeachment this early in his term in the history of polling.
Trumps character combined with the mood of the country is setting up a perfect storm for an epic political scandal that could result in impeachment.
One presidential political scandal is all it would take to set the nation ablaze with talk of impeachment.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Print
Donald Trump, who has declared bankruptcy six times, is threatening America by promising to clean up the nations finances.
Video:
The President said, What I am essentially inheriting is a mess. The finances of our country are a mess, but were going to clean them up. Trump then falsely claimed that he is saving billions of dollars on airplanes.
The most laughable moment of Trumps remarks was his promise that he was not going to waste any more money. This is a president who has wasted tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on weekend trips to his private club in Florida, but he expects the American people to believe that he will not waste their money.
Trump also said that he might have an Obamacare replacement plan by mid-March, Maybe mid to early March well be submitting something that I think people will be very impressed by.
The hilarious part of President Trumps remarks was the idea that the American people should trust a man who has declared bankruptcy six times to clean up the nations finances. This is a man who cant even keep his own businesses out of the red. Trump has made his money by running up huge piles of debt and then declaring bankruptcy.
From his border wall to his tax cut plan, Trump is planning on running up large deficits. President Trump wants to increase spending, and cut taxes.
If Trump treats the country like he runs his businesses, the US should be ready to declare bankruptcy by 2019.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Print
John Schindler, a former NSA analyst, has become one of my go-to reads for takes on the intelligence communitys stance in regards to President Trump and his Russian connections. From Schindler, we learned before it was confirmed by others that the Intelligence Community (IC) was withholding information from the Trump White House, out of fear that the Kremlin had ears in the Situation Room. This was later confirmed by other sources, just as several of Schindlers other early takes have been.
On Wednesday, Schindler dropped another tasty seed on the Trump Russia trail. Rebellion is brewing in Washington, Schindler warned of the spy war on the Trump administration.
Contrary to Trumps claims that this is a partisan war, no, its partly about his repeated insults to their work but also, Behind closed doors, plenty of American intelligence experts believe that President Trump is the pawn of the Kremlin, wittingly or not
The Russia angle is most troubling to the IC. Behind closed doors, plenty of American intelligence experts believe that President Trump is the pawn of the Kremlin, wittingly or not, and assess that its only a matter of time before unseemly Moscow ties are exposed and the White House enters unsurvivable political crisis, Schindler writes.
Rebellion is brewing in Washington. The resignation of the CIAs spokesman, a career intelligence analyst, is a sign of how fragile IC morale has gotten under the new administration.
Schindler seems to be referring to former intelligence analyst and National Security Council spokesman Edward Price, a man who has worked in the Central Intelligence Agency for more than a decade under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who quit the agency because of Donald Trump. This troubles people who arent knee-jerk Trump defenders, because a careerist is not a partisan position. It would be a relief if this were a partisan issue, but instead, it is a deeply threatening issue that has already undermined our democracy and made us a laughing stock around the globe.
If President Trump keeps upping the ante in his war on the spies, he can expect more damaging leaks to reach the media, Schindler writes menacingly. Leaks happen in every administration, and Nixons ignominious fall ought to serve as a cautionary tale to any president who thinks he can find the right plumbers to fix the leaky faucet.
Schindler warned of more leaks when Trump first took office and refused to back down on his denials about his connections to Russia. And the leaks came.
Aside from the Russia issue, what we have here is a President who is so ignorant about diplomacy and relations with various factions of power that he thinks he can win a war with the intelligence community by insulting them and trying to remove all of their power to do their job.
When spies in Washington leak to the media, they do so not out of any ideology, much less overt partisanship, but to protect bureaucratic turf and to settle personal scores, Schindler penned images of dark ominous clouds ahead.
President Trump keeps lying about Russia and slamming the intelligence community while hes at it, because this has worked for him all of his life until now. Trump has always had the biggest, baddest, meanest lawyers and deepest pockets. He was able to thug his way out of most troubles, and if that didnt work, money did.
But now Trump has met a thug who cant be bought off and isnt afraid of Trump lawyer thugs. A thug that collectively has more power than Trump can imagine, even as President.
This isnt to suggest the Intelligence Community is really the thug here, but to put things in terms Trump can understand, they are the BMOC and Trump is the freshman with a huge ego and no reason for it. They will keep leaking if Trump keeps lying.
They will rebel, and as Schindler notes, the result of an IC rebellion can be seen during the Nixon Administration.
Trumps problem, in addition to his ignorance, is that he hasnt the courage to come clean and he is probably being held to his current denials by a Russian spy ship off of the coast of Connecticut. Or something.
So there will be more leaks and more leaks, if this report is to be believed.
Republicans in Congress will continue to ignore the warnings to jump ship, and soon enough, the Trump administrations unseemly ties to Russia just might explode in a very ugly way. A Nixonian way. A way that will not go away.
. ( )
Nearly 13 percent of registered voters in South Carolina have already cast ballots for the 2022 general election after the state opened up no excuse early voting to all for the first time. More than 438,000 votes were in as of the end of Thursday, which was the 10th day of early voting, according to statistics from the South Carolina Election Commission. Read more13% in SC have already cast ballots with new early voting
Charleston, SC (29403)
Today
Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High 81F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..
Tonight
Partly cloudy skies. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.
Watchdog and Public Service reporter
Thad Moore is a reporter on The Post and Couriers Watchdog and Public Service team and a graduate of the University of South Carolina. To share tips securely, reach Moore via ProtonMail at thadmoore@protonmail.com or on Signal at 843-214-6576.
Emanuel AMEs former secretary is suing the church and the Rev. Norvel Goff for ending her employment after she questioned the handling of donations that poured into the church after a gunman killed nine worshippers. Read moreFormer secretary at Emanuel AME sues for unpaid wages
Honesty isnt just the absence of lying, cheating, theft, etc. And it has to be more than telling the facts. It must include awareness of other people and respect for them. Read moreNorris Burkes: Spewing honesty
'ASIAN' = MUSLIM 99% OF THE TIME
The politically correct term 'Asian' is used by the leftist UK media as a way to cast suspicion on a wider group of people and take some of the negative attention away from the group usually responsible for committing the heinous acts.
A perfect example would be the Muslim grooming gang epidemic which are constantly referred to by the press and authorities as 'Asian' grooming gangs.
It isn't people from China, Japan or any Far Eastern Asian place.
Nor is it Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists,Christians Etc....
They are Muslims!!!!
With fall in the air, cyclamen start peeking through the leaf litter, giving the woodland garden a splash of color when most plants have finished blooming. As those pink, white or magenta blooms unfurl and appear, it is a memorable sight to see. Read moreFall charmers and winter wonders
Shuai Wang, owner, prepares a Beet Salad. Shuai Wang and Corrie Wachob moved from Manhattan, New York, to start their new restaurant six months ago. Their goal is to provide things that diners cant get anywhere else.
Rejecting federal funding is an idea Republican lawmakers have floated from time to time as a way to limit federal influence of all kinds. Education advocates said they were concerned to hear Weaver resurfacing the debate. Read moreWeaver says SC should consider rejecting federal education funding
Deanna Pan is an enterprise reporter for The Post and Courier, where she writes about education and other issues. She grew up in the suburbs of Cincinnati and graduated with a degree in English from Ohio State University in 2012.
Permits for seismic surveying for oil and natural were denied in 2016 for the Southeast stretch of the Atlantic coast and the work permanently banned farther north. Industry companies are seeking to reverse those restrictions, a first step to potentially opening the waters for drilling and other industrialization of the areas. BOEM/Provided
Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.
The oft-told story of a frog perishing in a pot as the water slowly warms and then cooks him is not actually based in fact; the metaphor persists because it describes something that is true: We are less aware of change that occurs gradually than when it happens all at once. Read moreEditorial: Referendums based on slow evolution: Berkeley, Dorchester aren't so rural anymore
WABASHA Cedric William Andow, 18, was found guilty Friday of two counts of burglary in the first degree and one count of felony theft in relation to the theft of 77 guns from the Millville Rod and Gun Shop on Sept. 2, 2016, according to a statement from the Wabasha County Attorney's office.
The weeklong trial included testimony from Andow's associates, several of whom were charged and convicted separately, said Wabasha County Attorney Karrie Kelly.
"The guns were stolen in the early morning hours of September 2, 2016," Kelly said. "By 10 p.m. that same day several of those guns were already being used in armed robberies."
On Jan. 27, James Modzelewski, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told the Associated Press the robbery of Millville Rod and Gun Shop was one of the largest gun shop burglaries in Minnesota in recent years. Many of the guns are still missing.
Kelly said the ongoing work of the Wabasha County Sheriff's Office helped bring about Friday's conviction. "Today, we are safer due to the firm resolve and patience of law enforcement," she said.
Melissa Wickre, a teacher at Sunset Terrace Elementary School in Rochester, has learned to be mindful of approaching her students' desks from the side, rather than head-on.
Why? Coming toward a student head-on amps up the stress, and feeling stressed or overwhelmed are two common causes for students' misbehavior, studies show.
Taking new approaches to students figuratively, and even literally, as in Wickre's case are how teachers across the Rochester school district are addressing discipline inequities among different racial groups of students. A district-wide disparity in student disciplinary action was first revealed to the public in September 2015, by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights , though the district has known of the disparity for much longer.
This year, teachers are learning new strategies through ENVoY , a non-verbal communication technique to influence students in the classroom. Wickre said it's the little things, like approaching students from the side, that make a big difference in the classroom atmopshere, and it reduces the number of office referrals.
But while Sunset Terrace, some other elementary schools and the district's three high schools are seeing results from the training, overall discipline referral reports are still concerning. Middle schools are still struggling and the only subgroup that has seen a significant overall drop in discipline was white students.
ADVERTISEMENT
Overall, discipline referrals have slightly decreased from a year ago, according to district data. But referrals are up for student groups that the OCR report showed the most concern for, including Native American and black students, as well as Asian students.
The most significant overall increase was for black students, with a 10 percent year-to-year increase in office referrals through winter break.
Dozens of district efforts are underway to curb those disparities, and administrators are still hopeful they're working, but think results will just take more time.
"I'm happy that we're seeing some results. We're not even close to where we need to be, but at least we're seeing a little progress," said Superintendent Michael Munoz.
Munoz added that now the district knows where to look in each building to see changes. He added not every teacher in every school building has gone through professional development training for things such as ENVoY.
District consistency
Classroom misbehavior falls into two categories: "majors," or things that will get the student sent to the office, and "minors," things that are dealt with in the classroom. There is no district-wide policy establishing which behaviors fall into which category.
While the district is hoping to create more consistent policies and treatment at specific schools, Munoz said there won't be an across-the-board policy because flexibility in classrooms is important when it comes to discipline.
ADVERTISEMENT
He added teachers are often in the best position to know what's going on with a student at home, and what may be disrupting learning or causing a student to act out in class.
"There's got to be a little flexibility," Munoz said. "I don't just blow off the behavior, but I may deal with it a little bit differently that day because I know he's having a rough time."
Munoz acknowledged that this can open up a grey area, but added, "I don't think you can just create a list of behaviors that if they happen, you're going to the office. I think you've got to be able to treat each situation based on the student. I need that flexibility to work with a child that's having a rough day."
When will things turn around?
Despite Munoz's words, some school board members felt progress wasn't as quick as it should be.
"At what point can we expect to see, based on what we're doing, an overall reduction?" asked board member Gary Smith.
While some schools are seeing decreases, others, like all the district's middle schools, are seeing spikes in office referrals, with more than 450 more than this time last year. All subgroups by race and ethnicity saw major increases, but most notably Hispanic students, a group that showed an 82 percent increase year-to-year.
Hispanic students make up about 10 percent of the district's population, according to the Minnesota Department of Education .
ADVERTISEMENT
But, significant improvement was seen at the high school level, and at some of the district's elementary schools.
At the high school level, discipline referrals dropped dramatically, to 493, down from 1,186, through winter break of last year.
School board member Jean Marvin said she was supportive of the individual schools' approaches.
"Every school has its own community and they're all working on different programs and different initiatives that seem to work for their neighborhood," Marvin said. "It's that ripple effect that people get other ideas about what they can do."
But more than the numbers, Marvin said she'd like to hear more about the discussions going on in the individual buildings discussions that students and staff are having to build trust.
"Data doesn't tell you everything, and I'm hoping in our buildings we're listening to students and staff so we know what we can do to help them," she added.
-----
District equity efforts
Here are a few of the things Rochester schools have done to address discipline inequities:
Community Schools:At Gage and Riverside elementary schools and the Alternative Learning Center, the district has implemented a "community schools model," which are schools that act as a hub for meeting student and family needs, bringing together health and social services, youth and community development and community engagement, with the idea that the school will become the center of the community. The schools have a "family resource room" on site, stocked with food, clothing and other necessities.
Curriculum updates:
Math acceleration is now self-selected: Previously, teachers got to decide if students would take an accelerated path in math, not students can step up and decide for themselves.
Partnering with equity specialists to provide professional development for teachers in culturally responsive teaching practices.
Increased course offerings in which students can earn college credit, beginning in the 2017-18 school year. Many are targeted multilingual/ELL students, members of racial or ethnic minorities, first generation college-bound students and/or hose from families of low- to moderate-income.
The addition of "AVID" to target "average" students : Rochester administrators are hoping the program holds the key to pulling more average students into top-level honors and AP classes, with the ultimate goal of preparing them for college. AVID, which stands for "advancement via individual determination," won't target those students struggling the most, rather it will set its sights on the middle-of-the-road students to hone the skills they'll need after high school. It will be offered next year in many sixth and ninth grade classrooms.
Equity specialists:
RPS has three equity specialists who focus on each of the three high schools and their respective "feeder schools." These individuals work with anywhere from 45 to 50-some students each week who have multiple discipline referrals, and try to cover things like conflict mediation. They also try to help students make connections with local businesses and those in the community that can act as mentors, so that students can build relationships in the community. They've also focused on college and career readiness with mock interviews and college visits.
American Indian engagement and education:The district's American Indian liaison works with more than 146 students and their families to "build a bridge" between those families and the school district and to keep them engaged. They've held many community events, including a moccasin-making event.
-----
By the numbers:
Total office referrals
5,097 2016-17*
5,310 2015-16*
Decrease: 4 percent
White referrals down 22 percent, non-white referrals up 8 percent.
Elementary office referrals
2,748 2016-17*
2,749 2015-16*
Essentially unchanged
White referrals down 23 percent, non-white referrals up 15 percent.
Middle school office referrals
1,856 2016-17*
1,375 2015-16*
Increase: 35 percent
White referrals up 15 percent, non-white referrals up 47 percent.
High school office referrals
493 2016-17*
1,186 2015-16*
Decrease: 58 percent
White referrals down 58 percent, non-white referrals down 59 percent.
* Figures reflect office referrals each year from the start of the school year through winter break.
Source: Rochester Public Schools
Rochester Public Schools is scooping up the former site of Globe University/Minnesota School of Business in Rochester, after the regional for-profit college announced in December it would shutter all of its Minnesota locations .
The district on Tuesday approved the building's purchase for $5.1 million, in hopes of consolidating most of the district's early childhood education classrooms into one site. The early learning school could open by next January.
"We have been keeping our eye on this property for some time, and we did see it hit the market recently," said John Carlson, the district's director of finance.
The 40,500-square foot building, at 2521 Pennington Drive Northwest, would become a Rochester school, he said. It would house 16 pre-kindergarten classes now located in the the district's elementary schools.
The agreement was brought to the school board Feb. 7 in closed session, he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
After some back-and-forth with the seller, the asking price of $5.5 million was reduced to $5.1 million. The contract now includes a $25,000 deposit, with a contingency period through May 1, Carlson said, "so that we have the opportunity to do more due diligence, to make sure that it truly would meet our needs."
The closing date is set for May 31.
A finance presentation will be made to the school board March 21 for the cost of construction and renovation that would be done during the summer, he said.
The district hopes that the school would open no later than January 2018.
In April 2016, the district proposed renovations on the former Burr Oak School, to reopen it for early childhood education. In January, it opened as Mighty Oaks Early Learning School, but beyond the 10 classrooms there, the district has 17 others at its various elementary schools.
The former Globe University/Minnesota School of Business site could house up to 16 of those classes, Carlson said, which is a priority because the district wants to "maximize the number of rooms available at the elementary schools for kindergarten through fifth grade."
In September, the Minnesota Office of Higher Education revoked Globe University/Minnesota School of Business' license to operate at six Minnesota locations. A Hennepin County District Judge ordered the two schools to cease fraudulent practices and imposed unspecified penalties.
More than 100 students attended school at the Rochester campus, as of September 2016.
ADVERTISEMENT
In early December, the U.S. Department of Education cut off the for-profit school's access to federal student loans; the college announced the decision to close all Minnesota campuses later that month.
Olmsted County commissioners voiced support for maintaining the consolidated Rochester-Olmsted Planning Department but also indicated a desire for change following a presentation Tuesday.
Commissioner Jim Bier, who serves on the Planning Administrative Services Committee that governs the department, said challenges lie ahead as planning demands increase.
"More to the point, we are going to have some stresses," he said. "How are we going to split it and how are we going to pay for it?"
The department is funded through permits, fees, grants and the county tax levy, According to Olmsted County Deputy Administrator Heidi Welsch, approximately 73 percent of the budget is covered by the county, while the workload is generally split equally between the city and county.
The city accounts for an estimated 94 percent of the department's current planning workload, Welsch said, but the county is responsible for 98 percent of its environmental safety work and roughly three-fours of work related to the county's Geographic Information System.
ADVERTISEMENT
With the county having budget authority and approving all hires, Welsch cited a potential for conflicts with city officials as commissioners questioned some suggestions stemming from a third-party review last year.
Last year, Planning Director Mitzi Baker outlined a potential staffing plan to address concerns cited in the review of the department. She proposed hiring three people this year, four in 2018 and possibly another two in the following year. None of the positions are in this year's budget.
"I understand having an urban design planner, but the question comes down to who pays for it," said County Board Chairman Ken Brown, citing one of the 2018 requests.
Funding options were on the agenda for a Planning Administrative Services Committee meeting planned for today, but the meeting was canceled due to weather concerns. The meeting will be rescheduled.
In other business, the county board:
Approved the acquisition of forfeited land by Rochester and Oronoco.
Supported sponsoring the placement of the Zumbro Ridge Estates manufactured home park on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Project Priority List.
Approved a 2017 Fair Board contract with changes that ban political advertising outside booths, adhere to the county's smoke-free workplace ordinance and require restoration of ground cover after grandstand events. The fair rental was increased from $17,778 last year to $21,000 this year.
ADVERTISEMENT
Approved a plat correction for River Highlands after a discrepancy discovered.
MINNEAPOLIS Former longtime Minnesota Orchestra music director Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, who conducted major orchestras in England, Japan and other countries, died Tuesday after suffering a second stroke earlier this month, the orchestra said. He was 93.
Skrowaczewski's family told Minnesota Orchestra president Kevin Smith that he died at a suburban Minneapolis hospital, according to an orchestra spokeswoman. An earlier stroke last fall ended Skrowaczewski's decades of conducting.
Skrowaczewski's last concerts were with the Minnesota Orchestra in October 2016, conducting works by Anton Bruckner, his specialty.
Skrowaczewski, pronounced skroh-vah-chehf-skee, led the Minnesota Orchestra for 19 years, starting in 1960, but served on its artistic staff for 56 years. During his tenure as music director, Skrowaczewski was instrumental in the creation of Orchestra Hall, the orchestra's home in downtown Minneapolis that opened in 1974. He also was a champion of new music, a celebrated composer and an advocate for the orchestra's union musicians during a 16-month lockout.
"It is hard to express all that Maestro Skrowaczewski has meant to the Minnesota Orchestra," the orchestra said in a post on its Facebook page. "Although he traveled the world conducting major orchestras until just last year, he continued to make Minnesota his home across the decades."
ADVERTISEMENT
In a statement, Skowaczewski's management company, Intermusica of London, said he "commanded a rare position on the musical scene worldwide as both a renowned conductor and highly regarded composer." The company noted he collaborated with Shostakovich, Lutoslawski, Penderecki and Andrzej Panufnik.
The native of Poland began studying the piano and violin at age 4. He composed his first symphonic work at 7 and gave his first public recital at 11. He won the International Competition for Conductors in Rome in 1956.
Other posts include with the Halle Orchestra in Manchester, England, from 1984 to 1991, and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony in Tokyo from 2007 to 2010.
He also suffered a stroke in November 2016, which forced him to cancel upcoming appearances with the Dallas Symphony and other orchestras.
A memorial service to celebrate Skrowaczewski's legacy is scheduled for March 28 at Orchestra Hall.
For more than six years, it was nearly impossible to find a Republican talking about health care who didn't make use of the overly simplistic phrase, "Repeal and replace."
And now, thanks to some healthy gerrymandering and President Donald Trump's coattails, those lawmakers have their chance to put those words into action.
As they say, though, you should be careful what you wish for.
Just weeks into Trump's presidency, congressional Republicans are struggling to make good on their years of pledging and, mostly, it's because they have no plan.
Beyond lacking a plan, Republicans are also facing strong headwinds on repealing the law.
ADVERTISEMENT
Recent polls showed that support for the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare or the ACA, jumped 6 percent following Trump's inauguration.
Leaked audio from last month's congressional Republican policy retreat revealed just how much Republicans are struggling with this challenge. At the retreat, Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., told his colleagues: "We'd better be sure that we're prepared to live with the market we've created. Republicans will own that lock, stock and barrel, and we'll be judged in the election less than two years away."
Here is the current situation:
Under the imperfect Affordable Care Act, 20 million American adults have gained health care coverage. For many, this health insurance is the only they've ever had.
These gains have nearly halved the uninsured rate, and the rate has dropped even more dramatically in states that expanded Medicaid coverage for moderate and middle-income families. Repeal of the ACA risks these important gains.
The leaked audio also included the thoughts of Rep. Tom McArthur, R-N.J., who said, "If we do this too fast, we are in fact going to pull the rug out from under them."
Stripping millions of families of health care is politically dangerous, and the states where the biggest reductions occurred are important to Republicans. Of the four states that have reduced their uninsured rates most, three strongly backed Trump and congressional Republicans. In fact, Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia only sent one Democrat to Congress across 13 congressional districts.
These are also states that, battling a raging opioid epidemic, have benefited from the ACA's addiction treatment coverage requirement.
ADVERTISEMENT
Faced with this political reality, the rush is on for a new Republican plan. Key Republicans are already starting to run away from their "repeal and replace" rhetoric and instead are beginning to use another "R" word, one used by Democrats for years: "repair."
Frustratingly, though, others have doubled down on their "repeal and replace" demand.
What replacements do they have in mind?
In 2014, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, then a ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee he now chairs, offered a proposal. In 2015, a revised Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility, and Empowerment Act was introduced.
While other proposals are circulating, any path forward will likely run directly through this legislation. In order to pay for the bill, Republicans would make employer-provided health insurance a taxable benefit.
If you, like the majority of Americans, get your insurance as a benefit from work, you would, as a result, have to pay taxes on it.
This could mean a pretty hefty tax hike for middle-class families. An estimation from Ezekiel Emanuel, a noted bioethicist, shows that a family of four making $150,000 per year could pay an addition $1,500 in taxes.
Through the leaked tapes, we know that some leaders are not happy with this plan. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said, "It sounds like we are going to be raising taxes on the middle class in order to pay for these new credits."
ADVERTISEMENT
Consequently, Republicans now find themselves solidly between a rock (raising taxes) and a hard place (backtracking on six-plus years of anti-ACA rhetoric.)
If they would have worked across the aisle to repair the ACA, maybe they wouldn't be so trapped.
As President Donald Trump has noted, a surefire way to restore the competitive edge America once enjoyed would involve cleaning out the executive branch's Augean stables from which heavy-handed regulations have been issued at an increasing pace for decades.
Complying with regulations now costs individuals and businesses both large and small about $4 trillion every year, according to economists at George Mason University's Mercatus Center. That's about $13,000 per person.
Money spent keeping records, hiring regulatory compliance officers, and dealing with the bureaucrats who promulgate and enforce these regulations which affect nearly every aspect of daily life is money not available for families to spend on their own needs. Indeed, it's money businesses don't have to invest in buildings, equipment and jobs.
Regulations are like a tax on economic activity. And they're a regressive one, meaning they fall most heavily on low-income households and small businesses.
Suppose a new safety regulation for cars and trucks requiring all new vehicles to be equipped with backup cameras, for example adds $500 to the cost of every vehicle sold. Most of the added cost will be passed onto consumers in the form of higher prices.
ADVERTISEMENT
Who is more hurt by the price increase: the government bureaucrat making $131,000 a year, or an apprentice electrician earning $30,000 annually?
Most regulations are one-size-fits all. The anti-money laundering provisions of the Patriot Act, passed shortly after 9/11, required all financial institutions to adopt procedures and internal controls to prevent money from ending up in the hands of terrorist groups.
Because the costs of complying with that law essentially were the same for a hometown bank as for a big Wall Street bank, some 3,000 small financial institutions were forced to shut their doors or merge with larger competitors over the following few years.
So-called midnight regulations are another growing problem. That term refers to rules issued by an outgoing administration between Election Day and Inauguration Day.
Every president since Ronald Reagan has signed executive orders requiring government agencies issuing major regulations to conduct cost-benefit analyses prior to finalizing them. Midnight regulations, however, are rushed through the review process and published without full consideration of their economic impacts.
One shouldn't put much faith in regulations issued less hastily, as federal agencies routinely overstate the benefits and understate the costs of the rules they issue.
A district court judge recently reprimanded the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to comply with a requirement that it estimate the number of jobs that would be lost as the result of new regulations.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy responded by saying producing such estimates is of "limited utility."
ADVERTISEMENT
To whom, one wonders?
The EPA's proposed Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, or MATS, was sold as a public health measure that would cut mercury and acid gas emissions from coal mines and power plants. The rule, while promising annual benefits of $4-6 million, will cost electric utilities almost $10 billion per year a cost that will be passed on to customers.
Unless cancelled, MATS will inflict deep economic pain on states like Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
Trump has called for a two-for-one policy requiring the elimination of two existing regulations for every new rule issued. Because not all rules impact the economy equally, the policy will require careful and thoughtful implementation. It's a good starting point.
But there's much more to be done. Pruning back the regulatory state will go a long way toward energizing the economy.
It is somehow reported as big news that President Trump denounced anti-Semitism yesterday. Was his attitude seriously in doubt? He is a proud supporter of Israel and vocal friend of Benjamin Netanyahu. His appointed ambassador to the United Nations is Nikki Haley, who is trying to right wrongs against Israel committed by the United Nations and, ahem, the Obama administration. His daughter converted to Judaism. He has Jewish grandchildren. In the Clintonian world of as-if, he may be the first Jewish President. To those who found President Obamas support of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian regime indicative of nothing important, I can only put it this way for public consumption: Give me a break.
Incidentally, the Jewish Community Center to which I belong in St. Paul was one of the 11 subjected to bomb threats on Monday. Even if those threats were empty, the vandalism perpetrated at the Jewish cemetery in University City, Missouri is real. And there seems to be something going on at main campus of the University of Minnesota as well.
The synagogue to which I belong in St. Paul has found it necessary to retain officers from the St. Paul Police Department to hold down a spot at the entrance during our Saturday morning services. The security has an incidental benefit. It has allowed me to expand my circle of friends to include the two officers who regularly serve us. They are a blessed presence all by themselves.
These incidents, however, are unrepresentative of the feelings of American citizens. As one can learn from the adjacent post on President Washington and the first Jewish congregation in the United States, Americas friendship to the Jewish people goes back a long way. It has deep historical roots. We are grateful. Norman Podhoretz speaks for me in his book My Love Affair with America.
My point, however, and I do have one, is the recent Pew Research Poll asking more than 4,000 American respondents to rate religious groups on a feeling thermometer. Mark Oppenheimer reports that Jews elicit the warmest feelings of any religious group.
Oppenheimer looks on the funny side as he examines the trends in the poll results. Examined by age cohorts, the trend is slightly unfavorable:
Love for us Jews decreases with age. Oldsters, in the 65+ age group, really dig us, with 74 percent feeling the warmth, a number that declines among 50 to 64-year-olds (69 percent warming up to us Jews), then again among 30 to 49-year-olds (Jews still are tops, but with only 64 percent), and then bottoming out among those damned millennials (18-29), with only 62 percent of whom feel warmly toward usputting us behind Hindus and Catholics (tied at 64 percent) and their favorite group, Buddhists, totally overheating them at a hot 66 percent. (The survey did not ask how many of the respondents actually knew anything about Buddhism, or could tell it apart from like, you know, yoga.)
Oppenheimer reminds me of Mose Allisons song Benediction (Thank God For Self-Love) when he considers Jewish attitudes to Jews:
Perhaps the most cheering results in the survey? First, we Jews not only have the love of others but overwhelming self-love, too. Most people felt warmly toward their own religious group, but Jews felt warmest of all: A full 91 percent of Jews felt warmly toward Jews. Which is kind of a surprising result, at least to any Jew who has ever served on a synagogue board or had a relative.
I particularly enjoyed this:
Also, knowing a Jew correlates with liking a Jew: Of those who know a Jew, 72 percent feel warmly toward Judaisma number that lags behind only Buddhists, who earn warmies from three-quarters of all those who know a Buddhist. Tomato, to-mah-tolets call the whole thing Namaste.
Thats funny, but there is seriously good news here.
Weve discussed Stanley Kurtzs effort, in conjunction with the Goldwater Institute, to promote free speech on college campuses through the enactment of state legislation mandating it. Now, Stanley has a proposal that, if enacted, would do even more for campus free speech.
Stanley wants federal legislation to make the protection of First Amendment rights a prerequisite of federal financial assistance to Americas colleges and universities. He presents his proposal and his reasons here, on NROs Corner. His proposal builds on the work of the National Association of Scholars.
In my view, the presumption should be against the federal government using its financial leverage to tell colleges and universities what to do. Certainly, bureaucrats should be (but arent) loath to indulge in this practice.
On the other hand, federal taxpayers cannot be expected to fund institutions that deny people their basic constitutional rights. The right of free speech is probably our most fundamental constitutional right and, until recently, the free exchange of ideas was considered an essential element of the college experience.
Unfortunately, in the past several decades the academy has ceased to be a reliable defender of the First Amendment. We now face a free speech crisis on many, if not most, college campuses.
Accordingly, the case for congressional action is strong.
Actually, Stanley points out that the Higher Education Act (HEA), enacted in 1965 and last reauthorized in 2008, already affirms the importance of protecting student speech and association rights. Title I, Section 112 of HEA provides that no studentshould, on the basis of participation in protected speechbe subjected toofficial sanction, with protected speech defined as speech protected under the First and 14th amendments to the Constitution.
However, Title I, Section 112 of HEA express only the sense of Congress. Stanley wants to give it teeth by adding enforcement mechanisms.
The HEA is due to be reauthorized this year. This presents Congress with a great opportunity to restore the First Amendment on college campuses.
Stanley concludes:
The American taxpayer is under no obligation to subsidize speech codes, speaker disinvitations, or shout-downs. Its past time that Congress took steps to ensure that taxpayer dollars no long underwrite campus assaults on freedom of speech.
Indeed, it is.
Today is the anniversary of the birth of George Washington. Of all the great men of the revolutionary era to whom we owe our freedom, Washingtons greatness was the rarest and the most needed. At this remove in time, it is also the hardest to comprehend.
Take, for example, Washingtons contribution to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Washingtons mere presence lent the undertaking and its handiwork the legitimacy that resulted in success. The conventions first order of business was the election of a presiding officer. Washington was the delegates unanimous choice.
Presiding over the convention during that fateful summer, Washington said virtually nothing. In his excellent book on Washington, Richard Brookhiser notes: The esteem in which Washington was held affected his fellow delegates first of allWashington did not wield the power he possessed by speaking. Apart from his lecture on secrecy, Washington did not address the Convention between the first day and the last.
The esteem in which he was held by his fellow citizens was similarly crucial to the implementation of the Constitution during his presidency. In 1790 Rhode Island became the thirteenth state to ratify the Constitution. To mark the occasion, President Washington made a ceremonial visit to Newport when Congress recessed in August. Newport welcomed Washington with open arms. In Newport on August 18, according to James Thomas Flexner, Washington completely fatigued the company by briskly walking, fortified by the wine and punch served in four different houses along his route, from nine in the morning until one in the afternoon.
In anticipation of Washingtons visit to Newport, the members of Americas oldest Jewish congregation prepared a letter welcoming Washington for presentation to him at a public event on the morning of August 18. The letter was authorized by the congregations board and signed by its president, Moses Seixas. It is Washingtons magnificent letter responding to Seixas that that has become famous as one of the classic statements of religious toleration in America.
The congregations letter to Washington is not so well known, although the most prominent line in Washingtons letter is an echo of the congregations letter to Washington. By far the most striking feature of the congregations letter is its expression of sheer gratitude to Washington himself and to America for the freedom and equal rights the congregants had attained as American citizens. Here is the congregations letter:
Permit the children of the stock of Abraham to approach you with the most cordial affection and esteem for your person and merits ~~ and to join with our fellow citizens in welcoming you to NewPort. With pleasure we reflect on those days ~~ those days of difficulty, and danger, when the God of Israel, who delivered David from the peril of the sword, ~~ shielded Your head in the day of battle: ~~ and we rejoice to think, that the same Spirit, who rested in the Bosom of the greatly beloved Daniel enabling him to preside over the Provinces of the Babylonish Empire, rests and ever will rest, upon you, enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of Chief Magistrate in these States. Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events behold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People ~~ a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance ~~ but generously affording to all Liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship: ~~ deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language equal parts of the great governmental Machine: ~~ This so ample and extensive Federal Union whose basis is Philanthropy, Mutual confidence and Public Virtue, we cannot but acknowledge to be the work of the Great God, who ruleth in the Armies of Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth, doing whatever seemeth him good. For all these Blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy under an equal benign administration, we desire to send up our thanks to the Ancient of Days, the great preserver of Men ~~ beseeching him, that the Angel who conducted our forefathers through the wilderness into the promised Land, may graciously conduct you through all the difficulties and dangers of this mortal life: ~~ And, when, like Joshua full of days and full of honour, you are gathered to your Fathers, may you be admitted into the Heavenly Paradise to partake of the water of life, and the tree of immortality. Done and Signed by order of the Hebrew Congregation in NewPort, Rhode Island August 17th 1790. Moses Seixas, Warden
Today, as we contend with the contemporary equivalent of the Babylonish empire, let us send up our thanks to the Ancient of Days for this indispensable man. (First posted February 2006.)
When the left sinks a Trump appointee, or the appointee sinks himself, the left doesnt necessarily win. The left wins only if the replacement is more appealing to it than the original guy.
Unfortunately, Alex Acosta, the replacement for Andrew Puzder at the Department of Labor, is vastly more appealing to the left than Puzder was. The Acosta selection represents a win for the left and a defeat for conservatives.
At first blush, this might seem an odd assertion. Acosta was a law clerk for the excellent Justice (then Judge) Alito. He was associated with two great conservative organizations the Federalist Society and the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He has the endorsement of Sen. Cruz, with whom he attended Harvard law School.
At the same time, though, Acosta has been praised by AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka and by several large unions. Of Acostas selection, Trumka gushed, In one day, weve gone from a fast-food CEO who routinely violates labor law to a public servant with experience enforcing it.
I put more weight in the reaction of the unionists than I do in Acostas conservative connections. Their enthusiasm is based on what Acosta did as a member of the National Labor Relations Board in the early 2000s. This seems more relevant than a clerkship years earlier, a friendship formed in law school, and organization memberships.
But the most relevant consideration is Acostas record in the Justice Department under President Bush, first as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division and then as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. Sources say his record is not conservative.
They say that during his time at DOJ, Acostas priority wasnt the advancement of the administrations policy goals. Rather, it was to stay on the good side of left-wing civil rights groups.
Acosta sought to accomplish this primarily by meeting their demands to bring certain kinds of cases and by not bringing cases the left didnt like. But Acostas appeasement of the left seems to have gone further than that. Im told that in crunch time during the 2004 election, he was more accommodating to the Democrats than to the Republicans on voting issues with the potential to influence the outcome.
Lets explore these charges.
Acosta was in frequent contact with left-wing civil rights groups. If they complained that DOJ wasnt bringing enough of a certain kind of case say, discrimination claims based on disparate impact his typical response would be to order the bringing of two or three such cases. According to my information, the facts were not important. What mattered was raising the number of the particular category of cases that civil rights activists had expressed interest in.
The Hispanic community had a strong interest in Executive Order 13166. Signed by President Clinton in August 2000, it requires federal agencies to examine the services they provide, identify any need for services to those with limited English proficiency (LEP), and develop and implement a system to provide those service.
Acosta promised Latino organizations that he would issue favorable guidance for complying with the Order. When he encountered opposition in the Justice Department, Acosta said it was too late to oppose what he wanted because the White House had already signed off informally. Thus, the Justice Department signed off.
According to my information, the White House had not signed off. Its possible that President Bush would have done so even without the Justice Departments concurrence. But Acosta successfully manipulated the situation to increase the likelihood of White House approval.
Acosta was loath to bringing cases civil rights activists didnt like. The best example is the voting rights lawsuit against Ike Brown, the notorious African-American political boss of Noxubee County.
Browns blatant violations of the Voting Rights Act are set forth in detail by a federal judge in this opinion. But the case that gave rise to the opinion probably wouldnt have been brought if Acosta had had his way.
Im told that Acosta did not want to bring the case because he considered it too controversial. He insisted that no action against Brown be brought until after the 2004 election. After the election, he still opposed bringing the case, but was thwarted when Civil Rights Division attorneys went over his head.
The result? A significant victory for DOJ and for voting rights.
Now, lets turn to the 2004 election. Both sides in that bitter contest were deeply concerned about voting procedures. Republicans worried about voter fraud; Democrats worried about voter suppression.
As the enforcer of the Voting Rights Act, the DOJs Civil Rights Division received many phone calls from civil rights groups and Democratic legislators on the one hand, and Republican legislators on the other. The legal issues raised were of vital partisan interest.
My information is that, as the election drew close, Acosta stopped taking calls from Republican Senators. However, he continued to take them from the likes of Patrick Leahy, Ted Kennedy, and John Conyers.
The pressure appears to have paid off. Im told that Acosta was not supportive of the Bush position on the casting of provisional ballots in Ohio, a key matter in that battle ground state.
Naturally, Acostas stance in the 2004 election caused plenty of resentment among the political appointees in the Justice Department and within the Bush team generally. But Acosta had a golden ticket out of Main Justice. Alberto Gonzalez secured his appointment as United States Attorney for the Southern Florida.
Such was the bitterness among Bush loyalists that, according to my information, when Harriet Miers announced his appointment as U.S. attorney at a meeting of her White House counsel staff, some staffers protested vehemently. Miers had to tell them it was a done deal and that, in effect, they should cool it.
Why did Acosta behave the way he did at DOJ? Is he a liberal on the issues he dealt with or, having established good conservative credentials early in his career, was he trying to curry favor with the other side, perhaps in anticipation of a confirmation moment like the one that now has arrived?
It doesnt matter. Either way, his service as Secretary of Labor would pose a large and obvious risk for conservatives.
The Department of Labor plays a key role in areas of major interest to conservatives, especially immigration, wage and hour law, and civil rights. The left had its way, and then some, under Tom Perez, President Obamas Labor Secretary.
Conservatives were counting on the new Secretary to reverse the many excesses of the past eight years. Acostas history of determination not to upset the left strongly suggests that our expectations will be dashed.
On immigration, Acosta is a strong supporter of the kind of comprehensive immigration reform pushed by Sen. Marco Rubio and by Democrats. As PoliZette reports, he made this clear in remarks at a 2012 forum sponsored by the Hispanic Leadership Network Conference.
Opponents of amnesty style reform are alarmed. Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation of American Immigration Reform, says that Acostas preferred policy kind of sounds like open borders. William Gheen, founder of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, says:
Its very clear that this guy is from the amnesty side of the aisle. Its very unfortunate that someone like that would ever be considered for any position in the Trump administration.
Gheen noted that Acosta has been backed in the past by the National Council of La Raza, a left-wing civil rights group. It endorsed him to head up the Civil Rights Division under President Bush. As discussed above, Acosta rewarded them.
Acostas confirmation is virtually assured. Republicans wont block a Trump nominee, and Acostas record guarantees him sufficient support from Democrats.
It will be imperative that the White House watch Acosta carefully to make sure he undoes Tom Perezs mischief and does none of his own. Unchecked, the Labor Department can undermine key elements of the Trump agenda.
It is also crucial that the new head of the Civil Rights Division be a strong conservative, one with demonstrably solid views on the entire range of issues the division deals with, and one who can be counted on to stand up to civil rights activists both within and outside the department.
Israeli warplanes on Wednesday hit arms depots near the Syrian capital Damascus, a monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, SOHR, said.
The planes fired at least six rockets on the depots which were in the area of Qutaifa, north-east of Damascus.
It was not immediately clear if the targeted sites belong to the Syrian army or its allied Lebanese Hezbollah movement, Rami Rahman, SOHR Head said.
The reported airstrike resulted in successive explosions in Qutaifa, around 45 kilometres north east of Damascus, local sources said without reporting casualties.
A Lebanese security official, who requested anonymity said that the raid targeted an arms shipment for Hezbollah.
Pro-Iran Hezbollah has been fighting alongside the forces of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad since an anti-government uprising started in Syria in 2011.
In January, the Syrian government accused Israel of mounting an air attack on the Mezzeh airbase west of Damascus.
Israel rarely comments on such reports.
On January 13, Syrias army accused Israel of firing rockets at a military air base in the capital, warning of repercussions for the strike, which hit just a few miles from the presidential palace.
The attack on the Mezzeh military airport, a key base in Damascus, was one of the more powerful suspected Israeli strikes in recent months.
Residents said they heard several explosions and saw smoke rise overhead.
But it is unlikely that Syrian forces, which have repeatedly claimed their right to retaliation after such attacks, will act on the threat especially as the country is mired in a civil war now in its sixth year between President Bashar al-Assad and rebels seeking to oust him.
An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the attack, following the countrys policy of neither confirming or denying such strikes.
Israel has repeatedly struck inside Syrian territory in recent years to try to prevent weapon transfers to the Lebanese Shia militant group Hizbollah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006.
Hezbollah, like Assad, is backed by Iran, which has been a major force fighting on Mr Assads side of the conflict.
Syrias military command said the strikes took place after midnight and caused a fire in the Mezzeh base.
The reported strike was the second of its kind in the past two months.
Also in December, Syria blamed the Israeli military for another strike on the Mezzeh military airport in Damascus, causing explosions and fires.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said on Friday that the overnight strikes caused eight explosions and several casualties, but gave no further details.
(dpa/NAN)
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
Nigerias Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, has vetoed four bills passed by the National Assembly and transmitted to the President for assent.
The bills are Dangerous Drug Amendment Bill 2016; National Lottery Bill 2016; Currency Conversion Freezing Order Amendment Bill 2016; and Agricultural Guaranteed Credit Scheme Bill 2016.
Senate President Bukola Saraki disclosed the development at the Senate plenary on Wednesday while reading Mr. Osinbajos letters separately conveying the refusal of assent to each of the bills.
According to the letters as read by Mr. Saraki, the acting president refused to sign the bills into law due to do the wording and spirit of the bills.
Specifically regarding the lottery bill, the concern was about pending litigation and the power of the National Assembly to legislate on the subject.
The All Progressives Congress Senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye, protested Mr. Osinbajos presidential veto, arguing that, following the principle of separation of powers, the presidency has the duty of assenting to bills passed by the National Assembly or approach the judiciary for redress.
But Mr. Saraki said the matter would be referred to the legal department of the National Assembly for advice.
Nigerias presidential system allows checks and balance, which moderates the principle of separation of powers. In essence, Nigerias Constitution grants the president the power to withhold assent to a bill within thirty days of receipt.
But upon presidential veto as exercised by Mr. Osinbajo, section 58(5) provides that such bill automatically becomes law if it is passed again by two-thirds majority of each of the chambers.
It is not the first time a veto would be exercised. Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari refused to assent to the initial version of the 2016 Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly.
Before Mr. Buhari, former President Goodluck Jonathan had at the twilight of his tenure in 2015 refused to assent to the Constitution Amendment Bill 2015 passed by the National Assembly, pointing to some anomalies.
Meanwhile, Mr. Osinbajo had days ago signed seven bills into law.
Editors Note: This post has been updated to reflect the actual number of bills vetoed by the Acting President.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, on Tuesday blamed budgetary appropriation constraints imposed by the National Assembly as reason for its inability remit N23.4 billion Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme, NESS fees since 2008.
NESS fees are payments to pre-shipment inspection agents and monitoring and evaluation agents in respect of their supervision of crude oil and gas exports.
With such payments, Clean Certificate of Inspections, CCI, are generated for exporters as permit to carry out export activities.
At the end of each reconciliation, agreed NESS fees payable are signed off by stakeholders to close the transaction.
But, Group Managing Director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, said on Tuesday the fees payable by the corporation accumulated since 2008 due to budgetary appropriation constraints imposed by the National Assembly.
Mr. Baru spoke while appearing before the Senate Joint Committee on Finance, Trade and Investment, Gas, Petroleum Upstream, Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, and Customs and Excise.
He was represented by the Managing Director, NNPC Capital, Godwin Okonkwo, at the one-day investigative public hearing on Pre-Shipment Inspection of Export Activities in Nigeria.
The National Assembly, he said, had always budgeted N20 million for NESS Fees, pointing out that NNPC lacked any legal right to remit any amount above the appropriated sum once it was exhausted.
Mr. Baru said the NNPC was normally charged 0.15 per cent Free On Board, FOB, value of export as NESS fees for the export of crude oil and gas on behalf of the federal government.
NESS budget is appropriated in the yearly National budget. NNPC-NAPIMS (National Petroleum Investment and Management Services) administers the budget and payments under the scheme. Crude Oil Marketing Division, COMD provides the lifting profiles and the actual price to compute the FOB export value, he said.
Senate President Bukola Saraki who was represented by the Senate Majority Leader, Ahmed Lawan, said the Senate was committed to taking steps to promote transparency and accountability of all public and private institutions that transact business with or on behalf of the federal government.
Mr. Saraki said Nigeria was facing a lot of challenges, adding that if the country was good for business, then the laws of the land must be obeyed, stressing that the Senate was in a hurry to move the country forward through legislation.
This is an opportunity to open the books of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs to right the wrongs of the past, the Senate President said.
On his part, the Joint Committee Chairman, John Enoh, noted that the investigative public hearing was to instil probity and transparency in the process of crude oil and gas exports in order to reduce leakages.
He said that Section 11 of the Pre-shipment Inspection of Export Act made provision for repatriation of proceeds after 90 days, although most exporters of crude oil and gas were contravening the provisions.
Mr. Enoh urged all stakeholders to make meaningful contributions towards the realization of the objectives of the Joint Senate Committee, noting that any submission targeted at misleading the Committee would be sanctioned.
The Federal Government enacted the Pre-shipment Inspection of Export Act No. 10 of 1996 to ensure the exportation of quality goods through inspection of all export products, which gave rise to the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme, NESS.
Its responsibility was extended to cover crude oil and gas exports in 2008.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
Nigerias House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a resolution condemning the xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in South Africa.
The lawmakers also urged the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to recall the countrys ambassador to South Africa ahead of a major anti-Nigerians rally planned for Friday.
The resolution followed a motion by Rita Orji, a PDP member from Lagos State, who decried how Nigerians are being unjustly targeted in that country.
Another lawmaker, Sergius Ogun, PDP-Edo State, said the poor treatment being meted to Nigerians was particularly troubling giving the role Nigeria played in ending the South African Apartheid regime.
I want us as a House to condemn it and I also want our government to take a stand on it.
How can we say that we are the giant of Africa when in other African countries, our citizens are being killed? he said.
In her contribution, Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje, PDP-Abia State, said Nigeria should take extra-diplomatic measures in dealing with the latest deadly assaults because the the attacks on Nigerians in SA have persisted despite all diplomatic solutions explored by the government.
Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, said it was time for all stakeholders to call a spade a spade.
This isnt the first time this is happening. South Africans continue to kill Nigerians for no justifiable reason and this is completely unacceptable, Mr. Ogor, PDP-Delta State, said. He urged the South African government to take up its responsibility of securing live and properties within its borders.
No fewer than 20 Nigerians were killed in xenophobic attacks in South Africa last year.
The South African government has also condemned the attacks, saying it will introduce teaching of history in schools to help South Africans understand the roles Nigeria and other African countries played during the apartheid struggle.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
The Nigerian military has accused human rights organisation, Amnesty International (AI), of fabricating its latest report about extrajudicial killings and torture of 240 people in the countrys north-east and 177 pro-Biafran agitators.
In a statement signed by acting director defence information, Rabe Abubakar, a brigadier general, the military described the report as a continuation of AIs series of spurious fabrications aimed at tarnishing the good image of the Nigerian military.
Amnesty International has been relentless in its exposure of human rights abuses allegedly perpetrated by Nigerian soldiers in the countrys war against Boko Haram and the militarys ruthlessness in quelling protests in other parts of Nigeria.
The organisations latest reports stated that 240 people including infants died in a dreaded military detention centre in Borno in 2016 while 177 pro-Biafran agitators were extra-judicially killed same year.
At the military detention facility at Giwa barracks, Maiduguri, cells were overcrowded. Diseases, dehydration and starvation was rife. At least, 240 detainees died during the year. Bodies were secretly buried in Maiduguris cemetery by the Borno State Environmental Protection Agency staff. Among the dead were, at least, 29 children and babies, aged between newborn and five years.
On the killings of pro-Biafra agitators, the report alleged that, Since January, in response to the continued agitation by pro-Biafra campaigners, security forces arbitrarily arrested and killed, at least, 100 members and supporters of the group, Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB. Some of those arrested were subjected to enforced disappearance.
On February 9, soldiers and police officers shot at about 200 IPOB members, who had gathered for a prayer meeting at the National High School in Aba, Abia State. Video footage showed soldiers shooting at peaceful and unarmed IPOB members; at least, 17 people were killed and scores injured.
However, the military, like it has repeatedly done in the past, denied the claims contained in the report saying they were contrived lies orchestrated to blackmail and ridicule the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Mr. Abubakar said AI is in the habit of encouraging activities of non-state actors who take up arms against the state, killing, maiming and destroying public property.
In as much as the Nigerian military acknowledges and respects the views and constructive criticism of individuals, groups or even international organisations including Amnesty International, it will not fall for nor accept the deliberate falsehood that have no bearing with the fact or reality on ground.
The truth is that the Nigerian military has always been open in its operations and do not hide its activities from the probing eye of the public. Amnesty International chose to bandy fabricated reports and concocted stories instead of seeking clarifications from the relevant authorities.
It smacks of mischief for the AI to insist on publishing unverified and unsubstantiated report as it is only them that knows why it embark on such dishonourable venture over a period of time, he said.
The Nigerian military rejects this AI reports in its entirety and appeals to all well meaning Nigerians to disregard the report and discountenance its contents as they were meant to paint Nigeria in bad light. We reassure our citizens of our commitment to terminate these myriads of security challenges facing our country, mindless of unfounded reports and cheap blackmail by AI, he added.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
The Deputy Speaker of Borno House of Assembly, Danlami Kubo, said on Tuesday that his state governor, Kashim Shettima, should be the next man to rule Nigeria at the end of President Muhammadu Buharis tenure.
The lawmaker said moves were being made to see that the candidacy of Mr. Shettima is accepted when the time comes for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to get President Buharis successor.
He was not specific on whether his wish for Mr. Shettima to succeed Buhari would be in 2019 or beyond. The Borno governor has also not declared any intention to run for president, while Mr. Buhari has not declared if he would seek a second term or not.
Mr. Kubo, who has represented Shani constituency of Borno in the State House of Assembly since 2007, heads the assemblys Women Affairs committee.
He made this declaration during the flag-off of a three day entrepreneurial training for 10,000 selected widows and displaced women, which was organised by the federal government.
The lawmaker told the crowd that Borno State has continued to enjoy much patronage from the federal government because of the good leadership qualities of Mr. Shettima.
We are more than serious about this project, he said. Our governor has been very exemplary in his stewardship especially of a state that is faced with the daunting challenges of insurgency.
It is only few people that could remain calm and focused as chief executive of a state at a time when more than half of his state was being taken over by Boko Haram, millions of people displaced, thousands killed and properties worth billions of naira destroyed. And these are happening all through his tenure.
And that did not make him shy away from his primary responsibility as well as other national responsibilities.
The lawmaker said Mr. Shettimas emergence as chairman of the 19 northern governors forum was an icing on his cake of eligibility to succeed President Buhari.
Even as the chairman of the northern governors forum, His Excellency Governor Shettima has continued to shine as a true leader. Since he became the chairman of the NGF, the forum has been more organised and transformed. And this means that if he is given the opportunity to lead this country, he would do so effectively. Besides, from his achievements in Borno state speaks volume. He has never for once abdicated his roles even for once.
He said if given the chance to lead Nigeria, Mr. Shettima would not discriminate against anyone.
Kashim Shettima has no kind of negative biases at all. He is a man that can unite this country and take it beyond the heights that out able President Buhari is taking us to now.
He has shown us in Borno state that both Christians and Muslims are one; and he does that during all the festive seasons by visiting the Muslims and even the Christians in southern Borno during the Christmas time. That is the kind of leader we want to succeed our father, President Buhari.
The Borno legislator also wanted more women involved in the states politics. He said as the chairman of the House committee on women affairs, he has been mobilising his colleagues and party leaders across the state to allow more women emerge as council chairmen in the coming council elections in the state.
Honestly, the population of women in Borno State is more than that of the men, he said. Even the ratio of women that turn out to cast votes in most elections are higher than that of the men.
As a matter of fact, 75 per cent of voters, especially in the rural areas are women.
The lawmaker said despite womens population, it was unfair there was no female council chairman or lawmaker in the state.
I have been doing it on personal level and now I am involving my other 27 colleagues in the state house of assembly, and they have all agreed to join me in this campaign. That is the only way we could better empower our women folks, he said.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
Two Germans have been kidnapped in Kaduna, North-west Nigeria, the police have said.
The Germans are said to be archaeologists engaged in an escalation work at Jajela, a village in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
The Kaduna police spokesperson, Aliyu Usman, told PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday evening that the two Germans were abducted at the excavation site on Wednesday morning.
The case was reported by locals and we have swung into action to rescue them, he said.
The names of the victims have not been ascertained, but the police spokesperson said special operatives have been deployed to rescue them.
So far, there has been no ransom demand or contact from the abductors, Mr Usman, an assistant superintendent of police, said.
Unfortunately the victims did not go to site with the policemen attached to them for security, he added.
Details later.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
Discussing succession at a time President Muhammadu Buhari is attending to his health is nothing less than insanity, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno has said.
The governor was reacting to a call by the Deputy Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Danlami Kubo, that Mr. Shettima succeed Mr. Buhari as president.
The governor, who is currently in Oslo, Norway, for a humanitarian conference on Nigeria and Lake Chad, spoke through his spokesperson, Isa Gusau.
Mr. Shettima said he was angered by the lawmakers comment and it doesnt represent his views in anyway.
He came (to Norway) so that donors do not get a wrong signal that would show the Borno State Government being less committed to those making donations to support citizens of the State, Mr. Gusau said.
I received a Google alert of the story credited to a lawmaker in Borno State over issue of succession. Governor Kashim Shettima was deeply angered by that report and he has tried reaching the lawmaker to clarify if he granted that interview or he was misrepresented. In the meantime, Governor Shettima feels it would amount to moral insanity for any Nigerian to be discussing issues of succession at a time a very popular, highly experienced and capable sitting president is managing his health.
In the message sent to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Gusau then quoted the governor condemning the call.
We have a sitting President, a popular one that we are all proud of for working more than anyone would have done in fighting the Boko Haram insurgency which is our number one problem in our state, the north-east and the Northern region, Mr. Shettima said.
How can anyone in his right thinking be talking about succession when a cherished President is dealing with his health? It would amount to moral insanity for anyone to be discussing succession of President Buhari at this time. What has gone wrong with our moral values? Has politics taken over our sanity? What is most precious to me is to have Boko Haram brought to an end and I dont think anyone would have done better than what President Buhari is doing for us. This call does not represent the slightest of my thoughts.
The Borno governor said he believed that from Nigerias democratic history, people who emerged president were those invited to vie for the position.
only a mad man blindly aspires to be Nigerias President if history is anything to go by. From 1979 to date, nobody with aspiration for the presidency has achieved it.
President Shagari was invited to contest without aspiration in 1979; President Obasanjo was invited to contest without aspiration in 1999; President Umaru Musa YarAdua was invited to contest without aspiration in 2007; President Jonathan who eventually succeeded YarAdua, was also invited to become Vice President without aspiration. Even President Buhari with his electrifying popularity didnt win the presidency in his 2003, 2007 and 2011 aspirations until in 2015 when he was invited to contest.
This is the complexity of Nigerias politics and any person with the slightest wisdom must learn from history and face his business of the day.
The Borno Governor indicated his willingness to support the re-election of Mr. Buhari as president in 2019.
Insha Allah, President Buhari will be fine and will be popularly re-elected to positively change Nigeria forever, he said.
He added that his greatest wish is that the person succeeding me as the next governor of Borno State doesnt inherit the Boko Haram crisis like I inherited the crisis in 2011 and my other wish is that Borno is rebuilt before whoever is taking over from me at Allahs appointed time.
I am not the ungrateful and not the blindly ambitious type and I thank Allah for his grace and pray that I succeed in positively reversing the Borno story, he said.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday made a phone call to the Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, to thank the people of the state who had gathered to pray for the quick recovery of the president, an official said.
The governor, who organised the special prayer gathering at Government House, Kano, asked the president how he was feeling as soon as he picked the call.
Im much better now and I thank you for the prayers and indeed the entire Nigerians, Mr. Buhari said in a call placed on speakerphone near the halls microphone and heard by everyone in the hall.
Governor Ganduje then told the President that he was being overhead by those offering prayers for him, to which Mr. Buhari responded by expressing happiness and gratitude.
Mr. Buhari has been in the UK for over 30 days for health reasons. His spokesperson recently said the president was asked to take a bed rest based on results of some medical tests conducted.
The presidency has not given any date for Mr. Buharis return.
The Kano government sponsored Wednesdays special prayers including the recitation of the Quran for the speedy recovery of the president.
The event, which was conducted at the Africa House of the Government House, drew Islamic clerics from different sects including Izalat, Tijjaniyya and Qaddiriyya.
Before the commencement of the recitation of the Quran, the clerics offered special prayers, saying it is imperative for everyone to pray for the president.
Aminudeen Abubakar, the State Commandant of the Hisbah, said while offering his prayers that regardless of ones religion, a leader deserves his followers prayers.
Kabirullah Kabara, the leader of Qaddiriyya, said they would continue to pray till the president fully recovers.
Among those present during the prayers were the states deputy governor, Hafiz Abubakar, commissioners, state lawmakers and party stalwarts.
Governor Ganduje said President Buhari needs the prayers of Nigerians for quick recovery.
Mr. Ganduje said the fight against corruption started by the president was gaining momentum.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
The International Centre for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, in collaboration with the Public and Private Development Centre, PPDC, is embarking on a project to build the capacity of Nigerian journalists to scrutinise budgetary and procurement issues, in order to create more transparency and accountability in the public sector.
The project is made possible by a three-year grant from the Macarthur Foundation aimed at promoting accountability and transparency and helping in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
The Director of the ICIR, Dayo Aiyetan, in a statement said the primary objective of the project is to help equip journalists in Nigeria with modern knowledge of investigative journalism as well as help cash strapped newsrooms to undertake critical watchdog reporting that can make government accountable to the people.
He said that the projects focus on budgetary, procurement and contracting processes is informed by the reality that most of the looting of government kitty is done during contracting and procurement processes.
Todays investigative journalism is driven by technology and not sweat or legwork. We want to equip journalists with knowledge and skills that would enable them properly scrutinise and report activities of government, particularly the contracting processes through which money meant for development is stolen.
The project is divided into two phases, and would involve providing training for up to 30 (15 Abuja based and 15 from other parts of the country) Nigerian journalists over a three-year period.
The workshops to be held in Abuja would build participants skills in investigative journalism, data journalism and infographics, procurement law, tracking and monitoring, among others.
Participating journalists will also undergo an internship with the PPDC, during which they will earn practical skills in tracking, monitoring and analysing contracts and procurement processes.
The project will also provide funds for the journalists to work with the ICIR and appointed mentors to undertake investigative reporting projects on critical sectors of the economy, with particular focus on procurement and contracting processes.
The first phase of the project scheduled to commence in April, is open to practicing journalists in print, electronic and new/digital media who are based in Abuja.
Freelance reporters who are interested in investigative journalism can also partake in the project as long as they have a guarantee of getting their reports published in a news outlet
Editors of newspapers would also be asked to nominate candidates for the project but nominees have to go through a screening process to qualify.
Interested journalists are asked to visit www.icirnigeria.org to apply.
Nominations for the training will be accepted until February 28.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
Lecturers of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH, have suspended their months long strike after a meeting Tuesday.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, in the school ended its strike after receiving a letter of commitment on how Oyo and Osun state governments intend to fund the university, its chapter chairman said.
The chairman, Biodun Olaniran, said the decision was informed after appraisal of the current situation on campus.
He however said the union would not hesitate to return to strike if the government fails again on the promise of funding the school.
After consideration of all issues, we have decided to immediately suspend the strike and return to work with immediate effect, he said.
Students reacted with elation to the news.
Congratulations to all LAUTECH students, at some point I didnt know how to ask for money from home, they kept asking me what I am doing in school, a student, Busari Azeezat, said.
The LAUTECH chapter of ASUU went on strike in June 2016.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, says the Federal Government is targeting the production of seven million tonnes of rice by 2018.
Briefing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, Mr. Ogbeh said that the target, which would be achieved by the second quarter of 2018, was to meet the national consumption rate.
I think we have attained the level of being one of the largest producers of rice, even though many people are still in doubt about that.
So, for those who say it is not true, I think they need to take another look.
I have been in Vietnam, the same kind of rice plantation you see there is what you see in Nigeria.
The only thing we need to add is the milling capacity, which we are increasing, he said.
The minister, however, attributed the current hike in price of rice to the increase in the peoples demand for the produce.
Mr. Ogbeh said that the country was feeding more than 193 million citizens as well as 100 million others in West and North Africa.
Nobody argues the fact that trucks come in from Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger Republic, Chad, Mali, to Funtua in Katsina to load our grains, he said.
On rice milling, the minister said that the Federal Government recently advertised no fewer than 100 rice mills for sale and distribution to farmers.
Mr. Ogbeh said that this would assist rice farmers to boost their production, while reducing the price of the produce and boosting the food security of the country.
Our milling capacity is still not up to speed but we want to improve.
Some of the mills, which will mainly go to cooperatives, will do 10 tonnes a day, some 20 tonnes, some 50 tonnes and some 100 tonnes.
The terms of sale and distribution of the mills to communities and farmers will be very generous, he said.
Mr. Ogbeh said that the states that were currently producing rice included Adamawa, Kebbi, Kano, Ebonyi, Katsina, Jigawa, Taraba, Anambra, Enugu and Benue.
(NAN)
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
UNICEF on Wednesday said it spent about N6.1 billion to procure Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, RUTF, to treat severely malnourished children in Jigawa from 2009 to date.
Abdulai Kaikai, the UNICEF Chief, Bauchi Field Office, said this at an advocacy meeting with stakeholders on the management of severe acute malnutrition in the state.
Mr. Kaikai said that within the period under review, 280,980 severely malnourished children were treated with RUTF and 55,094 lives had been saved.
In 2016 alone, about 74,630 cases of severely malnourished children were treated.
According to him, this is made possible by the support and contributions from donors like Department for International Development (DFID) and the Children Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF).
The UNICEF official said that 12 local government councils that had Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) in their areas had been contributing N24,000 monthly to purchase RUTF for malnourished children.
He called on the local councils to review their contributions because of the high exchange rate and increasing prices of commodities.
He said that the prices of RUTF had tripled hence affecting the quantity supplied, and this had increased the number of severely malnourished children.
When the current MoU was signed, CMAM had only 46,107 children but the number had increased to 74,630 children as at December 2016.
What it means is that currently, more than 75 per cent of the children do not have access to this life-saving interventions, which are very essential to the treatment of severe acute malnutrition Mr. Kaikai said.
Earlier in his address, Kabir Ibrahim, the Executive Secretary, State Primary Health-Care, said that it was unacceptable that 60 per cent of their children were stunted due to malnutrition.
Mr. Ibrahim, who was represented by a director in the agency, Shehu Sambo, said that it was worrisome that his state was leading in terms of severe acute malnutrition in the country.
If this ugly development is not well tackled, such affected children will not be able to compete educationally as well as have job opportunities.
I urge all stakeholders in the meeting to play their roles in changing the trend in the state, the executive secretary said.
(NAN)
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, arraigned Bala Tangalu before Justice A. B. Mohammed of the Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Jabi, Abuja on a 2-count charge of conspiracy and obtaining by false pretence to the tune of N2.5 million.
Mr. Tangalu, a self-styled native doctor, also known as Babalawo, was arrested following a petition by one Dozie Ugonna, who alleged that he was scammed of over N2.5 million by the accused and his cohorts.
According to the petitioner, the money was meant for the purchase of materials to neutralize some harmful charms purportedly contained in a carton filled with United States dollars.
The offence is contrary to Section 8 (a) and punishable under Section 8 (C) and 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14, 2006.
The accused person pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Upon his plea, counsel to the EFCC, Elizabeth Alabi, asked the court to fix a date for trial and remand the accused in prison custody pending trial.
She urged the court to consider the weight of the offence, which according to her carries a minimum of seven year jail term.
However, counsel to the accused, Yusuf Abdullahi, told the court he had a pending bail application before the court. He added that the accused had been granted administrative bail by the EFCC which he had not breached and urged the court to adopt same bail condition.
Justice Mohammed granted bail to the accused in the sum of N2 million with two sureties in like sum. The sureties must be a civil servant or a community leader.
The case has been adjourned to March 20, 2017 for trial.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
The Senate has observed that the fight against corruption in Nigeria may be scuttled by the growing underfunding of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and other anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Anti-corruption and Financial Crimes, Chukwuka Utazi, who raised the concern during the budget defence of ICPC at the National Assembly Complex noted that poor budgetary allocation to the Commission would hinder ICPC from attaining its set targets.
He said, If we want to fight corruption, we must fund the fight. You want to fight corruption without funding? It wont work. Agencies like ICPC need to get into the consciousness of Nigerians. They need to do enlightenment and educate the people on the ills of corruption. This will help us to look at the cause which is less expensive than what we are doing now by running after the corrupt.
Mr. Utazi assured ICPC that the Senate would ensure improved budgetary allocation to the Commission.
His words, There must be a total overturn in the budgetary process. We will make a case that you get what you deserve to do your work. We have done that for others before, so we will do it again.
We are going to see what the Committee will do. We will engage the relevant people concerned including our colleagues from the House of Representatives to look at the paltry sums being given to you.
Earlier, the Chairman of ICPC, Ekpo Nta, lamented that inadequate funding was hindering the performance of the Commission.
He told the Committee that some operations of the commission were delayed and others left unexecuted in 2016 because of insufficient funds even while they were captured in the budget.
The ICPC had submitted a budget proposal of N5.8 billion for 2017 to the National Assembly.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
ExxonMobil Corporation on Wednesday denied reports that it has embarked on fresh retrenchment exercise of 89 additional workers in its workforce.
Ogechukwu Udeagha, ExxonMobils Media and Communications Manager, told PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview that no retrenchment exercise took place at the company.
I can assure you that there is absolutely no truth to the claim, he told our correspondent Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier on Tuesday, the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, had reported that a fresh retrenchment exercise that allegedly affected 60 regular workers and 29 contract staff was carried out at the companys Qua Iboe Terminal in Akwa Ibom State.
But the companys spokesperson, Mr. Udeagha, said the report is mischievous and untrue.
The journalist is just being mischievous, he told PREMIUM TIMES.
Similarly, Paul Eboigbe, the Chairman of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, ExxonMobil branch, told our correspondent that the report is not true.
To the best of my knowledge, that is not true, he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, had in December 2016 directed oil companies operating in the country to suspend all actions aimed at reducing their workforce, to stem the crisis in the industry.
We have asked the oil companies to suspend all actions geared towards reduction of staffing until we have taken a first quarter analysis of the impact of what government has done to reverse the trend in the industry, Mr. Kachikwu had said.
The Minister had equally maintained that he was optimistic that efforts by government, with the launch of a new funding mechanism for the joint venture operations, would boost the momentum of operations in the industry.
Mr. Kachikwu was reacting to the crisis rocking the petroleum industry following threats by unions to embark on strike and shut down international oil companies, IOCs.
Earlier, the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, and PENGASSAN had on October 26, 2016 threatened to go on strike over alleged plans by the IOCs to sack 3,000 of their members.
The unions had also issued a 21-day ultimatum to the federal government calling for a halt to the sacking of their members by the IOCs.
Similarly, aggrieved workers of ExxonMobil had in December 2016 shut down the companys corporate head office in Lagos in protest over the attempt by the company to sack over 150 workers.
The protesting workers had accused the company of flagrant violation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act by deploying expatriates to take over jobs for which there is local capacity.
The Chairman of the ExxonMobil Branch of PENGASSAN, Mr. Eboigbe, who confirmed the closure of the companys Lagos office, had accused the management of sacking its members, while negotiations were still ongoing.
But in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, Mr. Eboigbe said there was no new case of retrenchment of staff at the company.
The retrenchment exercise the company embarked upon last year is still lingering; the union is still resisting it, he told PREMIUM TIMES.
Maybe the report is referring to the old exerciseand even, although they are at home, those affected in the last exercise are still on the companys payroll.
So, to the best of my knowledge, there is no new case of retrenchment, he added.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA, said on Wednesday that income generated from its various investments significantly grew from N26.36 billion in 2015 to about N142.5 billion (about 440.6 per cent) as at September 2016.
The Managing Director of the agency, Uche Orji, who presented a review of the agencys 2016 performance and the outlook on projects for 2017, said apart from about N57 billion realized during the year as total operating income from investments, additional N36.6 billion came from net foreign exchange and other fee income and N330.3 million as share of profit of investment.
The consolidated statement of comprehensive income for the period ending September 30, 2016 approved by the NSIA Governing Council during its meeting Thursday last week showed significant reduction in total operating management and administrative expenses from N2.33million to N1.43 billion.
Total assets grew from N213.67billion in 2015 to over N413.63 billion during the year under review, Mr. Orji said.
We went through a phase of massive capital accumulation, investing in 17 countries around the world. So, 2016 was a very interesting year for the NSIA. Our strategic investment focus for 2017 would be on massive domestic infrastructure projects that would add value to both the economy and the people, he added.
During the year, Mr. Orji said NSIA was also funds managers for various government agencies, including $350 million for Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader, and $100 million for the Debt Management Office.
Besides, he said since May 2015, NSIA has been doing business with 25 per cent of the federal government portion of the stabilisation fund, an amount that generated accumulated returns on investment of about N8.94 billion at about 11 per cent.
He said the agency had deployed 40 per cent of the fund dedicated to infrastructure development for the provision of facilities in key sectors of the economy, including agriculture, healthcare, waterways, autoroads, power and real estates.
In 2017, the NSIA boss said areas of investment would be expanded to cover infrastructure development in the midstream sector of the oil and gas industry, including gas pipelines, oil and gas storage processing and refining facilities, as well as water resources projects.
Other initiatives the agency intends to focus attention on during the year, he said, would be e-government processes and automation to boost efficiency in the services of government agencies and departments in the country.
One project that would attract a special attention of the agency, Mr. Orji said, was NSIAs involvement in the running of fertilizer blending plants in the country to help deliver fertilizer to farmers profitably at about 30-40 per cent below the current price farmers pay per bag without subsidy.
At the moment, farmers pay as much as N8,000 for a 50 kilogramme bag of fertiliser.
But, Mr. Orji said NSIA plans to bring an end to subsidy in the supply of fertiliser and ensure that the price would crash to an affordable level of about N5,500 per bag.
Already, he said 11 fertilizer blending plants were functional and another was being expected in various locations across the country, including three in Kaduna, Plateau, Ebonyi, Bauchi, Kano, Lagos, Katsina, Niger, Jigawa and Kebbi states.
Mr. Orji said the imported raw materials for the production of fertilizer, which have since arrived the country, were being distributed to the blending plants, while shipping also started last week, to Jigawa and Kebbi states.
Our objective is to ensure farmers receive fertilizers on time at a reasonable price without subsidy. The target of the programme to be launched next week by the President is to deliver one million metric tons of NPK 20:10:10 fertilizer this wet season.
People have been importing full blended fertilizer into the country. But, we need to import only 34 per cent of the total volume we consume, because about 66 per cent is already available in Nigeria. All that we need to do is to ensure that rather than importing everything, we import what we dont have and get what we have locally, by reviving all the blending plants.
NSIA is also working with the Nigeria Customs Service to create a single window for import and export system to generate revenue, while a $200 million agricultural fund is to be established in the country.
Under the Fund, rice farming and milling projects would be undertaken to ensure 70 per cent of the production were kept for local food security and 30 per cent for export.
Editors Note: This story has updated to correct the percentile rise of Nigerias sovereign wealth.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Tuesday, said contrary to reports, it did not register the Indian garri that was reportedly being sold in the Nigerian market.
The agencys Director, Special Duties and Media, Abubakar Jimoh, said this in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, noting that there had been false reports that the agency registered the brand.
Nigerians had expressed concerns over the weekend when it was reported that Indian-packaged garri was being sold in the country. The garri was packed in a 500g bag, which had the picture of a lady and an inscription, TRS, on it. It also had a price tag of N450, according to reports.
NAFDAC said it immediately commenced investigations into the alleged importation of the Indian garri. The agency also cautioned Nigerians against consumption of the product.
Similarly, the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, spoke on the development in a statement on his verified twitter handle, noting that 26 packets of the product were seized for analysis by NAFDAC after regulatory officials visited the supermarket in Ikoyi on Monday.
While speaking with PREMIUM TIMES Tuesday evening, Mr. Jimoh said that preliminary investigations revealed that the product was produced in UK, shipped to Ghana and now being sold in Nigeria.
He, however, said that the agency did not register the product as being insinuated.
Let me make it clear again that NAFDAC did not register any garri, he told PREMIUM TIMES.
We have collected samples of the product and sent them for screening, he added.
Explaining further, Mr. Jimoh said NAFDAC couldnt have registered the imported Indian-garri because the agency understood the implication of such a decision on the local production market and the general Nigerian economy.
We are not just safeguarding public health, we also ensure the growth of the Nigerian production industry and facilitate the federal governments efforts at fixing the economy, he noted.
The NAFDAC spokesperson said investigation is ongoing on the product and the agency would reveal the outcome of its findings once the investigations are concluded.
The (Acting) Director-General of NAFDAC, Mrs. Yetunde Oni, would address the press once the result is out, he said.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
The Nigerian Government on Wednesday approved the construction of the Cameroon-Nigeria border link bridge as part of its efforts to strengthen the bilateral ties between the two countries.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who briefed State House Correspondents shortly after the meeting of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, presided by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, said the construction would gulp $38 million, while $9 million would be for consultancy.
We presented a memo to construct the Cameroon-Nigeria border link bridge, at Ikot Efiom under the African Development Bank support, for improving relationship between Cameroon and Nigeria post the ICJ judgment over Bakassi; and council approved that bridge.
Its part of the link road between Enugu -Abakaliki way which is already completed and part of the larger Lagos-Mumbasa Highway.
$38 million is for the construction contract and $9 million for the consultancy and this was done under ADB procurement guidelines, Mr. Fashola said.
The Minister, who was flanked by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, and his counterpart in the Environment, Amina Mohammed, said the council also approved the construction of Kaduna-Eastern bypass highway at the cost of N32 billion.
We also presented a memo for the resuscitation and completion of the Kaduna Eastern bypass highway, which was started in 2002 and was initially planned to have been completed within three years; but 15 years after, it remains uncompleted.
Council also approved this, and it is a 50 kilometre highway and dual carriage way with nine bridges over rivers and rail crossings there.
The project was first awarded in 2002 at N16 billion, we have had to get approval for N22 billion verbatim and so that takes that project cost now to N32 billion.
The contractor was paid N5.5 billion in 2002; if we had paid the contractor N11 billion then when exchange rate was N109 it would have cost us $96 million. If you multiply $96 million today even at official rate of N305 is now N29 billion, he said.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
Security operatives on Wednesday arrested Babatunde Gbadamosi, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, after he honoured a verbal invitation, his wife said.
The law enforcement agency that arrested Mr. Gbadamosi and official reasons for the action were not yet confirmed as at 7:00 p.m., but Sade Gbadamosi told PREMIUM TIMES her husband was arrested by the State Security Service, SSS, for his fierce anti-government views.
PREMIUM TIMES could not independently confirm that SSS executed Mr. Gbadamosis arrest. The agencys refusal to appoint a spokesperson running close to two years made it impossible to get clarification about the development.
A spokesperson for the police in Lagos did not immediately respond to requests for commentsWednesday night.
But Mrs. Gbadamosi said her husband was detained shortly after his arrival at the Lagos field office of the secret police around 11:00 a.m. Wednesday. He was transferred to Abuja about two hours later, she said.
The politician was there to honour a verbal invitation he received from SSS officers who stormed his residence in Eleko Beach Tuesday, but were prevented from gaining access because they allegedly did not show a valid warrant of arrest, Mrs. Gbadamosi said.
They came yesterday. No warrant. So I did not let them into the estate. I told them he will come today instead. So we went. Immediate arrest without charges and he was then bundled to Abuja, Mrs. Gbadamosi told this newspaper in a brief exchange on instant messaging platform, WhatsApp.
No freedom of speech, she said.
Mr. Gbadamosi, a PDP governorship aspirant in Lagos, had gained recognition as a vocal voice of opposition to Muhammadu Buhari administration, often joining voices with Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti and ex-minister Femi Fani-Kayode to rail against Mr. Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress.
Hours before his arrest while he was going to the SSS field office in Lagos, he put up an update on his Facebook page, to warn of his possible detention for an extensive period.
Yesterday, six men from the SSS came to deliver a verbal invitation for me to attend their office at CMD Road, Shangisha today.
I have packed a day bad, just in case they decided to add me to the exclusive club of detained opposition voices.
The struggle to free Nigeria from the clutches of tyranny and corruption must continue, with or without me. I fear no man, only God the Creator, he wrote.
His wife reaffirmed that six men were at their residence on Tuesday.
She said her husband might have been arrested over a video he posted on the Internet to vent his opposition to the Central Banks foreign exchange policies.
A particular video went viral. Talking about forex hanky pankies, Mrs. Gbadamosi said.
PREMIUM TIMES did not see the video.
Mrs. Gbadamosi said she will be in Abuja Wednesday night with her husbands lawyers to seek access to him in SSS custody.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
Abdullahi Gabia, a Kaduna based television presenter, has died at the age of 44.
Late Mr. Gabia was a presenter of a popular television human interest Hausa programme Gari Ya Waye, and a comedy programme, Mu Shakata on Desmims Independent Television DITV/Alheri radio, Kaduna.
He died at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday at Garkuwa hospital in Kaduna after an illness.
Television stations in Kaduna have been broadcasting special programmes and condolence messages for the deceased.
The journalist was buried at about 7:20 p.m. at Kawo burial ground, according to Islamic rites.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
The Akwa Ibom State government says it has set December 31 as deadline to realise its target to double its garri and rice production capacities.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Sufficiency, Charles Udo-Inyang, who said this in Abuja, said the State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, was anxious to see the price of garri, one of Nigerias staple foods, reduced by at least 50 per cent before the end of December.
Mr. Udo-Inyang, who was speaking at a reception organised in his honour by friends, relations and well-wishers to celebrate his appointment, said the state government also has the ambition of doubling the rice production capacity from the current 15 tons per annum to 30 tons before the end of the year.
The state governor, Udom Emmanuel, is very passionate about developing the agricultural sector in the state. His ambition is to see Akwa Ibom State not become the premier destination for garri and rice production in West African sub-region, but also other major food crops in the country in the near future, he said.
The soil in Akwa Ibom is very fertile for agriculture. The ambition of the state governor is to see that his government takes advantage of that to grow cassava to reduce the price of garri by at least 50 per cent before the end of the year, the Commissioner said.
To achieve the target, he said the state government was embarking on a programme to develop cassava plantations around the state, while also ensuring the cultivation of other staple food crops that grow well in the state.
He said already the state government was establishing cassava mills in various locations across the state to handle the processing of the commodity for exports, adding that several off-takers were already waiting to buy up the harvested crops from producers.
The Commissioner, who said the state government was also interested in growing grains like maize, said off-takers like Lever Brothers were ready to pay in advance for supplies ahead of production.
Other areas he said the state government hoped to develop into a foreign exchange earner, were in the cultivation of tree crops like cocoa and coconut for exports to the West Africa sub-region.
The dream of the government is for the state to become a major coconut producer and exporter in the West African sub-region. Already, the state is investing massively in the establishment a coconut plantations and refineries to refine the commodity for exports, the commissioner said.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
Some civil society groups led by the Transparency Initiative Nigeria, TIN, on Tuesday urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to probe a former bursar of the University of Calabar, Peter Agi.
Mr. Agi was suspended in August last year by the school management under allegations of fraud, forgery and threat to life.
TIN said following its examination of the crisis rocking the second generation institution, it has unearthed a series of malpractices traceable to the former bursar at the root of the crisis.
The group said it had written to the EFCC to investigate Mr. Agi and we hope that this time they will rise up to the task.
Briefing journalists in Abuja, the groups spokesperson, Adodo Solomon, alleged that Mr. Agis lack of financial transparency had stalled major construction projects in the university.
The group also accused Mr Agi, who was appointed in 2010, of corrupt enrichment and random abuse of the University rules, appropriation/procurement processes and lack of transparency.
To our utter dismay, we further gathered from contractors, that Mr. Peter Agi was in the habit of sitting on funds approved for payment to contractors and this stalled major construction projects which should have further etched the University up the ladder of academic glory and acclaim.
The Joint Council/Senate Committee Investigation report further revealed that Mr. Peter Agi compromised the University of Calabar fees payment portal and in the process, over Two Hundred Million naira remains untraced till date.
Furthermore, in an attempt to conserve and divert funds, Mr. Agi deprived several departments of the university of funds needed for procurement of critical equipment and projects, thus these deprived departments failed to meet the NUC standards for accreditation.
We call on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to immediately begin to look into these allegations in tandem with the commitment of the Buhari administration to fight corruption and restore sanity in our public service, Mr. Solomon said.
However, the bursar, Mr. Agi has denied the allegations levelled against him.
Speaking through a group, Concerned Students and Senior Staff Association, he claimed that those against him saw him as a threat to their corrupt acts following his insistence on due process and adherence to guidelines of the universitys financial system.
But TIN said various media campaign against the administration of the Vice Chancellor of the University, Zana Akpagu, who is the first alumnus to hold the position, could be traced to the former bursar.
The police have confirmed that Mr. Agi is being investigated over financial dealings involving his office.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
The Chief Judge of Ekiti State, Ayodeji Daramola, has called on the police authorities to immediately beef up security at the courts in the wake of arson attacks on courts in some parts of the country.
The judge made the call on Tuesday in Ado-Ekiti, while receiving the Commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, in his office.
Apparently worried by lasts week burning down of a high court in Ilesa by hoodlums, and attacks in Imo and Kogi states, the judge called for a synergy between the prisons service and the police for enhanced security especially when hardened criminals were brought to court.
He said the prison officers lacked capacity to effectively secure the prison without the assistance of the police, noting that the cases of jail break were rampant because of poor cooperation between the two agencies.
Mr. Daramola said he was asked by his colleague judges to urge the commissioner to provide better security in courts in the light of attacks on courts in other states.
We really need police protection. Please help us in this regard. It is not only the police that criminals look at with disdain. They also look at us with disdain as well, the judge said.
Things have not been the same between the police and the prison authority since they started carrying arms. The Prison people must allow the police to assist them.
Mr. Inalegwu, in his response, condemned the attacks on courts, stressing the need for all stakeholders in the security sector and the judicial officers to brainstorm and fashion out security model that could protect courts.
If the police arrest, they cannot keep suspect for too long. They need the judiciary to prosecute the suspects. So judiciary is not only the hope of the common man, but the hope of the police, he said.
When I arrived Ekiti State, I was briefed about the number of conviction that the police has secured. I was very impressed about it your Lordship.
We usually asked the prison people to alert us when they are taking hardened criminals to the court, but we dont get to know about it. We have written to the Comptroller of Prison about this.
We are going to look at the operations of our Judges Protection Unit and do something about it if we discovered that there are issues.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
Governors of states in Nigerias South-West have agreed to come together to fashion out policies and programmes to reposition the zone for accelerated development.
The Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, disclosed on Wednesday at the South-West Governance Innovation Conference of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria, DAWN, Commission held in Abeokuta.
Mr. Amosun said the governors have agreed to work together irrespective of their political differences to develop the zone pointing out that no part can be greater than the whole.
For the South Western region to get it right, we must as a matter of importance and urgency give priority to quality education, agriculture that would lead to massive industrialisation and infrastructure development as well as adequate security, the host governor emphasised.
Mr. Amosun, who said all the governors have resolved to achieve meaningful development, advised that each state should explore its areas of comparative advantage to develop the region.
He stated that his administration had taken steps to improve the standard of living in Ogun State.
I have taken Ogun State out of the apron of Federal Government and made it self-sustaining without waiting for funds from the federal government before it can operate, Mr. Amosun stated.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
( Read 8572 Times)
Source :
10 All-Time Popular Government Jobs in IndiaBrief InformationGovernment jobs in India serve as the most reputed and valuable jobs in India even if someone works in the low-grade post. Most of the Indian parents push their child to pursue their career in government sector rather than opting for the private sector.Every government jobs are associated with a large list of perks which makes these jobs popular among students. However it is not easy to get government jobs, aspirants have to work hard to cross the hurdle of exams and huge competition for limited seats.Many people struggle for years to get a foothold in government sector as hardly any student grab them in one chance.Government jobs are considered as the most secured job as it offers lifetime job security, and once a candidate grabs a government job, they wont have to worry about losing their job in tough market times.There are myths that government jobs dont pay well but this wrong there are jobs that pay more than top notch private sector companies. Many students work hard not only for the benefits of government jobs but also honor and authorities associated with those posts.Another advantage of a government job is a pension, which is not available in any private sector jobs and this single factor has grabbed the attention of a lot of students.Hardly there is any student in India, who is not attracted to Government jobs and prefer private sector over them. Every year, a lot of exams are conducted for various positions in the government sector, but not all of them are popular among students. There are many sites like Sure Recruitment where you can find such government jobs.To encourage students to join public sector companies, the government is increasing the vacancies in different offices so that lot of eligible students can achieve their dream. Many students start preparing for Government Recruitment Exams after passing out from school.10 Popular Government JobsAlthough many students prepare for Government recruitment exams, but there are students who often wonder that what are the popular government jobs in India which will give stability in life. Then following names of some traditional government job can help them to solve their query:1. Civil Services Government jobs in civil services are considered as the most upright and also popular position one can achieve. Civil services mostly include IAS, IPS, IFS and they are highly popular mainly because of the prestige and honor associated with those tags.Apart from popularity, these jobs are one of the highest paid jobs in India and unmatched to any position in any private company. Responsibility is another factor which makes this post popular among students.2. Public Sector A public sector company is another popular job that incurs huge number candidates during the recruitment process. Companies like BHEL, ONGC, SAIL, HAL, and many other reputed enterprises are most demanded companies mainly due to the benefits provided these companies to their employees. Although the entrance exams are tough, but they recruit a lot of eligible candidates.3. State Public Service Commission This is another highly reputed and popular government jobs in India. State public service includes position like RTO, MRO, and Tahsildar who enjoy a large number of benefits as well as huge salary offered by state government.4. Government University Professor or Lecturer Professor and lecturer position in Government University always stays on high demand among teachers. The job pressure is low, but perks and salary are huge. The best part of this job is that teachers can encourage young minds to achieve their dream.5. Defense Services Defense service is a very risk job, but the perks and honor associated with a job make admired among aspirants. Defense services include jobs Army, Air Force, Coastal Guard and Navy. There are endless benefits for this job, but most of the aspirants join this service for the honor and respect.6. Government Scientist Working in ISRO, ISI, and DRDO as a scientist is a highly reputable job, and the government offers handsome salary package which is far better than private sectors.7. NTPC Jobs The recruitment process for NTPC is tough, but this factor hasnt dampened its popularity among students. A lot of students work very hard to grab a position in National Thermal Power Corporation Limited who is the major power production company in India.8. Bank Probationary Officer Bank PO is one of the most popular jobs in India and every year lakhs of students appear for the exams of IBPS. The salary package and benefits are kind of interesting but the work pressure is low.9. Railway Engineer Many engineering students aspire to have a job in the railway sector, and it also serves as one of the best career options.10. Governmental Doctors This is another popular governmental job that is highly popular among students perusing their career in medical field. The demand for this job always stays high, but benefits and salary is also top notch.
UPPER TOWNSHIP Officials in this rural township are exploring new ways to bring in businesses and property-tax ratables, and maybe even a hotel.
The Township Committee on Monday may approve the creation of an economic development advisory commission, which Upper Township Business Association President Blanche Adams hopes will put incentives out to get businesses in.
They can see who we want to attract, she said. If we have a vacancy, lets fill it with something that is needed in the township.
Susan Adelizzi-Schmidt, who is set to chair the commission, said it will focus on developing a vision statement in its first year, which will likely include a hotel.
If we had a really nice property, that could be a place where people could stay overnight, enjoy what the township has to offer, she said.
In addition to being a resident, Adelizzi-Schmidt operates Suasion Communications Group in Somers Point, which helped that city market the area to attract second homeowners and new businesses.
The township hopes new businesses will generate increased tax revenue and partially offset local property taxes. While residents have always paid school and county taxes, they only began paying a local purpose tax in 2011 a result, at least partially, of flat aid from the state in the form of energy tax receipts generated from hosting the BL England coal plant.
According to the municipal budget, the energy tax receipts from 2015 were $6.2 million, the same from 2010.
Township Mayor Rich Palombo said there are some challenges to attracting businesses to the rural township, which has 10 different unincorporated communities known as villages.
Several years ago, the township was able to use state Department of Transportation grant money to designate town centers in Marmora, Tuckahoe and Seaville.
Adams said the designations brought in businesses such as ShopRite, which opened in 2009 in Marmora.
That whole shopping center has been a boon, said Adams, vice president of marketing and communication for Thomas Heist Insurance, which has an office there.
In addition to ShopRite, a section of Tuckahoe Road houses several small businesses, including the Village Kitchen at Wayside Village. Heather Harolds family has owned and operated the restaurant for 40 years.
I think this has always been the little hub of the township, Harold said. Weve seen it grow immensely.
On Route 9, a Dollar General made its home in a portion of the former South Shore auto center, but the remainder of the complex is empty.
Nearby, a Verizon office that closed several years ago has not been filled. At a recent Township Committee meeting, Palombo declined an idea to turn the Verizon building into an emergency management office, noting that the building is a vital part of the development in the area.
Much like the designated town centers, the stretch of Roosevelt Boulevard between Exit 25 and Route 9 has a few vacant storefronts interspersed with active businesses.
MIDDLE TOWNSHIP Several years ago, the Household of Ruth Cemetery, a local burial ground, was overgrown and in serious risk of being lost to history.
But about 2009, residents banded together to clean up and restore the cemetery, which is the oldest in Whitesboro, a small rural town within Middle Township founded in 1903.
It was a victory for locals struggling to preserve Whitesboros history as a refuge for African Americans from Cape May and the South even as the makeup of the town has changed significantly over the years.
The land was purchased by a group of black investors led by George Henry White, of North Carolina, an African American congressman at the start of the 20th century. He was joined by other prominent investors such as educator Booker T. Washington and poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
It came at a time of racial backlash in Cape May and the introduction of Jim Crow laws and violent mobs targeting African Americans in the South.
This was a planned Negro town, said Shirley Green, founder of the Whitesboro Historical Foundation. Really, I just think that was really awesome.
Whitesboro has even gained national attention for its history.
A small exhibit dedicated to White and the town was featured at the recently opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., according to Bernie Blanks, president of Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro.
However, locally, preserving Whitesboros history and passing it on to future generations in the town is a challenge.
Economic forces, such as high off-season unemployment in Cape May County and high rents, have driven some to seek opportunities elsewhere.
There are far fewer African American original families here, Green said, adding that many have moved to areas with more job prospects.
Whitesboros population is 2,205 and 37.1 percent of the residents are black, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. For perspective, Cape May Countys African American population is about 5 percent.
When I grew up back in the 40s and 50s, it certainly was a town of all African Americans, said Blanks, 73. Its not an all-black town, and thats OK. Im not sure it was always expected to remain an all-black town, anyway.
The Concerned Citizens group runs various initiatives targeting young people, including a scholarship program and an after-school program.
But Blanks and Green both said they are worried young people, faced with poor economic prospects in the area, will leave Whitesboro.
In my opinion, the economy of Cape May County is such, being tourism-driven, that it doesnt have the type of year-round employment that would attract young people to stay here, Blanks said. Im not sure if I see that changing.
Green thinks history might repeat itself.
African Americans settled in Whitesboro after being forced out of Cape May and areas of the south, particularly North Carolina. Now, black residents are being pushed out of Whitesboro by high taxes, unemployment and the countys focus on a seasonal economy, Green said.
When I look at some of the history, sometimes it makes me feel not much has changed, she said.
Even as the town changes, Blanks said Whitesboros history specifically, the discrimination and oppression that led to its founding in the first place needs to be taught to children in the area.
Young people probably wouldnt have a feel of understanding that, if you dont have history to present it to them, he said.
Stockton art Professor Wendell White, whose book Small Towns, Black Lives looked at historically black communities in South Jersey, said if the history vanishes it could have an impact on the way history is told perhaps by ignoring some of the more uncomfortable parts.
Some of the communities exist as a result of segregation and oppression, White said.
It doesnt always reflect positively on the history of the white community, he said.
But preserving a small towns history can difficult, White added.
It takes money, he said. I think that the other part of it is that it requires a person of real energy, skill and talent.
Whitesboro has seen an influx of money in the past.
In 2008, Oprah Winfrey donated $1 million to the Concerned Citizens scholarship fund. Stedman Graham, an author, speaker, educator and Winfreys longtime partner, grew up in the town and is the executive director of the community group.
And Greens museum on Route 9, though temporarily closed due to structural issues, is an attempt to present the towns history through documents, artifacts and even some exhibits she made herself.
People used to visit all the time, Green said. But, in the meantime, we have a lot of people who are looking for this (history).
I know its not a lot, but I want to help the children.
Cara McCollum was 8 years old when she gave a quarter to her Methodist Church in her hometown of Forrest City, Arkansas.
The child was prepared to give whatever it was she had to children less fortunate than herself. She seemed to have been born with a drive to make change for the better.
But that mission was cut short one year ago Wednesday, when McCollum, then 24, died of injuries suffered in a crash on a highway in Salem County.
On the anniversary of her death Wednesday, Caras parents remember her as the caring, ambitious and humorous light of their lives.
She always thought she could be doing more, said her mother, Maureen McCollum.
By age 10, Cara had started a miniature business with neighborhood friends that consisted of selling dog biscuits to raise funds for their local humane society. They called their club P.A.L.S. Pets and Animal Lovers Society. The tiny crew even went to City Council with their concerns.
Cara thrived through adolescence and continued to look for ways to give herself a platform to make a positive impact on those around her. She excelled in school and made her way to New Jersey to study at Princeton University, where she graduated in 2015.
In 2013, Cara found a new way to be heard. She won the title of Miss Island Resort, which led to the Miss New Jersey competition. The Miss New Jersey organization remembers Cara having an it factor that gave her an edge among her competition, winning her the title of Miss New Jersey 2014. Her platform was giving the gift of reading.
Thats why she got involved in doing a pageant. She thought that would be a way for people to listen, Maureen McCollum said. Until the end, she was thinking of how she could make a difference.
With her title of Miss New Jersey, she did just that. Cara used her platform to continue a project that gave books to children on their birthday.
After the Miss America Competition, Cara turned her attention to her professional life. In 2015, she accepted a position as a lead anchor at SNJ Today, a Millville-based broadcast company that was starting a newscast in the wake of the closing of NBC affiliate WMGM-TV 40.
With her focus now on her career, Cara was becoming a well-known personality.
But Feb. 15, 2016, was a particularly brutal winter night with treacherous driving conditions.
That night, Cara had cautioned others to drive safely when she left the studio.
On her way home, her car spun off Route 55 in Pittsgrove Township, Salem County, striking a tree. Cara suffered head injuries in the crash. She died a week later, surrounded by family, at Cooper University Hospital in Camden.
Even in death, Cara gave one last gift to others: She was an organ donor.
Despite fatal crashes, Route 55 safe, data show A former Miss New Jersey was killed in a crash on Route 55 this year. So was a prison inmate
As Miss New Jersey, Cara had touted a book program that gave children books on their birthday. Now, her family and friends keep Caras memory alive by growing that initiative in Arkansas and South Jersey.
Rick and Maureen McCollum said the book initiative started with giving 2,500 books in Arkansas and increased to 9,000 last year.
The McCollums said they have a saying in their family: Bloom where you are planted.
Though Cara felt at times her small town wasnt quite big enough to hold all of her ambition, her mother said, she supplemented her time in Arkansas by fitting in as much as possible: summers studying all across the United States, dance, voice, drama and piano classes and horseback riding.
She wanted to experience everything, Maureen said. She told me about maybe getting involved in politics. She needed to make changes for the better.
Now Cara lives on through her brother, Derick, Maureen said.
Cara was quite sassy the spark and spunk of our family, she said. She and her brother were a lot alike, yet different. Both very smart, talented and competitive. She was English, he was math. He played classical music, she played jazz.
Rick and Maureen said certain things will always remind them of their daughter: daffodils, daisies, the songs she sang or played on the piano. Maureen wears a heart necklace with her signature, including xoxo the way Cara signed most things to her family.
Mike Frankel, of SNJ today, said at her memorial service that you will see Cara wherever you go. Her light will be so bright it will be blinding.
Her light is still shining, Maureen said.
Cara will be remembered by friends as the perfect storm of glamour, poise, humor and sass.
Its really still hard to believe that shes not here, said Lindsey Giannini, Miss New Jersey 2015. There are so many times something funny will happen and I want to text her. We shared this really incredible experience in being Miss New Jersey, and I miss having that with her. It still feels really fresh.
When asked what Cara would say to her family, hometown and South Jersey if she were here today, Rick and Maureen said their daughter would urge others to follow their dreams.
Maureen said they were comforted by the words of the priest who prayed with them as Cara passed. He was a friend of Caras boyfriend, NBC 10s Keith Jones, and left the family with a phrase they still hold onto.
Its not the years in your life but the life in your years and Cara lived life, Maureen said.
Cara was a gift, her mother said, and although we miss her terribly, we were truly blessed to have her the short time we did.
Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson is warning local mayors that taxes will go up if the county does not receive the 13.5 percent share of the PILOT bill that was promised in April.
On Tuesday, Levinson sent a letter to all the mayors in the county, except Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian, laying out three possible scenarios that will affect tax rates in the county depending on how the city decides to split up the PILOT money.
If the county receives 13.5 percent of the $120 million annual PILOT payment and the casino assessed value is removed from the countys tax base, the general purpose tax will increase by 3.9 cents per $100 of equalized value. If the county only gets 10.3 percent of the PILOT money, which is what the city has proposed, and the assessed value of the casinos are removed from the tax base, then the general purpose tax will increase by 5 cents.
A look at the first 100 days of the Atantic City state takeover ATLANTIC CITY Through 97 days, the state had little to show for its takeover of the citys
The only way taxes will decrease is if the county gets the 13.5 percent and the casinos are kept in the county tax base, Levinson said in the letter.
The difference between the county getting 10.3 percent and 13.5 percent of the PILOT money is about $40 million over the 10 year lifespan of the PILOT bill.
As you are well-aware, the money received from the PILOT is to be used for tax relief for the other 22 municipalities and Atlantic Citys noncasino taxpayers whose taxes, unlike the casinos, will not be frozen for the next 10 years, the letter reads.
The fight over the PILOT money has been a major issue for the county. In April, Gov. Chris Christie hosted a press conference with Levinson promising the county would get the 13.5 percent.
Its in the legislation. Its part of the bill, Christie said during the press conference. Unlike dealing with (Mayor Guardian), Denny knows that if I say its going to happen, then its going to happen.
Blatstein buys Atlantic City properties for nearly $6 million ATLANTIC CITY The city has sold Bart Blatstein two Boardwalk properties near his Showboat
The 13.5 percent was not in the final legislation that was passed by the Assembly. The legislation says the state, in its discretion, could determine a specific percentage of the PILOT payment to the county.
A state spokeswoman declined to comment.
The county has repaid Atlantic City millions in back taxes owed to the casinos before the PILOT legislation was passed. This year, the county will give the city another $12.6 million, bringing the overall total to more than $65 million.
For years, Atlantic City over-assessed its casino properties to meet its budgetary obligations, Levinson said. And for years, Atlantic County has been forced to refund monies to the city as a result of this irresponsible practice.
Last month, the Atlantic County Mayors Association unanimously passed a resolution supporting the countys fight to get the 13.5 percent. Several mayors said they would not have supported the bill if they knew the state and city werent going to give them the percentage that was promised.
Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian did not participate in the vote.
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP State Police have charged a Buena Regional High School teacher with engaging in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female student.
William J. Jacobs, 32, of Folsom, was taken into custody Tuesday morning by the U.S. Marshals Service in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Detectives from Troop A were investigating Jacobs be-tween November 2016 and January 2017. State Police said Jacobs met with the unidentified student on more than one occasion for sex.
Investigators also found several hundred electronic messages between the two.
According to State Police, when Jacobs became aware of the investigation, he told the victim not to cooperate with authorities.
He was charged with official misconduct, sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child, tampering with a witness and obstruction of justice.
He is at the Broward County Correctional Facility pending extradition to New Jersey. Jacobs will be prosecuted by the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office.
State Police said the Buena Regional School District cooperated during the investigation. The Buena Board of Education did not comment on Jacobs arrest.
BRIDGETON Authorities are investigating the fifth alleged suicide at the Cumberland County jail since July 2014.
Deputy county Administrator Kimberly Wood said the death occurred Monday night.
Wood wouldnt identify the victim and said she didnt have details surrounding the death. She said the appropriate authorities are doing the investigating.
Its a terrible thing, Wood said. We are going to do our best to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.
The other reported suicides involved Millville resident Alissa Allen, Vineland residents David Hennis and Robert Lewis, and Bridgeton resident Jon Watson. They died after being found hanged in the facility.
Their families have all filed federal civil rights lawsuits against the county. Family member charged in lawsuits that jail staff was negligent in providing everything from adequate inmate supervision to medical attention.
Allen hanged herself in March 2015 shortly after being admitted to the jail on charges related to drugs and not wearing a seatbelt, authorities said.
Lewis was found hanging from a bed sheet in a jail room in October 2015 while being held on robbery-related charges, authorities said.
Watson was found hanging in his jail cell in June, according to law enforcement officials, while Hennis was found hanging in an infirmary holding cell in July 2014.
In June, a pair of advocacy groups dedicated to social and religious justice asked the state to investigate alleged official misconduct linked in part to the deaths of Watson, Allen and Lewis.
The Peoples Organization for Progress and the American Friends Service Committee alleged the misconduct involves jail corrections officers, supervisors and medical personnel who committed actions that reflect an apparently toxic culture at the facility.
Casey, Jacqueline (Facciolli), Anna Lynn, Lily Katherine, - 31, 6, 1, All of Morris, Oklahoma. Were taken from us suddenly on Monday, February 6, 2017. Jackie was born on November 4, 1985 in Somers Point, she resided in Egg Harbor Twp. and was a graduate of EHTHS in 2004. She moved to Oklahoma in 2009 where she attended OSU to pursue a culinary degree. Jackie worked at the RV Ranch in Okmulgee as a Chief. She loved Art, Music, Cooking and video games, her smile and laugh were contagious and everyone she met loved her. She lit up a room with her smile and was definitely one of a kind. She loved her two beautiful babies more than life. Jackie gave birth to her first daughter, Anna Lynn Casey on October 19, 2010 in Oklahoma. Anna attended Morris Elementary School, she was in Kindergarten. She loved and adored her baby sister, her friends, Hello Kitty, the color red and anything glittery. She loved to give big hugs, had her mother's beautiful smile, amazing personality and sense of style. Jackie gave birth to her second daughter, Lily Katherine Casey on September 28, 2015 also in Oklahoma, Lily was a beautiful little snuggle bear who loved her big sister and Mommy. Lily was following in her mommy's footsteps loving video games and Star Wars. She had just learned to walk and was always smiling. The three were survived by their Mother/Grandmother, Lisa Facciolli (Miller); Sister/Aunt, Jennifer Lamb (Facciolli); Brother-In-Law/Uncle John Lamb Jr.; Nephew/Niece/Cousin, Finn and Maggie Lamb; Grandmother/Great Grandmother, Eleanor Miller and numerous Aunts, Uncles, cousins, friends and loved ones. Jackie, Anna, and Lily were predeceased in death by Father/Grandfather, Michael J. Facciolli Jr.; Grandfather/Great Grandfather, John F. (Jack) Miller; Grandparents/Great Grandparents, Michael J. Facciolli Sr. and Anna (Nance) Brennan; Uncles, Joseph (Joe) Miller and Michael Strehle. In lieu of flowers Donations may be made in memory of the Casey Girls to "A Place for Us Atlantic County Woman's Center" 417 W Jefferson Ave, Linwood, NJ 08221, and/or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. A visitation will be held on Saturday, February 25th from 12-2pm, with a memorial service to follow at the George H Wimberg Funeral Home, 1707 New Road, Linwood, NJ 08221. Condolences may be extended to the family at ghwimberg.com
There are lots of reasons to like the tentative plan by Lower Township to develop an aquatic center at the Cape May Airport.
The township Recreation Department has been exploring the possibility for five years, and this month the council approved a feasibility study for the project.
Thats the kind of measured, deliberate approach a municipality should take to nonemergency actions the most likely to allow the township to reach its goal of building the center without raising taxes to do so.
Mayor Erik Simonsen said residents are tired of leaving town for what the aquatic center would provide. The high school swim team has to train at the U.S. Coast Guard base in Cape May. Senior citizens said they were using a Cape May elementary school pool until it closed a few years ago.
The strongest reason for the center, though, was voiced by the mayor and Township Manager Jim Ridgway. Simonsen said that, with the township bordering the ocean and the bay, swimming is an essential skill for youngsters to learn. Ridgway said, We feel our younger people should be taught how to swim at the younger grades.
That was great to hear. One sad aspect of being newspaper journalists at the Jersey Shore is knowing that every year well have to report on at least several tragic drowning deaths. The worst is when children are the victims.
The mayor reassuringly stated the aquatic center would serve all ages, abilities and disabilities. Wed like to suggest that an outreach effort be made to ensure it serves all ethnicities as well.
On these pages last week, a commentary by Ebony Rosemond made a convincing case that the stereotype of blacks disliking swimming still is contributing to disproportionate drowning deaths among black children. If anything, the situation seems to be worsening.
The Press of Atlantic City has promoted understanding and action on this issue for many years. In 2009 we reported and editorialized on studies showing black children twice as likely (60 percent) as white children to lack swimming skills, and drowning at three times the rate. Rosemond, the founder of Black Kids Swim, said the lack of swimming skills among blacks is up to 70 percent now, and black kids drown at 5.5 times the rate of other children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Atlantic City School District has long been a leader in teaching all children to swim, which has helped improve safety on the citys massive free beach. Several years ago, a former lifeguard on that beach who taught in the program, state Sen. Jim Whelan, had the district cut his hours and pay by about a third so swimming could still be taught despite a budget crunch.
Aquatic centers are an excellent way to learn water safety before venturing into the far-more-challenging ocean.
We hope Lower Township is able to continue this crucial shore tradition and takes the opportunity to ensure swimming instruction reaches all children.
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.
Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.
Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.
to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.
Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.
View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.
Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.
Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.
LION, starring Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman and Oscar-nominated actor Dev Patel , is based on the true story of Saroo Brierley. At the age of five, Brierley was separated from his brother in a train station and ultimately was forced to survive on the streets of Calcutta before being adopted by an Australian family. Later, as a grown man, played by Patel, he used Google Earth to reunite with his biological family in India. LION is considered a leading contender for the 2017 Best Picture Oscar, and actors Patel and Kidman have both received Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominations this year. In addition, Australian screenwriter Luke Davies was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. In citing the work, Ambassador Maura Harty, ICMEC President and CEO, said: "The compelling film not only tells Saroo Brierley's story, but it also captures the tragic pain and loss suffered by missing children and their families anywhere in the world. We are grateful that Harvey Weinstein and LION unsparingly, but eloquently, helps raise awareness of this critical issue."
Facebook has long been an active and engaged partner, supporting ICMEC's global training programs, and recently introducing emergency child alert response systems to help locate children around the world. "Facebook could not be more proud of our longtime partnership with the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children," says Emily Vacher, Facebook's Director of Trust and Safety. "Two years ago, in partnership with ICMEC, we were excited to announce that we would begin distributing missing child alerts on Facebook in several countries around the globe - empowering the Facebook community to aid in reuniting missing children with their families. We look forward to many more years of collaborative efforts to help reunite families and protect children around the world."
Proceeds from this fundraising gala will be directly invested in The Global Impact Fund. For ticket information, please visit the event website at gala.icmec.org.
About ICMEC
The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children is a private 501(c)(3) non-governmental, nonprofit organization. For more than 16 years, ICMEC has been a leader in identifying gaps in the global community's ability to protect children from abduction, sexual abuse and exploitation, and expertly assembling the people, resources and tools needed to fill those gaps. ICMEC focuses on programs that have an impact on addressing the issues surrounding missing children, child abduction, child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Press Contacts:
Kriskey Lane Communications
Susan Kriskey, susan@kriskeylane.com
Marni Lane, marni@kriskeylane.com
917-836-5250
Photo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470936/ICMEC_Emily_Vacher_Luke_Davies_and_Maura_Harty.jpg
Related Links
http://www.icmec.org
SOURCE International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children
LONDON, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Kigali Farms grows high quality mushrooms for the regional markets and supports over 1,700 smallholder producers. AgDevCo's investment allows Kigali Farms to complete the construction of a new production facility in Rwanda.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151215/295904LOGO )
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470272/Kigali_Farms_mushrooms.jpg )
AgDevCo, a social impact agribusiness investor, announced a $0.45m debt investment into a Rwandan mushroom grower. The company, Kigali Farms, is completing a modern button mushroom production facility in Musanze District in the shadow of the Volcanoes National Park.
The first batches of button mushrooms are hitting supermarket shelves and restaurant tables in Kigali. AgDevCo's investment allows Kigali Farms to meet strong local demand from retailers, hotels and conference centres, and drive regional export sales.
AgDevCo will also support Kigali Farms' award-winning outgrower programme, which reaches 1,700 smallholders who grow oyster mushrooms. The company sells growing kits and offers a minimum price guarantee to buy the mushrooms, although many growers choose to sell their nutritious harvest within their communities.
Kigali Farms is aiming to develop a range of soups and other mushroom-based processed foods, for which it sees a burgeoning opportunity.
Laurent Demunyck, founder and CEO of Kigali Farms said:
"Our new button mushroom facility positions us to be the leading mushroom supplier outside of South Africa. We are delighted to be bringing top chefs a quality ingredient they have been yearning for. At the same time, we are driven to make oyster mushrooms a source of protein for thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of smallholder farmers."
Chris Isaac, AgDevCo's Director who led the transaction said:
"We believe Rwanda can be a regional leader in quality processed food products, tapping into growing demand in East Africa. Kigali Farms is a great example of a market-focused company committed to technical excellence with a business model which delivers strong social impact."
ABOUT AGDEVCO
AgDevCo is a social impact investor incorporated in the UK. AgDevCo invests patient capital in the form of debt and equity into early-stage agribusinesses in sub-Saharan Africa. AgDevCo's mission is to reduce poverty and improve food security. AgDevCo has invested over USD90 million in 59 agribusinesses to date, connecting tens of thousands of farmers to markets and supporting c.4,000 jobs. AgDevCo plans to invest a further USD 8 million into Rwandan agricultural SMEs over the next four years, with financial backing from the UK's Department of International Development (DFID).
For more information:
Chris Isaac
cisaac@agdevco.com
+44-20-7539-2650
SOURCE AgDevCo
KOWLOON BAY, Hong Kong, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
- By 2020, more than one out of two connected devices will have an IoT security attack
Bureau Veritas, leader in testing, inspection/audit, advisory and certification services for the Smartworld, has announced they will be demonstrating their new, and they claim, disruptive, approach to product cybersecurity testing at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on Stand #1F50 in Hall 1 at the following times:
Monday , 27 th February , 2017 : 4p.m. - 5p.m.
: Tuesday , 28 th February , 2017 : 11a.m. - 12p.m.
: Wednesday , 1 st March , 2017 : 4:30p.m. - 5:30p.m. ( followed by drinks reception to 7p.m. )
: ( ) Thursday, 2nd March, 2017: 11a.m. - 12p.m.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151216/296440LOGO )
Co-presenting will be Bureau Veritas' research partners, CEA-Leti, who will be introducing, and demonstrating, the automated testing of a products physical interface security features (not only the software) thanks to their innovative scanning and fuzzing techniques. Bureau Veritas claim the time taken to scan and identify threats and weaknesses will be significantly reduced, speeding up time to market for the latest IoT devices. The level of protection will also be enhanced thanks to the digitalization of simulated attacks.
Interested Mobile World Congress visitors can join the presentations, part of Bureau Veritas' Industry Insight Series, with attendees benefitting from a copy of CEA Tech's white paper, "Automated and Remote Security Fuzz Testing Tool for IoT Devices." On top of this, visitors to the session held on Wednesday 1st March, 2017 will additionally gain the chance to discuss their own product cybersecurity challenges with the Bureau Veritas and CEA specialists over a drinks reception on the stand between 5:30p.m. to 7p.m. To express an interest in attending one of the sessions, visitors can register at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BV-MWC2017-BCN. For those that are not able to attend, Bureau Veritas is offering e-copies of the materials post show.
Philippe Sissoko, Director of Operations for Bureau Veritas' Electrical & Electronic Business Line, EMEA Region commented, "Cyber-attacks are about to become more aggressive and complex, especially within the IoT market area. It is estimated that by 2020, around 50 billion connected objects will be launched into markets, and more than one out of two devices will have an IoT security attack. CEA and Bureau Veritas have enjoyed a successful partnership in delivering innovative solutions to the TIC marketplace for many years. Most recently, we have been working to automate product cybersecurity testing, currently a manual process often taking many weeks, and sometimes months. We firmly believe our solution will disrupt the cybersecurity testing marketplace. Not only are we reducing the testing time to a matter of days, we are also improving the security protection thanks to the focus on the safety critical wireless/wired interfaces, our digitalization approach and the massive reference database of cyber-attacks that CEA maintain and update on an ongoing basis."
# END #
About Mobile World Congress
Held between 27 February and 2 March and organized by the GSMA, the annual event provides a venue for over 100,000 industry players and over 2,000 exhibitors from all over the world to gather, network, exchange ideas and showcase cutting-edge technologies and the most innovative products & solutions.
Website: https://www.mobileworldcongress.com/
About Bureau Veritas
Bureau Veritas is a global leader in testing, inspection and certification services. Founded in 1828, the group has more than 68,400 employees in about 1,400 offices and laboratories around the world. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performances by offering innovative services and solutions in order to ensure that their products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environment protection and social responsibility.
Website: www.bureauveritas.com
Bureau Veritas' Consumer Products Services division is a leading global quality assurance and sustainability provider for the global consumer product and retail markets. It offers an array of specialized services including testing, inspections, certification, audits and engineering services for a wide range of consumer products. These products include soft goods; electrical and electronic products; smartworld products and services including wireless and mobile devices; automotive equipment; hard goods; toys and juvenile products; premiums; food products as well as health, beauty, cosmetics, and household products.
Website: www.bureauveritas.com/cps
About CEA-Leti
Leti is an institute of CEA, a French research-and-technology organization with activities in energy, IT, healthcare, defence and security. Leti is focused on creating value and innovation through technology transfer to its industrial partners. It specializes in nanotechnologies and their applications, from wireless devices and systems, to biology, healthcare and photonics. NEMS and MEMS are at the core of its activities. In addition to Leti's 1,700 employees, there are more than 250 students involved in research activities, which makes Leti a mainspring of innovation expertise. Leti's portfolio of 2,800 patents helps strengthen the competitiveness of its industrial partners.
CEA-Leti maintains a leadership position in cybersecurity covering:
Cryptography
Characterization
Communication and secure protocols
Software security
System architecture for security
Security evaluation of systems and components
Big Data and data analysis; behavior analysis; data mining
Sensor (capacitive, pressure, etc.) systems and integration
Website: http://www-leti.cea.fr/en
News Contact
Chris Baird
+852-2494-1013
chris.baird@hk.bureauveritas.com
SOURCE Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services
SOFIA, Bulgaria, FRANKFURT, Germany and LONDON, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
The construction of a new landmark office building in Business Park Sofia (BPS) will secure its continued position as the largest business office park in Central and Eastern Europe
At the same time, KPMG IT Service and Bulpros Consulting each signed respective five-year leases with BPS for its newest building; these transactions constitute some of the largest lease dealings on the Sofia office market during 2016.
Arco Real Property Holdings, a joint venture between Arco Capital and Deutsche Asset Management's DB Private Equity & Private Markets group, has decided to develop and construct a new office building in BPS. The investment volume for this new building will be around EUR 30 million.
(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470199/Arco_Capital_Logo.jpg )
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470196/Arco_Capital_1.jpg )
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470197/Arco_Capital_2.jpg )
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470198/Arco_Capital_Atrium.jpg )
The construction of the Class "A" building, which shall be known as Building 15, is being directed by leading German construction management company Lindner Immobilien Management. The construction of the building has commenced and is expected to be completed at the end of 2018. Building 15 shall offer a total of 20,800 square metres of leasable space, with five levels designed for office use, retail units on the ground floor, and two underground parking levels with a total of 260 parking spaces.
Most importantly, the building has already been substantially pre-let to major international tenants. KPMG IT Service and Bulpros Consulting will initially occupy the vast majority of the building which is being developed specially for their requirements. Additional tenants will be able to let smaller areas of the building from around 200 to 3000 square metres. As of today, Building 15 has been 80 percent pre-let.
Like all new investments made by Arco Capital, this building will be planned and constructed as a green building in adherence to strict sustainability criteria. "The greenfield investment is looking to receive a LEED Gold or higher certification, and this was a consideration throughout the entire planning and designing process," Christo Moskov, General Manager of BPS said. "We are happy that after eight years we can expand BPS. The new building will fit the high expectations of international tenants looking for state of the art office buildings in the Sofia CBD," according to Moskov.
Its open space office floors with areas of 3,050 square metres, combined with a large structural span, provide flexibility to tenants of various requirements. The open atrium in the inner part of the building and the open park which will be designed on the roof top of the building will allow tenants to have more recreational space while enjoying the natural surroundings.
The increased demand for high quality office spaces located in a friendly and safe urban development has required an expanded vision for BPS, the largest business park in Central and Eastern Europe, and a leading business location with its multifunctional high-tech infrastructure. The office market appears to be well short of supply for class "A" schemes. "The vacancy rate at BPS has been less than 1% for the past 18 months; it has never been so low," Moskov said. "The overall market has picked up through an increase in re-letting and new leasing activities," Moskov explained in his summary of market conditions. "Take up has grown significantly, and CBD pre-leases are becoming a trend. In the past few years, new office buildings were either almost fully rented through pre-leases or by the first few months after opening, at the latest," Moskov commented. Arco Capital's real estate arm manages approximately 200,000 square metres of built up area and more than 150 tenants, making it one of the largest property managers in the CEE region.
"These leasing transactions coupled with the construction of our newest building, demonstrates BPS's strong position as the leading real estate player in the Sofia, Bulgaria and regional office market. They are also fully in line with our overall strategy of being opportunistic as to new investments and further improving cash flows through active asset management" said Moskov.
Notes to Editors:
Business Park Sofia (http://www.businesspark-sofia.com) is the largest office park in Central and Eastern Europe and was the first business park in Bulgaria. The facility accommodates some of the most successful businesses in diverse industries. The park is designed to provide efficiency, flexibility and convenience to corporate tenants of any size and scope. It is a genuine multifunctional high-tech business park, which combines essential business components and related sectors in a vibrant and sustainable community.
SOURCE Arco Capital, Business Park Sofia
DUBLIN, Feb 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Autoliv 77GHz Multi Mode Radar: Technology Analysis" report to their offering.
Autoliv, one of the leading automotive radar system supplier, has developed a new radar configuration. No more need to install two radar systems, one for Long Range and another for Middle Range, the 77GHz Multi Mode Radar combines both. By expanding the detection area of the radar, Autoliv provides a significant cost reduction in safety equipment.
The system integrates two electronic boards including Texas instrument Microcontroller and Automotive Vision Processor. The RF board is manufactured with an asymmetric structure using Hybrid PTFE/FR4 substrate and is equipped with planar antennas.
Infineon 77GHZ SiGe Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC) are used as High-Frequency transmitter and receiver. The RF dies are packaged in the last version of the eWLB, the Fan-Out Wafer Level Package developed and manufactured by Infineon. The Transmitter and Receiver are associated to a Dual Power Amplifier and to a Wave Form Generator from Infineon.
Based on a complete teardown analysis of the Autoliv Multi Mode Radar, the report provides the bill-of-material (BOM) and the manufacturing cost of the Radar Sensor.
Key Topics Covered:
Overview/Introduction
- Executive Summary
- Company Profile & Main Features
- Reverse Costing Methodology
Physical Analysis
- Global View of the Radar
- Views and Dimensions of the Radar
- Radar Teardown
- Electronic Boards
- MCU Board
- Global View
- High Definition Photo
- Components Markings & Identification
- RF Board
- Global View
- High Definition Photo
- Components Markings & Identification
- RF Chipset Analysis
- Comparison with Bosch MMR1 and Delphi RACam
Cost Analysis
- RF Board Cross Section and EDX Analysis
- Estimation of the cost of the PCBs
- BOM Cost
- MCU Board
- BOM Cost
- RF Board
- BOM Cost
- Housing
- Material Cost Breakdown
- Accessing the Added Value (AV) cost
- MCU Board Manufacturing Flow
- RF Board Manufacturing Flow
- Details of the Housing Assembly & Functional Test Costs
- Added Value Cost Breakdown
- Manufacturing Cost Breakdown
Estimated Price Analysis
Estimation of the Manufacturing Price
For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/sjsms2/autoliv_77ghz
Media Contact:
Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager
press@researchandmarkets.com
For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470
For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630
For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
Related Links
http://www.researchandmarkets.com
SOURCE Research and Markets
PORTLAND, Oregon and PUNE, India, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
A new report published by Allied Market Research titled, "Data Protection as a Service (DPaaS) Market-Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecasts, 2014-2022," projects the DPaaS market size to reach $28,878 million by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 31.5% from 2016 to 2022. Private cloud deployment model generated the largest DPaaS market share in 2015 while hybrid cloud sub-segment is expected to register fastest growth during the forecast period 2016-2022. North America is expected to be the largest market over the forecast period.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140911/647229 )
Summary of the Data Protection as a Service (DPaaS) Market Report can be accessed at :https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/data-protection-as-a-service-market
Increasing data loss concerns, rise in need for backups & archives, and governance, risk & compliance are expected to drive the growth of global data protection as a service market. In addition, increasing demand for cloud-based disaster recovery & backup for virtual machines and integration of backup & recovery services have increased significantly and are expected to provide lucrative opportunities for market growth. However, high costs and complexities in cloud deployment limit the DPaaS market growth.
"In 2015, private cloud accounted for the maximum revenue share in the overall DPaaS market as it is much safer than public cloud. In addition, hybrid cloud is expected to witness the fastest growth over the forecast period as many companies plan to make hybrid cloud a crucial part of their IT strategies", states Seapee Bajaj, Lead Analyst, Software & Services at AMR.
The STaaS service type dominated the global market in 2015 due to. Furthermore, DRaaS is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 32.6% during the forecast period owing to increased need to improve data security, protection of data in disaster, and assurance of seamless & continuous business operations.
Large enterprises are the leading end users in the market and are projected to continue their dominance over the forecast period. However, SMEs will witness the fastest growth over the forecast period owing to the increasing number of SMEs across the globe and deployment of cost-effective solutions.
North America is the most lucrative market as compared to others with diverse industry verticals implementing DPaaS at a greater extent. Furthermore, it is projected to generate the highest market revenue over the forecast period with predominant deployments in the large enterprises. In addition, Asia-Pacific is estimated to grow at the fastest pace owing to heavy investments by the governments into infrastructural activities for effective data protection.
Key Findings of Data Protection as a Service Market:
Private cloud deployment model is expected to exhibit a significant growth in the DPaaS industry
STaaS generated the highest revenue among other service types pertaining to reduced data storage costs and increased implementation by SMEs
Large enterprises dominate the global DPaaS market followed by SMEs
Asia-Pacific is projected to exhibit a substantial growth during the forecast period
The key players in the global DPaaS market include IBM Corporation, Amazon Web Services, Inc., HP Development Company, L.P., Commvault Systems, Inc., EMC Corporation, VMware, Inc., Quantum Corporation, Asigra, Inc., Veritas Technologies, and Cisco Systems.
Summary of similar reports can be viewed at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/information-&-communication-technology-&-media/software-and-services-market-report
About Us
Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.
We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.
Contact:
Dhananjay Potle
5933 NE Win Sivers Drive
#205, Portland, OR 97220
United States
Int'l: +1-503-894-6022
Toll Free: +1-800-792-5285 (U.S. & Canada)
E-mail: sales@alliedmarketresearch.com
Website: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com
SOURCE Allied Market Research
LONDON, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Europe is beset by an under-performing financial services industry and mounting dissatisfaction among consumers, due to the large installed base of legacy systems, incumbents' resistance to change, and unfavourable regulations. The region is ripe for a FinTech explosion as Millennials enter the workforce and demand convenience, as well as nimble and personalised services. This new ecosystem will be particularly conducive for start-ups to launch digital-only, mobile-only services for tech-savvy consumers, compelling incumbents to look at new business models and sign partnerships with start-ups to stay competitive.
"With the rising demand for new channels, user-friendly interfaces and device-agnostic services, incumbents can no longer depend on large, siloed, expensive IT set-ups to serve customers," said Frost & Sullivan Digital Transformation Research Analyst Deepali Sathe. "The use of blockchain, data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things and cloud has altered the way financial services are delivered and consumed. The result is improved efficiency, cost effectiveness and greater satisfaction among FinTech consumers."
FinTech in Europe, 2016, part of Frost & Sullivan's Digital Identification Growth Partnership Subscription, finds that many European countries with high Internet penetration and ease-of-doing-business indices are aware of the impact of FinTech. Advanced technologies will become mainstream within five years, as adoption increases across the region.
Click on the following link for complimentary access to more information on this analysis and to register for a Growth Strategy Dialogue, a free interactive briefing with Frost & Sullivan's thought leaders: https://goo.gl/6SdBrp
While technology adoption is clearly the way forward for the European financial services sector, the lack of clarity on regulators' perspectives on FinTech and fears of data security are impeding growth. Post-recession consumer trust is at an all-time low as the last downturn was the result of fraudulent deals by regulators across the world, which increased the cost of operations for banks and other financial companies.
Nevertheless, Europe enjoys high demand from consumers and benefits from the presence of the financial services hubLondon. With Brexit, many other countries are promoting alternative locations and providing attractive deals to start-ups with a competitive structure, but it will be awhile before they match the UK's strong infrastructure and ecosystem.
"Following the focus on advanced FinTech solutions, the segment that is likely to experience the most disruptions is payment," noted Sathe. "Once consumers become familiar with online payment options, the presence of large tech players such as Apple and Google will further drive the growth of the payments segment."
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion
Contact:
Anna Zanchi
Corporate Communications Europe
P: +39.02.4851 6133
E: anna.zanchi@frost.com
http://www.frost.com
Related Links
http://www.frost.com
SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
LONDON, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ansell Healthcare Products LLC and Ansell (UK) Ltd, wholly owned subsidiaries of Ansell Ltd., a global leader in protection solutions, today announced they filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare (UK) Ltd for their distribution of the "Durex RealFeel" condom. The action, filed in the High Court in London, follows similar lawsuits against Reckitt Benckiser in Australia and the US and alleges infringement of Ansell's European Patent number 2 280 618 which is entitled "Dip-formed Synthetic Polyisoprene Latex Articles with Improved Intraparticle and Interparticle Crosslinks."
This lawsuit against Reckitt Benckiser marks the third patent infringement suit filed by Ansell against Reckitt Benckiser over the last three years. As part of a global strategy to safeguard its valuable intellectual property and protect its highly-innovative non-latex SKYN condom product line, Ansell Ltd and Ansell Healthcare Products LLC filed a first patent infringement suit against Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare Australia Pty Limited and Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare (UK) Ltd in the New South Wales District Registry of the Federal Court of Australia in November 2014. A decision from the Australian Court is expected later this year. In addition, in October 2015, Ansell Healthcare Products LLC filed a second patent infringement suit against Reckitt Benckiser LLC in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.
Ansell is requesting a permanent injunction to stop Reckitt Benckiser from infringing European Patent (UK) number 2 280 618. In particular, Ansell's claim will seek an injunction to stop Reckitt Benckiser from engaging in any of the following activities in the UK during the term of that patent, without the consent of Ansell:
Importing the Durex RealFeel product into the UK.
Selling, supplying or otherwise disposing of the Durex RealFeel product in the UK; and
Offering to sell, supply or otherwise dispose of the Durex RealFeel product in the UK.
In addition, Ansell is seeking:
Damages, including lost profits, costs (attorney fees), interest and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.
"Ansell is a global leader in the development and commercialization of condoms and surgical gloves utilizing patented polyisoprene technology," says Bill Reilly, Senior Vice President and Corporate General Counsel at Ansell. "The Company has made significant R&D investments in this technology and related patents and this lawsuit seeks to protect these investments."
Ansell is represented in the UK law suit by Kempner and Partners LLP.
About Ansell
Ansell is a world leader in providing superior health and safety protection solutions that enhance human well-being. With operations in North America, Latin America/Caribbean, EMEA and Asia, Ansell employs nearly 15,000 people worldwide and holds leading positions in the personal protective equipment and medical gloves market, as well as in the sexual health and well-being category worldwide. Ansell operates in four main business segments: Industrial, Medical, Single Use and Sexual Wellness.
Information on Ansell and its products can be found at www.ansell.com.
Ansell, and TM are trademarks owned by Ansell Limited or one of its affiliates. US Patented and US and non-US Patents Pending: www.ansell.com/patentmarking 2017 Ansell Limited. All Rights Reserved.
For more information:
Ansell News Bureau
news@ansell.com
+ 1 732 345 2167
Related Links
http://www.ansell.com
SOURCE Ansell
Doubles Subscription Sales Year-over-Year Surpasses 35,000 Global Business Customers and 40,000 Gateways Sold
NEW YORK and PETACH TIKVAH, Israel, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CTERA Networks today announced that it achieved record bookings in 2016 as global enterprise demand for secure file services continues to grow. The company extended its period of hypergrowth by doubling its subscription sales in 2016 versus 2015, and reaching 35,000 business customers and over 40,000 cloud storage gateways sold. With the only cyber-hardened and completely unified platform that addresses the full range of enterprise file services, CTERA continues to drive customer traction across Fortune 100 enterprises, global government organizations, and leading service providers that increasingly seek to modernize their data infrastructure.
Massive data breaches exposed in 2016 at public cloud services providers like Yahoo! and Dropbox, along with the unrelenting growth of unstructured data, are driving unprecedented demand for a private and secure approach to enterprise file services. CTERA enables organizations to modernize their file sharing and data protection agenda with a single platform that can be securely deployed from behind the firewall on any private or virtual private cloud infrastructure, thereby avoiding all of the data privacy and security complications otherwise associated with public cloud SaaS solutions.
CTERA's 2016 business highlights include:
Customer Traction
CTERA continued to add premier customers to its worldwide community, including strategic projects with government organizations such as the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the State of Texas. Other notable customer wins or expanded engagements included The Santander Group, Live Nation, The Carlyle Group, Henry Schein, Learfield Communications, The Korte Company, and many others.
Product Enhancements
In April CTERA introduced a refreshed cloud storage gateway portfolio , including a new virtual appliance to enable enterprises to utilize existing hardware and enable larger capacities. The updated gateway portfolio delivers reduced TCO, increased capacity at the edge, and on-demand deployment of file and data protection services.
including a new virtual appliance to enable enterprises to utilize existing hardware and enable larger capacities. The updated gateway portfolio delivers reduced TCO, increased capacity at the edge, and on-demand deployment of file and data protection services. In June CTERA introduced military-grade mutual authentication with support for smart cards/client certificates, as developed as part of its work with the U.S. DoD. The CTERA platform now enables end-users to mutually authenticate themselves using government-issued Common Access Cards (CAC), providing assurance that only intended DoD users can access and share files.
In July CTERA introduced new cloud data management capabilities that enable IT organizations to migrate data across any data center and cloud infrastructure, optimize storage infrastructure costs through intelligent file management, and simplify user access to enterprise data through new identity management integrations.
Strategic Partnerships
CTERA continued to expand its strategic partnerships in 2016 with leading global cloud and object storage providers, including AWS, Dell EMC, HPE, IBM, NetApp, and Western Digital, and grew existing business with cloud service providers such as Telefonica, Orange, Deutsche Telecom, Swisscom, Telecom Italia, and Bezeq.
In October CTERA was recognized as a featured partner of IBM Cloud Object Storage, marking the launch of a new reseller agreement enabling IBM cloud sellers worldwide to offer an integrated solution based on IBM Cloud Object Storage and CTERA's file services platform.
Funding
In September CTERA closed a $25 million funding round, bringing its total amount of investment to $70 million. The funding allows CTERA to deliver best-in-class products, support and service to an even broader collection of forward-thinking enterprise customers that are modernizing their data infrastructures.
Industry Recognition
CTERA was recognized in 2016 by a number of independent experts and industry awards, and was referenced by Gartner in over 15 reports, including the IT Market Clock for the Digital Workplace, 2016, which listed CTERA as a Selected Vendor for Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing.
About CTERA
Trusted by Fortune 100, government organizations and leading service providers, CTERA provides the only cyber-hardened and completely unified file sharing and data protection platform that allows enterprise IT to address the full continuum of global file services from the cloud of their choice. CTERA is leading the digital transformation of enterprises to cloud-enabled file services, with millions of users and more than 40,000 cloud storage gateways sold to date. To learn more, visit www.ctera.com.
CONTACT: Skye McIvor, 1-781-966-4169, skye@inkhouse.com
Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/357489/ctera_networks_logo_Logo.jpg
Related Links
http://www.ctera.com
SOURCE CTERA Networks
PORTLAND, Oregon and PUNE, India, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, "Global Household Induction Cooktops Market by Type, Mode of Sale, and Geography: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecasts, 2014-2022," the household induction cooktops market size was valued at $9,160 million in 2015 and is projected to reach $13,538 million by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 5.8% from 2016 to 2022. Europe is expected to be the leading contributor to the global household induction cooktops market followed by Asia-Pacific and LAMEA.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140911/647229 )
Summary of the Household Induction Cooktops Market can be accessed at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/household-induction-cooktops-market
Growth in acceptance of innovative cooking technologies, smart kitchen appliances and energy efficient solutions primarily drive the market. In addition, the health and safety benefits provided by the adoption of induction cooktops further supplements the market growth. Factors such as rise in disposable income of consumers and increase in price of fuels used for conventional cooking such as gas and electricity encourages the adoption of energy efficient cooking solutions, thus propelling the household induction cooktops industry growth. However, need for specialized cookware is likely to hamper the market growth as the cost incurred in investing in induction supported cookware is high for the first time purchasers. Growth in popularity of modular kitchens and preference for optimized cooking solutions layout, rise in number of working women, and increase in government emphasis on energy efficient cooking appliances are expected to provide numerous growth opportunities for the global household induction cooktops market.
In 2015, built-in induction cooktops segment accounted for the maximum revenue shares in the overall household induction cooktops industry. This is due to the rise in trend of integration of kitchen appliances. As a result, many vendors have started offering built-in induction cooktops along with built-in ovens. In addition, the demand for built-in induction cooktops from European and Asia-Pacific countries is expected to have a positive impact on the household induction cooktops market growth as these regions have large kitchen spaces. Moreover, the free-standing & portable induction cooktops segment is expected to witness the fastest growth at CAGR of 6.4% during the forecast period. The market is expected to grow, owing to the technological advancements such as, manual menu control option & resistance to voltage fluctuation, availability in single or double zones, portability of the cooktop, and others.
The retail sales channel dominated the global household induction cooktops market with 87% share in 2015 and is projected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. In addition, customer can have better interaction with the salesperson and can physically see the product specifications and features. However, online sales channel is anticipated to grow at a highest CAGR of 7.6% during the forecast period (2016-2022). The growth of online sales channel would be driven by convenience, and services such as free delivery and installation of the induction cooktops.
According to Deepankar Bose, Manager, Consumer Goods at Allied Market Research, "The household induction cooktops market in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period, owing to growth in urbanization, improving living standards of the consumers, and introduction of energy-efficient induction cooktops that could help minimize utility bills. Furthermore, continuous economic development in countries such as India, China, and Australia are expected to provide numerous growth opportunities to the market."
Europe accounted for the major share of the global household induction cooktops market in 2015, and is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period, owing to demand for easy to maintain household electric cooking appliances, such as induction cooktops and enhanced consumer awareness. Asia-Pacific is estimated to grow at the highest rate due to increase in the adoption of energy-efficient electrical cooking appliances, booming demand for modular kitchen designs, and extensive economic growth in China, Japan, Singapore, and India.
Key findings of the study:
In 2015, built-in induction cooktops accounted for the maximum revenue, and is projected to grow at a notable CAGR of 5.4% during the forecast period.
France possessed the largest customer base in Europe household induction cooktops market in 2015, and is anticipated to dominate the market throughout the forecast period.
possessed the largest customer base in household induction cooktops market in 2015, and is anticipated to dominate the market throughout the forecast period. Online mode of sale segment is expected to grow at a highest CAGR of 7.6% during the forecast period.
Japan is the major shareholder in the Asia-Pacific household induction cooktop market, accounting for more than 25% share in 2015.
The key players profiled in the household induction cooktops market include LG Electronics, Inc., Whirlpool Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V., TTK Prestige Ltd, Sub-Zero Group, Inc., Electrolux Group, Robert Bosch GmbH, Miele Group, and SMEG S.p.A. Market players have adopted various strategies such as product launch, acquisition, collaboration, and partnership to expand their foothold in the market. For instance, in November 2016, SMEG S.p.A. introduced a sleek range of cooktops equipped with advanced features and technology that serve best for the consumers living in houses with compact kitchens featuring premium benchtop space.
Summary of Similar Reports can be accessed at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/consumer-goods/consumer-electronics-market-report
About Us:
Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions". AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.
We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. The data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.
Contact
Pankaj Kumar
5933 NE Win Sivers Drive
#205, Portland, OR 97220
United States
Direct: +1-503-894-6022
Toll Free: +1-(800)-792-5285 (U.S. & Canada)
Fax: +1-(855)-550-5975
E-mail: sales@alliedmarketresearch.com
SOURCE Allied Market Research
Since 2014, two collections have been born from the partnership between Hublot, Italia Independent and Lapo Elkann. This time the magic of this wildly creative team was unleashed on the Classic Fusion model. Its name seems to have predestined it for this new special edition: there has never been such a fine example of the fusion of the 'classic' and innovation.
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470761/Classic_Fusion_Chronograph_Italia_Independent.jpg )
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470763/Mariano_Rubinacci_Luca_Rubinacci_Lapo_Elkann_Ricardo_Guadalupe.jpg )
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470762/Lapo_Elkann_Classic_Fusion_Italia_Independent.jpg )
"As a creator, I have always put customisation and bespoke designs, which for me represent real luxury, at the heart of my different projects. It is with this in mind that I conceive and design unique objects, which meet my tastes and requirements, but also satisfy my clients. I like the fact that they become truly mine and that they are distinctive, and this is the case for the Classic Fusion Italia Independent collection."
Lapo Elkann, Founder and Artistic Director of Italia Independent
This was a task that was made-to-measure (no pun intended) for Lapo Elkann who is frequently named "the most elegant man in the world" and who has made bespoke designs and customisation his signature. He brought Ferrari's 'Tailor Made' programme to life, and he is continuing and expanding upon the concept with Garage Italia Customs; cars, boats, planes and helicopters, with a unique level of customisation, personalisation and innovative creativity for the whole mobility industry. Lapo also applies this same expertise to the creations that he designs for Hublot and Italia Independent.
The "sartoria Rubinacci" was not chosen at random: the House of Rubinacci holds the most beautiful collection of fabrics in its archives. It was here, in the more than 60,000 square metres of precious houndstooth, tweeds and other cloths that Hublot and Lapo Elkann found a collection of tartans-squared coloured wool weaves from the seventies-that they brought back to life by including them in the Classic Fusion as a chronograph. The dial and straps have therefore been made using these precious fabrics to offer this range of 45 mm timekeepers an end result that is the epitome of elegance. "La vera sprezzatura!"
Link to download the press releases and pictures: http://j.mp/2lQIcXD
HUBLOT S.A.
Ch. de la Vuarpilliere 33, CP2464
CH-1260 Nyon 2
Switzerland
T +41(0)22-990-90-00
SOURCE HUBLOT
CHENNAI and HAMBURG, Germany, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Indivumed, GmbH (Indivumed), a world leader in precision oncology headquartered in Hamburg, Germany and The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), the country's premier academic research institution, announced today a collaboration to support the first Indian national cancer data base and biobank for use in precision cancer research.
IITM and Indivumed signed an agreement with an initial three-year term. The collaboration will include collection of many types of cancer, such as lung, breast, colorectal and pancreatic, to name a few. Initially physicians and patients residing within the state of Tamil Nadu with an approximate population of more than 78 million will be provided the opportunity to participate, with the hopes to expand the collection throughout the country.
IITM will join a worldwide network of clinical and research institutions within Germany, Poland and the United States, enabling researchers to access a multi-national biobank of specimens and annotated clinical data collected and preserved under Indivumed unique scientific standards.
"Partnering with IITM is an exciting expansion of the Indivumed mission to impact precision medicine in cancer on a global scale," said Hartmut Juhl, MD, founder and CEO of Indivumed. "With world class scientists and state-of-the-art technology, IITM is well positioned to advance cancer research. Our institutions have a shared commitment to attaining individualized cancer diagnosis and treatment for every patient based on reliable clinical data and molecularly intact biospecimens," Juhl went on to say.
Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras said of this collaboration, "Indivumed is a world leader in tissue collection and preservation and will drive meaningful innovation for physicians, patients and researchers. By participating in the Indivumed research network, we will join with the global scientific community to fight cancer and have access to a critical mass of biological samples and clinical data for use in unique clinical research for our community. IITM is committed to being on the cutting-edge of precision medicine for personalized cancer treatment."
"The collection and preservation of human tissue is vital to enable the most impactful medical research," commented Dr. S. Mahalingam, Professor in the Department of Biotechnology at the Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences and Faculty-in-charge of National Cancer Tissue Biobank. "Importantly", Mahalingam said, "The partnership with Indivumed will provide our team access to its internationally leading biobanking standards, enabling the preservation of the molecular profile of cancer patients to allow for a better understanding of the interaction between genetic changes (DNA mutations) and cell biology, an essential ingredient to developing targeted cancer therapies."
About IIT Madras (http://www.iitm.ac.in)
IIT Madras is one among the foremost institutes of national importance in higher technological education, basic and applied research. In 1956, the German Government offered technical assistance for establishing an institute of higher education in engineering in India. The first Indo-German agreement in Bonn, West Germany for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras was signed in 1959.
IIT Madras is a residential institute with nearly 600 faculty, 9000 students and more than 1500 administrative & supporting staff and is a self-contained campus located in a beautiful wooded land of about 250 hectares. It has established itself as a premier centre for teaching, research and industrial consultancy in the country.
The Institute has sixteen academic/research departments and many national as well as international advanced research centres/facilities in various disciplines of engineering and pure sciences. IIT Madras jointly with the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India established the first National Cancer Tissue Biobank facility. A faculty of international repute, a brilliant student community, excellent technical & supporting staff and an effective administration have all contributed to the pre-eminent status of IIT Madras. The campus is located in the city of Chennai, previously known as Madras. Chennai is the state capital of Tamil Nadu, a southern state in India.
IITM has been ranked #1 amongst research and teaching institutions in Engineering in the India Rankings 2016 released by the National Institutional Ranking Framework, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India- https://www.nirfindia.org/engg
Join IIT Madras on Facebook: ReachIITM; on Twitter: @ReachIITM
About Indivumed:
INDIVUMED, an ISO certified global oncology research company based in Hamburg, Germany, has established the world's leading Cancer Database and biobank, retaining unique patterns of biomolecules such as RNA, DNA, and proteins as they existed in the human body. This Cancer Database makes possible multi-omics capabilities that will allow for characterization of samples and data such as whole genome gene expression analysis, expression analysis of cancer relevant proteins, expression analysis of cancer relevant phosphoproteins and bioinformatic solutions for integrating molecular, biological and clinical information.
Indivumed's products and services allow for in-depth understanding of the underlying mechanisms of a patient's cancer, addressing important demands in translational research and molecular diagnostics to support implementation of personalized healthcare.
For more information, please visit http://www.indivumed.com
CONTACT FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES
Indivumed GmbH
Hartmut Juhl, MD
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Tel.: +49/40 - 41 33-83-0
E-mail: press@indivumed.com
IIT Madras:
Bhavani Giddu
Footprint Global Communications
Cell: +91-9999500262
Email: bhavani.giddu@footprintglobal.com
Palak Sakhuja
Footprint Global Communications
Cell: +91-9582338333
Email: palak.sakhuja@footprintglobal.com
SOURCE Indivumed GmbH
One pivotal, added feature to this year's program will be the Investment Forum. By invitation only, the Forum will bring together investors, investment banking professionals, private equity firms, pharma manufacturers and all involved stakeholders to spur new ventures in the pharmaceutical sector in Indonesia and the region. Contact the Organizer to secure your invitation to attend the Forum and to access the Investors Lounge - a special meeting area dedicated to business talks - open every day at CPhI South East Asia 2017.
In fact, there are more than 200 drug makers in Indonesia, most of which produce only low-margin generics. While they control 95% of the market by volume, they only have a combined 75% share in value terms. At the same time, a much smaller number of companies operating in the country has been able to capture more profits by investing in innovative R&D and the development of higher-value products, often in partnership with international companies, in particular from Korea, Japan, and China.
An example is Kalbe Farma, Indonesia's largest pharmaceutical company, which is shifting from being a maker of generic drugs to a high-tech pharma developer. Last year Kalbe agreed to establish a 60:40 joint venture with South Korean biotechnology company Genexine and initially invest 130 billion rupiah ($9.1 million) to develop biopharmaceutical products. Significantly, a lack of generic substitutes in these fields in Indonesia implies no government-set price ceilings, and therefore these products offer higher margins.
GP Farmasi, the Indonesian industry association, projects investment in the pharmacy sector to reach Rp 215 trillion (US$15.34 billion) by 2025. The sector itself had potentials worth up to Rp 700 trillion, which consisted of Rp 450 trillion for the domestic market and Rp 250 trillion in exports, by 2025.
IPMG members - including Novartis, Merck, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Pfizer - have invested more than USD $1 billion in Indonesia's pharmaceutical industry over the past few years, particularity for the construction of factories and clinical research (source: AmCham Indonesia).
One of their members, Bayer, in 2016 alone invested EUR8.1 million in the expansion of its factory in Cimanggis (West Java). This factory produces multivitamins and medicines, about 75% of which is exported to 26 countries.
Such activities are taking place while Indonesian President Joko Widodo is pushing its universal health care program to cover the country's projected population of 270 million by 2019, a leap from the 170 million currently covered. This year for the first time, government expenditures on health care reached the legally mandated 5% of the state budget. Health care spending is expected to grow 12% every year through 2020.
Tailored to suit this fast changing industry, the 6th edition of CPhI South East Asia taking place during 22-24 March 2017 in Jakarta provides the must-attend trade exhibition where the regional pharma industry meets to leverage connections, knowledge and insight to spur business.
Sign up now to attend!
Government supporters: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Industry, Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board, National Agency for Drug and Food Control
Trade and Professional Organization Supporters : Indonesian Pharmaceutical Association (GP Farmasi Indonesia), Pharma Materials Management Club (PMMC), International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group (IPMG), International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE), Indonesian Pharmacists Association (IAI)
Regional Supporters: Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore (PSS), Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PReMA) -- Thailand, Malaysian Association of Pharmaceutical Suppliers.
The CPhI series of events drives growth and innovation in the global pharmaceutical industry, with leading exhibitions and online communities covering every step of the supply chain from drug discovery to finished dosage.
More than 100,000 visitors meet over 6,000 exhibitors at events in Europe, China, India, Japan, South East Asia, Russia, Brazil, Istanbul and Korea every year to exchange ideas, form alliances and conduct business on an international scale.
Contact:
Ivan Ferrari
Phone: +62-21-2930-5959
Email: ivan.ferrari@ubm.com
Related Links
http://www.cphi.com/sea
SOURCE CPhI SEA
TOKYO, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
A landmark conference in Tokyo highlights growing support internationally for the right, now adopted in more than 80 countries
An event in Tokyo this week brings together some of Japan's most prominent visual artists and academics, and the organisations representing creators globally and in Japan, in a landmark show of support for the resale royalty right for visual artists.
(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470365/CISAC_Logo.jpg )
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470367/CISAC_Infographic.jpg )
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470366/Gadi_ORON.jpg )
The conference, hosted by Waseda University Research Center for Legal Studies for Intellectual Property (RCLIP) and co-hosted by CISAC, will highlight the growing international momentum for adoption of the right, which gives artists a share in the proceeds of the sale of their works by auction houses and galleries.
Japan's copyright experts will outline a proposed draft law prepared by Waseda that would introduce the right in Japan.
A CISAC delegation is also presenting the case for Japan's adoption of the right to the government, at a meeting with the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Japan, home to a world-leading cultural sector and with an important influence internationally, is one of a small number of major art markets where the right is not yet implemented.
Gadi Oron, Director-General of CISAC, said: "The events in Japan this week are important signs of the growing international momentum towards adoption of the resale right. More than 80 countries have adopted the right so far, helped by a steady raising of awareness of its vital importance to artists. Apart from its legal justifications, the resale right brings fairness, respect to creators, economic benefits and transparency to the art market. That is why there is such strong support for it from the artist community and from a growing list of governments around the world".
The visual artists' resale right ensures that creators receive a percentage of the resale price when their works of art are resold by an auction house or an art gallery. It plays a significant role in allowing artists to derive a fair return from their work. In the countries where the right exists, it helps generate total royalty collections of some US$50 million globally for artists, amounting to 25% of total global visual arts collections, according to CISAC's recent collections report published in November 2016.
About CISAC
CISAC - the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers - is the world's leading network of authors' societies (also referred to as Collective Management Organisations, or CMOs). http://www.cisac.org
SOURCE CISAC
DUBLIN, Feb. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Philippines Seed Industry Outlook to 2021 - Rising Government Support to Improve Agriculture Sector with Demand for Hybrid Seed to Foster Growth" report to their offering.
The report covers market size, segmentation on the basis of hybrid and non-hybrid seeds and vegetable & non-vegetable seeds. The report also covers market in different aspects such as import and export of seeds, market share of major players by different seeds and company profiles for major players in Philippines seed market. The report provides detailed overview on future outlook & projections with analyst recommendations for the industry.
This report helps readers to identify the ongoing trends in the industry and anticipated growth in future depending upon changing industry dynamics in coming years. The report is useful for seed manufacturers, seed coating companies, fertilizers companies, pesticides and crop protection chemical companies, agricultural department and ministries and other stakeholders to align their market centric strategies according to ongoing and expected trends in the future.
Key Topics Covered:
1. Executive Summary
2. Appendix
3. Philippines Seed Market Genesis and Current Scenario
4. Value Chain Analysis in Philippines Seed Sector
5. Philippines Seed Market Size
6. Philippines Seed Market Segmentation
7. Trade Scenario for Philippines Seed Market
8. Pricing Analysis for Different Seeds in Philippines
9. SWOT Analysis in Philippines Seed Market
10. Trends and Developments in Philippines Seed Market
11. Government Role and Regulations in Philippines Seed Market
12. Major Developments for Different Seeds in Philippines
13. Issues and Challenges in Philippines Seed Market
14. Market Share of Major Players in Philippines Seed Market, 2016
15. Company Profiles for Major Players in Philippines Seed Market
16. Philippines Seed Market Future Outlook and Projections
17. Macroeconomic Factors affecting Philippines Seed Market
Companies Mentioned
- Allied Botanical Corporation
- Bayer Crop Science
- East West Seeds
- Kaneko Seeds
- Monsanto
- Pioneer Hi-Bred
- SL Agritech
- Syngenta
For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/nb249m/philippines_seed
Media Contact:
Laura Wood, Senior Manager
press@researchandmarkets.com
For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470
For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630
For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
Related Links
http://www.researchandmarkets.com
SOURCE Research and Markets
AMSTERDAM, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Developed in collaboration with leading hospitals worldwide , Philips Azurion is an innovative image - guided therapy platform that allows clinicians to easily and confidently perform a wide range of routine and complex procedures, helping them to optimize interventional lab performance and provide superior care
Azurion is powered by ConnectOS, Philips' newly developed operating system to optimize system integration which features an easy-to-use intuitive user interface combined with real-time information on multiple work spots within the interventional lab
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a leader in health technology, today announced the global launch of Azurion, its next generation image-guided therapy platform, which forms the new core of its integrated solutions portfolio for the fast growing image-guided therapy market. As a leader in this market, Philips offers integrated solutions comprising interventional imaging technologies and planning and navigation software combined with interventional devices - including catheters for diagnosis and therapy - and a broad range of services, all aimed at helping clinicians to provide superior care at predictable costs.
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470877/Azurion_Therapy.jpg )
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/470878/Azurion1.jpg )
Following the acquisition of Volcano in 2015, via which Philips has become a leader in advanced catheters for diagnosis and therapy, the company is now further cementing its overall leadership in the EUR 5 billion image-guided therapy market with one of its largest global product launches in recent years. Philips' Azurion image-guided therapy platform for interventional labs is the result of a multi-year development program conducted in close collaboration with leading clinicians in the field. This next generation platform features a state-of-the-art ergonomic design with an easy-to-use intuitive user interface, enabling clinicians to swiftly and confidently perform a wide range of routine and complex procedures in the interventional lab.
With the rapid growth of image-guided therapy procedures, hospitals and health systems are increasingly faced with the need to control costs, while improving their standards of care. Azurion has been designed to address these challenges and is equipped with new workflow options and performance dashboards, as well as an upcoming range of productivity improvement services.
Azurion is Philips' next generation image-guided therapy platform and the new core of its integrated solutions portfolio. Azurion supports a full range of configurations across a broad spectrum of image-guided therapy procedures. These include configurations for high volume routine procedures and flexible configurations for advanced procedures. Harnessing vital procedural information from various sources, such as imaging systems, interventional devices, navigation tools and patient health records, Azurion provides interventional staff members with the control and information they need to perform procedures efficiently.
The Azurion platform also features over 1,000 new components, including an enhanced flat-panel detector, and Philips' newly developed ConnectOS operating system for the seamless integration of real-time information from all relevant technologies in the interventional lab. All of these components work together to deliver high image quality at ultra-low X-ray dose and real-time image processing on multiple work spots within the interventional lab. Parallel working enables the team of clinicians to complete different tasks simultaneously in the interventional lab, saving valuable time without compromising quality of care. Azurion features procedure cards that allow clinicians to pre-program routine tasks and user preferences, helping to minimize preparation errors and further reducing preparation and procedure time.
Philips has pioneered a steady stream of innovations in planning and navigation software for areas such as vascular surgery (e.g. VesselNavigator), interventional cardiology (e.g. EchoNavigator), interventional oncology (e.g. EmboGuide), and interventional neuroradiology (e.g. AneurysmFlow). All these advanced interventional tools integrate seamlessly into the Azurion platform to support the clinical workflow.
Driven by their benefits for patients and care providers, minimally-invasive therapies, such as the catheter-based treatment of certain tumors, aneurysms, obstructed blood vessels, heart rhythm disorders and defective heart valves, continue to grow fast. In addition to reduced patient trauma and shorter recovery times, such procedures also have the benefit of allowing the treatment of patients who would not be able to withstand the trauma of open surgery. However, during such procedures, clinicians cannot directly see and feel the organs they are working on. Effective imaging, measurement and navigation technologies are therefore key to guiding minimally-invasive procedures. At the heart of the interventional lab, these technologies allow identification and visualization of target organs and tissues, the operation of interventional devices, and the placement of implants, leading to improved chances of therapy success.
"For over 30 years, we've pioneered minimally-invasive treatments that help our patients get back to their daily lives," said Barry T. Katzen, MD, founder and Chief Medical Executive of the Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, Baptist Health South Florida (U.S.). "The imaging environment is critical to perform such procedures efficiently and effectively. As an interventionalist, we want to be in the cockpit, similar to a pilot in an airplane, where we have control of everything we need and have all the relevant functions at our finger tips. Philips' next generation image-guided therapy platform just takes it to a whole other level and allows interventionalists to accomplish the procedures quicker and more efficiently, which benefits the patient."
"As a leader in image-guided therapy, we have been driving continuous innovation to address rising patient volumes and increased procedure complexity," said Bert van Meurs, Business Leader Image Guided Therapy at Philips. "Hundreds of Philips developers, engineers and designers and dozens of our clinical partners across the world have collaborated to completely redesign the heart of our portfolio. With the launch of our new Azurion platform, which was designed to optimize system integration and lab performance, we can deliver new turnkey solutions that support our customers in maintaining high standards of quality and patient care at predictable costs."
"We are on an exciting journey to strengthen the Tampere Heart Hospital's position as a Northern European center of excellence for cardiac care," said Aki Haukilahti, Executive Vice President and CFO of Heart Hospital, Tampere University Hospital (Finland). "As part of our long-term strategic partnership with Philips, we have collaborated on a turnkey solution based on the new Azurion product family. With this solution, Philips provides us with advanced technologies and an excellent user experience, combined with services for guaranteed uptime, seamless integration into our hospital workflows, staff training and education, and enhancement of our productivity. This enables our staff to fully focus on what they do best - providing superior care to our patients."
Click on this link or type http://www.philips.com/azurion in your internet browser to visit the Philips Azurion website.
About Royal Philips
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2016 sales of EUR 17.4 billion and employs approximately 71,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at http://www.philips.com/newscenter.
SOURCE Royal Philips
LE HAVRE, France, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Safran Nacelles has strengthened its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) expertise with the creation of an MRO Center of Excellence at the company's Pont-Audemer facility in France's Normandy region.
Expanding on the existing MRO industrial resources in Pont-Audemer's current facilities, this new Center of Excellence brings numerous advantages to customers that utilize and maintain the product line of jet engine nacelles produced by Safran Nacelles - which covers aircraft from business jets and regional airliners to the largest mainline jetliners.
The new Center of Excellence's responsibilities include: managing the global network of Safran Nacelles' MRO facilities; serving as the operational reference in terms of repair procedures and industrialization; overseeing the company's MRO-related research and technology activities; as well as advancing its overall competence in repair methods and engineering. The MRO Center of Excellence's expertise covers complete engine nacelle systems, including complex structural repairs, line replaceable units (LRUs), engine subassemblies, outlet guide vanes (OGV) and on-site support.
"This latest enhancement of our MRO capabilities provides benefits for customers through increased reactivity, greater technical proficiency, improved workflow and even stronger ties to the resources of Safran Nacelles as a world-leading nacelle manufacturer," said CEO Jean-Paul Alary. "It also will improve our responsiveness as a provider of choice for maintenance, repair and overhaul services worldwide."
The new MRO organization leverages Safran Nacelles' expertise as an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) in being fully ready, anywhere in the world, to support the complete nacelle system it supplies for the Airbus A320neo jetliner.
With the creation of Safran Nacelles' MRO Center of Excellence, Jean-Hugues Cousin has been named as Managing Director. He has the additional responsibility for leading the company's global MRO network - which includes the Pont-Audemer facility, along with Safran Nacelles Services Americas in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; and the Dubai-based Aerostructures Middle East Services (AMES), a joint venture of Safran Nacelles and Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance.
Safran is a leading international high-technology group with three core businesses: Aerospace (propulsion and equipment), Defence and Security. Operating worldwide, the Group has 70,000 employees and generated sales of 17.4 billion euros in 2015. Safran is listed on Euronext Paris and is part of the CAC40 index, as well as the Euro Stoxx 50 European index.
Safran Nacelles is the world's second leading supplier of aircraft engine nacelles, with more than 17,000 in service, logging over 100,000 flight-hours per day. It supplies nacelles and components for all segments of the aviation market, from business and regional jets to mainline commercial jets.
For more information: http://www.safran-group.com and www.safran-nacelles.com / Follow @Safran and @SafranNacelles on Twitter
SOURCE Safran Nacelles
Automotive Navigation Solution Providers Broadening Range of Services to Deal with Automakers' Increasing Focus on Brought-in Navigation Solutions and Autonomous Driving
BOSTON, Feb. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Providers of automotive navigation solutions and location-based services are grappling with a marketplace where automakers are integrating brought-in navigation apps with in-dash systems. Over the long run, however, the need for built-in navigation in vehicles with future autonomous driving capabilities means many providers will continue to play an important role in the years to come.
The Strategy Analytics Automotive Infotainment & Telematics service report, "Automotive Navigation Solution Providers Overview," provides forecasts for hybrid navigation (built-in navigation software with cloud-based capabilities) as well as smartphone-enabled navigation; showing growth in both categories as automakers strive to strike a balance between giving vehicle owners use of the navigation apps they use on their mobile devices while simultaneously laying the groundwork for a future where autonomous vehicles will require hybrid navigation in order to communicate routing information and current location to vehicle occupants.
This report profiles a number of companies in the automotive navigation and location-based services, including HERE, TomTom, NNG, Mapbox, INRIX, and others as well as the impact that tech giants, such as Apple and Google, are having on this market segment and will have in the years to come.
"In the short term, brought-in navigation applications that can be used via in-dash infotainment systems due to the widespread use automakers' use of smartphone integration platforms, such as Google's Android Auto and Apple's CarPlay, will lead to pressure on traditional navigation solution providers," said Greg Basich, Senior Analyst with Strategy Analytics' Automotive Infotainment & Telematics service. "Over the long run, however, there is still a definite need for built-in navigation with cloud-based capabilities as the industry moves toward a future where autonomous and shared vehicles are common."
"Many traditional navigation solution providers are focused on developing predictive, contextually aware navigation solutions in order to enhance their current value proposition," said Richard Robinson, Director of Strategy Analytics' Automotive Infotainment & Telematics service. "They are also focused on developing a range of solutions for autonomous driving, though in the context of infotainment, the vision is for navigation that provides critical location, traffic condition, and routing information in both manual and autonomous driving modes."
For more information about this report, use this link or visit Strategy Analytics' website to find out more about the company's Automotive Infotainment & Telematics service.
About Strategy Analytics
Strategy Analytics, Inc. provides the competitive edge with advisory services, consulting and actionable market intelligence for emerging technology, mobile and wireless, digital consumer and automotive electronics companies. With offices in North America, Europe and Asia, Strategy Analytics delivers insights for enterprise success. www.StrategyAnalytics.com
US Contact: Greg Basich, gbasich@strategyanalytics.com
European Contact: Richard Robinson, rrobinson@strategyanalytics.com
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130207/NE56457LOGO-b
Related Links
http://www.strategyanalytics.com
SOURCE Strategy Analytics
SANTA CLARA, Calif. and SYDNEY, February 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Award-winning Mortgage Technology Company is Also a Featured Exhibitor
Tavant Technologies, Silicon Valley-based innovative mortgage technology company, announced today that it has been invited to speak and exhibit at the seventh annual Australian Mortgage Innovation Summit, February 23 - 24, 2017 at Sydney. Tavant will showcase its disruptive digital mortgage solutions that will enable the 'one-minute mortgage' experience.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150306/732869 )
Sarvesh Mahesh, Tavant's CEO, has been invited to speak at the conference. Mahesh will speak during the panel on 'Speed to Yes,' providing insights on the digital mortgage landscape.
Tavant will provide an exclusive preview of its digital-lending platform, Tavant VLOX. VLOX transforms the labor-intensive, paper saturated, compliance-laden loan fulfilment process into an efficient digital data flow.
"We are excited to be in Sydney for one of the largest mortgage conferences in Australia. Tavant is leading the digital transformation wave, and we are happy to bring our 17+ years of expertise to the Australian market," said Vibhor Mishra, Global Head of Marketing, Tavant Technologies.
Call +61-1300-137-439 or email bizdev@tavant.com to schedule a meeting with our experts.
About Tavant Technologies
Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Tavant Technologies is a specialized software solutions and services provider that provides impactful results to its customers across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Founded in 2000, the company employs over 2000 people and is a recognized top employer.
As a key solutions provider to the Consumer Lending industry, Tavant has demonstrated expertise in helping mortgage firms convert more leads, cut costs and retain borrowers.
Find Tavant Technologies on LinkedIn and on Twitter
Media Contact:
Vibhor Mishra
Tavant Technologies
+61-1300-137-439
vibhor.mishra@tavant.com
www.tavant.com.au
SOURCE Tavant Technologies
ALBANY, New York, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
The top three players leading the global automated microscopy market are Olympus Corporation, Nikon Corporation, and Leica Microsystems. Collectively these companies held a share or 75% in the overall market in 2015. The oligopolistic market is likely to witness tremendous product innovation through result-oriented research and development activities and mergers and acquisitions. Several players are also expected to focus on expanding their business to emerging economies as the spending capacities in these nations is on the rise.
The research report states that the global automated microscopy market stood at US$3.86 bn in 2015 and is expected to climb to a valuation of US$8.05 bn by the end of 2024. Between the forecast years of 2016 and 2024, the global market is projected to surge at a CAGR of 8.5% due to rapid technological advancements.
Download PDF brochure for this Report: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=7153
Asia Pacific Emerges as Leading Region as Investments in Research and Development Increase
In terms of application, the global market is segmented into medical diagnostics, nanotechnology, material science, life science, and semiconductors. Of these, the flourishing life sciences industry is expected to make a generous contribution to the global market in the coming years. Despite a minor slump, the life sciences segment is projected to acquire a share of 27.9% in the global market by the end of 2024.
In terms of geography, the global automated microscopy market is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. Analysts anticipate that the Asia Pacific automated microscopy market will lead the pack between 2016 and 2024. The growing investments in research and development, developing healthcare infrastructure, and low labor cost are some of the factors that are likely to contribute to the emergence of this regional market. The report states that Asia Pacific automated microscopy market will acquire a share of 38.1% by the end of 2024.
Browse Press Release: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/automated-microscopy-market.htm
Semiconductor Industry to Provide Significant Scope for Growth to Global Market
The increasing investments in nanotechnology have boosted the demand for advanced and high-resolution microscopes as they crucial for studying materials at molecular, macromolecular, and atomic level. The widening applications of material sciences, life sciences, and semiconductor are all expected to augment the demand for automated microscopes in the coming years. The increasing importance of research and development activities and usage of advanced microscopes by the precision manufacturing industries are also expected to boost the global market. The emergence of the semiconductor industry in several developing nations is also projected to benefit the global market in the coming years.
Instrumentation Complexities to Hamper Market Growth
The global market is likely to be hampered by the instrumentation complexities that have to be addressed before using automated microscopes. If the special and complex sample preparation techniques are not met with, samples get structurally altered when viewed through microscopes. The market is also likely to be restrained by the premium pricing and operating cost of advanced microscopy.
This review is based on Transparency Market Research's report, titled "Automated Microscopy Market (Product - Optical Microscope (Inverted Microscope, Stereomicroscopes, Phase Contrast Microscopes, Fluorescence Microscopes, Confocal Scanning Microscopes, and Near Field Scanning Microscopes), Electron Microscope (Transmission Microscopes and Scanning Electron Microscopes), and Scanning Probe Microscope (Scanning Tunneling Microscopes and Atomic Force Microscopes); Application - Medical Diagnostic, Nanotechnology, Material Science, Life Science, and Semiconductors) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2016-2024."
The global Automated Microscopy market has been segmented into:
Global Automated Microscopy Market: Product Type
Optical Microscope
Inverted Microscope
Stereomicroscopes
Phase Contrast Microscopes
Fluorescence Microscopes
Confocal Scanning Microscopes
Near Field Scanning Microscopes
Others
Electron Microscope
Transmission Electron microscopes (TEM)
Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM)
Scanning Probe Microscope
Scanning Tunneling Microscopes
Atomic Force Microscopes
Global Automated Microscopy Market: By Application
Medical Diagnostics
Nanotechnology
Material Science
Life Science
Semiconductors
Global Automated Microscopy Market: By Geography
North America
U.S.
Rest of North America
Europe
U.K.
France
Italy
Germany
Rest of Europe
Asia Pacific
China
India
Japan
Rest of Asia Pacific
Middle East and Africa (MEA)
UAE
South Africa
Rest of MEA
Latin America (LATAM)
Brazil
Rest of LATAM
Top Most Research Reports by TMR:
Healthcare Natural Language Processing (NLP) Market : http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/healthcare-natural-language-processing-market.html
http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/healthcare-natural-language-processing-market.html Online Gambling and Betting Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/online-gambling-betting.html
About Us
Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.
TMR's data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.
US Office Contact
Transparency Market Research
90 State Street, Suite 700
Albany, NY 12207
Tel: +1-518-618-1030
USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453
Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com
Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Transparencymarketresearch
SOURCE Transparency Market Research
TORONTO, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Contratulations to the winners of the 7th Annual CFA Society Toronto & Hillsdale Canadian Investment Research Award. The award winning paper "Dominance of Hybrid Contratum Strategies over Momentum and Contrarian Strategies: Half a Century of Evidence" was submitted by Dr. Kobana Abukari, Assistant Professor of Finance at Laurentian University, and Dr. Isaac Otchere, Professor of Finance at the Sprott School of Business, Carleton University.
"The authors have discovered that a hybrid of short term momentum and long term reversal strategies offers superior rewards than either one in isolation. Their findings are robust over 50 years of testing in Canada and contribute to the solid base of evidence for the success of multiple time horizon investment strategies," said Chris Guthrie, CFA, President and CEO, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.
CFA Society Toronto and Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. will award a $10,000 prize to the winners on 23 February 2017 at CFA Society Toronto's Annual Awards Reception. The research paper was selected by a panel of judges from among 11 very competitive papers submitted by academics from top business schools in the world as well as practitioners of leading investment firms in Canada.
"At its roots, Hillsdale believes in and supports applied investment research and this year's winning paper reflects our beliefs. We are very proud to be working with CFA Society Toronto and appreciate the high caliber of submissions that were received," said Harry Marmer, CFA, Executive Vice President, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.
The abstract of the paper: "We evaluated several investment strategies using data on over 3,500 stocks from 1956 to 2015 and find that hybrid investment strategies ranked as contrarian strategies (over the long term) but held as momentum strategies (over the medium term), what we call contratum strategies, outperform traditional momentum and contrarian strategies. The top performing strategy, a contratum strategy ranked over 60 months and held over 3 months, earned a statistically significant continuously compounded monthly return to a hedged portfolio (of losers minus winners) of about 1.1%. In contrast, a traditional momentum strategy generated significant returns of 0.5% per month for a hedged portfolio of winners minus losers, while a traditional contrarian strategy generated a significant hedged portfolio return of 0.7% per month. Our results are robust across size groups, risk, economic states, and sub-periods. Thus, the performance of the momentum, contrarian and hybrid contratum strategies are not crowded out by documented anomalies such as the size effect, January effect or macroeconomic factors. Since it is possible to identify, ex-ante, the losers and winners of the hybrid investment strategies based on past returns, our results can be used as part of a replicable investment strategy."
"We are excited about our study because with investors' desire to outperform the market showing no signs of abating, our findings that hybrid contratum investment strategies dominate the widely-implemented momentum and contrarian strategies provide another avenue for investors to consider. Also, with investment horizons decreasing, the shorter holding periods of contratum strategies could make them more appealing to investors across the spectrum." said Dr. Kobana Abukari and Dr. Isaac Otchere.
To view a copy of the paper click here.
Note to editors: Dr. Kobana Abukari will give a brief overview of their findings at the Awards Reception, at approximately 5:45pm on February 23rd. The event is open to the media who can register by emailing [email protected] and interviews are available upon request by emailing [email protected]. The Awards Reception will be held from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at TMX Broadcast Centre, TMX Gallery, The Exchange Tower, 130 King Street West, Toronto ON.
About Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.
Founded in 1996, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. is one of Canada's premier investment boutiques, managing over $1.6 billion in equities and absolute return strategies for institutional and private wealth investors. Hillsdale's proprietary investment process utilizes the best of fundamental, quantitative and capital market research. With over 20 years of experience in disciplined active investment management, Hillsdale is committed to producing the highest quality investment strategies for its clients. For more information, please refer to www.hillsdaleinv.com.
About CFA Society Toronto
CFA Society Toronto supports the professional and business development of over 9,000 CFA charterholders in Toronto, making it the largest society of CFA charterholders, globally. We provide members with a local perspective on a global designation, including: educational programs, sponsored events, job postings, quarterly newsletters, a comprehensive affinity program and networking opportunities. A not-for-profit organization, CFA Society Toronto is affiliated with CFA Institute, the global body that administers the Chartered Financial Analyst curriculum and sets voluntary, ethics-based performance-reporting standards for the investment industry. CFA Society Toronto's members are leaders in ethics in the financial community. For more information, please refer to www.cfatoronto.ca.
SOURCE CFA Society Toronto
Related Links
http://www.cfatoronto.ca
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- This year, over 500 music schools from 47 states will participate in the third annual Teach Music America Week by offering a complimentary music lesson to new students. Teach Music America Week was founded by the Keep Music Alive organization as a way to inspire musicians and music schools across the country to offer one free 30-minute lesson to new students. All interested music students (children and adults) are also encouraged to seek out a participating music school or musician.
Keep Music Alive 500+ Music Schools to Offer Free Music Lesson for Teach Music America Week - March 20-26
Teach Music America Week is celebrated during the third week of March to coincide with National Music in Our Schools Month (MIOSM). Some of largest music school chains in the country will be participating in Teach Music America Week this year, including the Guitar Center, Music & Arts and the legendary School of Rock. Vincent James, founder of Keep Music Alive, states: "Music education helps children develop confidence, patience, and social skills as well as improve their academics. It has also been demonstrated to provide many benefits to adults who take up an instrument later in life. Sometimes the biggest hurdle in doing something is just getting started; with Teach Music America Week, we are hoping to give birth to a multitude of new musicians who will continue playing music long after the month of March is over."
Keep Music Alive is an organization dedicated to promoting the value of music in our world: educationally, therapeutically and overall making us a happier society. To help spread this message it has founded Kids Music Day, celebrated the first Friday in October and Teach Music America Week in March. It has also published the book "88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life," featuring over 150 inspirational music stories from musicians, music teachers and music fans from around the world including a number of celebrities. Fifty percent of the proceeds from "88+ Ways Music" are donated to organizations that provide instruments and music instruction to schools and communities in need. Current beneficiaries include Guitars in the Classroom, Spirit of Harmony and Mr. Hollands Opus Foundation.
For more information on Teach Music America Week and Keep Music Alive, please visit www.TeachMusicAmerica.org, www.KeepMusicAlive.org or contact Vincent James at (610) 874-6312 or [email protected].
SOURCE Keep Music Alive
The winning recipe - Smoky Chili Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Kahlua Milk Frosting & Vanilla Milk Drizzle - was created by Merry Graham, a Southern California award-winning home cook and published author. Her recipe combines Dutch cocoa, ancho chili, brewed coffee, Kahlua and milk for a decadent dessert.
The competition was hosted by the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB), creator of the iconic got milk? and Toma Leche campaigns, which invited California-based culinary artists to submit on-trend recipes featuring milk. Notable influencers who participated in the campaign include Shirley Chung, a season 11 finalist and current contestant on Season 14 of Bravo's popular show, Top Chef, and Napa-foodie Ethan Speizer, founder and executive chef at late-night pop-up Nuri Napa.
Chef Chung contributed a Milk-Braised Napa Cabbage recipe that incorporates Virginia cured ham, ginger, Goji berries, a reflection of her "modern American cooking with Chinese soul" philosophy. Napa-notable Ethan Speizer contributed a traditional-style Milk-Braised Lamb Neck recipe that incorporates an array of spices and herbs such as bouquet garni and Shisho gremolata.
"The start of a new year inspires an openness to try something new, especially in the kitchen," said Steve James, CMPB Executive Director. "We're excited to showcase new culinary creations that demonstrate milk's central role in expected food trends for 2017."
To view the recipe ideas created exclusively for got milk?/ Toma Leche and a fun instructional video featuring Shirley Chung, visit: www.gotmilk.com, www.tomaleche.com and follow got milk? via social media on Facebook/ Twitter @gotmilk and Instagram @officialgotmilk.
About the CMPB
The California Milk Processor Board was established in 1993 to make milk more competitive and increase milk consumption in California. Awareness of "got milk?" is over 90% nationally and it is considered one of the most important and successful campaigns in history. The "got milk?" trademark is a federally registered trademark and service mark that was licensed by the National Dairy Board in 1995 for use in its advertising, including their long-running "Milk Mustache" campaign. The CMPB's Spanish-language campaign began in 1994 using the tagline "Familia, Amor y Leche" (Family, Love and Milk). The "toma leche" (Drink Milk) campaign replaced it in 2006, in order to better align the English and Spanish language work. The CMPB is funded by all California milk processors and is an instrumentality of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
SOURCE California Milk Processor Board
Related Links
http://www.gotmilk.com
WINOOSKI, Vt., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has published the 4th Edition of Bright Futures, Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents, as well as the 2017 Periodicity Schedule. PCC will be the first pediatric-specific EHR vendor to offer Bright Futures embedded directly into the EHR solution at no additional cost to clients. Recognized as the blueprint for health supervision visits, Bright Futures protocols are an essential part of pediatric care. This resource provides key background information and recommendations for themes critical to healthy child development, along with well-child supervision standards for 31 age-based visits, from newborn through 21 years.
The 4th Edition of Bright Futures features 12 Health Promotion Themes, including these 3 new topics:
Lifelong health for families and communities
Health for children and youth with special health care needs
The healthy and safe use of social media
Dr. Joseph Hagan Jr, MD, FAAP, one of the editors of Bright Futures says,
"The AAP's Periodicity Table tells people what should be done at every visit. Bright Futures seeks to tell people how to do it, and more importantly, how to do it well. We're really excited about the 4th Edition because it has a number of updates in it, especially regarding evidence."
Dr. Hagan goes on to share,
"In primary care and preventive medicine, there is a great interest in standardizing what people are told based on evidence. The problem is that there has not always been a lot of evidence for preventive services for children. In the 2008 Bright Futures 3rd Edition there were only 3 evidence-based preventive statements. There is a lot more evidence in this new 4th edition. I would urge people to look at the 'Evidence and Rationale' chapter. That is what will drive PCC to help them to set up their visits to follow current guidelines."
Chip Hart, Director of Pediatric Solutions at PCC says,
"Bright Futures is the Gold Standard for pediatric care, and we couldn't consider ourselves to be a pediatric EHR vendor and consultant and not have those resources embedded in the very framework of what we do."
About PCC
PCC (Physician's Computer Company) is a privately held, independent software solutions firm with over 30 years of industry experience working exclusively to meet the needs of independent pediatricians nationwide. Since 1983, we have built tools, provided consulting, and offered support to pediatric practices who seek to improve the health of their patients and improve their bottom lines. PCC knows the value of having control over our own future, and our commitment to helping pediatricians stay independent is the driving force behind everything we do.
Contact Information
Bettina Dold, PCC Director of Marketing
800-722-7708 / [email protected]
Visit us at: www.pcc.com
SOURCE PCC (Physician's Computer Company)
Related Links
http://www.pcc.com
"All over the country, Missouri is known as the Show Me state. I feel like we as Missourians need to step up and show the country that we can prevent suicide. I started advocating for my brother, Richard Lewis, who took his own life on November 12, 2003. But I now advocate for everyone who is struggling with suicide or mental health conditions," said Becca Pamperl , resident of Columbia, Missouri and AFSP advocate. Ms. Pamperl is part of a larger national movement of AFSP volunteer advocates who will be visiting 35 state capitols across the United States in spring 2017 to bring best practices in suicide prevention to state legislators.
The Higher Education Suicide Prevention Polices SB 52
This law would require each public institution of higher education to develop and implement a policy to advise students and staff on available suicide prevention programs and resources, both on and off campus, including crisis intervention and hotline services, local mental health and counseling services, multimedia apps, and student educational, outreach, and postvention plans. The law would also make it a requirement for public institutions of higher education to provide all incoming students with information on depression and suicide prevention resources available to students, including on the websites run by the schools.
The Jason Flatt Act of 2017 HB 862
If passed, the Jason Flatt Act of 2017 would make it a requirement that by July 1, 2018, each school board would have to adopt a policy for youth suicide awareness and prevention, including how the district will provide for the training and education of its district employees. Also, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education would have to develop a model policy that districts could choose to adopt.
The Jason Flatt Act Relating to School Policy HB 844
If enacted, HB844 would make it a requirement that all districts offer and include at least two hours of in-service training for all practicing teachers in suicide prevention. This training would count as two contact hours of professional development under the existing law. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary education will also develop guidelines for training or professional development in youth suicide awareness and prevention.
Suicide in Missouri
Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death overall in Missouri. For people aged 10-24 in Utah, it is the third leading cause of death. For those aged 25-34, it is the second leading cause of death. On average one person dies by suicide every 8 hours in the state.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide. AFSP creates a culture that's smart about mental health through education and community programs, develops suicide prevention through research and advocacy, and provides support for those affected by suicide. Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and headquartered in New York, AFSP has local chapters in all 50 states with programs and events nationwide. AFSP celebrates 30 years of service to the suicide prevention movement. Learn more about AFSP in its latest Annual Report, and join the conversation on suicide prevention by following AFSP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
SOURCE American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Related Links
http://www.afsp.org
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC today announced that Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of Latvia (1999-2007), will keynote its gala to launch the AJC Central Europe office on Monday, March 27, at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.
The gala evening is the centerpiece of a larger mission to Warsaw to mark the opening of AJC Central Europe, for which over 130 AJC leaders will travel to Poland and the six other countries the office covers. Nearly 500 government officials, diplomats, and members of the media from across Europe are expected to attend the marquee event.
The office was made possible by the generosity of John Shapiro, AJC's President, and his wife, Dr. Shonni Silverberg.
"We couldn't be more thrilled that President Vike-Freiberga will keynote our gala," said AJC CEO David Harris. "She has been a dear friend of AJC since she first visited our headquarters in 1999 the beginning of a longstanding partnership."
From her leadership over two terms as Latvia's president to her current post as president of the Club of Madrid, the world's largest forum of former heads of state and government, President Vike-Freiberga has championed the highest ideals of democracy, human rights, and the democratic transformation in Central and Eastern Europe.
"We salute her dedication to Latvia's democratic journey and entry into the European Union, as well as her steadfast friendship with the Jewish people, commitment to strengthening relations with Israel, and devotion to the search for historical truth about the fate of Latvia's Jewish community during the Nazi period, ninety percent of which was exterminated," said Harris.
In testament to our friendship and shared values, AJC honored the president in 2007 with its prestigious Madeline and Bruce Ramer Award for Diplomatic Excellence. Upon accepting the award, the president stated: "For the next 100 years of AJC's existence, my solemn wish is that the Jewish people will see fulfilled the dreams they carry in their hearts to achieve peace for Israel." In the same year, President Vike-Freiberga presented Harris with The Order of the Three Stars Commander Class for his contribution to facilitating cooperation between Latvia and the U.S.
AJC was an early and persistent voice in calling on the U.S. government to recognize the Baltic States' independence in 1991, and, later, to support their accession to NATO in 2002. Indeed, it was the first and only Jewish organization to do so. Establishing a permanent regional office in Warsaw builds upon those decades of programming initiatives, and enables the organization to deepen its engagement with the significant countries of Central Europe.
SOURCE American Jewish Committee
Related Links
http://www.ajc.org
PASADENA, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE) announced today that it is commencing an underwritten public offering, subject to market conditions, of senior notes. Goldman, Sachs & Co., Mizuho Securities USA Inc., Scotia Capital (USA) Inc., Evercore Group L.L.C. and TD Securities (USA) LLC will act as joint book-running managers in connection with the public offering. The notes will be unsecured obligations of the Company and fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Alexandria Real Estate Equities, L.P., an indirectly 100% owned subsidiary of the Company.
The Company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes and for the reduction of the outstanding balance on its unsecured senior line of credit. The Company may then also borrow from time to time under its unsecured senior line of credit to provide funds for general working capital and other general corporate purposes. General corporate purposes may include the reduction of the outstanding balances under its unsecured senior bank term loans, repayment of other debt, redemption of preferred stock and selective development or redevelopment of properties.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. is an urban office REIT uniquely focused on collaborative life science and technology campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations. Founded in 1994, Alexandria pioneered this niche and has since established a significant market presence in key locations, including Greater Boston, San Francisco, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle Park.
The notes will be offered pursuant to an effective registration statement on Form S-3 that was previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the Company's notes, nor shall there be any sale of the notes in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.
Copies of the prospectus supplement relating to this offering, when available, may be obtained by contacting: Goldman, Sachs & Co., Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, telephone: 866-471-2526 or by emailing [email protected]; Mizuho Securities USA Inc. at 320 Park Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10022, Attn: Debt Capital Markets, telephone: 866-271-7403; or Scotia Capital (USA) Inc. at 250 Vesey Street, New York, NY 10281, Attn: Debt Capital Markets, telephone: 800-372-3930.
This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's offering of notes and its intended use of the proceeds. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company's present intent, beliefs or expectations, but forward-looking statements are not guaranteed to occur and may not occur. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in or implied by the Company's forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including, without limitation, the risks and uncertainties detailed in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update this information. For more discussion relating to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the Company's forward-looking statements, and risks and uncertainties to the Company's business in general, please refer to the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K.
SOURCE Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.are.com
KINGSPORT, Tenn., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Alpha Natural Resources Holdings, Inc. and ANR, Inc. announce outstanding safety performance for 2016, with five affiliate operations in West Virginia honored for safety achievements by the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training.
The five Alpha affiliates received the Mountaineer Guardian Safety Award, presented to selected mines and mining-related entities that meet strict safety criteria. It recognizes organizations with fatality-free operations, superior internal safety programs, cooperative teaming with authorities and minimal safety violations. In addition, inspectors with the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training may nominate mines and facilities for the awards.
Republic Energy LLC's Republic Surface Mine in Fayette County has been honored with the Barton B. Lay, Jr. Milestones of Safety Award, one of only two operations to receive the WVMHS&T's most prestigious award, and the second time in four years that Republic has been so honored.
The following operations in West Virginia also received the Mountaineer Guardian award:
Underground Operations
Aracoma Coal Company Alma Mine
Brooks Run South Mining, LLC Wyoming #2 Mine
Preparation Plants and Loadouts
Kepler Processing Company, LLC Kepler No. 1 Prep. Plant
Spartan Mining, LLC Trace Transport
Barton B Lay, Jr. Award Milestones of Safety Award Surface Mine
Republic Energy, LLC Republic Surface Mine
Two of the operations are multiple winners of the Mountaineer Guardian Safety Award. Aracoma Alma and Wyoming #2 have been honored two of the last three years, and the Kepler No. 1 Prep Plant has won two years in a row.
"We are proud of the safety achievements of our miners," said Brian Keaton, Alpha's Senior Vice President of Safety and Health. "Safety is a value year-round, and getting our employees home safely is paramount, so it is gratifying to see these employees honored for the focus and attention they place on the safety of their fellow employees."
All of these Alpha-affiliated operations received recognition at the Mountaineer Guardian Luncheon during the 44th annual West Virginia Mining Symposium February 22 in Charleston, W.Va. The West Virginia Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training and the West Virginia Coal Association sponsor the awards to promote safety in West Virginia coal mines and facilities.
About Alpha Natural Resources Holdings, Inc. and ANR, Inc.
Alpha Natural Resources Holdings, Inc. and ANR, Inc. have affiliate mining operations in West Virginia and Kentucky, supplying metallurgical coal to the steel industry and thermal coal to generate power. Alpha has offices in Kingsport, Tennessee, and Julian, West Virginia, which support 19 active mining operations. Alpha is committed to being a leader in mine safety and an environmental steward in the communities where its affiliates operate. For more information, visit Alpha's website (www.alphanr.com).
SOURCE Alpha Natural Resources
Related Links
http://alphanr.com
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Appboy, the leading global lifecycle engagement platform for marketing, growth, and engagement teams today announced its partnership with PlaceIQ, the company building a new model of consumer behavior with location data and insights. Together, both companies increased mobile engagement for Urban Outfitters, a leading youth-focused retail brand, by using real world behavior to support smarter delivery of consumer messages within its brand-owned app. Using PlaceIQ's dynamic audience filters in concert with Appboy's powerful cross-channel messaging and optimization capabilities, Urban Outfitters boosted customer conversions by 75 percent and increased related revenue by 146 percent. Appboy and PlaceIQ technologies enabled Urban Outfitters to better contextualize their marketing messaging.
"Our goal is to provide better experiences for our audience in this competitive landscape," said Andrew Rauch, Sr. Director, Global Digital Marketing at Urban Outfitters. "Our data enriched by PlaceIQ in Appboy's mobile messaging and testing platform has helped with this goal. Effectively communicating with users through this location-specific marketing led to a 146 percent increase in campaign revenue."
"PlaceIQ continues to help innovative brands succeed by delivering best-in-class location data, in order to grant a better understanding of the consumer journey," said Duncan McCall, CEO and co-founder at PlaceIQ. "Location-aware insights have become a great enabler of decisions across media, marketing and business functions, as well as a core component in driving benefits like significant visitation lift and purchases at brick and mortar locations. Insights from location data can also be a powerful driver for online retail sales as well. By using location data for audience insights, Urban Outfitters was able to craft and deliver a resonant campaign that resulted in tangible sales results. We are excited to continue our partnership with AppBoy to help brands connect with customers in meaningful ways."
Mobile devices continue to proliferate and act as a connection between the physical and digital world, allowing for better personalization and more actionable messaging. The rise of mobile has made it easier to deliver campaigns to customers based on in-app and web preferences allowing marketers to better understand and engage users. By partnering with Appboy and PlaceIQ, Urban Outfitters was able to develop a full scale campaign that included:
Dynamic audience filters. To further target their outreach, Urban Outfitters used PlaceIQ's support for dynamic audience filtersbased on real-world location information and other Appboy datato deliver messages based on visitation and behavior outside the app. For example, using push notifications to promote party dresses exclusively to female audiences who frequent bars and nightlife locations.
To further target their outreach, Urban Outfitters used PlaceIQ's support for dynamic audience filtersbased on real-world location information and other Appboy datato deliver messages based on visitation and behavior outside the app. For example, using push notifications to promote party dresses exclusively to female audiences who frequent bars and nightlife locations. Emoji messaging. In order to make their messaging more eye-catching and engaging to the demographics targeted by the campaign, Urban Outfitters included emojis in their push notifications, to heighten the fun, light-hearted tone. Appboy recently found that open rates for iOS and Android push notifications containing emojis have increased by 210% and 1,063%, respectively, year over year.
In order to make their messaging more eye-catching and engaging to the demographics targeted by the campaign, Urban Outfitters included emojis in their push notifications, to heighten the fun, light-hearted tone. Appboy recently found that open rates for iOS and Android push notifications containing emojis have increased by 210% and 1,063%, respectively, year over year. Deep linking. To provide users with a smoother experience and increase the chances that messaging led to conversions, Urban Outfitters took advantage of Appboy's support for mobile deep linking to send users right to the relevant page within the app when they tapped the message.
To provide users with a smoother experience and increase the chances that messaging led to conversions, Urban Outfitters took advantage of Appboy's support for mobile deep linking to send users right to the relevant page within the app when they tapped the message. Conversion events. To ensure accurate monitoring of the impact of promotional campaigns, Urban Outfitters used Appboy's Conversion Events feature to track when the push notifications sent as part of this outreach resulted in a purchase.
To ensure accurate monitoring of the impact of promotional campaigns, Urban Outfitters used Appboy's Conversion Events feature to track when the push notifications sent as part of this outreach resulted in a purchase. Message testing. Appboy's message testing capabilities were used to evaluate separate versions of the campaignone sent to the targeted PlaceIQ Audience, and one sent to female users who had previously expressed interest in dresses.
"One of the base premises of Appboy is that you can have better relationships with your customers if you have better conversations with them," said Bill Magnuson, CEO and Co-Founder of Appboy. "One-size-fits-all approaches don't work when you're trying to enrich relationships. If someone interrupts your day to send a marketing message, it needs to deliver value. An impersonal push notification is like a telemarketer calling during dinner. No one likes it. With the Appboy/PlaceIQ integration, our clients gain access to a detailed understanding of locations and customer activity to avoid these marketing faux pasmaking the outreach more connected to the customer and giving the brand more respect."
About Appboy
Appboy is the leading lifecycle engagement platform for marketing, growth, and engagement teams. We exist to help marketers seize the opportunities created by the challenges of today's mobile economy. That means we built the world's best intelligent CRM so marketers can connect human-to-human, at scale, with their customers, driving deep engagement and ROI. The center of our platform is the holistic user profile that offers a single view of the customer. Our robust audience segmentation and advanced multichannel messaging allow brands to use the data from these user profiles to create and automate highly personalized marketing campaigns, and build meaningful dialogues with their audiences across devices and channels. Thousands of global marketers use Appboy to connect with nearly 700 million monthly active users, with 10 billion messages processed through our platform each month. We help brands like Domino's, ABC News, Capital One, Opera, SoundCloud, and Urban Outfitters to better engage, retain, and monetize their customers. Appboy is venture backed with over 140 employees and offices in New York, San Francisco, and London. Learn more at Appboy.com.
About PlaceIQ
For brands seeking to understand consumer behavior, PlaceIQ connects physical and digital activities across time, space and mobile devices to uncover opportunities to learn and connect with audiences. PlaceIQ is a powerful, location-based audience and insights platform that organizes a wide variety of consumer activity data around a targeted precise location base map at massive scale. PlaceIQ uses its detailed understanding of location and consumer activity to reach a targeted audience, and also to derive powerful insights about consumer behavior to inform market and business strategies for national brands. The company is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Palo Alto, Chicago and Detroit. Follow us on Twitter @PlaceIQ and like us on Facebook: PlaceIQ.
About Urban Outfitters, Inc.
Urban Outfitters, Inc. is an innovative specialty retail company which offers a variety of lifestyle merchandise to highly defined customer niches through 240 Urban Outfitters stores in the United States, Canada, and Europe, catalogs and websites; 218 Anthropologie Group stores in the United States, Canada and Europe, catalogs and websites; 114 Free People stores in the United States and Canada, catalogs and websites; and Free People wholesale, which sells its product to approximately 1,800 specialty stores and select department stores worldwide, as of January 31, 2016.
SOURCE PlaceIQ
Related Links
http://www.placeiq.com
PLAYA VISTA, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Belkin, market leader in mobile accessories, today announced Jon Roepke, director of product management for Belkin's Education division, will serve as a mentor at this year's SXSWedu conference, taking place March 6-9 in Austin.
"For nearly five years, Belkin Education has been bridging the gap between technology and practical implementation in the classroom, providing educators with a better way to integrate new tools to enhance overall learning," said Jon Roepke, director of product management for Belkin Education. "SXSWedu is at the forefront of innovation in education. I'm honored to be a mentor and look forward to interacting with and learning from members of our community in Austin."
Belkin Education solutions are designed to enrich student and educator experiences with technology in the modern classroom. Belkin Education recently partnered with the California State PORTS (Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students) distance-learning program to leverage Belkin's technology to offer students, especially in lower-income schools, virtual field trip experiences in their classrooms. State park indoor studios and ranger vehicles, such as the PORTS' EduGator, are equipped with Belkin's Tablet Stage, an adjustable platform that turns any tablet into an interactive presentation tool.
The mentor program at SXSWedu facilitates one-on-one meetings between experienced professionals and engaged attendees. From classroom teachers and esteemed professors, to industry insiders and CEOs, the mentors at SXSWedu offer an eclectic mix of perspectives to conference attendees who are given the opportunity to sign up for a 10-minute, one-on-one meeting with a mentor. The SXSWedu mentor sign up platform is now opened to interested individuals to schedule meetings with mentors: http://social.sxswedu.com/sessions/new
About SXSWedu
The SXSWedu Conference & Festival fosters and celebrates innovations in learning by hosting a diverse and energetic community of stakeholders across a variety of backgrounds in education. The annual four-day event affords registrants open access to engaging sessions, immersive workshops, interactive learning experiences, film screenings, early-stage startups, business opportunities and networking. Through collaboration, creativity and social action, SXSWedu empowers its global community to Connect. Discover. Impact. SXSWedu is a component of the South by Southwest family of conferences and festivals. Join the passionate and innovative community at SXSWedu, March 6-9, 2017 in Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit http://sxswedu.com.
About Belkin Education
Belkin Education, a division of Belkin International, offers technology solutions for classroom environments worldwide. Through hands-on research, spending time in classrooms and frequent interaction with teachers, Belkin Education defines and develops solutions for digital learning environments. Belkin's award-winning education product suite focuses on enabling the seamless integration of technology in the classroom to enhance every learning experience. Belkin solutions address collaboration, protection and connectivity and features the Tablet Stage and Belkin Stage app, Air Shield Protective Case for Chromebooks and Universal HDMI to VGA Adapter kit with Audio. For more on how our technology enables a next-gen learning environment, click here.
SOURCE Belkin Education
Related Links
http://www.belkin.com
ATLANTA, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today PGi, the world's largest dedicated provider of collaboration software and services, and BICS, a leading international communications enabler, announced that they have conducted their first Voice over LTE (VoLTE) High Definition (HD) audio conference call.
The VoLTE conference call was powered by PGi's mobile collaboration exchange which connects an operator's IMS based VoLTE service to PGi's cloud-enabled IP conferencing infrastructure and enables mobile operators to host crystal-clear, HD conference calls. BICS' IPX VoLTE Hub has been instrumental in bridging the HD VoLTE calls originating from the mobile operator's network to PGi's mobile collaboration exchange.
With more than one in three operators investing in LTE-advanced system deployments and one in three conference call attendees using a mobile phone, the mobile collaboration exchange allows mobile operators to seamlessly deliver low-bandwidth, high-quality audio conference calls over an LTE network.
BICS' IPX VoLTE Hub is enabling international VoLTE calls providing enhanced quality of experience to end-users and assisting mobile operators to realize the All IP migration. IPX VoLTE Hub is empowered with the best in class protocol normalisation and media transcoding capabilities, which are vital in maintaining the E2E HD sound quality of VoLTE voice calls.
Jorn Vercamert, VP Communication Solutions at BICS commented: "More and more enterprises are moving their communication services to the cloud. BICS has visualized the importance of mobility and cloud virtual numbers so as to equip workers with the tools that provide flexibility and collaboration on the go. This is particularly important for knowledge workers that travel frequently or work remotely, rather than being chained to their desks. By partnering with PGi, BICS has facilitated a higher-quality, faster and more reliable calling experience, which is crucial in today's competitive and fast-moving business landscape. Businesses can build value-added services and improve customer satisfaction, trusting the connectivity and interoperability services provided by international communication providers like BICS."
Pat Harper, CTO of PGi stated, "PGi is proud of its legacy as a cloud innovator and is thrilled to work with carriers to continue to grow our offerings with our mobile collaboration exchange. While we know and understand that business is conducted on a global scale, we also know that mobile networks are not always compatible globally. Together with BICS, our mobile-first, cloud collaboration approach is standardizing the way that mobile operators can connect to PGi's audio conferencing capabilities and offer a better experience for their enterprise and end-users alike. PGi is utilizing BICS' secure global network infrastructure and its advanced capabilities to offer a superior audio conferencing experience."
Divya Ghai Wakankar, Head of Innovation and VoLTE Product Management at BICS stated, "At BICS, we have a track record of innovative solutions that enhance the end-user experience. With the BICS IPX VoLTE solution and our Cloud numbers offering we are excited to provide best-in-class support to the business voice customers. Together, BICS and PGi have spawned a new beginning of HD business voice experience for the global workforce."
All trademarks referred to in this release are the property of their respective owners.
About Premiere Global Services, Inc. PGi
PGi is the world's largest dedicated provider of collaboration software and services. For more than 25 years, our broad portfolio of products has served the end-to-end collaboration needs of enterprises. Accessible anywhere, anytime and on any device, PGi's award-winning collaboration solutions drive productivity and teamwork for approximately 50,000 customers around the world. To learn more, visit us at pgi.com.
About BICS
BICS is recognized in the wholesale communications market as a top global voice carrier and the leading provider of mobile data services. We aim at bridging the telecom world with the new unconventional communication providers worldwide.
Our innovative suite of solutions for Voice, Messaging, Data & Connectivity, Business Intelligence & Analytics, Fraud & Security, Roaming, Global IoT and Asset Monetization are designed to bring value to our customers' businesses.
BICS is headquartered in Brussels with regional offices in Bern, Dubai, Madrid, New York, San Francisco and Singapore. We also have a satellite office in Beijing and local representation in Accra, Cape Town, Miami, Montevideo, Quito, Nairobi and Toronto.
For more information visit www.bics.com
Media Contacts:
Kayla Reed
PGi, Senior Manager, Public Relations & Social Media
E [email protected] | P +1 404.262.8513
BICS media contact:
Jen Atkinson
Babel PR for BICS, Campaign Manager
E [email protected] | P +44 020 7434 5550
SOURCE PGi
Related Links
http://www.pgi.com
CARLSBAD, California and BARCELONA, Spain, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
The eleventh annual BIO-Europe Spring international partnering conference will be held in Barcelona, Spain March 20-22, 2017 at the CCIB Convention Centre Barcelona. Produced by EBD Group, the event is co-hosted by Biocat, the organization that coordinates and promotes the healthcare and life sciences sector in Catalonia.
The BIO-Europe Spring conference is expected to draw more than 2,400 life sciences industry executives from over 1,400 companies, and facilitate 12,500 one-to-one partnering meetings with 3,500+ posted licensing opportunities.
"I attend mostly because this is where you come if you really want to meet European pharma companies and other participants in the pharma market," said Charles Yeomans, President and CEO at Trigemina, Inc. in the San Francisco Bay Area.
According to Biocat CEO Albert Barbera, the Bio Region of Catalonia "has more pharmaceutical companies per capita than any country in Europe, except Belgium, and is ranked fourth among European countries in terms of biotechnology companies per inhabitant and third for medical technology companies."
In addition to partnering and networking opportunities, the event will feature more than 120 company presentations and educational sessions that will explore the issues facing the industry, offer insight for best practices, and pinpoint the trends to watch for in the future.
The opening keynote plenary discussion, "Innovation in an Uncertain World," will be held on Monday, March 20, and will feature speakers Geno Germano, President, Intrexon Corporation, and John Oyler, Founder and CEO, BeiGene. Moderator Alex Lash, National Biotechnology Editor, XConomy, will address how to run a biotech company in unsteady financial, political and regulatory times. The session will cover pricing, valuing R&D, and managing staff, resource allocation, and cross-border collaboration in a global marketplace.
The main agenda for the educational workshops kicks off on Monday, March 20 with a discussion on "Clinical Trials In Early Stage Oncology Development." Moderator Edward Garmey, Partner and Oncology Drug Development Consultant at Alacrita Consulting, will delve into the topic along with Carlos Buesa, CEO, Oryzon; Carlos Lopez, Business Development Manager, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology; Sonal Patel, VP, Oncology Scientific Innovation, Johnson & Johnson Innovation; Gemma Sala, Head, Clinical Trials Office for Phase I Trials, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology/Barcelona Clinical Trials Platform; and Robert Wasserman, Chief Medical Officer, Northern Biologics.
On Monday afternoon, attendees are invited to explore "Commercializing Cell and Gene Therapies," and examine how the new business models for clinical development and manufacturing in cell and gene therapies requires strategic partnerships among researchers, manufacturers and payers to fully realize the commercial opportunities.
While Europe is home to many of the biggest pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers, the US has nurtured biotech entrepreneurs and formed dynamic clusters in cities such as in Boston and San Francisco. During a session called "Stirring the entrepreneurial pot in Europe"on Tuesday, March 21, industry journalist Luke Timmerman, founder and editor of Timmerman Report, will be examining what is happening in various European hotspots at the intersection of academia and entrepreneurship, and where this activity will take the industry in five to 10 years.
"I'm looking forward to exploring Europe's entrepreneurial ecosystem and how it's changing," said Timmerman. "Europe has a lot of terrific science and is home to great biopharmaceutical companies, but you don't tend to hear as much about its biotech startups."
Additional topics that will be explored during the overall conference sessions include research and development strategies, pipeline management, microbiome partnering, rare diseases, immuno-oncology, pricing, and collaboration management.
Pharma companies attending include: AbbVie, Amgen, Astellas Pharma, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, Merck, MSD, Novartis, Roche, Pfizer, Sanofi, Servier, and more.
For more information about BIO-Europe Spring and to register to attend the event, visit the BIO-Europe Spring website.
Additional links and information:
Follow BIO-Europe Spring 2017 on Twitter: @EBDGroup (hashtag: #BIOEuropeSpring).
Online Press Kit service for BIO-Europe Spring 2017 is available from Virtual Press Office/PR Newswire to enhance your public relations efforts.
About EBD Group
EBD Group is the leading partnering firm for the global life science industry. Since 1993, biotech, pharma and medical device companies have leveraged EBD Group's partnering conferences, technology and services to identify business opportunities and develop strategic relationships essential to their success.
EBD Group's conferences are run with the support of leading corporations and international trade associations and include:
BIO-Europe and BIO-Europe Spring, Europe's largest life science partnering conferences, supported by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)
largest life science partnering conferences, supported by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) BioPharm America, the fastest growing partnering event in North America
Biotech Showcase, a unique forum in San Francisco for presenting to investors and business development executives, co-produced with Demy-Colton
for presenting to investors and business development executives, co-produced with Demy-Colton BioEquity Europe, the investor conference co-organized with BioCentury Publications and BIO
ChinaBio Partnering Forum, the first dedicated biotech/pharma partnering conference in China , co-produced with ChinaBio Group
, co-produced with ChinaBio Group Biolatam, facilitating partnering among global life sciences executives in Latin America's vibrant life science hubs
vibrant life science hubs Cell & Gene Exchange, a partnering forum focused on the patient community in cell and gene therapy sectors, co-produced with Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM).
EBD Group's sophisticated web-based partnering service, partneringONE, is used as the partnering engine at numerous third-party events around the world, and partnering360 is the open online community of life science dealmakers that enhances partnering experiences throughout the year.
Tune into EBD Group's Insight for timely coverage of news that influences the business strategies of the life science industry.
EBD Group is an Informa company. Informa is the largest publicly-owned organizer of exhibitions, conferences and training in the world. EBD Group has offices in the USA and Europe.
For more information please visit www.ebdgroup.com.
Contact:
Erin Righetti
EBD Group
+1-760-930-0500
[email protected]
SOURCE EBD Group
VALENCIA, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Bioness, Inc., the leading provider of cutting edge, clinically supported rehabilitation therapies, today announced the first series of successful StimRouter Neuromodulation System implantations in Europe at Radboud University Medical Center (Nijmegen, Netherlands), South Victoria University (Cork, Ireland), and Kliniek Park Leopold Chirec (Brussels, Belgium). With the successful launch continuing, Bioness plans to further support clinicians across the continent who are looking to support patients seeking minimally-invasive, long-term pain relief.
Erkan Kurt, MD (The Netherlands), Dominic Hegarty, MD (Ireland), and Jean Pierre van Buyten, MD (Belgium) implanted the StimRouter to manage chronic pain conditions originating from varied peripheral neuralgias. With an estimated 100 million Europeans suffering from chronic pain, there has never been a greater need for innovative pain management options.
"For many years we have had limited solutions to help our patients manage their debilitating pain," shared Dominic Hegarty, MD, a trained Interventional Neuromodulation and Pain Management Specialist. "I'm very pleased to be able to provide the best neuromodulation options for my patients. I am confident that the StimRouter technology will be suitable for a greater range of patients in the future."
"The StimRouter promises to be a breakthrough in neurostimulation because it is a much smaller device to implant and therefore easier to target pain at its origin," stated Jean Pierre van Buyten, MD, an internationally renowned Pain Anesthesiologist. "Another advantage is that it minimizes cost and recovery time when compared to other more invasive treatments."
"Peripheral neuropathy is a very common and often painful disorder. As a neurosurgeon with more than 20 years of neuromodulation experience, the StimRouter provides a unique opportunity to deliver patients relief from chronic pain, especially among those with peripheral nerve damage and scar tissue around the targeted nerve," explained Erkan Kurt, MD. "Where percutaneous implantation might be a difficult procedure, the StimRouter is a small device that takes a minimally invasive approach that is easy to perform. Another great advantage is the transdermal electrical stimulation which makes implantation of an implantable pulse generator unnecessary."
As a minimally invasive device designed to reduce pain by specifically targeting the affected peripheral nerve, the StimRouter is intended to be a cost-effective and long-term alternative to immobilization, injections, and prescription opioids. The implant procedure is usually completed in less than 30 minutes and uses only local anesthesia.
"As we continue to see impressive clinical results in the US and now Europe we are excited to further our mission of supporting clinicians looking to improve the lives of patients," said Todd Cushman, President and CEO of Bioness. "Patients and their loved ones are looking for true relief from the downward spiral of chronic pain. With greater awareness of opioid addiction, alternative choices which deliver life improving results are needed. We are thrilled to be bringing expanded treatment options to those who care for patients."
StimRouter was the first FDA cleared minimally-invasive, long-term, minimally invasive neuromodulation medical device indicated to treat chronic pain of a peripheral nerve origin. The StimRouter System then received CE mark in February of 2014 and the Company began expanding its focus into the European Union. The patient controlled medical device is an adjunct to other modes of therapy and is being well received by patients and clinicians alike.
The StimRouter is currently being implanted at prestigious clinical institutions across the United States to treat chronic peripheral nerve pain, with specific focus on the following conditions or areas:
Axillary nerve (e.g. post-stroke shoulder pain)
Ulnar nerve (e.g. cubital tunnel syndrome)
Suprascapular
Superior Cluneal nerve (e.g. lower back neuralgia)
Genicular nerve
Median nerve
Peroneal nerves
For more information on the StimRouter as well as videos of real patients sharing their StimRouter experience, please visit www.stimrouter.com.
About StimRouter Neuromodulation System
StimRouter is cleared by the FDA to treat chronic pain of peripheral nerve origin. StimRouter is a minimally invasive neuromodulation medical device consisting of a thin, implanted lead with conductive electrode, external pulse transmitter (EPT), and hand-held wireless patient programmer. Electrical signals are transmitted transdermally from the EPT through the electrode, down the lead to the target nerve. StimRouter is programmed at the direction of the physician to meet patient requirements but is controlled by the patient to address the patients specific, changing pain management needs.
About Bioness, Inc.
Bioness is the leading provider of innovative technologies helping people regain mobility and independence. Bioness solutions include implantable and external neuromodulation systems, robotic systems and software based therapy programs providing functional and therapeutic benefits for individuals affected by pain, central nervous system disorders and orthopedic injuries. Currently, Bioness offers six medical devices within its commercial portfolio which are distributed and sold on five continents and in over 25 countries worldwide. Bioness innovations have been implemented in the most prestigious and well-respected institutions around the globe with 17 of the top 20 rehabilitation hospitals in the United States currently using one or more Bioness solution. Bioness has a singular focus on aiding large, underserved customer groups with innovative, evidence-based solutions and we will continue to develop and make commercially available new products that address the growing and changing needs of our customers. Individual results vary. Consult with a qualified physician to determine if this product is right for you. Contraindications, adverse reactions and precautions are available online at www.bioness.com.
Media Relations Contact Information
Next Step Communications
[email protected]
781.326.1741
StimRouter and Bioness are trademarks of Bioness, Inc. | www.bioness.com | Rx Only | Additional information about StimRouter can be found at www.stimrouter.com
SOURCE Bioness, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.bioness.com
WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2017/calphalon-recalls-cutlery-knives
Recall Summary
Name of Product: Contemporary Cutlery knives
Hazard: The blade on Contemporary Cutlery knives can break during use, posing a laceration hazard.
Remedy: Replace
Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled cutlery and contact Calphalon for a replacement cutlery product.
Consumer Contact: Calphalon at 800-809-7267 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or online at www.calphalon.com and click on "Calphalon Contemporary Cutlery Recall Information" for more information.
Recall Details
Units: About 2 million (in addition, about 7,000 were sold in Canada)
Description: This recall involves Calphalon Contemporary Cutlery carving, chef, paring, santoku and utility knives sold individually and in sets made between August 2008 and March 2016. The following models are included in the recall:
Product Item Item Number Calphalon Contemporary Cutlery 4.5" Parer KNR10045C Calphalon Contemporary Cutlery 7" Santoku KNR0007C Calphalon Contemporary Cutlery Contemporary Paring Knife Set 1821332 Calphalon Contemporary Cutlery 5" Santoku KNR0005C Calphalon Contemporary Cutlery 8" Chef Knife KNR4008C Calphalon Contemporary Cutlery Fruit/Vegetable Set - 3.5" parer & 6" utility KNSR002C Calphalon Contemporary Cutlery Carving Set - 6" fork & 8" slicer KNSR0102C Calphalon Contemporary Cutlery 21-piece set 3" parer, 5" boning knife, 5" santoku, 5" tomato/bagel knife, 6" fork, 6" utility, 7" santoku, 8" bread, 8" chef's knife, 8" slicer, 10" steel, kitchen shears, 8 steak knives, and knife block 1808009 Calphalon Contemporary Cutlery 17-piece set 4" parer, 6" utility, 7" santoku, 8" bread, 8" chef's knife, 8" slicer, 10" steel, kitchen shears, 8 steak knives, and knife block 1808008 Calphalon Contemporary SharpIN Cutlery 14-piece set 4.5" Parer, 6" Utility, 8" Bread, 8" Chef's Knife, 8 Steak Knives, Kitchen Shears, Sharpening Knife Block 1922890 Calphalon Contemporary SharpIN Cutlery 15-piece set 4.5" Parer, 6" Utility, 7" Santoku, 8" Bread, 8" Chef's Knife, 8 Steak Knives, Kitchen Shears, Sharpening Knife Block 1922971 Calphalon Contemporary SharpIN Cutlery 18-piece set 4.5" Parer, 5" Boning, 5.5" Tomato, 6" Utility, 7" Santoku, 8" Bread, 8" Chef's Knife, 8" Slicer, 8 Steak Knives, Kitchen Shears, Sharpening Knife Block 1932810 Calphalon Contemporary SharpIN Cutlery 20-piece set 4.5" Parer, 5" Boning, 5" Santoku, 5.5" Tomato, 6" Fork, 6" Utility, 7" Santoku, 8" Bread, 8" Chef's Knife, 8" Slicer, 8 Steak Knives, Kitchen Shears, Sharpening Knife Block 1922976
Incidents/Injuries: Calphalon has received 27 reports of finger or hand lacerations; including four injuries requiring stitches. In addition, the firm has received about 3,150 reports of broken knives.
Sold at: J.C. Penney, Kohl's, Macy's and other stores nationwide and online at www.Amazon.com from September 2008 through December 2016. The recalled knives were sold from September 2008 through December 2016 for $25 for a single knife to $300 for a knife block set.
Manufacturer: Calphalon Corp., of Atlanta, Ga.
Manufactured in: China
Note: Health Canada's press release is available at: http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2017/62184r-eng.php
About U.S. CPSC:
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.
Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.
To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go online to www.SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC's Hotline at 800-638-2772 or teletypewriter at 301-595-7054 for the hearing impaired. Consumers can obtain news release and recall information at www.cpsc.gov, on Twitter @USCPSC or by subscribing to CPSC's free e-mail newsletters.
CPSC Consumer Information Hotline
Contact us at this toll-free number if you have questions about a recall:
800-638-2772 (TTY 301-595-7054)
Times: 8 a.m. 5:30 p.m. ET; Messages can be left anytime
Call to get product safety and other agency information and to report unsafe products.
Media Contact
Please use the phone numbers below for all media requests.
Phone: 301-504-7908
Spanish: 301-504-7800
SOURCE U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Related Links
http://www.cpsc.gov
HOUSTON, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CARBO Ceramics Inc. (NYSE: CRR) announced today that Ernesto Bautista, III, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Mark Thomas, Director, Investor Relations, will participate in the 17th Annual Energy Conference, hosted by Simmons & Company International, Energy Specialists of Piper Jaffray. The conference will be held March 1-3, 2017, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Las Vegas. Mr. Bautista and Mr. Thomas will be hosting one-on-one meetings on Thursday, March 2nd. Management's updated investor presentation will be made available on the corporate website www.carboceramics.com under the Investors section.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120503/MM00528LOGO
About CARBO
CARBO (NYSE: CRR) is a global technology company that provides products and services to the oil and gas and industrial markets to enhance value for its clients.
CARBO Oilfield Technologies - is a global leader that provides engineered solutions in its Design, Build, and Optimize the Frac technology businesses, delivering important value to E&P operators by increasing well production and EUR. Oilfield Technologies is the world's largest producer of high quality ceramic proppant, provides one of the industry's most widely used fracture simulation software, has proprietary technology that provides fracture diagnostics and production assurance, and offers consulting services for fracture design and completion optimization. The Company also provides a range of technology solutions for spill prevention and containment.
Its products and services are sold to operators of oil and natural gas wells and to oilfield service companies for use in the hydraulic fracturing of natural gas and oil wells.
CARBO Industrial Technologies - is a leading provider of high-performance industrial ceramic media products that are engineered to increase process efficiency, improve end-product quality and reduce operating costs.
Its products and services are primarily sold to industrial companies that work in manufacturing and mineral processing.
For more information, please visit www.carboceramics.com.
Investor Contact:
Mark Thomas, Director, Investor Relations
(281) 921-6400
SOURCE CARBO Ceramics Inc.
Related Links
http://www.carboceramics.com
HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebrity fashion activist Ivan Bitton, whose private showroom styles more celebrities than any organization in Hollywood and also represents a world record 270 high fashion emerging designers, is now setting a new tone in the Los Angeles culture, by celebrating the very core fashion culture of Los Angeles: the "Red Carpet culture." Paris has haute couture; New York has street style, Los Angeles has red carpets.
Red Carpet Arrival
The Los Angeles "award season" is becoming one of the most significant fashion events ever and now showcases hundreds of new designers every year on Hollywood celebrities who are the biggest media platforms around. From the MTV awards to the Oscars , the range of fashion aesthetics is huge, but no matter what, it has to be larger than life, always pushing the fashion envelope on the rest of the world.
Ivan Bitton set the tone of a new era in the fashion culture by hosting an incredibly novel type of fashion show under a gigantic glass dome at the very top of a skyscraper in the heart of downtown. Champagne and hors d'oeuvres were abound, many celebrities and some of the most famous celebrity stylists were present.
300 lucky guests were treated to a very unconventional fashion show which included model and TV star Darius Mccrary from the hit show Star on Fox and showcasing pieces from over 70 designers which have been used on red carpet this award season.
Apparel news describes the event as "reminiscent of the days when fashion shows were about the style of fashion..." A styling feast for the ages and the beginning of a whole new exciting way of showcasing emerging designers all styled together from shoes to bags, jewelry to clothes on the same model.
Some of the celebrities included Tamron Hall, Darius Mccrary, and Ivan Bitton.
With one result every 4 hours, we have more fashion placements on celebrities than any PR organization in the world!
Ivan Bitton
Style House
5619 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles,CA 90028
1. 323 217 5377
For All Press Inquires:
Contact: Ivan Bitton Media/ Audra Cheek
Phone: 818-314-4640
Email: [email protected]
Related Images
image1.png
image2.jpg
image3.jpg
Related Links
Apparel News
Related Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFKSrU4a3RY
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com
SOURCE Ivan Bitton Style House
MONROE, La., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) today announced it has expanded its global strategic collaboration with VMware to deepen the level of software-defined data center (SDDC) technologies available to enterprise customers. This collaboration will help preserve and enhance customer investments in on-premises data centers and extend strategic workloads and applications to the cloud. Customers will also be able to leverage VMware's technologies with CenturyLink's portfolio of network, managed hosting and cloud solutions.
"More companies are looking for service provider expertise in managing public and private cloud solutions in various hybrid IT models," said Bill Corbin, senior vice president of strategic partner alliances and channel operations, CenturyLink. "The expansion of our long-standing relationship with VMware benefits our customers through further enhancements to our cloud portfolio with deeper integration of VMware technologies."
CenturyLink and VMware have brought innovative solutions to the market to benefit business customers:
The CenturyLink Cloud is one of the largest VMware vSphere-based multi-tenant cloud environments in the world, delivering performance, usability, connectivity and manageability benefits to organizations.
The CenturyLink Dedicated Cloud Compute (DCC) service is one of the largest vSphere-based private cloud service offerings in the world, enabling modular scalability and architecture flexibility to customers seeking secure, auditable infrastructure as a service that can be tuned to enterprise workloads like SAP. This service will soon include software-defined data center (SDDC) features based on VMware NSX, VMware vSAN and VMware Cloud Foundation technologies.
CenturyLink has included VMware vCloud Air as part of its multi-cloud offerings since its launch in 2013.
CenturyLink's ElasticBox application management framework includes adaptors for VMware vCenter, vCloud Director and vCloud Air, which enables CenturyLink's customers to receive services anywhere they need them.
CenturyLink's public and private cloud service offerings will be a showcase platform in the VMware vCloud Air Network cloud provider ecosystem.
"As business leaders map out a path to the cloud, they want simplicity, security and choice in how they consume and leverage IT services," said Geoff Waters, vice president, Global Service Provider Channel, VMware. "With a robust set of organizations utilizing VMware technologies, customers can benefit even further from CenturyLink's expertise in building, managing and securing cloud environments across critical workloads, hybrid infrastructure, and vital network links."
CenturyLink manages more than 75,000 virtual machines for enterprise customers, deployed in 14 countries in a globally consistent operating model. CenturyLink is one of the largest VMware vCloud Air Network service providers hosting and managing VMware infrastructure in the world.
About CenturyLink
CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company enabling millions of customers to transform their businesses and their lives through innovative technology solutions. CenturyLink offers network and data systems management, Big Data analytics and IT consulting, and operates more than 55 data centers in North America, Europe and Asia. The company provides broadband, voice, video, data and managed services over a robust 250,000-route-mile U.S. fiber network and a 300,000-route-mile international transport network. Visit CenturyLink for more information.
VMware, NSX, Cloud Foundation, vSphere, vSAN, vCloud, vCloud Air, vCenter, vCloud Director, and vCloud Air Network are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.
SOURCE CenturyLink, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.centurylink.com
FORT MYERS, Fla., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Chico's FAS, Inc. (NYSE: CHS) today announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.0825 per share of its common stock, a 3.1% increase over the March 2016 dividend rate. This represents the seventh annual increase since the dividend was established in 2010. The dividend is payable on March 27, 2017 to Chico's FAS shareholders of record at the close of business on March 13, 2017.
ABOUT CHICO'S FAS, INC.
The Company, through its brands Chico's, White House Black Market and Soma, is a leading omni-channel specialty retailer of women's private branded, sophisticated, casual-to-dressy clothing, intimates, and complementary accessories.
As of January 28, 2017, the Company operated 1,501 stores in the US and Canada and sold merchandise through franchise locations in Mexico. The Company's merchandise is also available at www.chicos.com, www.whbm.com and www.soma.com. For more detailed information on Chico's FAS, Inc., please go to our corporate website at www.chicosfas.com.
Executive Contact:
Jennifer Powers
Vice President Investor Relations
Chico's FAS, Inc.
(239) 346-4199
SOURCE Chico's FAS, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.chicos.com
LOS ANGELES, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
ChineseInvestors.com (OTCQB: CIIX ) (the "Company"), the premier financial information website for Chinese-speaking investors in both the U.S. and China, today announced that its management team will be presenting at the SeeThruEquity Conference on February 22, 2017.at 1:30 p.m. at the W Hotel in South Beach, Miami. The Company will also be holding meetings with investors on February 23rd and 24th, in Miami and Boca Raton with the team from WallStreet Research.
Copies of the Company's materials, are available at the CIIX website http://www.ChineseInvestors.com . The WallStreet Research Corporate Profile is available at http://www.WallStreetResearch.org.
About ChineseInvestors.com
Founded in 1999, ChineseInvestors.com, Inc., (OTCQB: CIIX), headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in New York City and Shanghai China, provides a wide range of products, services, and information for the global Chinese speaking population including (a) real-time market commentary, analysis, and educational related services in Chinese language character sets (traditional and simplified); (b) support services to various partners; (c) consultative services to smaller private companies considering becoming a public company; and (d) advertising and public relation related support services; http://www.Chinesefn.com.
The Company is now expanding into retail and online sales of hemp-based CBD products via its new website: http://www.ChineseCBDoil.com.
Information on CIIX can be found at http://www.ChineseInvestors.com.
About WallStreet Research
WallStreet Research ("WSR") is a prominent research boutique led by Mr. Alan Stone, Managing Director of Alan Stone & Company, LLC (ASC). The firm specializes in the microcap and small cap investment arena, looking for emerging growth companies with strong management, unique or proprietary technology, significant market potential, financial strength, and outstanding long-term earnings growth possibilities.
WallStreet Research is ranked Number One on the Google, Yahoo and Bing Search engines. Information on WallStreet Research can be found at http://www.WallStreetResearch.org
About the SeeThruEquity Conference
SeeThruEquity is the host of acclaimed investor conferences that are the ultimate event for publicly traded companies with market capitalizations less than $1 billion. Headquartered in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, SeeThruEquity is a equity research firm focused on micro and small cap stocks. The firm covers companies across a variety of sectors including technology and healthcare, energy, basic materials and special situations. The Conference is expected to bring leading companies and numerous microcap focused investors, sponsors and industry professionals to the one-day event.
Contact / Source:
ChineseInvestors.com Inc.
Warren Wang, CEO
14 Wall Street, 20th Floor
New York, NY 10005
Email: [email protected]
http://www.Chinesefn.com
http://www.ChineseCBDoil.com
Alan Klitenic, Director of Investor Relations
[email protected]
+1-(214)636-2548
WallStreet Research
Alan Stone, +1-310-444-3940
[email protected]
Barbara Blake, +1-415-419-4239
[email protected]
http://www.WallStreetResearch.org
http://www.SouthFloridaInvestmentForum.com
http://www.SouthernCaliforniaInvestmentForum.com
http://www.SmallCapConference.org
SOURCE ChineseInvestors.com Inc
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- United States Citcon, an integrated mobile payment and marketing platform to connect global merchants with Chinese travelers, announces partnership with WeChat, China's leading mobile social communications service with 846 million active users run by Tencent Holdings. As the first payment partner of WeChat in North America, Citcon will enable millions of businesses to accept WeChat Pay, one of China's most popular mobile payment methods.
Now merchants will be able to accept WeChat Pay via Citcon's smart mobile point-of-sale (mPOS), easy-to-integrate API and software products and optimize growth both online and offline, with an easy and affordable rate compared to credit card processing. In addition to the convenient payment solutions, merchants will also be able to manage business performance and customer insights, run marketing campaigns, guides users to merchants' e-commerce stores while saving their shopping preferences for future visits and manage lifetime customer loyalty programs.
"We're excited to work with WeChat, and bring such a powerful platform to businesses in North America," said Chuck Huang, Founder and CEO of Citcon, "WeChat's experience is unrivaled in China. It touches everything in millions of consumers' daily life to introduce a cash-free society. By accepting WeChat Pay through Citcon, merchants are able to tap into the fast-growing mobile payments market and capitalize on the huge market opportunity presented by Chinese consumers."
Weee! is a Silicon Valley-based startup building a mobile commerce platform that enables local communities to buy together through messaging apps. Talking about the partnership with Citcon to accept WeChat Pay, Larry Liu, Founder and CEO of Weee! said, "Weee! serves hundreds of thousands of customers in more than 40 metropolitan areas in the US and Canada, and most of our businesses are happening on mobile platform. Citcon's solution is a perfect fit for our business. Having the ability to accept WeChat Pay through Citcon significantly improves our user experience online and offline, and optimizes our business growth."
For four consecutive years, China has been the world number one outbound tourism country, accounting for over 13% of the total tourism revenue globally. United States has been one of the most popular destinations for Chinese travelers. In 2020, five million Chinese travelers are expected to spend $80 billion in the United States.
Mobile payments is the new frontier of commerce and China is leading this trend. By providing an integrated and easy-to-use mobile payment and cross-border marketing solution, Citcon is creating a future that takes payment to the next level and empowers global merchants to connect with millions of Chinese consumers.
For business inquiries, please contact 1-888-254-4887 or [email protected]
About Citcon
With headquarters in Silicon Valley, Citcon is an integrated mobile payment and marketing platform that connects global merchants with Chinese consumers. As the first authorized payment partner of WeChat Pay, Alipay and UnionPay in North America, in addition to other key payment platforms including Visa, MasterCard and American Express, Citcon brings mobile payment to the next level, enabling businesses to connect with customers beyond the payment experience. With our extensive experience and deep expertise in Chinese outbound travel market, mobile payment, cross-border ecommerce and cross-border marketing, Citcon is the one-stop solution for global businesses to reach millions of Chinese travelers and domestic consumers. Citcon's founding team comes from Visa, PayPal, eBay, Uber, Groupon and Yelp. Citcon is backed by leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms and received strategic investments from leading technology and financial service companies in China. For more information, please go to www.citcon-inc.com
About WeChat
WeChat envisions and innovates new ways for people to connect, communicate and share. A mobile social communication app designed for smartphone users, WeChat is one of the world's fastest growing social apps with hundreds of millions of users internationally. WeChat empowers users in fun and dynamic ways, by bringing together messaging, social communication and games in one seamless, interactive experience, with comprehensive privacy and security settings that can be tailored as needed. WeChat provides a central point of control for users to share voice, photos, videos, and text messages across their entire social eco-system. Through Official Accounts, WeChat allows brands to deliver rich and high-touch appealing content experiences to engage with and grow their communities. WeChat is available free to download on Android, iOS, Windows operating system, web version and Mac for desktop version.
Evelyn Yang
Citcon
408-6562536
[email protected]
SOURCE Citcon
Related Links
http://www.citcon-inc.com
Classroom instruction is already underway in the HQRA, including the mapping of the bottom of the quarries. The ROV has an HD camera, grabber arm, temperature sensor, depth sensor and a size laser. Students in the Advanced Research, Analysis and Application class are working on an assignment that uses the vehicle to gather data and samples from the Lemont Quarries. According to Lemont High School science teacher Erin Horan, the samples will be analyzed by the students, who will then make the data public by posting it on a YouTube channel.
"We will be using the ROV at both HQRA cleanup projects and during class time to inform the community on cause and effects issues inside the quarries," said Horan.
CITGO has been funding semiannual projects within the HQRA since the fall of 2014, when approximately 200 volunteers cleaned three acres of land and harvested native species' seeds for replanting the following spring. CITGO volunteers have returned to the HQRA for similar removal and planting events during both 2015 and 2016.
Located just half a mile east of downtown Lemont, the HQRA is situated among thousands of acres of forest preserves, including more than 65 miles of hiking and biking trails, as well as access to fishing and boating along the I & M Canal and the Consumers, Great Lakes and Icebox Quarries.
Other community environmental initiatives sponsored by the CITGO Lemont Refinery include the Mid Coast Cleanup at the 41st Beach in Chicago and a Semiannual Household Hazardous Waste Collection. In addition, the CITGO Lemont Refinery is the founding sponsor of Project Infinite Green, which is an after-school program in Lemont that encourages STEM exploration by taking students on a journey of U.S. energy sources both traditional and renewable energy, environmental stewardship, climate change, public policy and business plan formation.
About the CITGO Lemont Refinery
For over 90 years, CITGO Lemont Refinery has employed more than 750 Chicago area residents on a full-time and contract basis in support of the local economy. In addition to producing high quality fuels for a large portion of the network of nearly 5,500 locally-owned CITGO stations across the country, Lemont Refinery employees also make a major positive impact on the community. Each year, more than 2,500 volunteer hours and thousands of dollars are given in support of community programs such as Muscular Dystrophy Association, United Way and a variety of environmental and preservation programs. Operations at the Lemont Refinery began in 1925 with a major expansion, doubling the facility, in 1933. Over the years, new units were added to meet the demand for a better quality of gas for automobiles, aviation fuel for WWII, and the production of asphalt. Petroleos de Venezuela, PDVSA, acquired 100% ownership of the refinery in 1997 and began operations as CITGO Lemont Refinery. For more information, visit www.citgorefining.com/Lemont.
About CITGO
CITGO, based in Houston, is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. The company is owned by CITGO Holding, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. For more information, visit www.CITGO.com.
SOURCE CITGO Petroleum Corporation
Related Links
http://www.CITGO.com
KALISPELL, Mont., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ClassOne Technology (www.classone.com), manufacturer of cost-efficient wet processing equipment for 200mm substrates has just announced a new company-wide initiative to reduce costs of operation (CoO) in copper plating processes.
ClassOne's Solstice Plating System
"From the beginning, our mission has been to bring more advanced and lower priced plating capabilities to all the emerging markets who work with smaller wafers," said ClassOne Technology President, Kevin Witt. "Our Solstice systems are already the industry's most affordable tools for 200mm plating. Now we want to enable economies on the cost of ownership side, as well perhaps reducing those expenses by as much as 25 to 30%. And that's our goal in this initiative."
The company explained that it sees potential for shrinking Cu plating CoO by reducing chemical consumption, extending the life of consumables and equipment parts, increasing and optimizing throughput, and enhancing chamber performance, among other areas. Company representatives stated that they are working toward innovative ways to increase efficiencies, minimize waste, streamline operation and optimize performance in each of the copper plating processes.
"Copper plating is an extremely hot area of interest right now in a great many emerging markets," said Witt. "That's why ClassOne focuses serious attention on it. We want to continue to be the go-to guys for absolutely everything having to do with copper plating on smaller wafers."
"And that's why you'll be seeing more new copper-related announcements coming from ClassOne in the coming weeks and months," he added.
ClassOne Technology offers a selection of new wet processing tools specifically designed for users of 75mm to 200mm wafers. These include three different models of Solstice electroplating systems for production and development as well as the Trident families of Spin-Rinse-Dryers and Spray Solvent Tools. All are priced at less than half of what similarly configured systems from the larger manufacturers would cost which is why the ClassOne lines are often described as delivering "Advanced Wet Processing for the Rest of Us."
For additional information about ClassOne Technology or any of its budget-friendly wet processing tools, visit www.classone.com.
About ClassOne Technology
ClassOne Technology (www.classone.com/) develops and delivers innovative new wet-chemical equipment solutions especially for the cost-conscious users of 200mm and smaller substrates, users who traditionally have been underserved by the larger equipment manufacturers. ClassOne's products include electroplating, spin rinse drying and spray solvent tools. Based in Kalispell, Montana, ClassOne Technology is built upon decades of experience from industry veterans who continue the tradition of delivering first-class quality and performance at an affordable price. ClassOne Technology is a sister company to ClassOne Equipment (ClassOneEquipment.com), long respected as the industry's premier provider of refurbished processing tools, with over 2,500 systems installed worldwide.
For more information, contact:
Byron Exarcos
ClassOne Technology
109 Cooperative Way
Kalispell, MT 59901
United States
tel: +1 (678) 772-9086
email: [email protected]
Solstice and Trident are registered trademarks of ClassOne Technology.
SOURCE ClassOne Technology
Related Links
http://www.classone.com
NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Collaborative Robot Market: Overview
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04711310-summary/view-report.html
This report offers strategic analysis of the global collaborative robot market, and the market growth forecast for the period 2016 to 2024. The scope of the report contains competitive analysis of various market segments based on the payloads, application and industries of the collaborative robot market across different geographic segments.
ollaborative robots are designed to help human beings as a guide in specific tasks. In general robots are designed and programmed to operate autonomously wherein collaborative robots operate simultaneously with humans. Lightweight of the collaborative robots is one of the important factor due to which growth of collaborative robotic market is likely to increase. Collaborative robots are the type of industrial robots that are grabbing more demand due to their collaborative nature with human and allows human to work side by side with these robots safely. Collaborative robots are light in weight, easy to assemble and can work side by side with human without hampering the safety of the human. These robots are flexible in nature that allows to handle repetitive and short run tasks along with ergonomically difficult tasks. Due to the nature of these robots, they are used in home labs, offices, farms, hospitals, warehouses, thereby allowing the robots to help in carrying out the job in a better way.
Global Collaborative Robot Market: Drivers and Trends
With the increasing numbers of manufacturing sectors the demand of robotics is escalating. Since collaborative robots are the lightweight and flexible robots that work side by side with human safely, increases the demand of collaborative robots in manufacturing industries especially SME (Small Manufacturing Enterprise). This robotic technology is likely to optimize to support responsive production methodologies. Operators can swiftly program robotic movements based on logical process steps and using intuitive tools, with no programming experience.
Global Collaborative Robot Market: Segmentation
The collaborative robot market is bifurcated based on payload into up to 5 Kg, 6 10 Kg and above 10 Kg. Among these segments 6 10 Kg accounted for the highest revenue share during the forecast period. They are used in operating heavier tasks that weigh up 10 Kg like palletizing, packaging, pick and place and assembling. This type of robots helps in saving time on production lines where distance is a factor. Moreover, on the basis of application, the collaborative robot market is segmented into packaging, material handling, quality testing, assembling, machine tending, welding and others. Material handling segment accounted for the highest market share in the global collaborative robot market. These robots helps in controlling and storing of materials in distribution centers, warehouses and also used for disposal. On the basis of industries the market is bifurcated into automotive, food and beverage, aerospace, plastic and polymers, metals and machining and others.
Global Collaborative Robot Market: Regional Outlook
To support in strategic decision making, the report also embraces competitive profiling of leading players in the industry, their market share in different regions of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. Asia Pacific held the highest market of collaborative robot globally. Presence of numerous number of industries and need for automation is driving the demand of Collaborative Robot market in Asia Pacific region. Additionally, several business strategies adopted by key players has also been deliberated in the report. The market attractiveness analysis is included in the report provide understanding into industry competition and market dynamics.
The report also provides breakdown and review of several factors affecting the market growth, which are appropriately defined as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. These causes regulate innumerable existing trends and their effect on market growth. In all, the report includes a complete analysis of the global collaborative robot market, and provides an estimation of progress for the period 2015 to 2024, considering the various factors affecting the market.
The market has been segmented as follows:
Collaborative Robot Market, by Payloads:
Up to 5 Kg
6 -10 Kg
Above 10 Kg
Collaborative Robot Market, by Application:
Packaging
Material Handling
Quality testing
Assembly
Machine Tending
Welding
Others
Collaborative Robot Market, by Industry:
Automotive
Food and beverage
Aerospace
Plastic and Polymers
Metals and Machining
Others
Collaborative Robot Market, by Geography
North America
U.S.
Canada
Rest of North America
Europe
U.K.
Germany
France
Italy
Rest of Europe
Asia Pacific
India
China
Japan
Rest of Asia Pacific
Middle East & Africa
Saudi Arabia
Rest of Middle East and Africa
Latin America
Brazil
Rest of Latin America
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04711310-summary/view-report.html
About Reportlinker
ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.
http://www.reportlinker.com
__________________________
Contact Clare: [email protected]
US: (339)-368-6001
Intl: +1 339-368-6001
SOURCE Reportlinker
Related Links
http://www.reportlinker.com
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The technology company Continental was honored as one of FORTUNE magazine's "Most Admired Companies" for 2017, ranking among the Top 5 in the motor vehicle parts category. FORTUNE magazine recognized the company for excellence in areas like product & service quality, use of corporate assets, financial soundness quality of management and social responsibility. Continental currently employs more than 220,000 people in 55 countries.
"Being named as one of FORTUNE's 'Most Admired Companies' is not only a great honor, but a direct result of the great work and commitment of our teams around the world," said Samir Salman, CEO of Continental North America. "Every day, we are actively involved in shaping the future of mobility, working with partners and customers around the world. This recognition from FORTUNE highlights that our values-driven management style as well as our sustainable business model not only translate into economic success, but are also recognized externally."
Along with this prestigious recognition, Continental was also recently named one of "America's Best Employers" by Forbes magazine for two consecutive years and recognized as one of "Chicago's Best and Brightest Companies to Work For" by the National Association for Business Resources. These recognitions are a testament to Continental's constant commitment to creating a progressive workplace environment for its employees worldwide.
FORTUNE surveyed some 3,800 executives, analysts, directors, and experts from different industries and used the data to select the "Most Admired Companies." Participants were asked to rate companies from their own industries on factors ranging from global competitiveness and innovation to social responsibility and quality of management.
To be included in the list, a company must score among the top half of their industry. For more information on the FORTUNE "Most Admired Companies" visit www.fortune.com.
Continental develops intelligent technologies for transporting people and their goods. As a reliable partner, the international automotive supplier, tire manufacturer, and industrial partner provides sustainable, safe, comfortable, individual, and affordable solutions. In 2016, the corporation generated sales of around 40.5 billion with its five divisions, Chassis & Safety, Interior, Powertrain, Tire, and ContiTech. Continental currently employs more than 220,000 people in 55 countries.
For the latest Continental news and information, follow us on:
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/ContiPress
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/ContiPressNA
SOURCE Continental
Related Links
http://www.continental-corporation.com
NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Cryptococcosis Market: Overview
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04711315-summary/view-report.html
This report on the global cryptococcosis market analyzes the current and future scenario of the global market. Cryptococcosis disease burden is rising due to increase in susceptible patient population such as HIV-infected patients, solid organ transplantation recipients, and other immunosuppressive hosts. In addition, the huge patient base in Sub-Saharan countries fuels the growth of the cryptococcosis market. For instance, According to CDC, it is estimated that around 1 million cryptococcal meningitis cases occurs globally. Also, it is also seen that cryptococcosis mortality burden is very high which results in around 625,000 deaths every year. In addition, rise in private and public funding for creating awareness, and favorable regulatory scenario for new product launch are boosting the growth of the global cryptococcosis market.
The cryptococcosis market report comprises an elaborate executive summary, which includes market snapshot that provides information about various segments. It also provides information and data analysis of the global market with respect to the segments based on treatment, distribution channel, and geography. A detailed qualitative analysis of drivers and restraints, and opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. Additionally, the section comprises clinical trial analysis and key industry event analysis to help understand the competitive landscape in the market. This section also provides market attractiveness analysis in terms of geography and market share analysis by key players, thus presenting a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global cryptococcosis market.
Global Cryptococcosis Market: Scope of the Study
Based on treatment, the market is segmented into Amphotericin B, Flucytosine, Fluconazole, and other antifungals. Amphotericin B further segmented into Amphocin, Fungizone and other products. Flucytosine further segmented into Ancobon and other products. Fluconazole includes Diflucan and other products. In treatment type, Flucytosine was the largest segment of the global cryptococcosis market in terms of revenue in 2015, driven by its increasing adoption in U.S. The market segments have been analyzed based on cost-effectiveness of the drugs, prevalence of the diseases, and growing diagnosis rate of cryptococcosis across the globe. The market size and forecast for each of these segments have been provided for the period from 2014 to 2024, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2016 to 2024, considering 2015 as the base year.
Based on distribution channel, the global cryptococcosis market is segmented as hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies, drug store, and mail order pharmacies. Retail pharmacy was the largest segment of the global market in terms of revenue in 2015 and is expected to continue to dominate the market by 2024, which is attributed to the increasing contribution of long term medication required for cryptococcosis treatment. Online purchase of drugs has been highly popular in most of the developed economies such as the U.S. and Japan.
Geographically, the global cryptococcosis market has been categorized into five major regions and the key countries in the respective region: North America (U.S. and Canada), Europe (U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (India, Japan, China, Australia and Rest of Asia Pacific), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, and Rest of Latin America) and Middle East & Africa (South Africa, GCC Countries, and Rest of Middle East & Africa).
Global Cryptococcosis Market: Competitive Landscape
The report also profiles major players in the global cryptococcosis market based on various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies, SWOT analysis, and recent developments. Major players profiled in this report include Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Janssen Biotech, Inc. (Johnson & Johnson), Abbott Laboratories, Novartis AG, Pfizer, Inc., Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Sigmapharm Laboratories LLC.
The global cryptococcosis market has been segmented as given below:
Global Cryptococcosis Market, by Treatment,
Amphotericin B
Amphocin
Fungizone
Other
Flucytosine
Ancobon
Other
Fluconazole
Diflucan
Other
Others (Voriconazole, surgery treatment, etc.)
Global Cryptococcosis Market, by Distribution Channel
Hospital Pharmacies
Retail Pharmacies
Drug Store
Mail Order Pharmacies
Other
Global Cryptococcosis market, by Region
North America
U.S.
Canada
Middle East & Africa
GCC Countries
South Africa
Rest of Middle East & Africa
Europe
Germany
U.K.
France
Italy
Spain
Rest of Europe
Asia Pacific
India
China
Japan
Australia & New Zealand
Rest of Asia Pacific
Latin America
Brazil
Mexico
Rest of Latin America
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04711315-summary/view-report.html
About Reportlinker
ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.
http://www.reportlinker.com
__________________________
Contact Clare: [email protected]
US: (339)-368-6001
Intl: +1 339-368-6001
SOURCE Reportlinker
Related Links
http://www.reportlinker.com
CHICAGO, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cybersecurity remains a top business priority as cyber incidents and data breaches carry the threat of significant operational and reputational damage for all organizations. A new report from the Internal Audit Foundation (IAF) and Crowe Horwath offers a look at the next step in the evolution of cybersecurity strategy by examining the growing use of security operation centers and security intelligence centers.
"Next Steps: Beyond Response to Anticipation" is based in part on a survey of chief audit executives conducted by The Institute of Internal Auditors' (IIA) Audit Executive Center and Crowe. The survey found that more than a third of respondents are turning to security operation centers, formal and informal, as part of their cybersecurity strategies.
"It is logical and encouraging that models to address the pervasive and potentially devastating threat of cyberattacks are evolving," said IIA President and CEO Richard F. Chambers, CIA, QIAL, CGAP, CCSA, CRMA. "The creation of formal security operation centers allows for holistic, proactive approaches to cybersecurity in which all parts of the organization, including the internal audit function, can support the battle against data breaches."
To conduct the survey, Crowe personnel interviewed information security executives from organizations across the globe. The interviews confirmed a growing number of organizations recognize that "100 percent protection 100 percent of the time" is not achievable. It is then that an organization's cybersecurity strategies can "shift from a defensive posture to a more offensive and proactive one that focuses on learning about how certain threats operate, how their effects can be limited or mitigated, and how the incident response time (from identification to remediation) can be accelerated," according to the report.
The report identifies the common terminology, frameworks, metrics and tools used in the security operation centers and examines how these can evolve further into security intelligence centers.
"There is room for internal audit to get more engaged in the evaluation of security operations," said Raj Chaudhary, CGEIT, CRISC, Crowe Risk Consulting principal. "Over time, advanced analytics capabilities will allow companies to become more proactive in preventing events that could negatively impact business operations."
The report is available through the Internal Audit Foundation. Its principal authors, Chaudhary and Dave McKnight, CISSP, of Crowe, will participate in a session on cybersecurity intelligence at The IIA's upcoming General Audit Management (GAM) Conference, March 20-22, in Orlando, Florida.
The authors will host a webinar "Cyberattacks: Go Beyond Response to Anticipation" from noon to 1 p.m. on April 4.
About the Internal Audit Foundation
The Internal Audit Foundation (Foundation) is the donor-supported arm of The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). The nonprofit Foundation conducts groundbreaking research and scholarly publishing, offers essential career development and thought leadership products through The IIA Bookstore, and works with colleges and universities through the Internal Auditing Education Partnership (IAEP) program to enlighten the next generation of internal auditors. For more information, visit www.theiia.org or www.theiia.org/foundation.
About The IIA
The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) is the internal audit profession's most widely recognized advocate, educator, and provider of standards, guidance, and certifications. Established in 1941, The IIA today serves more than 185,000 members from more than 170 countries and territories. The association's global headquarters are in Lake Mary, Fla. For more information, visit www.TheIIA.org.
About Crowe Horwath
Crowe Horwath Global Risk Consulting (Holdings) Limited and its subsidiaries ("Crowe Horwath") use their deep industry expertise to provide governance, risk and compliance services. Crowe Horwath serves clients worldwide as an independent member of Crowe Horwath International, one of the largest global accounting networks in the world. The Crowe Horwath International network consists of more than 200 independent accounting and advisory services firms in more than 130 countries around the world.
SOURCE Crowe Horwath LLP
Related Links
http://www.crowehorwath.com
TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Team8, Israel's leading cybersecurity think tank and venture creation foundry, announced today that David DeWalt, former CEO and Chairman of McAfee and FireEye, is joining Team8's Board of Directors. Mr. DeWalt also joined Team8's industrial security portfolio company, Claroty, as Chairman of the Board.
Widely recognized as one of the most successful business leaders in the cybersecurity industry, Mr. DeWalt brings more than 25 years of experience in the cybersecurity sector. In addition to the executive roles he held at McAfee and FireEye, he also served as Chairman of Mandiant, Vice Chairman of ForgeRock and ForeScout Technologies, led the sale of McAfee, Documentum, and Eventus, and has acquired more than 50 companies over the course of his career. He was also appointed by the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, to the National Security Technology Council (NSTAC).
"Team8's innovative and bold venture creation platform brings together the very best cyber R&D talent and leadership to create game-changing companies that I believe will have a tremendous impact on the cybersecurity market," said DeWalt. "Their first two companies, illusive networks and Claroty, are true pioneers in their respective fields and I am excited to be taking an active part in their future."
"David is a pioneer in the cybersecurity industry and we are excited to welcome him to Team8's board of directors," said Nadav Zafrir, Team8's co-founder and CEO. "Having David join our board is a tremendous vote of confidence in our ability to develop leading cyber companies and we believe his strong experience building global businesses will be extremely valuable as Team8's portfolio companies continue to scale up in the US, Europe and Asia."
In addition to DeWalt, Team8's Board of Directors includes well-known investors and cybersecurity professionals, including David Cowan, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners and one of Silicon Valley's most active cybersecurity investors; Ray Rothrock, CEO of RedSeal and long-time cyber investor and Check Point board member; Yuval Shachar, General Partner and co-founder of Marker LLC; and Dror Berman, Managing Founding Partner of Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors.
Since its establishment in 2014, Team8 has announced the launch of two companies, illusive networks and Claroty, with several more companies currently operating in stealth. illusive networks specializes in deception technology used to detect targeted attacks, while Claroty's industrial security platform secures and optimizes critical industrial infrastructure sites such as power grids, steel mills, chemical, food and beverage sites and oil refineries. Recently, Claroty announced Mr. DeWalt as Chairman of the Board.
Team8 has raised collectively with its portfolio companies more than $92M in funding, employs 185 people in Israel, US, UK and Singapore and intends to hire 100 additional employees in 2017. It is backed by Microsoft, Cisco, Qualcomm, AT&T, Accenture, Nokia, Temasek, Mitsui, Bessemer Venture Partners, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Marker LLC.
About Team8:
Team8, Israel's most prestigious cybersecurity think tank and venture creation foundry, develops disruptive companies that challenge the biggest problems in cybersecurity today. The Team8 innovation process combines a research team with intimate knowledge of both offensive and defensive aspects of cybersecurity, access to the best cyber talent, and a global syndicate that provides access to customers, partners and key influencers. Team8 was founded by leading cybersecurity experts Nadav Zafrir, Israel Grimberg and Liran Grinberg, all with deep ties to Israel's famous IDF Technology & Intelligence Unit 8200. It is backed by Microsoft, Cisco, Qualcomm, AT&T, Accenture, Nokia, Temasek, Mitsui, Bessemer Venture Partners, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Marker LLC. For more information on Team8, please visit http://www.team8.vc.
http://www.team8.vc/
Media Contact:
Matthew Krieger, GKPR for Team8
[email protected]
+972-54-467-6950
SOURCE Team8
Related Links
http://team8.vc
SHREVEPORT, La., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dickey's Barbecue Pit opens their newest Shreveport location this Thursday with a weekend filled with specials on Dickey's delicious, slow-smoked barbecue. On Thursday, February 23, the new location will offer a free Big Yellow Cup with an in-store purchase of $5 or more. On Saturday, February 25, the new location will feature $3 Pulled Pork Sandwiches to guests. As always at every Dickey's Barbecue Pit location, Kids Eat Free every Sunday with the purchase of an adult dine-in meal of $10 or more.
To join Dickey's Big Yellow Cup Club and receive members-only specials and discounts, click here.
"The Dickey's Barbecue Pit family congratulates Matthew and Catherine Long on opening their third Dickey's location," says Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. "Dickey's Barbecue Pit is a family-owned business and we are always proud when current Owner/Operators open new locations with us."
Guests of the new Shreveport location can enjoy:
Thursday, February 23 Guests will receive a free Big Yellow Cup with a purchase of $5 or more.
Saturday, February 25 The new location will offer $3 Pulled Pork Sandwiches.
Kids Eat Free Sunday Kids Eat Free every Sunday with every purchase of an adult dine-in meal of $10 or more.
Husband and wife duo, Matthew and Catherine Long will open their third Dickey's Barbecue Pit location in the Shreveport area. The Longs are experts when it comes to smoking delicious, Texas-style barbecue and they are excited to embark on their next adventure by opening their newest location. "This is a great area and the community is greatly looking forward to us opening a new Dickey's Barbecue Pit here," says Catherine Long. "We are excited to have the opportunity to serve our community Dickey's pit-smoked barbecue."
Residents of Shreveport can find their newest Dickey's location at 7503 Youree Dr. Suite 300 Shreveport, LA 71105. The phone number is 318-217-6070.
Find Dickey's Barbecue Pit on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
About Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc.
Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the nation's largest barbecue chain was founded in 1941 by Travis Dickey. Today, all meats are still slow smoked on-site in each restaurant. The Dallas-based family-run barbecue franchise offers eight signature meats, seven savory sides, tangy barbecue sauce and free kids' meals every Sunday. The fast-casual concept has expanded to nearly 600 locations in 44 states. In 2016, Dickey's won first place on Fast Casual's "Top 100 Movers and Shakers" list. Dickey's Barbecue Pit has also been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine, Franchise Times, and Nation's Restaurant News. For more information on Dickey's awards, visit www.dickeys.com
Media Contact:
Michelle George / Callie Head
[email protected] / [email protected]
SOURCE Dickey's Barbecue
Related Links
http://www.dickeys.com
NORTH CANTON, Ohio, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Diebold Nixdorf (NYSE:DBD) announced today that Andy W. Mattes, chief executive officer, will participate in the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in San Francisco on Wed., March 1, 2017 at 12:20 p.m. PT (3:20 p.m. ET). Mattes will discuss company's "Connected Commerce" strategy, its multi-year business integration roadmap, and corresponding financial targets. He will also be available to meet with institutional investors.
A live audio webcast of the event can be accessed on Diebold Nixdorf's investor relations website, http://investors.dieboldnixdorf.com/. A replay of the broadcast will also be available on this site.
About Diebold Nixdorf
Diebold Nixdorf is a world leader in enabling connected commerce for millions of consumers each day across the financial and retail industries. Its software-defined solutions bridge the physical and digital worlds of cash and consumer transactions conveniently, securely and efficiently. As an innovation partner for nearly all of the world's top 100 financial institutions and a majority of the top 25 global retailers, Diebold Nixdorf delivers unparalleled services and technology that are essential to evolve in an 'always on' and changing consumer landscape.
Diebold Nixdorf has a presence in more than 130 countries with approximately 25,000 employees worldwide. The organization maintains corporate offices in North Canton, Ohio, USA and Paderborn, Germany. Shares are traded on the New York and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges under the symbol 'DBD'. Visit www.DieboldNixdorf.com for more information.
SOURCE Diebold Nixdorf
Related Links
http://www.diebold.com
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/471092/Dr__Harold_Lancer.jpg )
With over three decades of dermatological experience, Dr Lancer is one of the few practicing dermatologists with a skincare line, proving that daily interaction with patients is what separates his approach and allows him to continue to evolve one of the world's most distinguished skincare lines. Unsurprisingly, Dr Lancer has a global patient base of over 30,000 people, including some of the worlds' most famous faces, including Beyonce, Margot Robbie, Victoria Beckham, Michelle Williams and Kim Kardashian among others, all of whom trust in his expertise, cutting edge technology, and of course, are devotees to the Lancer skincare line.
This award is a testament to Dr Lancer's unique skin care philosophy and it's this approach which has earnt him the position of 'the globes go to doctor' whether it's beauty enhancement or more serious skin conditions. Focusing on 'believable beauty' and the power of both nutrition and skincare is fundamental to Dr Lancer's success with every patient receiving a bespoke experience.
Dr Lancer commented on his success, saying, "I'm thrilled to have been honored at The Hollywood Beauty Awards. My patients are always my first priority and I'm passionate about changing the way people think about their skin. The Lancer brand is going from strength to strength and I'm proud to say that you haven't even seen the best of it yet. I'm very excited to continue to develop the brand and my practice in 2017 and I am humbled by being awarded with The Beauty Enhancement Award."
About Dr. Lancer:
Originally from Montreal, Canada, Dr. Lancer spent his youth in Connecticut, received his undergraduate education from the University of California, San Diego, and then his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He later completed a Plastic Surgery fellowship at the Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv, followed by a residency in London at St. John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin. He returned to Southern California where he received his board certification in dermatology in 1983 and began his Beverly Hills practice.
SOURCE The Press Office of Dr Lancer
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Edmunds, the leading car shopping and information platform, today announced its fifth annual Five Star Dealer Awards, honoring 817 dealerships across the country. The Five Star Dealer Awards are presented to a select group of car dealers who earned the highest overall rating for customer satisfaction in Edmunds' dealer sales ratings.
"Today's car shoppers are incredibly savvy, and we know that more than 70 percent of them read dealer reviews before deciding where to buy their next vehicle," said Avi Steinlauf, CEO of Edmunds. "Programs such as the Five Star Dealer Awards that recognize excellent customer service can make a real difference to dealers looking to stand out from the competition. We celebrate these exceptional dealers and congratulate them for going above and beyond for their customers."
In order to be eligible, dealers must participate in the Edmunds Dealer Partner program and must have earned an overall sales rating of five stars on a minimum of 20 reviews on Edmunds.com over the past year. Additionally, they must have maintained at least a 4.5-star average over the past two years to be recognized.
To find the full list of 2017 Five Star Dealers, visit Edmunds' all-new Dealer Center. Dealerships are broken down by region, making it easy to find local Five Star Dealers. Car shoppers can look up the reviews and ratings for any dealer in their area on the "Find a Dealer" page on Edmunds.com. Winning dealerships are distinguished by the Five Star Dealer badge.
About Edmunds
Edmunds is the leading car information and shopping platform, helping millions of visitors each month find their perfect car. With products like Edmunds Your Price, Your Lease and Used+, shoppers can buy smarter with instant, upfront prices for cars and trucks currently for sale at more than 13,000 dealer franchises across the U.S. Edmunds' in-house team of unbiased car shopping experts provide industry-leading vehicle reviews and shopping tips, as well as welcome all car shopping questions to the free Shopper Advice line at 1-855-782-4711, via email at [email protected], via text at ED411 and on Twitter and Facebook. The company is regarded as one of America's best workplaces by Fortune and Great Places to Work. Edmunds is based in Santa Monica, California, and has a satellite office in downtown Detroit, Michigan.
Contact:
Leah Polk
Edmunds Public Relations
Edmunds.com
Media Hotline: 310-309-4900
[email protected]
SOURCE Edmunds
Related Links
http://www.edmunds.com
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF)'s 25th annual Academy Awards Viewing Party to be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at West Hollywood Park, Sir Elton John and David Furnish will introduce Open Road and Survival Pictures new film The Promise which tells the story of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey at the outset of World War I. Written by Terry George and Robin Swicord and directed by Terry George (Hotel Rwanda), The Promise stars Oscar Issac, Christian Bale, and Charlotte Le Bon.
"We have only to look at the horrific HIV/AIDS outbreak that followed in the wake of the Rwandan genocide in the mid-1990s to understand the direct connection between human rights atrocities and public health crises like the AIDS epidemic," said EJAF Founder Elton John. "Through our friendships with the Manoukian family and producer Dr. Eric Esrailian from UCLA, David and I became more personally aware of the Armenian Genocide and its timely relevance to social issues today. The film's theme #KeepThePromise can be interpreted as keeping the promise to remember and learn from the atrocities of the past, as well as keeping the promise to end AIDS. At EJAF, we are committed to #KeepThePromise and raise awareness about this powerful film that uses classic storytelling to inspire people to take action today. We are honored to share the important timing of our Oscar-night event to introduce people to The Promise."
In addition to sharing EJAF's vision for championing human rights, The Promise team at Survival Pictures has taken the unprecedented step of making the commitment to donate all proceeds from the film to nonprofit organizations including EJAF and other human rights and humanitarian groups. As part of this commitment and to inspire Party guests to give generously, Survival Pictures will match the pledges guests make to EJAF via text and live auction purchases made during EJAF's Academy Awards Viewing Party with the goal of making this a record-setting evening.
"Such giving has never happened with a film of this scale, we wanted the world to know about it, and we are incredibly grateful," said EJAF Chairman David Furnish. "We are honored to announce this generosity, thanks to the late philanthropist and humanitarian Kirk Kerkorian, on the eve of EJAF's 25th annual Academy Awards Viewing Party. Not only is The Promise committing to support EJAF's work, but matching funds will be provided to inspire donors even more throughout the event and live auction."
Survival Pictures has also developed a social impact campaign for The Promise to help educate the global public about the genocides and mass atrocities of the 20th and 21st centuries, the discussion about the legal definition of genocide, and historical denialism. The impact campaign will inform and inspire people to take action so they become part of the anti-genocide movement led by human rights organizations like EJAF as well as change-makers dedicated to ending crimes against humanity and bringing perpetrators to justice.
The film sets a love story in the midst of the growing unrest in 1914 Turkey leading up to the horrors of the Armenian Genocide. As the Great War looms, the mighty Ottoman Empire is crumbling. Constantinople, the once vibrant, multicultural capital on the shores of the Bosporus, is about to be consumed by chaos. Michael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac), arrives in the cosmopolitan hub as a medical student determined to bring modern medicine back to Siroun, his ancestral village in Southern Turkey where Turkish Muslims and Armenian Christians have lived side by side for centuries. Photo-journalist Chris Myers (Christian Bale), has come here only partly to cover geo-politics. He is mesmerized by his love for Ana (Charlotte Le Bon), an Armenian artist he has accompanied from Paris after the sudden death of her father. When Michael meets Ana, their shared Armenian heritage sparks an attraction that explodes into a romantic rivalry between the two men. As the Turks form an alliance with Germany and the Empire turns violently against its own ethnic minorities, their conflicting passions must be deferred while they join forces to survive even as events threaten to overwhelm them. Promises are made and promises are broken. The one promise that must be kept is to live on and tell the story.
"The Armenian Genocide must, of course, never be forgotten and should be recognized, but our current headlines show that the same patterns of human rights violations are being replicated in too many parts of the world today," said producer Dr. Eric Esrailian. "We are honored to have the support of Elton, David, and the entire EJAF family, and by joining forces, we can help the people in the world who need assistance right now."
ELTON JOHN AIDS FOUNDATION At EJAF, we believe AIDS can be beaten. We act on that belief by raising funds for evidence-based programs and policies, and also by speaking out with honesty and compassion about the realities of people's lives. Sir Elton John created EJAF almost 25 years ago, first in the United States in 1992 and then in the United Kingdom in 1993. Through hard work and with the help of our network of kind and generous friends and supporters, the two foundations together have raised more than $385 million over the past quarter century to combat stigma, prevent infections, provide treatment and services, and motivate governments to end AIDS. The U.S. foundation focuses its efforts on programs in the United States, the Americas, and the Caribbean, while the U.K. foundation funds HIV-related work in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Join us in speaking out, taking action, and contributing to our efforts to achieve a world without AIDS. For more information, please visit www.ejaf.org.
American Airlines is the official airline of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
SURVIVAL PICTURES Survival Pictures is a production company dedicated to telling stories of perseverance, endurance, and the inextinguishable fire of the human spirit. The company, co-managed by Eric Esrailian and Anthony Mandekic, was humbly and discreetly started years ago by Kirk Kerkorian -- who wanted this company and its first project to speak to his core values.
SOURCE Elton John AIDS Foundation
Related Links
http://www.ejaf.org
AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Businesses in Mexico, China and India are increasingly turning to information technology to power successful growth, reveals new global research from Epicor Software Corporation, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software to promote business growth. Around three quarters of Chinese and Indian firms (74% and 73% respectively) and 63% of Mexican firms cited IT investment as important, compared to a global figure of 54%.
View interactive infographic here: gettinggrowth.co.uk
Overall, the research figures indicate that many of the world's businesses, particularly those in established economies, do not 'get growth' in the same way as their emerging market peers and risk falling behind 'grow getter' businesses in emerging markets. These businesses demonstrate a strong motivation to invest in technology to empower their organization.
'Grow getter' businesses are those that take advantage of macro-economic factors, such as low cost skilled labor and a healthy GDP. They use technology to expand into new markets and locations swiftly, without having to invest in high labor costs, and they have the processes in place to adapt their product ranges to match consumer demand.
Businesses in Mexico, India and China are the most likely to be growing in terms of geographic reach and overseas sales. India takes the lead, with 75% of businesses reporting overseas growth (63% in Mexico and 63% in China), compared to the US where 59% of businesses reported no further growth or a decline in growth overseas (47% of UK businesses reported the same).
India and Mexico are also the most likely to have grown their product ranges in the last 12 months with more than three quarters (82% and 76% respectively) of all businesses reporting growth here, compared to the global average of 61%. Hong Kong and Singapore were among the least likely to achieve this, with only 45-46% of businesses in both countries reporting any product range growth.
India, again, leads the global charge in profit growth with 80% of businesses reporting growth, compared to just 34% in Singapore.
Despite sales and turnover generally increasing across the globe (65% of businesses grew their sales/turnover in the last 12 months), only around half (48%) of the businesses around the globe are meeting this increase in productivity with a larger workforce.
With technology making it easier than ever before to communicate there are more opportunities to expand into new regions and markets rapidly. However, the survey shows that high growth businesses tend to be the only ones that are significantly expanding operations overseas. Of the businesses questioned, 65% of those experiencing very high growth were also experiencing significant growth overseas (compared to an average 14% overall).
Kathy Crusco, chief operating and financial officer at Epicor commented, "Business leaders around the world can learn from the experience of 'grow getter' businesses in emerging economies such as India and Mexico. These 'grow getter' companies have invested in technology to empower their workforces, drive efficiencies, increase agility, and increase their profit margins, as a result. They use technology to adapt quickly to change and demand, allowing them to drive expansion into new markets, and establish processes to adapt their product ranges to match consumer demand."
Crusco continued, "While macro-economic factors can often not be avoided, getting bogged down in legacy systems can. This study builds a resounding business case for investment in IT systems that support and enable business growth and help businesses navigate economic and political challenges as they arise. Given our history in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software this is something that Epicor has been passionate about for a long time. With intelligent, next-generation enterprise solutions in place, it becomes possible for businesses to be more confident in delivering their growth strategies."
The research, conducted by Morar Consulting on behalf of Epicor, questioned 2,450 business decision makers and employees in businesses in 12 countries across the globe, about their growth performance in the last 12 months. For further information on the research, go to: www.epicor.com/newsroom/global-trends-for-high-growth.
About Epicor Software Corporation
Epicor Software Corporation drives business growth. We provide flexible, industry-specific software designed around the needs of our manufacturing, distribution, retail, and service industry customers. More than 40 years of experience with our customers' unique business processes and operational requirements are built into every solutionin the cloud or on premises. With this deep understanding of your industry, Epicor solutions manage complexity, increase efficiency, and free up resources so you can focus on growth. For more information, connect with Epicor or visit www.epicor.com.
Epicor and the Epicor logo are trademarks of Epicor Software Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. Other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. The product and service offerings depicted in this document are produced by Epicor Software Corporation.
Contact: Lisa Preuss
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
Epicor Software Corporation
+1 949 585 4235
[email protected]
SOURCE Epicor Software Corporation
Related Links
http://www.epicor.com
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Securing creative office space just got a lot easier for growing companies and enterprises alike. LiquidSpace, the leading network for flexible workspace solutions, announced today the national launch of its altSpace program, a flexible office solution for growing teams of 10-200 employees. altSpace combines curated office fit-outs with LiquidSpace-approved landlord and partner spaces, enabling companies to move into a new office tailored for their team within 60 days and stay as long as they like on flexible terms. The altSpace program is now available in major markets across the US, including the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Dallas, Washington D.C., and beyond.
"The national rollout of altSpace is an important milestone for LiquidSpace and we are proud to be working with leaders in the architecture and design community. We reimagined what office spaces can be for growing teams because we weren't satisfied with the status quo," said Mark Gilbreath, founder and CEO of LiquidSpace. "We recognized that growing companies often don't have the time or the capital to commit to expensive fit-outs or long term leases, but still want a cool place to work with the flexibility to move on when they grow. We also realized that landlords and building owners are often in the same boat with the need to fill empty offices, but without the expense and risk of speculative fit-outs. After proving out the model with both startup and large enterprise customers and with multiple landlord partners, we are excited today to expand the altSpace program into major markets across the country."
altSpace reimagines how creative offices are designed, delivered and occupied. Whether you are a startup or simply need to move as fast as one, tapping into altSpace is simple. Select a location and a design, book it online and move in within days, no lease, no hassle. "Our corporate clients are increasingly looking for flexibility in their real estate portfolios. The cost efficiencies, term flexibility, rapid time to market and great design that altSpace offers are an exciting and unique option for us to present," said Dan Harvey, Vice Chairman, CBRE. "LiquidSpace continues to modernize the commercial real estate industry with its technology-driven model."
Companies can choose from three altSpace designs, crafted by altSpace design partner BVN Architecture, supporting varied work styles and offering a range of wellness features. Corporate tailored altSpace solutions are also available, for companies with bespoke requirements in multiple locations. Each altSpace kit-of-parts is modular, utilitarian and adaptable, featuring contemporary furnishings from altSpace furniture partner Allsteel, and altSpace exclusive custom elements. "altSpace has created a new way to provide companies with high performance workplace environments. It lets us support the flexible office needs of our existing large customers and provides us a new channel to introduce Allsteel to fast growing startups," said Brandon Sieben, President, Allsteel.
For building owners and landlords, altSpace is a hassle-free way to turn empty property into a high performing asset. With configurations available for spaces ranging from 1,000-20,000 square feet, altSpace turns any unoccupied space into a move-in ready workplace with the potential to attract new tenants. As Mark Rose, Chairman/CEO of Avison Young explains, "altSpace is a terrific and creative new solution for the CRE industry. Not only does it address the growing demand for flexibility that we see from our occupier clients, it gives our landlord partners the means to generate more revenue from their assets."
Building owners and landlord partners in the LiquidSpace network can become certified altSpace landlords, providing a new option for how to market and utilize their available spaces. Landlords can offer prospective tenants options for curated modern workplace designs with space visualizations to help merchandise their online listings. The altSpace program's SpecZeroTM TI standard is designed to minimize construction costs, permitting and build time, helping landlords eliminate the waste of traditional costly fit outs. "Our focus is to leverage innovative technology solutions that increase our visibility and convert our vacancies more effectively", said Chad Cook, Founder of Quadrant Investment Properties. "Working with LiquidSpace and the altSpace program, we landed a world-class technology company as a tenant, faster and with less overhead than a traditional leasing model."
The altSpace program was developed by LiquidSpace in partnership with passionate architects, furniture designers and real estate professionals including BVN Architecture, Allsteel, The Swig Company, Tidal Living, FME Architects, and Izzy+.
About LiquidSpace
LiquidSpace is the largest, real-time network for office space where startups, growing teams and service providers can connect with real estate owners, operators and private businesses that have space to share. Its platform transforms the entire commercial real estate process by successfully bringing each member of the supply chain together into one cohesive, productive network. LiquidSpace's online tools streamline communication among network members and simplify the discovery and transaction of office space, including an entirely reimagined legal framework that eliminates the cost and complexities of traditional leasing. Office space is now yours with a click. Pay by the month. No lease, no hassle. LiquidSpace is backed by leading investors and partners including Greylock Partners, Floodgate Fund, Shasta Ventures, Robertson Stephens, GPT Group, Black Diamond Ventures, Lucas Venture Group, Steelcase, CBRE and Avison Young. www.liquidspace.com
About Allsteel
Since 1912, Allsteel Inc. has offered a world-class, comprehensive range of workplace products and solutions. We simplify the office planning process by helping our customers align their workplace strategy with their business strategy. The result is fit-to-business solutions that deliver meaningful change in a way that works for them today, as well as tomorrow. Headquartered in Muscatine, IA, the company has showrooms in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. For additional information, visit www.allsteeloffice.com or follow Allsteel on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest or YouTube.
SOURCE LiquidSpace
Related Links
https://liquidspace.com
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140527/10098680 )
"Customer data analytics is a key technology enabler for digital transformation. At MWC, we will demonstrate how our products are used by Telcos and other enterprises for digital customer engagement and digital services, generating sustained measurable economic value," said Mr. Pravin Vijay, Vice President-Marketing, Flytxt.
Flytxt's products support smarter and faster decision making through the use of machine learning models, smart visualisations and interactive data analysis. Intuitive UI-driven business workflows and features like plug-and-play data ingestion and secured APIs allow seamless integration into the enterprise infrastructure and processes with ease.
Flytxt, with its advanced analytics technology and software products, enabling services, best practices and partner ecosystem, has consistently delivered up to 7% measurable economic value to 100+ customers including leading telcos, financial institutions and global brands.
Visit our booth at Hall 5, Booth 5J76 for live demonstrations on how our products help Telcos to:
Ingest data from diverse sources and derive actionable customer insights faster with pre-packaged and self-serve analytics
Ensure personalised digital experience across omni-channel customer journeys
Improve customer responsiveness with AI-powered engagement across touch points like Self-care app and Chatbots
Launch digital services like mobile advertising and market research leveraging the power of customer insights and APIs.
About Flytxt:
Flytxt provides customer data analytics software products and services to enterprises, helping them to accelerate their digital transformation journey and generate sustained measurable economic value. Digital customer engagement and digital services solutions powered by Flytxt's products help telcos and other enterprises to drive superior customer experience across digital touch points as well as increase revenues, optimise margins, and enhance customer loyalty. The company serves more than 100 customers including some of the largest telcos, financial institutions and global brands across 40 countries, analysing data of more than 600 million mobile consumers. The company has its headquarters in The Netherlands, offices in Dubai and India and regional presence in Paris, London, Singapore, Nairobi, and Mexico City.
Contact:
Naeem Shaikh
Corporate Communication
Flytxt
[email protected]
SOURCE Flytxt
DES MOINES, Iowa, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In a first-of-its-kind Title IX retaliation case, a former member of the Board of Trustees of Drake University filed a lawsuit against the school and its officials today for retaliating against him after he spoke out against the University's improper conduct, including the wrongful sexual assault investigation of his disabled son. The plaintiff is being represented by prominent Title IX campus assault due process attorney Andrew Miltenberg.
According to the complaint filed in federal court in the Southern District of Iowa, Drake University openly discriminated against and targeted its disabled students and, together with its Board of Trustees, instituted a concerted attack on all those who dared speak out for the rights of Drake University's students, including the plaintiff, Tom Rossley. The lawsuit describes how Mr. Rossley experienced first-hand Drake University's wrongful treatment of disabled students when the school maliciously withheld necessary accommodations from his disabled son. As a result of his advocacy for his son and Drake University students, the Board, with the support of the University President, removed Mr. Rossley from the Board of Trustees.
Rossley, a well-respected member of the Drake University community, also filed a Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") against the school, which was cross-filed with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.
"While engaging in a biased and unlawful Title IX investigation of Mr. Rossley's disabled son, the officials at Drake University purposefully ignored and failed to investigate the student's numerous pleas for help after he was sexually assaulted by a female student," said Miltenberg, who has represented dozens of accused male students at colleges and universities. "My client made numerous efforts to address the heinous violations of his disabled son's rights to school officials and the Board of Trustees. Instead of remedying the school's numerous unlawful actions, they instead instituted an immediate attack on Mr. Rossley and effectively silenced and covered up his complaints, to the direct detriment of his family, career, and Drake University's students."
Among the charges against Drake University and its Board of Trustees include: violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, breach of fiduciary responsibilities, and breach of contract.
The plaintiff's son also filed a lawsuit against Drake University in federal court in December, charging that the school violated Title IX equal protection clause, his rights to due process, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The case state's that the University wrongfully expelled the student and refused to investigate his simultaneous charge that his female accuser sexually assaulted him on the same night of the alleged incidenteven considering her own admission that she initiated in sexual conduct without his consent.
Additionally, the University failed to properly accommodate the student's ADHD, anxiety, and language-based learning disabilities during the disciplinary process, despite the fact that Drake University is home to the Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement, which lists advocacy for people with disabilities as one of its primary areas of focus. According to the lawsuit, officials at Drake University took advantage of the student's language-based disability in order to railroad him out of the University.
Lawsuits Cite US Department of Education "Dear Colleague Letter" Directive
Both lawsuits contend that Drake's violation of Title IX was strongly influenced by a directive of the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which encourages male gender bias and violation of due process rights during sexual misconduct investigations.
According to the complaint, the U.S. Department of Education issued in 2011 what has become known as the "Dear Colleague" letter to every college and university receiving federal funding, addressing their obligation under Title IX to respond to claims of sexual harassment and sexual violence. The 19-page "Dear Colleague" letter contains guidance and directives on how schools are to address sexual assault and misconduct to comply with the Department's view of Title IX. Among other things, the "Dear Colleague" letter dictated that schools use a lower burden of proof -- the "preponderance of the evidence" standard, rather than the "clear and convincing standard."
"As a result of the U.S. Department of Education's unlawful directive, there has been a surge in colleges and universities mishandling investigations and wrongfully prosecuting male students for fear of losing federal funding," Miltenberg said. "These directives have resulted in a clear disregard for the due process rights of male college students and have created a culture of male-gender bias on campuses throughout the country."
Miltenberg, a partner with Nesenoff and Miltenberg, LLP based in New York City, is currently engaged in several groundbreaking Title IX cases representing male students at Brown University, Columbia University, Georgia Tech and Colgate among others. For more information, visit www.nmllplaw.com
SOURCE Nesenoff and Miltenberg, LLP
Related Links
http://www.nmllplaw.com
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim brought together two maestros from divergent musical worlds in a serene sigh of sun-dappled bossa-nova. In evening studio sessions at Hollywood's Western Recorders between January 30 and February 1, 1967, Sinatra breathed new life into the album's 10 songs, accompanied vocally on four by Jobim, who also played guitar on the album. The album's tracks include seven Jobim originals and three American Songbook classics, delicately arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman with a studio orchestra, and produced by Sonny Burke.
"I haven't sung so soft since I had the laryngitis," joked Sinatra during their first evening together in the studio, easing into the hushed swing of the sessions.
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim ascended Billboard 's albums chart in April 1967, peaking at No.19 and remaining on the chart for 28 weeks. The 50th Anniversary Edition's CD and digital formats include two bonus tracks: A medley of "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars"/"Change Partners"/"I Concentrate on You"/"The Girl from Ipanema" from A Man And His Music + Ella + Jobim, and a previously unreleased studio session of "The Girl from Ipanema" from January 31, 1967.
Preorder Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (50th Anniversary Edition): https://UMe.lnk.to/SinatraJobim50PHY
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (50th Anniversary Edition)
CD / Digital
1. The Girl from Ipanema 6. If You Never Come to Me 2. Dindi 7. How Insensitive 3. Change Partners 8. I Concentrate on You 4. Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars 9. Baubles, Bangles and Beads 5. Meditation 10. Once I Loved
BONUS TRACKS
11. Sinatra-Jobim Medley:
Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars/Change Partners/I Concentrate on You/The Girl from Ipanema (from A Man And His Music + Ella + Jobim)
12. The Girl from Ipanema (previously unreleased studio session from January 31, 1967)
180g Vinyl LP / Limited Edition Blue Vinyl LP
SIDE 1 SIDE 2 1. The Girl from Ipanema 1. If You Never Come to Me 2. Dindi 2. How Insensitive 3. Change Partners 3. I Concentrate on You 4. Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars 4. Baubles, Bangles and Beads 5. Meditation 5. Once I Loved
About Frank Sinatra
Throughout his six-decade career, Frank Sinatra performed on more than 1,400 recordings and was awarded 31 gold, nine platinum, three double platinum, and one triple platinum album by the Recording Industry Association of America. Sinatra demonstrated a remarkable ability to appeal to every generation and continues to do so; his artistry still influences many of today's music superstars. The Oscar winner also appeared in more than 60 films and produced eight motion pictures.
Sinatra was awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Recording Academy, The Screen Actors Guild and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as the Kennedy Center Honors, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Today, he remains a legend and an inspiration around the world for his contributions to culture and the arts.
For more information about Frank Sinatra, visit sinatra.com.
facebook.com/sinatra
twitter.com/franksinatra
instagram.com/sinatra
100.sinatra.com
SOURCE UMe
Related Links
http://www.universalmusicenterprises.com
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Elite cybersecurity companies from around the world met in San Francisco to honor the industry's premier leaders at the 13th annual 2017 Global Excellence Awards, hosted by Info Security Products Guide. While global tech brands were nominated and competed for recognition in a variety of categories, one of the most prestigious honors went to 802 Secure President, Garry Drummond who was named CEO of the Year.
802 Secure received four other awards (in gold, silver and bronze categories) that brought recognition to their leading product, P25CleanRF. This product was a Gold Winner for NERC / FERC CIP Compliance, a highlight for 802 Secure's team, who are also developing additional product features for protecting nuclear and critical infrastructure from radio frequency cyber-attacks. P25CleanRF has been of interest to Law Enforcement agencies for use in protecting mission critical communications between First Responders dispatchers, incident commanders, safety officers and other emergency response agencies, including fire and police.
Garry Drummond, CEO, is thrilled at the response from the market,
"I am thankful to my team for their hard work and dedication as we lead this product into global markets. The P25CleanRF was awarded as one of the 2017 Security Products and Solutions for Government and that doesn't come easy. We have traction with State and Local Government, as well as Federal Agencies because our solutions provide visibility into invisible radio frequency attack vectors, like jamming."
Over 50 judges were present from various backgrounds and industries where each nominee and finalist was scored based on 12-month performance. While scoring is based on a variety of factors that include technical benefits to the market, finalists are selected and awarded based on achievements beyond the industry norm (true excellence).
802 Secure develops signal intelligent technology for securing the Internet of Things (IoT) by using software defined radios and big data analytics to detect and assess wireless risks across the broader RF spectrum. The Silicon Valley based company is best known for developing two leading, world-class technologies, cloud-based AirShieldSM and P25CleanRFSM proactive 24x7 cybersecurity monitoring of First Responder P25 Controlled Radio Networks.
For more information on this product, visit www.802secure.com
To schedule an interview, please contact
Lauren Burgoyne
Injected Media
[email protected]
SOURCE 802 Secure, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.802secure.com
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Betterment for Business, the technology-led 401(k) provider that aims to deliver better retirement outcomes and personalized advice, today announced that John Casey has joined its Board of Advisors. Bringing nearly 20 years of experience in the employee benefits space to Betterment for Business, Casey is currently Director, Global Benefits at Google.
Casey joined Google in 2010 and currently leads the global benefits team where his main areas of focus include driving the financial benefits strategy and managing Google's 401(k) and deferred compensation plans. A key part of his strategy is to use a data-driven approach to optimize the effectiveness, efficiency and user experience of the employee benefit programs.
"At Google, we focus on optimizing the effectiveness and user experience of our employee benefit programs," said Casey, Director, Global Benefits at Google, "and Betterment for Business' mission and product align with these values. I'm looking forward to working with a company that empowers employers to provide their employees with better outcomes and unbiased, actionable and personalized advice."
Prior to Google, Casey was partner at Mercer where he led their international benefits group for the west coast of the United States. With a significant track record of evaluating benefit providers, Casey believes that, "Betterment for Business is poised for continued growth with mid-sized professional service and technology companies in the 401(k) industry and I look forward to lending my guidance and expertise."
Betterment for Business' Board of Advisors now consists of four members whose deep industry expertise and commitment to acting in their clients' best interests play an important role in advising the company's growth and strategy. The company's Board of Advisors also includes Ray Kanner, Thomas E. Clark, Jr. and Stig Nybo.
"We are honored to have John join the Betterment for Business team," said Cynthia Loh, General Manager of Betterment for Business. "John will further strengthen our board's breadth of talent and expertise, bringing invaluable benefits. As Betterment for Business begins its second year of operation, the deep-rooted financial experience of our Board of Advisors will continue to guide us in our quest to be the trusted 401(k) service for plan sponsors and participants."
To learn more about Betterment for Business, please visit www.bettermentforbusiness.com.
About Betterment for Business
Betterment for Business is a 401(k) service built from the ground up with the needs of the modern employee in mind. It's selected by progressive employers who want to offer their employees tailored, unbiased and actionable financial advice that will help them create a more secure future. Betterment for Business is powered by Betterment's proprietary, smart technology that automates and optimizes asset allocation to enhance financial wellness. As a fiduciary that is independent of the funds it invests in, Betterment believes that everyone has the fundamental right to expert, unbiased financial advice. Headquartered in New York City and created by the largest independent robo-advisor, Betterment for Business is used by leading employers like Casper and Boxed. For more information, visit www.bettermentforbusiness.com.
Investing in securities involves risks, and there is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities. Determination of largest independent robo-advisor reflects Betterment LLC's distinction of having highest number of assets under management, based on Betterment's review of assets self-reported in the SEC's Form ADV, across Betterment's survey of independent robo-advisor investing services as of July 11, 2016. As used here, "independent" means that a robo-advisor has no affiliation with the financial products it recommends to its clients. 401(k) plan administration services provided by Betterment for Business LLC. Investment advice to plans and plan participants provided by Betterment LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser. Brokerage services provided to clients of Betterment LLC by Betterment Securities, an SEC registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. Betterment LLC and Betterment Securities are affiliates of Betterment for Business LLC.
Media Contacts:
Jen Kaye
Version 2.0 on behalf of Betterment for Business
617-426-2222
[email protected]
Arielle Sobel
PR Manager
Betterment for Business
[email protected]
SOURCE Betterment for Business
Related Links
https://www.bettermentforbusiness.com
ATLANTA, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- GP PRO announced that it will recommit a total of $75,000 to Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) through GP PRO's "Make it Better" 2017 campaign. Donations will support WWP as it connects warriors with one another, their community, and with life-changing programs and services. WWP serves warriors with programs targeting mental and physical health, career and benefits counseling, and support for the most severely wounded.
Through its "Make it Better" 2017 campaign, GP PRO is again committing a total of $75,000 to Wounded Warrior Project(R) (WWP). Donations will support WWP as it connects warriors with one another, their community, and with life-changing programs and services.
The relationship with WWP continues to build on the one previously established by Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products, which has donated more than $2 million since 2012. Georgia-Pacific also supports veterans by employing them as an integral part of its workforce of 35,000 people.
GP PRO will donate one large sum in 2017, which is slightly different from last year's approach. "We donated proceeds from select wiper sales as well as other products routinely used in the industrial sector," said Don Wolfe, senior category director for wipers at GP PRO. "Our wipers are built on attributes like strength and reliability. It was an honor to support a cause which stands for the same."
John Strom, senior vice president of marketing for GP PRO, said, "The industrial sector employs about two million veterans. So, it's great to be able to provide many of them with exceptional products to make their day-to-day easier, and then also know that some of the proceeds of those products benefit soldiers wounded in combat."
"Our resilient warriors are able to reach their goals when given a chance and the right tools to succeed," said Gary Corless, chief development officer at WWP. "Because of the generous support of Georgia-Pacific, we're able to connect our warriors with critically important services that empower them to live their lives independently, on their own terms."
For more information about GP PRO and our "Make it Better" campaign visit gppro.com/woundedwarriorproject.
About Wounded Warrior Project
We Connect, Serve, and Empower
The mission of Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP connects wounded warriors and their families to valuable resources and one another, serves them through a variety of free programs and services, and empowers them to live life on their own terms. In FY 2015, more than $262 million went to our life-saving free programs, a 38 percent increase in spend from FY 2014. This is the third consecutive year that the amount of money spent on programs for warriors has increased. Program spend represented 75 percent of our total expenses, while 21 percent went to fundraising, and 4 percent to administrative fees. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.
About GP PRO
GP PRO manufactures and sells well-known brands like Brawny Industrial, enMotion, Compact, Angel Soft Professional Series and food service brands including Dixie, SmartStock and PerfecTouch. A division of Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products, GP PRO designs products to meet the specific restroom, food service and break room needs for a wide range of industrial and manufacturing facilities but also for commercial facilities in office building, healthcare, food service, high traffic, lodging, retail and education sectors.
SOURCE GP PRO
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Heal, the app for on-demand doctor house calls, today announced the Company is moving the needle towards changing the broken healthcare system through the transformative power of on-demand doctor house calls. In two years, Heal has driven more than $5.9 million in healthcare savings costs, reduced unnecessary prescription antibiotic usage by more than 50 percent, raised $52 million in funding, and reduced non-emergency trips to the ER/Urgent care by 62 percent for its patients and partners. Additionally, Heal has delivered 16,000 patient house call visits, and plans to grow that number exponentially through its availability in select cities within Florida, Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania, by the end of 2017.
"In February 2015, we saw our first Heal patient ever," said Nick Desai, CEO and co-founder at Heal. "With visionary investors and a world-class team, we are excited to more fully realize our mission of striving to make healthcare more effective, intuitive, and affordable for all."
Recently, Heal hired Former General Manager of Mobile Apps at Amazon, Rish Tandon, to serve as the Company's CTO; and Bhavini Soneji, the former Director of Engineering at Snap Inc., to serve as Heal's SVP of Engineering.
"I joined Heal to create purposeful innovation that will make the Heal experience even more proactive, precise and powerful," said Bhavini Sonjei, SVP of engineering at Heal. "Together with Rish, we are eager to re-invent the system of healthcare as we know it."
"With this recent addition of Rish and Bhavini, we're creating a formidable technology team which indicates Heal being a place to be if you truly want to change the world," continued Desai.
Founded by Nick Desai and Dr. Renee Dua, Heal is more than just convenient house callsits larger mission is to transform the broken healthcare system. By freeing doctors from the burden of seeing 40 patients a day, as many need to, Heal gives doctors more time to take care of fewer patients. This leads to a better system for doctors, better health outcomes for patients, and lower costs for the larger healthcare system.
Heal and its investors, including Fidelity ContraFund, Thomas Tull, Jim Breyer, the Ellison Family, Lionel Richie, Dr. Paul Jacobs, and others, are eager to realize the full potential of its aim to improve healthcare in a positive way, not only for patients, but for doctors and payers alike.
About Heal:
Heal is transforming healthcare with unhurried house calls through empowered, qualified doctors doing what they love, and purposeful innovations that enable you to spend less time getting well and more time being well. We are making healthcare a more personal experience, and a more efficient doctor's office by delivering true care with resolute compassion.
Through the touch of an app or a click on our site, a highly-vetted, qualified medical doctor will arrive at your door, twelve hours a day, 365 days a year. Heal is in-network with all major PPO insurance companies, as well as Medicare. We hope to create a more efficient doctor's office, in the privacy of your own home or office, because we know that happy doctors deliver the best care and a great patient/doctor relationship improves outcomes! For more information please visit http://www.heal.com/. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
PRESS CONTACT:
Nicole Rodrigues
NRPR Group
(650) 8155069
[email protected]
Related Links
App Store Download Link
Android Download Link
Related Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQQ5Ib2Lsxw
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com
SOURCE Heal
Related Links
http://www.heal.com
All dollar amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated.
TORONTO, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - IAMGOLD Corporation ("IAMGOLD" or "the Company") today announced its 2016 year-end mineral reserve and resource statement. (See attached table for more details.)
Total attributable proven and probable gold reserves increased by 1% from 7.7 million ounces of gold at the end of 2015 to 7.8 million ounces at the end of 2016. The addition of 108,000 ounces was primarily due to the increase in reserves at Westwood and Essakane, partially offset by depletion during the year given the Company's attributable gold production of 813,000 ounces. There was no change in the $1,200 per ounce gold price assumption for estimating mineral reserves at the Company's owned and operated mines.
Significant factors that contributed to the revised reserves estimate included:
At Westwood , the net addition of 448,000 ounces of reserves, converted from resources that resulted from additional infill drilling and modeling, and
, the net addition of 448,000 ounces of reserves, converted from resources that resulted from additional infill drilling and modeling, and The positive impact of changes in the mine design approach and economic parameters at Essakane (331,000 ounces), which offset most of the mine's depletion (2016 attributable production of 377,000 ounces).
Total attributable measured and indicated gold resources (inclusive of reserves) decreased overall by 0.6% or 150,000 ounces to 23.3 million ounces of gold at the end of 2016. There was also no change in the gold price assumption for estimating mineral resources at Essakane and Rosebel ($1,500 per ounce) or at Westwood ($1,200 per ounce).
Significant factors that contributed to the revised resources estimate included:
At Westwood , measured and indicated resources increased by 447,000 ounces as the 2016 delineation and valuation drilling triggered a significant resources conversion from inferred to indicated and measured resources, which also drove the conversion of resources to reserves,
, measured and indicated resources increased by 447,000 ounces as the 2016 delineation and valuation drilling triggered a significant resources conversion from inferred to indicated and measured resources, which also drove the conversion of resources to reserves, At Essakane, measured and indicated resources declined by 367,000 ounces mainly due to depletion, partially offset by cost improvements which allowed more ounces to be economically viable and therefore to be included in the resource model, as well as the discovery of more ounces at the Falagountou deposit,
At Rosebel, measured and indicated resources declined by 278,000 ounces mainly due to depletion as no material changes were made to the resources model in 2016, however, the implementation of a new estimation methodology is ongoing and a new resources estimate is expected to be completed in 2017, and
The resources estimates at the Cote Gold, Boto, Siribaya and Pitangui Gold projects remained unchanged from 2015.
As at December 31, 2016, the Company also had attributable inferred resources of 6.1 million ounces.
Steve Letwin, President and CEO of IAMGOLD, commented, "In 2016, we identified and advanced high potential targets throughout our project pipeline, including areas surrounding our existing operations and at our advanced exploration projects. The results from this work were most evident at Westwood where we were able to increase reserves year over year by 75%, and where we expect to accelerate the conversion of resource to reserves as we extend our underground development and open up new drill sites. I thank Westwood for their excellent work to increase their reserves and resources, thank Essakane for improving their mine design and costs and congratulate the Exploration and Project Development teams for building such a strong pipeline of projects to support our growth story well beyond 2020."
Mr. Letwin continued, "We expect 2017 to be an exciting year for exploration as we are on track at Rosebel to declare a maiden resource at Saramacca and to tap into the saddles between our existing pits, expand our footprint at the Falagountou satellite pit to feed our Essakane mine, and target initial resource estimates at Monster Lake in Quebec and Eastern Borosi in Nicaragua. In addition the pre-feasibility study for our Cote Gold project, which is expected by the end of the second quarter 2017, could lead to an additional amount of mineral reserves resulting from the conversion of the project's indicated resources."
Notes to Investors Regarding the Use of Resources
Cautionary Note to Investors Concerning Estimates of Measured and Indicated Resources
This news release uses the terms "measured resources" and "indicated resources". We advise investors that while those terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") does not recognize them. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves.
Cautionary Note to Investors Concerning Estimates of Inferred Resources
This news release also uses the term "inferred resources". We advise investors that while this term is recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the SEC does not recognize it. "Inferred resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, except in rare cases. Investors are cautioned not to assume that part or all of an inferred resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable.
Scientific and Technical Disclosure
IAMGOLD is reporting mineral resource and reserve estimates in accordance with the CIM guidelines for the estimation, classification and reporting of resources and reserves.
Note: Mineral reserves and mineral resources for IAMGOLD's gold mines for the 2016 year-end statement were estimated using a $1,200 per ounce gold price (unless otherwise indicated in the notes in Table 1) for mineral reserves and a $1,500 per ounce price for mineral resources (unless otherwise indicated in the notes in Table 1). For open pit operations, gold resources are constrained within an economic pit shell.
Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors
The SEC limits disclosure for U.S. reporting purposes to mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. IAMGOLD uses certain terms in this news release, such as "measured," "indicated," or "inferred," which may not be consistent with the reserve definitions established by the SEC. U.S. investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in the IAMGOLD Annual Reports on Forms 40-F. You can review and obtain copies of these filings from the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml or by contacting the Investor Relations department.
The Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") requires mining companies to disclose reserves and resources using the subcategories of "proven" reserves, "probable" reserves, "measured" resources, "indicated" resources and "inferred" resources. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not demonstrate economic viability.
A mineral reserve is the economically mineable part of a measured or indicated mineral resource demonstrated by at least a preliminary feasibility study. This study must include adequate information on mining, processing, metallurgical, economic and other relevant factors that demonstrate, at the time of reporting, that economic extraction can be justified. A mineral reserve includes diluting materials and allows for losses that may occur when the material is mined. A proven mineral reserve is the economically mineable part of a measured mineral resource demonstrated by at least a preliminary feasibility study. A probable mineral reserve is the economically mineable part of an indicated, and in some circumstances, a measured mineral resource demonstrated by at least a preliminary feasibility study.
A mineral resource is a concentration or occurrence of natural, solid, inorganic material, or natural, solid fossilized organic material including base and precious metals in or on the Earth's crust in such form and quantity and of such a grade or quality that it has reasonable prospects for economic extraction. The location, quantity, grade, geological characteristics and continuity of a mineral resource are known, estimated or interpreted from specific geological evidence and knowledge. A measured mineral resource is that part of a mineral resource for which quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape and physical characteristics are so well established that they can be estimated with confidence sufficient to allow the appropriate application of technical and economic parameters, to support production planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. The estimate is based on detailed and reliable exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes that are spaced closely enough to confirm both geological and grade continuity. An indicated mineral resource is that part of a mineral resource for which quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape and physical characteristics can be estimated with a level of confidence sufficient to allow the appropriate application of technical and economic parameters, to support mine planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. The estimate is based on detailed and reliable exploration and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes that are spaced closely enough for geological and grade continuity to be reasonably assumed. An inferred mineral resource is that part of a mineral resource for which quantity and grade or quality can be estimated on the basis of geological evidence and limited sampling and reasonably assumed, but not verified, geological and grade continuity. The estimate is based on limited information and sampling gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes. Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Investors are cautioned not to assume that part or all of an inferred resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable.
A feasibility study is a comprehensive technical and economic study of the selected development option for a mineral project that includes appropriately detailed assessments of realistically assumed mining, processing, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental considerations together with any other relevant operational factors and detailed financial analysis, that are necessary to demonstrate at the time of reporting that extraction is reasonably justified (economically mineable). The results of the study may reasonably serve as the basis for a final decision by a proponent or financial institution to proceed with, or finance, the development of the project. The confidence level of the study will be higher than that of a Pre-Feasibility Study.
A Pre-Feasibility Study is a comprehensive study of a range of options for the technical and economic viability of a mineral project that has advanced to a stage where a preferred mining method, in the case of underground mining, or the pit configuration, in the case of an open pit, is established and an effective method of mineral processing is determined. It includes a financial analysis based on reasonable assumptions on mining, processing, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental considerations and the evaluation of any other relevant factors which are sufficient for a qualified person, acting reasonably, to determine if all or part of the Mineral Resource may be classified as a Mineral Reserve.
Gold Technical Information and Qualified Person/Quality Control Notes
The mineral resource estimates contained in this news release have been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The "Qualified Person" responsible for the supervision of the preparation and review of all resource and reserve estimates for IAMGOLD is Lise Chenard, Eng., Director, Mining Geology. Lise has worked in the mining industry for more than 30 years, mainly in operations, project development and consulting. She joined IAMGOLD in April 2013 and acquired her knowledge of the Company's operations and projects through site visits, information reviews and ongoing communication and oversight of mine site technical service teams or consultants responsible for resource and reserve modeling and estimation.
She is considered a "Qualified Person" for the purposes of NI 43-101 with respect to the mineralization being reported on. The technical information has been included herein with the consent and prior review of the above noted Qualified Person. The Qualified person has verified the data disclosed, and data underlying the information or opinions contained herein.
Forward Looking Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements. All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding expected, estimated or planned gold production, cash costs, margin expansion, capital expenditures and exploration expenditures and statements regarding the estimation of mineral resources, exploration results, potential mineralization, potential mineral resources and mineral reserves) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, failure to meet expected, estimated or planned gold production, cash costs, margin expansion, capital expenditures and exploration expenditures and failure to establish estimated mineral resources, the possibility that future exploration results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations, changes in world gold markets and other risks disclosed in IAMGOLD's most recent Form 40-F/Annual Information Form on file with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
About IAMGOLD
IAMGOLD (www.iamgold.com) is a mid-tier mining company with four operating gold mines on three continents. A solid base of strategic assets in North and South America and West Africa is complemented by development and exploration projects and continued assessment of accretive acquisition opportunities. IAMGOLD is in a strong financial position with extensive management and operational expertise.
Please note:
This entire news release may be accessed via fax, e-mail, IAMGOLD's website at www.iamgold.com and through CNW Group's website at www.newswire.ca . All material information on IAMGOLD can be found at www.sedar.com or at www.sec.gov.
Si vous desirez obtenir la version francaise de ce communique, veuillez consulter le http://www.iamgold.com/French/accueil/default.aspx
Mineral Reserves and Resources of Gold Operations
As at December 31, 2016 MINERAL RESERVES AND RESOURCES (1) (2) (3)
GOLD OPERATIONS Tonnes (000s) Grade (g/t) Ounces
Contained (000s) Attributable
Contained
Ounces
(000s) Rosebel (4), Suriname
(95%)
Proven Reserves 53,047 1.0 1,751 1,663
Probable Reserves 9,357 1.1 327 311 Subtotal 62,404 1.0 2,078 1,974
Measured Resources 129,262 1.0 4,026 3,825
Indicated Resources 60,768 1.0 1,999 1,899
Inferred Resources 22,307 0.9 633 601 Essakane (5), Burkina Faso
(90%)
Probable Reserves 89,676 1.1 3,311 2,980 Subtotal 89,676 1.1 3,311 2,980
Indicated Resources 124,760 1.2 4,617 4,155
Inferred Resources 13,807 1.1 488 439 Westwood (6), Canada
(100%)
Proven Reserves 971 8.1 254 254
Probable Reserves 2,714 9.1 792 792 Subtotal 3,685 8.8 1,046 1,046
Measured Resources 652 12.9 271 271
Indicated Resources 2,079 13.7 915 915
Inferred Resources 6,343 10.9 2,223 2,223 Sadiola (7), Mali
(41%)
Proven Reserves 23 2.4 2 1
Probable Reserves 77,120 1.8 4,383 1,797 Subtotal 77,143 1.8 4,385 1,798
Measured Resources 23 2.4 2 1
Indicated Resources 126,652 1.7 7,099 2,910
Inferred Resources 19,082 1.7 1,036 425 Cote Gold (8), Canada
(92.5%)
Indicated Resources 289,183 0.9 8,354 7,727
Inferred Resources 66,894 0.6 1,174 1,086 Boto Gold (9), Senegal
(100%)
Indicated Resources 27,670 1.8 1,563 1,563
Inferred Resources 2,922 1.3 125 125 Pitangui (10), Brazil
(100%)
Inferred Resources 4,252 5.0 679 679 Diakha-Siribaya (11), Mali
(50%)
Indicated Resources 2,102 1.9 129 64
Inferred Resources 19,816 1.7 1,092 546 TOTAL
Proven & Probable Reserves 232,909 1.4 10,820 7,798
Measured and Indicated Resources 763,151 1.2 28,974 23,331
Inferred Resources 155,423 1.5 7,450 6,124
(1) Measured and indicated resources are inclusive of proven and probable reserves. (2) In mining operations, measured and indicated resources that are not mineral reserves are considered uneconomic at the price used for reserve estimations but are deemed to have a reasonable prospect of economic extraction. (3) Although "measured resources", "indicated resources" and "inferred resources" are categories of mineralization that are recognized and required to be disclosed under Canadian regulations, the SEC does not recognize them. Disclosure of contained ounces is permitted under Canadian regulations; however, the SEC generally permits resources to be reported only as in place tonnage and grade. See "Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors". (4) Rosebel mineral reserves have been estimated as of December 31, 2016 using a $1,200/oz gold price and mineral resources have been estimated as of December 31, 2016 using a $1,500/oz gold price and have been estimated in accordance with NI 43-101. (5) Essakane mineral reserves have been estimated as of December 31, 2016 using a $1,200/oz gold price and mineral resources have been estimated as of December 31, 2016 using a $1,500/oz gold price and have been estimated in accordance with NI 43-101. (6) Westwood mineral reserves have been estimated as of December 31, 2016 using a $1,200/oz gold price and mineral resources have been estimated as of December 31, 2016 using a 6.0 g/t Au cut-off over a minimum width of 2 metres and have been estimated in accordance with NI 43-101. (7) Mineral reserves at Sadiola have been estimated as of December 31, 2016 using an average of $1,100/oz gold price and mineral resources have been estimated as of December 31, 2016 using a $1,400/oz gold price and have been estimated in accordance with JORC code. (8) Cote Gold mineral resources have been estimated as of December 31, 2015 using a $1,500/oz gold price and have been estimated in accordance with NI 43-101. (9) Boto Gold mineral resources have been estimated as of December 31, 2015 using a $1,500/oz gold price and have been estimated in accordance with NI 43-101. (10) Pitangui mineral resources have been estimated as of December 31, 2015 using a $1,500/oz gold price and have been estimated in accordance with NI 43-101. (11) Diakha-Siribaya mineral resources have been estimated as of December 31, 2015 using a $1,500/oz gold price and have been estimated in accordance with NI 43-101.
SOURCE IAMGOLD Corporation
Related Links
http://www.iamgold.com
CHENNAI and HAMBURG, Germany, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Indivumed, GmbH (Indivumed), a world leader in precision oncology headquartered in Hamburg, Germany and The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), the country's premier academic research institution, announced today a collaboration to support the first Indian national cancer data base and biobank for use in precision cancer research.
IITM and Indivumed signed an agreement with an initial three-year term. The collaboration will include collection of many types of cancer, such as lung, breast, colorectal and pancreatic, to name a few. Initially physicians and patients residing within the state of Tamil Nadu with an approximate population of more than 78 million will be provided the opportunity to participate, with the hopes to expand the collection throughout the country.
IITM will join a worldwide network of clinical and research institutions within Germany, Poland and the United States, enabling researchers to access a multi-national biobank of specimens and annotated clinical data collected and preserved under Indivumed unique scientific standards.
"Partnering with IITM is an exciting expansion of the Indivumed mission to impact precision medicine in cancer on a global scale," said Hartmut Juhl, MD, founder and CEO of Indivumed. "With world class scientists and state-of-the-art technology, IITM is well positioned to advance cancer research. Our institutions have a shared commitment to attaining individualized cancer diagnosis and treatment for every patient based on reliable clinical data and molecularly intact biospecimens," Juhl went on to say.
Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras said of this collaboration, "Indivumed is a world leader in tissue collection and preservation and will drive meaningful innovation for physicians, patients and researchers. By participating in the Indivumed research network, we will join with the global scientific community to fight cancer and have access to a critical mass of biological samples and clinical data for use in unique clinical research for our community. IITM is committed to being on the cutting-edge of precision medicine for personalized cancer treatment."
"The collection and preservation of human tissue is vital to enable the most impactful medical research," commented Dr. S. Mahalingam, Professor in the Department of Biotechnology at the Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences and Faculty-in-charge of National Cancer Tissue Biobank. "Importantly", Mahalingam said, "The partnership with Indivumed will provide our team access to its internationally leading biobanking standards, enabling the preservation of the molecular profile of cancer patients to allow for a better understanding of the interaction between genetic changes (DNA mutations) and cell biology, an essential ingredient to developing targeted cancer therapies."
About IIT Madras (http://www.iitm.ac.in)
IIT Madras is one among the foremost institutes of national importance in higher technological education, basic and applied research. In 1956, the German Government offered technical assistance for establishing an institute of higher education in engineering in India. The first Indo-German agreement in Bonn, West Germany for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras was signed in 1959.
IIT Madras is a residential institute with nearly 600 faculty, 9000 students and more than 1500 administrative & supporting staff and is a self-contained campus located in a beautiful wooded land of about 250 hectares. It has established itself as a premier centre for teaching, research and industrial consultancy in the country.
The Institute has sixteen academic/research departments and many national as well as international advanced research centres/facilities in various disciplines of engineering and pure sciences. IIT Madras jointly with the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India established the first National Cancer Tissue Biobank facility. A faculty of international repute, a brilliant student community, excellent technical & supporting staff and an effective administration have all contributed to the pre-eminent status of IIT Madras. The campus is located in the city of Chennai, previously known as Madras. Chennai is the state capital of Tamil Nadu, a southern state in India.
IITM has been ranked #1 amongst research and teaching institutions in Engineering in the India Rankings 2016 released by the National Institutional Ranking Framework, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India- https://www.nirfindia.org/engg
Join IIT Madras on Facebook: ReachIITM; on Twitter: @ReachIITM
About Indivumed:
INDIVUMED, an ISO certified global oncology research company based in Hamburg, Germany, has established the world's leading Cancer Database and biobank, retaining unique patterns of biomolecules such as RNA, DNA, and proteins as they existed in the human body. This Cancer Database makes possible multi-omics capabilities that will allow for characterization of samples and data such as whole genome gene expression analysis, expression analysis of cancer relevant proteins, expression analysis of cancer relevant phosphoproteins and bioinformatic solutions for integrating molecular, biological and clinical information.
Indivumed's products and services allow for in-depth understanding of the underlying mechanisms of a patient's cancer, addressing important demands in translational research and molecular diagnostics to support implementation of personalized healthcare.
For more information, please visit http://www.indivumed.com
CONTACT FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES
Indivumed GmbH
Hartmut Juhl, MD
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Tel.: +49/40 - 41 33-83-0
E-mail: [email protected]
IIT Madras:
Bhavani Giddu
Footprint Global Communications
Cell: +91-9999500262
Email: [email protected]
Palak Sakhuja
Footprint Global Communications
Cell: +91-9582338333
Email: [email protected]
SOURCE Indivumed GmbH
DENVER, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Denver's first construction co-working community is pleased to announce its much anticipated Grand Opening on Friday, February 24th, 2017. After several months of design and construction, Tradecraft Industries is changing the once isolated industry and bringing the co-working mentality that thrives in tech and startup space to construction. Tc creates a space for its members to network, grow, and build relationships with others in similar trades. "Construction is a dog eat dog world, Tc is built to give its members bigger teeth," commented Bryce Ballew, the visionary founder of Tradecraft Industries. The beautifully conceived space has now taken on its finishing touches and is ready to be revealed to the Denver community. By bringing together great minds in the industry, Tradecraft Industries is shifting the perspective of all those involved by emphasizing the need for community and collaboration with expansion and growth as the pillar foundations for success. "Tc was designed and built for the construction professional to further advance their business in ways that were previously only obtained through hard-knocks," remarked Ballew.
The Tradecraft Main Entrance
Tradecraft Industries founder Bryce Ballew, 34, conceptualized Tradecraft in 2012 when he ventured out on his own as a commercial CM/GC after more than 12 years of experience. In the years that followed, co-working spaces and small business incubators became booming business, while the construction industry lacked a progressive approach to supporting and encouraging small business growth and large business innovation. Ballew partnered with Denver based Live Forward Ventures to create a pathway for design and construction businesses to scale, grow and collaborate rather than operate in the different silos where they currently reside. "Tradecraft has a diverse variety of solutions for businesses of all sizes. From networking and continuing education to mailing addresses and storage, this combines a nuts-and-bolts approach with a C-suite touch."
The response to Tradecraft and its progressive approach to business has been overwhelmingly positive. "When you're doing something this new in an industry, it naturally attracts the right kind of people to build the community we envisioned," expressed Director of Operations, Sarah Battani. Offices, memberships, and storage units have been sold and Tc has built a progressive, collaborative community within the trades as well as a professional network that will offer expertise to members.
The building's details are clearly crafted with the members in mind. Utilizing an intentional industrial look with a sleek and modern finish, it gives the ambience of an industrial workshop, but with a unique modern touch. This approach summarizes Tradecraft's ethos; promote the pillars of what construction business was founded on integrity, grit, and hard work while bringing in a new flavor of efficiency, networking, and optimized business solutions. The space is located at 6145 Broadway in Denver, CO 80216 and is currently scheduling tours. For more information, check out their website at www.tradecraft.industries.
Media contact:
Sarah Battani
[email protected]
303-870-2892
SOURCE Tradecraft Industries
Related Links
http://www.tradecraft.industries
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Internal Affairs Unit of the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) / Community Care Licensing Health Department (CCLD) has launched an administrative investigation into misconduct by CCLD officials during a January 10, 2017 site visit to a children's recovery home, an adolescent mental health treatment center operated by Sovereign Health, a national behavioral health system. The investigation was launched in response to a complaint submitted by Sovereign to CDSS Director, Will Lightbourne.
The complaint details the outrageous conduct of CCLD staff who brought an armed, unnamed individual to the facility that houses children recovering from trauma. The gun wielding individual, who wore no badge or other form of identification and refused to give his name, stalked the grounds of the facility openly carrying a firearm. During the visit, CCLD Licensing Program Manager, Shelly Grace and Licensing Program Analyst, Marisol Lopez, refused to name the armed intruder and stood by as he bullied the staff and belligerently ordered the facility's Medical Director into a room while refusing to allow the Facility Administrator to enter.
In the complaint, board member Seth Zajac protested that: "The children's recovery home is a sanctuary for children with mental illness and for children recovering from trauma." Mr. Zajac went on to say: "These actions by CCLD's staff are despicable . It was dangerous . Sending a gun wielding individual to the children's recovery home in civilian clothing who refused to identify himself interferes with our staff's ability to identify a potential active shooter. And it was illegal : Health and Safety Code Section 1533 requires staff to properly identify themselves before entering the licensed children's recovery home."
The blatant, ethical, procedural and legal violations didn't end with the site visit. The complaint also reveals that Ms. Grace and Ms. Lopez intentionally falsified the required site visit reporting documents by deliberately omitting any mention of the armed individual in their official site report. CCLD's actions stand in stark contrast to the fact that the children's recovery center has long maintained Gold Seal accreditation from the Joint Commission, the nation's oldest and most respected healthcare accrediting body.
These recent incidents and CCLD's history of licensing irregularities have compelled Sovereign Health to call for an independent investigation by the California State Senate. Licensing irregularities were the foundation of another State Senate investigation. In 2012, the California Senate published a report: Rogue Rehabs: State failed to police drug and alcohol homes, with deadly results. Sovereign Health says it is high time for the Senate to investigate CCLD's "rogue regulators."
In its call for action, Sovereign Health has asked the State Senate to protect the people of California by holding CCLD accountable for its egregious behavior and correct a licensing process that is corrupt and out-of-control. And as Mr. Zajac stated in Sovereign Health's complaint, CCLD's actions serve as a prime example of what needs to change. "This disgusting conduct was entirely unnecessary, unprecedented and unlawful. This disgusting conduct must never happen again."
About Sovereign Health
Sovereign Health's mission is to provide a broad spectrum of high-quality behavioral health treatment services for adults and adolescents, including support services for family members. One factor that differentiates Sovereign from other treatment providers has been the company's ability to offer separate mental health and addiction or dual diagnosis treatment programs at its facilities. For more information, visit www.sovhealth.com.
SOURCE Sovereign Health
Related Links
http://www.sovhealth.com
MEMPHIS, Tenn., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- International Paper (NYSE: IP) announced the following senior leadership changes.
Thomas J. Plath has been elected by the board of directors to become Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Global Citizenship, effective March 1, 2017. Mr. Plath joined International Paper in 1991, serving most recently as Vice President, Human Resources, Global Businesses.
The company also announced the retirement of Thomas G. Kadien, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Government Relations and Global Citizenship. Mr. Kadien joined the company in 1978 and will retire effective June 30, 2017.
"For nearly four decades, Tom Kadien has left an indelible mark on International Paper, not only as a leader but as a colleague and friend. We wish him the very best in retirement," said Mark Sutton, Chairman and CEO. "Tom Plath will lead our efforts to continue to attract, engage and develop our colleagues around the world. Tom will be an excellent addition to our senior leadership team."
About International Paper
International Paper (NYSE: IP) is a leading global producer of renewable fiber-based packaging, pulp and paper products with manufacturing operations in North America, Latin America, Europe, North Africa, Asia and Russia. We produce packaging products that protect and promote goods, and enable world-wide commerce; pulp for diapers, tissue and other personal hygiene products that promote health and wellness; papers that facilitate education and communication; and paper bags, cups and food containers that provide convenience and portability. We are headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., and employ approximately 55,000 colleagues located in more than 24 countries. Net sales for 2016 were $21 billion. For more information about International Paper, our products and global citizenship efforts, please visit internationalpaper.com.
SOURCE International Paper
Related Links
http://www.internationalpaper.com
PITTSBURGH, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) released the following statement today after the U.S. International Trade Commission, by a vote of 3 to 2, denied relief from dumped and subsidized Chinese truck and bus tires to workers. While the Department of Commerce in late January found that the subject tires were subsidized at margins ranging from 20.98 to 63.34 percent and that dumping had occurred at rates ranging from 9 to 22.57 percent, a majority of the voting commissioners failed to see the injury that had been inflicted.
"The ITC Commissioners made a huge mistake," said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. "While the Department of Commerce identified subsidies of up to more than 60 percent and dumping of up to almost 23 percent, the ITC failed to support relief for the injured workers. That simply ignores the facts and the harm that Chinese unfairly-traded exports have caused the workers.
"The size of the margins clearly indicated the serious nature of the problem, but our law separates the facts from the determination of whether injury has occurred. For too long, that has jeopardized the jobs of workers across the country that make high quality products. Our members can compete against companies, but not countries. That's exactly what happens when it comes to competing against China.
"The injury that the workers making truck and bus tires have experienced is tragic. Massive subsidies and dumping must be challenged," said Gerard.
"China continues to ramp up capacity throughout the tire sector, seeking to sell here at any price. It is time for the government to step in so that workers do not have to continue to shoulder the burden of failed trade agreements and policies," said USW International Vice President Tom Conway. "Workers are demanding that our government stand up for their interests."
"For many years we have fought Chinese companies targeting the U.S. market and American workers with unfair practices," said USW International Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson. "Our members in the tire sector have stood their ground and fought like hell to stop China's dumping and subsidies. Today, workers making truck and bus tires have been left holding the short end of the stick. We will look to the Congress and the new Administration to determine whether other steps can be taken to save these vital family-supportive jobs."
"The fight for these jobs is far from over," said Johnson.
The USW represents 850,000 workers in North America employed in many industries that include metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining and the service and public sectors.
For more information: http://www.usw.org/.
CONTACT: Holly Hart (202)778-4384, [email protected]
SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)
Related Links
http://www.usw.org
Dr. Yegian previously was a senior vice president for Programs and Policy at the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA). Prior to the IHA, she co-directed the American Institutes for Research's (AIR) Health Policy and Research Group, where she was responsible for strategic planning for the group, leading multiple proposals and projects on topics including the consumer use of quality and cost information for decision-making and health insurance exchanges.
Dr. Yegian also spent 13 years with the California HealthCare Foundation, where she worked to improve the state's financing and delivery systems for health care. She earned a bachelor's degree in human biology from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in health services and policy analysis from the University of California - Berkeley.
"We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Yegian to our company," said Richard Fish, chief executive officer of Brown & Toland Physicians. "As the healthcare industry continues to transform both in the Bay Area and on a national level, having an experienced leader like Dr. Yegian on our team will enhance our company's position in the market. She also will help us achieve our goals of providing our doctors with the services and programs they need to provide the best care possible to their patients."
About Brown & Toland Physicians
Brown & Toland Physicians is a leading network of independent doctors focused on delivering personalized, high quality, and affordable healthcare to the San Francisco Bay Area. Its network of 1,500 physicians, serving more than 300,000 HMO and PPO patients, is dedicated to improving care through patient-centered programs, use of healthcare technology, and population health management strategies. The group has succeeded in improving quality outcomes and reducing medical costs across multiple accountable care populations. Brown & Toland collaborates with leading hospitals and health providers to provide local and convenient care in the Bay Area. To learn more, visit www.brownandtoland.com.
SOURCE Brown & Toland Physicians
Related Links
http://www.brownandtoland.com
SEATTLE, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kineta, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the translational development of novel immune modulating therapies, today announced that KCP-400 (RgIA4), a potent antagonist of the 910 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR), demonstrates robust chronic pain relief and disease modifying effects in preclinical pain models. The study also establishes the 910 nAChR as a new, non-opioid target for the treatment of chronic pain. The findings were reported online in the February 20th issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
KCP-400 is derived from the venom of the Conus regius, a small cone snail native to the Caribbean Sea that uses a venomous punch to paralyze and kill its prey. "Nature has evolved molecules that are extremely sophisticated and can have unexpected applications," said Dr. Baldomero Olivera, professor in biology at the University of Utah and co-author of the study. "We were interested in using venoms to understand different pathways in the nervous system."
Using chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) in rodents, researchers from Kineta and the University of Utah, showed that 910 nAChRs play a key role in the progression of CIPN and that KCP-400 is an effective compound to block this target. The observed pain relief continued for 72 hours after the compound was injected, indicating that KCP-400 may provide sustained relief of chronic pain.
"KCP-400's target, the 910 nAChR, represents a mechanistically distinct approach to modify the disease course of chronic pain", said Dr. Shawn Iadonato, CEO of Kineta and co-author of the study. "KCP-400 blocks pain signaling at the site of nerve injury producing analgesic, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. Additionally, since KCP-400 is peripherally acting, we do not anticipate that it will have the central nervous system-related side effects associated with opioid therapies."
Public health officials have called the current opioid epidemic the worst drug crisis in American history, killing more than 90 people every day. "There is a tremendous unmet medical need for new chronic pain therapies that are differentiated from currently available treatment options", said Dr. Iadonato. "We believe that KCP-400, with its novel characteristics, may have a significant and positive impact for patients and their families.
Kineta is conducting ongoing preclinical safety and efficacy studies of KCP-400 in many forms of chronic pain and plans to advance to Phase 1 human clinical trials in mid-2018.
Click here to view the study:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/02/17/1621433114.abstract
The study was conducted by Kineta in collaboration with colleagues from University of Utah, University of Florence, Italy, A.T. Still University, University of Mississippi Medical Center and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Salt Lake City.
This work was supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs through the FY13 DOD USAMRMC Broad Agency Announcement under Award No. W81XWH-15-2-0057.
Kineta, Inc. is an emerging and sustainable biotech company that fills a void in the biopharmaceutical industry by efficiently advancing therapies from discovery to clinical proof of concept. We actively collaborate with a broad array of private, government and industry partners to advance our innovative research in chronic pain, immuno-oncology and infectious diseases. Kineta has established and is expanding on a diverse pipeline of novel life improving therapies that address critical unmet patient needs. For more information on Kineta, Inc. visit our website, www.Kinetabio.com
KCP-400 is a first in class 910 nAChR antagonist with a novel mechanism of action. It is a highly potent synthetic peptide that is derived from the venom of a cone snail. KCP-400 is a non-opioid that has demonstrated robust analgesic, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects across multiple preclinical chronic pain models. It is well tolerated with no observed toxicities in short-term studies in animals.
NOTICE: This document contains certain forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding Kineta's plans for pre-clinical and clinical studies, regulatory filings, and anticipated drug effects in human subjects. You are cautioned that such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties inherent in Kineta's business which could significantly affect expected results, including without limitation progress of drug development, ability to raise capital to fund drug development, clinical testing and regulatory approval, developments in raw material and personnel costs, and legislative, fiscal, and other regulatory measures. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and Kineta undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the issuance of this press release.
Contact Jacques Bouchy
[email protected]
(206) 378-0400
SOURCE Kineta, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.kinetabio.com
Adduci and Azucena join SVP Account Director Annette Fonte as the business leads at LAPIZ tasked with reimagining the role of account managers in the agency. LAPIZ will decentralize the role of account director to develop business units within teams throughout the agency.
Adduci currently oversees LAPIZ accounts including Kraft, UnitedHealthcare and Mexico Board of Tourism. He has been building global brands for clients like Charmin, Bounty and Gain for more than 25 years, and has won multiple industry-leading awards including three Cannes Lions.
Azucena oversees the Allstate business and has been a critical player in the growth of the agency's relationship with Advance Auto Parts. He has seen the transformation of the agency over the years first hand, creating work for clients including Coca-Cola and General Motors.
About LAPIZ
Established in 1999, LAPIZ is a marketing agency that uses outside perspectives to challenge established beliefs and create the unexpected. LAPIZ work has consistently been recognized in top creative and effectiveness international awards shows including several Cannes Lions, Clios and EFFIES. Part of the Leo Burnett Group, LAPIZ works with some of the world's most valuable brands including Advance Auto Parts, Allstate, Purina, Mexico Board of Tourism, Marshalls and Kraft.
LAPIZ Contact:
Michael Cowen
312.220.3953
[email protected]
SOURCE LAPIZ
ATLANTA, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDA) is celebrating a huge milestone this week as they reach over 100 Support Groups nationwide! This accomplishment speaks volumes for the organization because LBDA is extending it's reach and capacity to further help those in need of support and services.
LBDA's passion and commitment to spreading awareness has enabled them to grow their support group base exponentially. The objective of each group is to provide support efforts for caregivers and those with Lewy body dementias. These individuals can access tools, resources, and communicate with others who have similar situations.
"The LBD caregivers group helps members face the future, whatever it may bring" shares Paul Smith, a Support Group Facilitator based in Illinois.
The majority of LBDA's support groups are led by volunteers who are trained by the organization. Training ensures that facilitators are knowledgeable in the LBD disease process, and are able to provide a safe, welcoming environment for group members to feel comfortable sharing personal experiences and learn from one another.
"Providing support and compassion for all those affected by Lewy is core to our mission at LBDA . It has taken us a while to get to this point but we are very excited by all the opportunities that are around us as we continue to grow," Mike Koehler, CEO.
There is only more anticipated growth on the horizon as LBDA continues to spearhead the fight against LBD!
For a comprehensive list of all LBDA support groups visit https://www.lbda.org/lbd-local-support-groups
About the Lewy Body Dementia Association:
The Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDA) is the nation's leading authority on Lewy body dementias (LBD) and is dedicated to continuous outreach, education, research, and support for those affected with LBD and their families. LBD is a progressive brain disease that affects thinking, movement, behavior, and impacts 1.4 million people in the United States.
SOURCE Lewy Body Dementia Association
Related Links
http://www.lbda.org
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140929/708770 )
The pivotal prospective, multi-center, multi-national, randomized, IDE clinical trial, compares patients undergoing colorectal anastomosis with and without LifeSeal. The LifeSeal Surgical Sealant is a unique gastrointestinal (GI) sealant specifically designed to provide reinforcement and minimize staple-line leakage. It is the only GI sealant CE marked in Europe to help reduce leaks as an adjunct to sutures or staples.
"LifeBond achieved several milestones in 2016. To begin, the FDA granted permission to the company to commence the LifeSeal IDE study as part of the EAP (Expedited Access Pathway) program. We are deeply appreciative of the FDA's responsiveness and designation of LifeSeal as part of the EAP program, as well as the medical community's strong support and participation in validating LifeSeal's clinical value," said LifeBond CEO Gideon Sturlesi. "We began our pivotal study initially in Europe, to build on the completion of a successful CE study, and then recently expanded to multiple centers in the US. Last year also marked the start of the commercialization of LifeSeal in Europe. We have established strong momentum clinically and commercially, and we intend to build on this in the coming year and beyond."
"LifeBond's team is committed to bringing LifeSeal and other high quality surgical tools to the market, and to providing surgeons worldwide with access to easy-to-use solutions for reducing leaks in GI surgery. We are very pleased with LifeBond's progress clinically and commercially, and are confident that LifeSeal is the first of a number of novel products the company will introduce in the next few years," said Ittai Harel, Managing General Partner at Pitango.
About LifeBond
LifeBond, a 2016 Frost & Sullivan 2016 European New Product Innovation Award winner, is a leader in the development and manufacturing of bio-surgical medical devices for tissue repair intended to improve patient outcomes and support the body's natural healing process. The company's devices have the potential to fill a long list of unmet surgical needs. LifeBond's LifeSeal surgical sealant is designed to provide staple-line reinforcement in GI surgery. Reducing leakage has the potential to save patient lives, improve patient recovery, and avoid re-admissions and repeated surgeries. LifeSeal has a CE marking for sale in the European Union (EU). In the US, LifeSeal is available only for use as experimental device in the approved IDE study. LifeBond's LifeMesh, a self-fixating hernia mesh, is in pre-clinical development. Other pipeline products include tissue adhesives and absorbable hemostats. LifeMesh is an investigational device and has not yet been approved for sale in the US or in any other market. For more information please visit http://www.life-bond.com.
Certain statements made throughout this press release that are not historical facts contain forward-looking statements regarding the Company's future plans, objectives and expected performance. Any such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable, but are subject to a wide range of risks and uncertainties and, therefore, there can be no assurance that actual results may not differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Press Contact:
Marjie Hadad
MH Communications
+972-54-536-5220
[email protected]
SOURCE LifeBond
SHANGHAI, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- LERRI Solar, a world leading monocrystalline solar module manufacturer headquartered in Xi'an, China, has been named a Tier One supplier by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). BNEF's classification is based on demonstrating significant non-recourse project finance deals that have successfully closed. i.e., becoming a Tier One company, per BNEF, requires a significant track record of commercial acceptance by investment institutions. Furthermore, per BNEF, "...one of the characteristics of a tier 1 manufacturer is transparency and good data availability." BNEF provides its list of Tier One producers, updated quarterly, to companies who subscribe to BNEF's Solar Insight Service.
According to Mr. Richard For, LONGi-LERRI Solar's Head of Overseas Business, "We are pleased to kick off 2017 with being named a Tier One module supplier by the prestigious Bloomberg organization. This is another milestone for the LONGi-LERRI Group and demonstrates market acceptance of our high quality and high efficiency monocrystalline modules."
Based on manufacturing capacity, LERRI Solar ranks in the top quarter of all manufacturers on BNEF's Tier One list.
About LERRI Solar
LERRI Solar is a world-leading manufacturer of high-efficiency mono-crystalline solar cells and modules. The company was founded in 2007 and subsequently acquired by the LONGi Group in 2014. The LONGi Group is the largest supplier of mono-crystalline silicon wafers in the world, with total assets above $1.7 billion and capacity of 7.5GW (as of end-2016).
LONGi-LERRI Solar has been selected as a "Top Runner" - a classification by the Government of China bestowed on a select few PV manufacturers that meet strict standards for module efficiency and power. LONGi-LERRI Solar qualified by producing modules from high efficiency monocrystalline silicon solar cells. LONGi-LERRI Solar shipped approximately 2.5GW of module products in 2016, more than double from the prior year. LONGi-LERRI Solar is a wholly owned subsidiary of the LONGi Group, the world's largest producer of monocrystalline silicon wafers for the solar industry. In addition to its China operations, LONGi will soon commence new facilities in Malaysia and India, with vertically integrated production of photovoltaic wafers, cells and modules.
Contact
Press/Investors/Analysts:
Richard For
Vice President
LONGi-LERRI Solar
[email protected]
Website: www.LERRI.com
SOURCE LONGi Solar
Related Links
http://www.LERRI.com
NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lubricants Market for Off-road Sector: Overview
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04711318-summary/view-report.html
Lubricants diminish friction because they eliminate the contact resistance between two solid surfaces or objects. Examples of lubricants are engine oil, gear oil, transmission fluid, greases, coolants, bearing oil, brake fluid, etc. North America is anticipated to be a major consumer of lubricants due to presence of large number of off road vehicles in the region. Growing demand for lubricants in the construction and mining industry in Asia Pacific is anticipated to affect the lubricants market in terms of lubricant consumption. Engine oil, as the name suggests, is used to avoid friction and corrosion in engine of a vehicle. Gear oil and transmission fluid are used by gear box and axles of a vehicle. In some types of vehicles, separate gear oil and transmission fluid are not required. Single lubricant is used in gear box of the vehicle in place of them.
Global Lubricants Market for Off-road Sector: Scope of the Report
This study analyzes, estimates, and forecasts the global lubricants market for off-road sector in terms of volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) from 2015 to 2024. Market numbers given in the report describe the demand for global lubricants, but not production or supply. The global lubricants report also analyzes several driving and restraining factors and their impact on the market during the forecast period.
The report provides comprehensive analysis of the global lubricants by key source, grade, product and end use. It segments the market into key source that include mineral oil, synthetic and biobased. It further segments the market into key grades that include single grade and multi grade. Additionally, the report segments the market into key products (engine oil, transmission fluids, hydraulic fluids, gear oil, grease and others and key end users (construction, agriculture & farming, mining, material handling and others). The report also segments the lubricants market for off-road sector based on major geographies into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Besides the report comprises 12 unique country-specific analysis.
Global Lubricants Market for Off-road Sector: Research Methodology
Based on source and grade, the report analyzes the attractiveness of each segment with the help of an attractiveness tool. The study consist of value chain analysis, which offers a better understanding of key companies in the supply chain from raw material manufacturers to end-users. Additionally, the study examines market competition through Porter's Five Forces Analysis.
Primary research represents the majority of our research efforts, complemented by extensive secondary research. We reviewed key players' product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents for competitive analysis and market understanding. Secondary research also includes a search of technical writing, recent trade, Internet sources, and statistical data from government websites, trade associations, and agencies. This has proven to be the most consistent, effective, and productive approach for procuring precise market data, recognizing business opportunities, and understanding industry participants' perceptions.
Secondary research sources that are typically referred to include broker reports, corporation websites, external patented databases, financial reports, stockholder presentations, Securities & Exchange Commission filings, proprietary databases and relevant patent and regulatory databases, national government documents, statistical databases, and market reports, news articles, press releases, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market. Secondary sources referred for this study include Chemical Week Magazine, ICIS Chemical Business Magazine, Hoover's, Factiva, and company presentations.
Key Players Mentioned in this Report are:
The report includes an overview of the market share of key companies in the global lubricants market for off-road sector. Market share of companies has been derived on the basis of production by manufacturers of lubricants. Key market players profiled in the study include Royal Dutch Shell plc, ExxonMobil Corporation, BP Global, Total S.A., Phillips 66, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Halron Lubricants Inc., Topaz Energy Group Limited, Chevron USA Inc, Fuchs Petrolub SE, Castrol Limited, BRB International and Lukoil Lubricants Company.
The report segments the global lubricants market for off-road sector as follows:
Global Lubricants Market for Off-road Sector Source Analysis
Mineral Oil-basedSyntheticBio-based
Global Lubricants Market for Off-road Sector Grade Analysis
SingleMulti
Global Lubricants Market for Off-road Sector Product Analysis
Engine oil
Transmission fluids
Hydraulic fluids
Gear oil
Grease
Others
Global Lubricants Market for Off-road Sector End Use Analysis
Construction
Agriculture & Farming
Mining
Material Handling
Others
Global Lubricants Market for Off-road Sector Regional Analysis
North America
U.S.
Canada
Europe
UK
Italy
Spain
France
Germany
Rest of EU
Asia Pacific
China
India
Japan
ASEAN
Rest of APAC
Latin America
Brazil
Rest of Latin America (LATAM)
Middle East & Africa
GCC
South Africa
Rest of Middle East & Africa (MEA)
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04711318-summary/view-report.html
About Reportlinker
ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.
http://www.reportlinker.com
Contact Clare: [email protected]
US: (339)-368-6001
Intl: +1 339-368-6001
SOURCE Reportlinker
Related Links
http://www.reportlinker.com
CHICAGO, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- IES Abroad, a leading not-for-profit organization providing access to 125+ study abroad and internship programs in more than 35 cities around the world, announced today that seven U.S. college students have been recognized as part of its inaugural Global Citizen of the Year Awards. This is the first student-focused, study abroad honor of its kind.
The IES Abroad Global Citizen of the Year Award recognizes students who:
Studied on a 2016 IES Abroad program
Impacted their community abroad through academic, philanthropic or personal efforts
Learned about themselves through cross-cultural interactions
Will apply, or are applying, skills and knowledge learned abroad to continually bring global perspectives to their communities
IES Abroad received 54 inspiring submissions from its students across more than 40 different U.S. colleges. Honored students for the Global Citizen of the Year Award include:
Winner | IES Abroad Global Citizen of the Year
Sydni Williams | MadridLanguage & Area Studies, Academic Year 2016-17 | University of Michigan
Finalists:
Hannah Dallman | Cape TownUniversity of Cape Town , Spring 2016 | Gettysburg College
| Cape TownUniversity of , Spring 2016 | John Luke Hawkins | Cape TownUniversity of Cape Town , Fall 2016 | Hope College
| Cape TownUniversity of , Fall 2016 | Reed Foster | Buenos AiresAdvanced Spanish Immersion, Fall 2016 | Occidental College
Honorable Mentions:
Ileana Exaras | ViennaMusic, Spring 2016 | Lehigh University
Sophia Iosue | European Society & Culture, Fall 2016 | Harvard University
| European Society & Culture, Fall 2016 | Alice Woods | Customized Program in Cape Town , Spring 2015, Spring 2016 | University of Miami
Global Citizen of the Year, Sydni Williams is a sophomore studying Neuroscience, Spanish Language and Writing at the University of Michigan. Currently studying abroad for the 2016-17 academic year with IES Abroad in Madrid, Williams' interned [through IES Abroad] at the Social Services Center of Los Yebenes in Madrid. She gained valuable hands-on experience mentoring and tutoring low-income students. Reflecting on her internship she realized how many other students in the world live with the same struggle, even those in her hometown of Detroit.
"I have made it my life goal to continuously contribute to my community by making sure that youth are not denied their right to an excellent education," said Williams.
Williams will return to the U.S. this summer to be a servant leader intern with the Children's Defense Fund Freedom School. She plans to continue to help inner-city youth and start a non-profit that will give youth who've made mistakes and faced criminal charges a second chance to succeed.
Sydni Williams will receive a $1,000 prize.
"These student are the future leaders of our global economy," said Dr. Mary M. Dwyer, President and CEO of IES Abroad. "It's imperative that we encourage students to embrace cultures distinct from their own and to view the world through a different lens."
SOURCE IES Abroad
Related Links
http://www.iesabroad.org
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Retired Navy Commander Michael J. Adams, who served as a top legal adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as a national security point person on cyber threats, has joined McGuireWoods as a partner in Charlotte. As a member of the firm's Data Privacy and Security Team, Adams will advise clients on cybersecurity issues in a wide range of industries.
Since 2013, Adams advised the chairman and Joint Chiefs on legal matters affecting military operations, including cybersecurity, privacy, information governance and technology issues. He developed a legal and policy framework to combat emerging cyber threats and served as a key military adviser during significant U.S. cyber events, including the 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures by North Korea.
Adams previously was deputy general counsel for U.S. Pacific Command, where he served as a special adviser on cybersecurity and sensitive technical operations. In that role, he helped design a cyber architecture and command structure unique to forces in the Pacific theater.
Adams, who has practiced law for 20 years, was a line officer, engineer and navigator aboard two U.S. warships before transitioning to the Judge Advocate General's Corps. He served as a legal adviser for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan and deployed six times to Afghanistan and once to Iraq, receiving the Defense Superior Service Medal and Bronze Star. He also earned the Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison Award for exceptionally meritorious service in advancing the rule of law in the Special Operations Forces community.
Adams graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, earned his J.D. at Georgetown University Law Center and an LL.M. at Harvard Law School. In 2015, he co-taught a Harvard Law national security law course that focused on maritime and territorial disputes in the East and South China seas.
"Mike has provided vital legal counsel to top military commanders and combat forces at a time of heightened tensions around the world," said Andrew Konia, chair of McGuireWoods' Data Privacy and Security Industry Team. "His in-depth, technical understanding of current and emerging risks, particularly for critical infrastructure, will add tremendous value for our clients in multiple industries."
Scott Vaughn, managing partner of the firm's Charlotte office, added, "Mike has served his country with distinction as a decorated naval officer and attorney at the highest levels of our armed forces and we are proud to have someone with his talent and experience on our team at McGuireWoods."
"I look forward to using my government experience in data privacy and security to address the critical concerns of our clients around the globe," Adams said. "McGuireWoods has a well-established reputation for excellence and client service, and I can't think of a better place to build my practice."
McGuireWoods' global Data Privacy and Security Team works with clients to protect the integrity of their systems; develop programs to harness, manage and protect their information; and navigate post-breach investigative and remediation requirements. Fourteen team members hold certifications from the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Lawyers provide regular updates on privacy and security issues on the firm's Password Protected blog.
McGuireWoods LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 1,000 lawyers in 23 offices worldwide. It ranks among the top 10 law firms in the Financial Times' prestigious North America Innovative Lawyers report. The firm has been recognized 11 times on BTI Consulting's "Client Service A-Team" elite firms singled out for client service excellence based on unprompted feedback from clients in major companies. Its full-service public affairs arm, McGuireWoods Consulting LLC, offers infrastructure and economic development, strategic communications and grassroots advocacy, and government relations solutions. For more information, visit www.mcguirewoods.com.
SOURCE McGuireWoods LLP
Related Links
https://www.mcguirewoods.com/
SAINT LOUIS, Mo., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mid America Freight Logistics, LLC (Mid America) has announced a major advancement in its proprietary Transportation Management Software (TMS). Starting today, Mid America will be offering its truckload carrier partners, shippers and other transportation service providers the ability to provide location, estimated speed, and other transit data through their mobile device without having to download an app.
Operations Department of Mid America Logistics' corporate office in Saint Louis, Missouri. Operators utilizing proprietary TMS technology to enable "App-less" tracking.
Unlike other mobile tracking solutions requiring a download of an application, Mid America's technology only requires a truck driver to reply "Yes" to a text message. The location enabled phone or smart phone sends updates back to Mid America's servers. The data is run through proprietary algorithms, alongside traffic and weather information to optimize routing, measure transit times, and predict for its clients and vendors when delays may occur.
One of Mid America's Managing Partners, Martin Brading stated, "Mid America's app-less tracking solution promotes efficiencies not only within our internal business model, but with our drivers and carriers, maximizing all stakeholder's ability to deliver as efficiently as possible."
The software utilizes geofencing to know the shipment has reached its destination, at which point the tracking ceases and delivery is confirmed.
Beyond tracking shipments, the data will also be used to promote driver safety. By calculating average speed and Hours of Service (HOS), the new functionality allows Mid America to ensure compliance with transportation laws, and enhance the Drivers experience by minimizing distractions and interruptions.
Brading went on to say, "Oftentimes the Third-party Logistics industry delegates safety to the drivers and carriers, whereas Mid America's new app-less solution was designed with the driver's safety as the priority."
ABOUT MID AMERICA LOGISTICS
Mid America Logistics is one of the fastest growing technology enabled logistics companies in North America providing full truckload, less-than-truckload and transportation technology services to Fortune 500 clients in the retail, CPG, Industrial and agriculture industries. Based in Saint Louis Missouri near the Fenton Logistics Park, Mid America has a mission statement of being the easiest company to work with in the industry, with plans to open new operations centers throughout the United States. Mid America's website is www.midamlogistics.com.
Media Contact:
Jason Rauschelbach
Phone: 636-529-8252
Email: [email protected]
Related Images
image1.jpg
image2.jpg
image3.png
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com
SOURCE Mid America Freight Logistics, LLC
PHOENIX, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mosaic451, a bespoke cybersecurity services provider and consultancy, announced today that the company was awarded a master agreement by The Organization for Educational Technology and Curriculum (OETC) to provide cybersecurity services including monitoring, management and administration of security devices and software.
Mosaic451 awarded master agreement by The Organization for Educational Technology and Curriculum (OETC) to provide cybersecurity services to its members.
The master agreement allows Mosaic451 to provide Networking Equipment, Network Security, Network as a Service and Security as a Service to the OETC and over 1,000 of its K-20 member institutions. The initial contract is 3 years in length, with three (1) year extensions totaling 6 years in duration. All OETC members may select Mosaic451 for the listed security products and services without going to bid for the next 6 years.
"We're extremely proud to work with the OETC and its members to secure the critical infrastructure of educational institutions," said Mosaic451 Principal and Co-Founder Mike Baker. "Mosaic451 is dedicated to providing superior security services by combining the best technology with the deep industry knowledge of our engineers and analysts to create tailored solutions for each client and we can think of no better application of our skills that in helping secure our schools and our children."
The Organization for Educational Technology and Curriculum (OETC) awarded Mosaic451 the master agreement after an extensive evaluation process that included assessments of the company's core competencies, value, unique and effective approach to security management, and historic success. Of the 15 contracts awarded, most vendors were selected to provide products and services from a few manufacturers, while Mosaic was selected for a total of 11 security products including its own Mosaic451 Security as a Service (MSSP) and Mosaic451 Network as a Service.
Providing Security in Education
The OETC has selected Mosaic451 to provide Networking Equipment, Network Security, Network as a Service and Security as a Service for products from the following manufacturers:
Carbon Black
Checkpoint
Crowdstrike
Fortinet
Infoblox
Netskope
Palo Alto Networks
Tanium
Zerto
In addition, Mosaic451 was also selected to provide its own Mosaic451 Security as a Service (MSSP) and Mosaic451 Network as a Service.
Mosaic451's products and services are already used in securing some of the very electricity operations that bring energy to many of the OETC members in the Pacific Northwest. In addition, the company already has extensive experience protecting the critical infrastructure for 5th largest school district in the U.S., responsible for 340,000 students and 40,000 employees.
Mosaic451 recognizes that while adoption of advanced and emerging technology is an important part of sound security strategy, no amount of technology can secure an environment without a strong foundation of smart, experienced, operationally minded humans to design, operate, and optimize the technology. Mosaic451's Hybrid solution combines 24/7 off-site monitoring with dedicated on-site personnel that act as a full security operations team to provide the most comprehensive level of information security.
Mosaic451 is SBA 8(a) Certified, MBE Certified, and WBE Certified.
Learn more about Mosaic451 at www.mosaic451.com.
About Mosaic451
Headquartered in Arizona, Mosaic451 is a bespoke cyber security service provider and consultancy with expertise in building, operating and defending some of the most highly-secure networks in North America. Its Mosaic Hybrid is an industry first solution, providing monitoring service through its operations centers as well as specialized staff onsite during business hours to work alongside clients' in house technology and security staff. This hybrid model gives Mosaic451 the unique ability to empower security analysts to provide advanced data analysis and determine threat vectors, threat actors, and intelligent root causes for every incident. Mosaic451 aggregates and empowers intelligent humans in the service of information security and IT operations excellence for our clients.
For more information, visit www.mosaic451.com.
Media Contact: Lisa Wang, [email protected], 1-888-317-4687 ext. 703
SOURCE Mosaic451
Related Links
http://www.mosaic451.com
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This past weekend, 11 Jewish Community Centers across the country were victims of bomb threats, bringing the total to 69 hate crimes targeting 54 Jewish Community Centers in 27 states since January, according to news reports.
We call on the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state and local law enforcement to aggressively pursue investigations of these crimes and provide the public with updates on the status of their investigations.
"The bomb threats to the Jewish Community Centers add to a disturbing trend in similar crimes against people of faith, and it is a grave concern for all Americans," said Council Co-Chair Farooq Kathwari.
On Monday, more than 100 headstones were overturned at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in St Louis. Last month, a mosque in Victoria, Texas, was burned and an Islamic Center in Davis, California, was vandalized.
"These crimes against cemeteries and houses of worship cannot be tolerated and we expect them to be investigated and prosecuted," said Council Co-Chair Stanley M. Bergman.
The Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council is committed as a national coalition of American Muslims and American Jews to work with federal, state, and local officials to uphold the principles of religious freedom upon which this country was founded and ensure that our country reverses this rise in crimes directed at people of faith.
SOURCE The Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council
TUSTIN, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- New American Funding, a national mortgage banker, announced today that it is continuing its Eastern expansion with the grand opening of a new location in Huntersville, North Carolina. The branch will celebrate with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, March 2nd, 2017, at 11:30 A.M. EST.
This full-service branch is located at 9525 Birkdale Crossing Drive, Suite 306, Huntersville, North Carolina. It will meet the residential mortgage needs of local consumers and Real Estate Agents who are facilitating home loans in the region, offering a variety of purchase and refinance options. The growing Charlotte housing market presented a prime opportunity for the mortgage lender to open its second branch in the area.
New American Funding has enlisted Jay Kerber, a mortgage industry veteran, to serve as Huntersville Branch Manager. Kerber brings nearly 20 years of experience to the position and is a multi-year winner of the Five Star Mortgage Professionals Award, an elite recognition for individuals who provide quality services to their clients. Kerber looks forward to diligently working with clients, making himself available to them seven days a week.
"It's an honor to be chosen to expand New American Funding's brand in the North Carolina market," said Kerber. "New American Funding is a dynamic mortgage company that has experienced tremendous growth across the country. They are absolutely passionate about providing a customer-centric lending experience and have achieved their tremendous success by building a strong corporate culture that's second to none. Their focus is always on giving back to the communities and clients they serve."
New American Funding plans to provide Huntersville with the same industry-leading closing times, award-winning services, and high-level customer support that has become a hallmark at its other national locations.
For more information about the grand opening celebration from 11:30 A.M. 2:00 P.M., please contact Jay Kerber at (704) 733-7092 or [email protected].
About New American Funding
New American Funding is a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae Direct Seller/Servicer, FHA Direct Endorsement and VA Automatic mortgage lender. The company is licensed in 48 states, has 130+ branch locations, and offers a variety of home loan options, including: Conventional, FHA, Cash Out, Fixed Rate and Adjustable Rate Mortgages, VA, HARP 2.0, Jumbo, and Reverse Mortgages.
RELATED LINKS
http://www.newamericanagent.com/
https://www.facebook.com/New-American-Funding-Huntersville-NC-222558588170166/
https://www.facebook.com/newamericanfunding
https://twitter.com/newamericanteam
SOURCE New American Funding
Related Links
http://www.newamericanfunding.com
SUNRISE, Fla., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Rainbow Light (http://www.rainbowlight.com), the leading manufacturer and pioneer of whole food-based vitamins, today announced the launch of Rainbow Light Vibrance - a new premium line of non-GMO Project Verified multivitamins, specifically formulated with a foundation of organic fruits and vegetables to meet the unique health needs of millennials.
The new Rainbow Light Vibrance line was developed after the brand invested in extensive psychographic research of America's largest generation, recruiting a global market intelligence firm to conduct an exhaustive quantitative research study on millennials' lifestyles. This comprehensive research revealed the generational lifestyles that shape the way millennials live. Equipped with this granular data, the brand formulated Rainbow Light Vibrance to meet Gen Yers' unique nutritional supplementation needs.
"We discovered a number of factors that contribute to the way millennials live, which ultimately influence their nutritional needs for maintaining optimal health and wellness," states Michele McRae, BS, CN, senior director of research and development at Wellnext, the parent company of Rainbow Light. "These insights enabled us to formulate targeted whole-food based multivitamins that address nutritional needs unique to millennials' lifestyles. Rainbow Light Vibrance provides custom-tailored nutritional blends of clinically researched ingredients that millennials need to meet the demands of life."
The Rainbow Light Vibrance line features eight different key multivitamins for Gen Y women, men, moms-to-be, and teens:
Women's Multivitamin plus Balance and Energy.
Women's Multivitamin plus Stress Support.
Men's Multivitamin plus Energy and Vitality.
Men's Multivitamin plus Stress Support.
Prenatal Multivitamin plus Energy Support.
Prenatal Multivitamin plus Immune Support.
Teen Girl's Multivitamin with Healthy Skin Support.
Young Men's Multivitamin with Healthy Skin Support.
Rainbow Light's focus on research, science, and innovation has pioneered the natural products space. Since its founding in 1981, the brand has developed such first-to-market supplements as the first whole food-based multivitamin (1984), the first whole food-based one-per-day multivitamin (1995), the first vitamins formulated with probiotics and enzymes (1995), and the first age-specific prenatal for moms mid 30s or older (2013). Today, it continues to lead the natural products space with the launch of Rainbow Light Vibrance.
The Rainbow Light name originates from its very first productthe superfood spirulina, a single-cell algae with soft cell walls, making it easy to digest. While testing spirulina's nutritional content with a microscope, the brand discovered it refracts a rainbow; each color identifying a different nutritional component. Inspired by nature, viewed through the lens of science, the Rainbow Light brand was born. Today, spirulina is a base ingredient found in most of Rainbow Light's scientifically developed formulas.
Rainbow Light ensures the integrity, quality, potency, and safety of all its ingredients and formulas via third-party testing, auditing, reporting, and certification. Its products contain no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors or sweeteners, and are vegetarian and allergen-free. From sourcing raw materials to production to finished goods testing, the brand maintains top quality assurance and control practices at every stage of its manufacturing.
The Rainbow Light Vibrance line is available for purchase online or at natural food stores and specialty retailers nationwide. For more information on Rainbow Light and their complete catalogue of products, visit http://www.rainbowlight.com.
About Rainbow Light
Rainbow Light is a leading manufacturer and pioneer of whole food-based vitamins. Each formulation is research-backed to deliver optimal health benefits with a customized blend of superfood concentrates, organic, non-GMO spirulina and herbal extracts. Plant enzymes, probiotics and botanicals are added to enhance digestion and nutrient absorption. Through the Rainbow Light 1% for Global Good donation program, every customer is a partner in ending under-nutrition. Each product sale helps provide life-changing prenatal supplements to mothers and babies around the world creating positive ripple effects for generations to come. Rainbow Light is a leader in environmental responsibility. Its 100% upcycled Eco Guard packaging keeps millions of plastic bottles from oceans and natural habitats every year. To learn more, visit http://www.rainbowlight.com or follow the brand on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/RainbowLight).
About Wellnext
Headquartered in Sunrise, Florida, Wellnext LLC, family of brands delivers research-backed nutritional supplements for every consumer life stage. Anchor brands within the Wellnext portfolio include Nature's Products Inc. (NPI), a GMP-certified manufacturer with 30 years of leadership in supplement manufacturing, Rainbow Light, Champion Performance, and Natural Vitality, among many other leading brands. Guided by three generations of family heritage, Wellnext is committed to the highest standards of corporate social responsibility, including product quality and purity testing, sustainability practices, and corporate giving programs, to help foster a vibrant state of health in families everywhere. For more information, visit http://www.wellnexthealth.com.
SOURCE Rainbow Light
Related Links
https://www.rainbowlight.com
NEW YORK and EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Nextnine, a leading provider of top-down operational technology (OT) security management solutions for connected industrial control system (ICS) environments, and SecurityMatters, a provider of industrial cyber resilience network monitoring solutions, today jointly announced an OEM partnership between the two companies. As part of this OEM partnership, Nextnine has integrated the SilentDefense technology from SecurityMatters into its ICS Shield solution.
ICS Shield is a full-fledged OT security management solution that protects all remote field assets from a single security and operations center, empowering industrial enterprises to implement connected operations, while minimizing security vulnerabilities. The solution automates the deployment and enforcement of operational-wide security policies with a focus on discovering a complete inventory of all operational assets, detecting anomalies and inefficiencies as well as establishing a unified framework for fully authenticated, authorized and audited secure remote access according to granular policies. In addition, ICS Shield facilitates the cyber-hardening of the industrial network with security essentials, including patching, antivirus protection, log collection, compliance reporting and more.
The integration of the SilentDefense technology into ICS Shield adds continuous, state-of-the art network monitoring capabilities and provides augmented passive discovery and the detection of anomalies and inefficiencies. SilentDefense is an advanced OT network monitoring technology that ensures that the underlying networks of cyber resilient industrial environments are healthy and threat-free. This technology improves the ability of ICS Shield to learn and validate network communication patterns and process operations with in-depth analysis of industrial protocols as well as identify rogue and malfunctioning devices, intrusions and attacks.
"A complete and accurate asset inventory is the logical starting point for defining and executing an effective OT security strategy plan," explained Shmulik Aran, CEO of Nextine. "Our technology partnership with SecurityMatters enables us to deliver a unique solution combining passive and active discovery techniques with deep industrial protocol anomalies and inefficiencies detection and analysis. The integration of SecurityMatters' technology into ICS Shield constitutes the only field proven and most comprehensive solution in the market."
"Our work with Nextnine allows asset owners, vendors and service providers to securely access assets and promptly remediate any potentially disruptive incidents once an anomaly has been detected by SilentDefense," said Damiano Bolzoni, CEO of SecurityMatters. "With over 6,000 installations at plants around the world, Nextnine's solution is clearly two and three steps ahead of the many new vendors that have recently entered the OT and industrial security space and the company has built over the years an impressive network of prominent MSSP, system integrator and automation vendor partners".
About Nextnine
Nextnine is a leading provider of top-down OT security management solutions for complex multi-vendor and multi-site ICS environments. Empowering industrial organizations to benefit from integrated OT/IT operations while minimizing security vulnerabilities, Nextnine's ICS Shield is a field-proven solution for protecting multi-site, remote field assets from a single security and operations center. Using ICS Shield, industrial operators automate the deployment and enforcement of plant-wide policies that improve security governance and compliance, while saving OT and IT resources. Nextnine solutions have been deployed by systems integrators, Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) and the largest automation vendors at thousands of industrial plants installations worldwide. Serving the oil and gas, mineral, mining, materials, pharmaceutical, medical, maritime, packaging, pulp & paper, utility, chemicals and food sectors, Nextnine delivers unrivaled visibility, reliability and compliance for connected industrial operations. For more information, please visit http://www.nextnine.com.
About Security Matters
SecurityMatters is an international company with over 15 years of research and field experience focused on industrial cyber resilience. Dedicated to delivering total visibility to the OT network, SecurityMatters provides critical infrastructure and industrial automation companies with best-of-class industrial cyber resilience technology. For more information visit http://www.secmatters.com.
Press Contacts
Tony Miller
+1-617-418-3024
[email protected]
SOURCE Nextnine
GETINGE, Sweden, Feb 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
The shareholders of Getinge AB (publ) are hereby invited to attend the Annual General Meeting (the "AGM") to be held on Wednesday 29 March 2017 at 2.00 p.m. CET, in Kongresshallen, Hotel Tylosand, Halmstad, Sweden.
Right to Attend
Shareholders who wish to attend the AGM must:
be recorded in the share register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB (the Swedish Central Securities Depository), on Thursday 23 March 2017, and
notify the company of their intention to attend the AGM by Thursday 23 March 2017, preferably before 4.00 p.m. CET.
In order to participate in the AGM, shareholders with nominee-registered shares should request their bank or broker to have the shares temporarily owner-registered with Euroclear Sweden AB by Thursday 23 March 2017. Therefore, shareholders are requested to notify their nominees in due time before the said date.
Notice of Attendance
Notice of attendance shall be made in writing to Getinge AB, "AGM", P.O. Box 7841, SE-103 98 Stockholm, Sweden, or by telephone +46 10 335 08 18, or on the company's website, www.getingegroup.com. The notice of attendance shall state name, personal (or corporate) identity number, shareholding, telephone number and name of advisor, if any. An entrance card to be shown when registering for the AGM will be sent in confirmation of the notice of attendance. Shareholders represented by proxy should submit a power of attorney to the company before the AGM. A proxy form is available at the company and on the company's website, www.getingegroup.com. Representatives of a legal entity shall present a copy of the certificate of registration or similar document of authorisation.
Proposal for Agenda
Opening of the Meeting Election of Chairman of the Meeting Preparation and approval of the voting list Approval of the agenda Election of person(s) to approve the minutes Determination of compliance with the rules of convocation Presentation of
(a) the Annual Report and the Auditor's Report
(b) the Consolidated Accounts and the Group Auditor's Report
(c) the statement by the auditor on the compliance of the Guidelines for Remuneration to Senior Executives applicable since the last AGM
(d) the Board's proposal for distribution of the company's profit and the Board's reasoned statement thereon Report on the work of the Board of Directors, including the work and functions of the Remuneration Committee and the Audit Committee The CEO's report Resolution regarding adoption of the Income Statement and the Balance Sheet as well as the Consolidated Income Statement and the Consolidated Balance Sheet Resolution regarding dispositions in respect of the Company's profit according to the adopted Balance Sheet and determination of record date for dividend Resolution regarding discharge from liability for the Board of Directors and the CEOs Resolution regarding amendment of the Articles of Association Establishment of the number of board members and auditors Establishment of fees to the Board of Directors (including fees for work in Committees) and the auditor Election of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board
a. re-election of Carl Bennet ;
b. re-election of Johan Bygge
c. re-election of Cecilia Daun Wennborg;
d. re-election of Johan Malmquist ;
e. re-election of Malin Persson ;
f. re-election of Johan Stern ;
g. new election of Barbro Friden;
h. new election of Dan Frohm ;
i. new election of Sofia Hasselberg ;
j. new election of Mattias Perjos; and
k. re-election of Carl Bennet as Chairman of the Board Election of auditor Resolution regarding Guidelines for Remuneration to Senior Executives Closing of the Meeting
Proposals by the Nomination Committee (item 2 And 14-17)
At the AGM in 2005, principles for the establishment of a Nomination Committee were adopted, entailing that the Nomination Committee shall consist of the Chairman of the Board, representatives of each of the company's five largest shareholders per 31 August each year and one representative of the minor shareholders. The Nomination Committee in respect of the 2017 AGM consists of Carl Bennet (Carl Bennet AB), Carita Lundberg Markow (Folksam), Ossian Ekdahl (Forsta AP-fonden), Per Colleen (Fjarde AP-fonden), Cecilia Marlow (Nordea) and Viveka Ekberg as representative of the minor shareholders.
The Nomination Committee has proposed the following:
Chairman of the AGM: The Chairman of the Board, Carl Bennet, shall be elected Chairman of the AGM.
Board of Directors: The number of board members elected by the General Meeting shall be ten with no deputy members. As board members, re-election shall be made of Carl Bennet, Johan Bygge, Cecilia Daun Wennborg, Johan Malmquist, Malin Persson and Johan Stern. Barbro Friden, Dan Frohm, Sofia Hasselberg and Mattias Perjos shall be elected new members of the Board. Carola Lemne and Maths Wahlstrom have declined re-election. Carl Bennet shall be re-elected as Chairman of the Board.
Board members proposed for new election:
Barbro Friden, born 1956 and holds an M.D. from Umea University. Barbo Friden has extensive experience as a hospital director and is a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology with a subspecialty in reproductive medicine. Barbro Friden is currently CEO of Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Ajman, United Arab Emirates since 2016. Previously she was hospital director of Sahlgrenska University Hospital (2012-2016), division director of Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital (2008-2012), operations director of Fertilitetscentrum AB in Stockholm and Goteborg (2005-2008), and also operations director and member of the hospital management of the clinic Women's and Children's Health in Varberg, Sweden (2002-2005). Barbro Friden is a board member in Vitrolife AB (publ) and the Swedish Sea Rescue Society.
Dan Frohm, born 1981 and has a M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Management from Linkoping University. Dan Frohm is an experienced advisor for global technology companies on a variety of strategic and operational improvement topics. He recently worked as Senior Manager and Practice Head of Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) at the management consultancy Applied Value LLC based in New York.
Sofia Hasselberg, born 1983, is a licenced physician who holds an M.D. from Uppsala University. Since 2011, Sofia Hasselberg works as a Management Consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she in her role as Engagement Manager provides strategic, operational and organizational advice to players across the full healthcare value chain. As a physician, Sofia Hasselberg worked at the Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Sweden (2008-2011), where she earned her licence to practice medicine.
Mattias Perjos, born 1972 and has a M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Management from Lulea University of Technology. Mattias Perjos is incoming CEO and President of Getinge and currently holds the role as CEO of Coesia Industrial Process Solutions (IPS) as well as Managing Director of Coesia International (2012-2017). Mattias Perjos has previously held a number of leading international positions within FlexLink (1997-2012) including the role of CEO from 2006.
Board and committee fees: Board fees, excluding remuneration for committee work, shall amount to a total of SEK 5,750,000 of which, unchanged, SEK 1,150,000 to the Chairman and, unchanged, SEK 575,000 to each of the other board members elected by the General Meeting who are not employees of Getinge Group. Work in the Audit Committee shall, unchanged, be compensated with SEK 240,000 to the Chairman and SEK 120,000 to each of the other members. Work in the Remuneration Committee shall, unchanged, be compensated with SEK 125,000 to the Chairman and SEK 92,000 to each of the other members.
Auditor: The registered auditing company Ohrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers AB shall be re-elected for the period until the end of the AGM 2018, in accordance with the recommendation of the Audit Committee. Fees to the auditor shall be paid in accordance with approved invoices.
Dividend (item 11)
The Board and the CEO have proposed that a dividend of SEK 2.00 per share be declared. As record date for the dividend the Board proposes Friday 31 March 2017. If the AGM resolves in accordance with the proposal, the dividend is expected to be distributed by Euroclear Sweden AB starting Wednesday 5 April 2017.
The Board's Proposal Regarding Amendment of the Articles Of Association (item 13)
In respect of the proposal of the Nomination Committee that the number of board members elected at the AGM shall be ten, the Board of Directors proposes the following amendment of 7 of the Articles of Association.
Present wording Proposed wording
7 7 The Board of Directors
The Board of Directors shall, in addition to any members who, pursuant to Swedish law, may be appointed other than by a General Meeting of the Company, comprise no fewer than three and no more than nine members with a maximum of nine deputy members. [] The Board of Directors
The Board of Directors shall, in addition to any members who, pursuant to Swedish law, may be appointed other than by a General Meeting of the Company, comprise no fewer than three and no more than ten members with a maximum of ten deputy members. []
The resolution requires support of shareholders representing at least two-thirds of both the votes cast and the shares represented at the Meeting.
The Board's Proposal Regarding Guidelines for Remuneration to Senior Executives (item 18)
The Board proposes that the AGM resolves upon guidelines for remuneration to senior executives principally entailing the following. Remuneration and other terms and conditions of employment for senior executives shall be based on market conditions and be competitive in all markets where Getinge operates, to ensure that competent and skilful employees can be attracted, motivated and retained. The total remuneration to senior executives shall comprise basic salary, variable remuneration, pensions and other benefits. The variable remuneration shall be limited and connected to predetermined and measurable criteria elaborated with the purpose to promote the long-term added value of the company. In addition to the variable remuneration, approved share or share-related incentive programs may occasionally be implemented. The Board shall retain the right to deviate from the guidelines if motivated by particular reasons on an individual basis.
Documents and Other Information
Financial statements, Auditor's Report and other documents pursuant to item 7, the Board's reasoned statement under item 11 and the complete proposal for the resolutions under item 13 and 18 will be available at the company and on the company's website, www.getingegroup.com, as from Wednesday 8 March 2017 at the latest and will be sent to shareholders upon request. Copies will also be available at the AGM.
The Board and the CEO shall at the AGM, if any shareholder so requests and the Board believes that it can be done without significant harm to the company, provide information regarding circumstances that may affect the assessment of an item on the agenda, circumstances that can affect the assessment of the company's or its subsidiaries' financial position and the company's relation to other companies within the Group.
The total number of shares in the company amounts to 238,323,377, whereof 15,940,050 shares of series A and 222,383,327 shares of series B. The total number of votes in the company amounts to 381,783,827.
The Board of Directors of Getinge AB (publ)
For further information, please contact:
Kornelia Rasmussen
Head of Group Communications
Tel. 010-335 58 10
Email: [email protected]
Lars Mattsson
Investor Relations
Tel. 010-335 00 48
Email: [email protected]
Getinge Group is a leading global provider of innovative solutions for operating rooms, intensive-care units, hospital wards, sterilization departments, elderly care and for life science companies and institutions. Getinge's unique customer offering mirrors the hospital's organization and value chain, and the solutions are used before, during and after the patients' hospital stay. Based on first-hand experience and close partnerships, Getinge provides innovative healthcare solutions that improve every-day life for people, today and tomorrow.
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
http://news.cision.com/getinge-group/r/notice-of-annual-general-meeting-in-getinge-ab,c2195281
The following files are available for download:
http://mb.cision.com/Main/942/2195281/632750.pdf Notice of Annual General Meeting in Getinge AB 2017
SOURCE Getinge Group
Related Links
http://www.getingegroup.com
FAIRFAX, Va., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Olio2go.com announces participation in the 2017 Flos Olei and Ultimate Guide to Italian Wine Tasting Event taking place at the Mayflower Hotel on March 1, 2017 in Washington, DC.
Olio2go.com will also host a series of events and activities starting on February 25 through March 2 to celebrate Flos Olei organized by Marco Oreggia. There will be plenty of opportunities to meet with Italian producers of premium Italian extra virgin olive oil. More information on this event can be found at http://www.olio2go.com/flosolei.aspx.
Flos Olei 2017
"This is the first time Flos Olei will take place in Washington, DC and we are excited that Marco Oreggia decided to hold this special event here in DC. There are many Italian olive oil aficionados in the DC Metro Area and we are proud to offer many of these exclusive Italian olive oils at Olio2go.com," said Luanne O'Loughlin, Manager of Olio2go. "Our additional events allows these Italian olive oil fans to meet with producers including Filippo Alampi of Fattoria Ramerino and Simone di Gaetano of Oliveto Fonte di Foiano. It will be lots of fun!"
"Olio2go is instrumental in promoting premium Italian olive oil producers and I am happy to have them participate in Flos Olei," says Marco Oreggia. "Thanks to Olio2go for making premium Italian extra virgin olive oil available to US consumers through Olio2go.com."
ABOUT OLIO2GO LLC
Olio2go was founded in 2000 and is the leading online retailer for gourmet Italian olive oil, balsamic vinegar and other Italian specialties. Based in Fairfax, Virginia, Olio2go imports, distributes, and sells directly to consumers and other stores. The company's mission is to find the very best olive oils produced in Italy and offer these for sale to the public. Olio2go.com provides information about olive oil to aid consumers in appreciating the differences in the regions from which these oils come, and in the ways that the olive oils enhance food.
Media Contact:
Luanne Savino O'Loughlin
Olio2go LLC
703-876-4666
[email protected]
For more information, visit http://www.olio2go.com
SOURCE Olio2go
Related Links
http://www.olio2go.com
TBWA will form a new TBWA UK Group, which will consist of Lucky Generals and TBWA\London, upon the acquisition of Lucky Generals. Lucky Generals and TBWA\London will continue to operate as two separate brands within the new group. The structure exemplifies TBWA's unique approach to developing a global advertising collective of connected, yet distinct, agencies. It has parallels with the group's approach in Germany, where TBWA and HEIMAT successfully operate a similar two-pronged strategy.
Troy Ruhanen, President and CEO of TBWA Worldwide said, "Lucky Generals' vision, a creative company for people on a mission, is completely aligned with our own: a radically open creative collective. They are relentlessly creative and innovative, with a focus on disruptive work, platforms and businesses. What Helen, Andy, Danny and their teams have built in a short period of time is remarkable. I cannot think of a better addition to the family."
Helen Calcraft, founding partner of Lucky Generals, added "We have been fortunate enough to have had conversations with many international groups, but Omnicom and TBWA Worldwide were the only ones to understand our desire for autonomy perhaps because entrepreneurialism, disruption and creativity are hardwired into their DNA. We already feel like we've established a great personal connection with the team. This deal will allow us to preserve our unique culture, build our brand and grow. Most important, with the support of Omnicom and TBWA, we will be able to better deliver on our clients' needs in the UK and around the globe. We're delighted to join such an entrepreneurial group and keep doing all the things we love, on a bigger scale, with some new friends."
The acquisition comes as Lucky Generals has experienced a period of substantial growth over the last two years. Founded in 2013, Lucky Generals has been shortlisted for Campaign's Agency of the Year for the last two years. It was also named Marketing's "New Thinking Agency of the Year" and The Drum's "Ballsiest Agency of the Year." Its clients include Amazon, Paddy Power, Betfair, Hostelworld and Unilever.
About TBWA Worldwide
TBWA is The Disruption Company: the cultural engine for 21st century business. We use trademarked Disruption methodologies to create a unique space in culture for our clients' brands. We are a top 10 global advertising agency collective with 11,300 employees across 305 offices in 98 countries. TBWA brands include Auditoire, Digital Arts Network (DAN), eg+ worldwide, The Integer Group, TBWA\Media Arts Lab and TBWA\WorldHealth. Global clients include adidas, Airbnb, Apple, Gatorade, Henkel, McDonald's, Michelin, Nissan, Pernod Ricard, Merck, Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore Airlines and Vichy.
About Omnicom Group Inc.
Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.
SOURCE TBWA Worldwide
Related Links
tbwaraad.com
LONDON, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
MuLondon Shows Off New Brand Identity For Their Skin Care Range With Updated Packaging, Highlighting Seals Of Approval: The Soil Association, 1% For The Planet And Certified B Corporation
MuLondon, the premier producer of artisan organic skin care products, is proud to present a fresh new brand identity. The understated look has been carefully chosen to reflect the company values: clean, simple, modern and honest.
Based in London, MuLondon has been helping customers in the UK and the rest of the world to better skin since 2008. The independent skin care company does this naturally, through simple and mild, yet effective cruelty-free and vegan formulas based on time-proven herbal ingredients.
MuLondon moisturisers, such as the rich and healing 'Marigold, Frankincense & Myrrh', are now packed in luxurious, heavy-duty glass jars with white lids. MuLondon cleansers, like the lush and fragrant 'Rose, Rosehip & Rosemary', come in semi-transparent foamer bottles with frosted caps. To top it off, the range is adorned with new matte-laminated labels.
MuLondon's new brand identity has been created by Marcos Dos Santos Lisboa, an award-winning international designer. The packaging incorporates large areas of white space and clean, simple lines with dashes of colour. Each MuLondon formula has specific characteristics and unique fragrance and healing properties, reflected in the colours which have been carefully chosen for each of the products.
"Simplicity and purity were the main ingredients I used to reflect the new brand identity for MuLondon. The aim was to develop a new visual perception of MuLondon, based on its organic origin, respect for nature and expertise. During the creation process, Paul Cezanne's explorations of geometric simplification and optical phenomena were my references. The result is a graphic abstraction inspired by nature: a flower field, an ingredient, a fragrance. Additionally, the careful choice of colours was instrumental in capturing the true essence and personality of each product. My desire was to summarise the excellence and the love that is in each jar, giving every MuLondon customer a unique experience." - Marcos Dos Santos Lisboa.
Cristina Colli, a professional photographer and visual storytelling artist who specialises in still life, has created gorgeous new lifestyle photos for MuLondon. Her images beautifully represent the story, values and energy of the company.
"I love working with ethical brands passionate about their values and the quality of their products, so I jumped at the opportunity to be part of MuLondon's re-branding. Flowers and plants are my favourite subjects, and my artistic vision was in line with MuLondon's, so it felt very natural to create images for the brand. I enjoyed every minute of our collaboration, from the initial brainstorming to the actual styling and photography. Each image tells the story of the natural ingredients used for the featured product, and I loved working with such a variety of colours and textures - a wonderful mix of simple and exotic that I found really inspiring." - Cristina Colli, http://www.cristinacolli.com.
Along with the new look, MuLondon is presenting its latest achievements in the form of three highly coveted seals of approval: The Soil Association Organic, 1% For The Planet and Certified B Corporation.
The Soil Association: MuLondon has used certified organic ingredients since its inception. Now the finished products are also approved by The Soil Association, the UK's leading organic certifier.
1% For The Planet: By joining 1% For The Planet, MuLondon has pledged to donate at least 1% of its total sales to environmental non-profits.
Certified B Corporation: MuLondon is the first UK skin care company to be certified, and joins the ranks of many high-profile corporations, who all use business as a force for good, with a triple bottom line: people, planet and profit.
"I am incredibly proud to announce the new look for MuLondon. We have worked very hard on creating something that feels modern and is true to our core values. It's an honour to have had the expertise of creative people like our designer and photographer. Marcos Dos Santos Lisboa created our beautiful new brand identity, product labels and marketing materials with the utmost attention to detail, beauty and harmony. Our lifestyle photographer Cristina Colli really connected with our vision and created stunning images for all MuLondon products and ingredients in their natural setting, surrounded by and immersed in magical plant life. We have arrived and are ready to rock our new look!" - Boris Zatezic, Founder & CEO at MuLondon.
For more information about MuLondon and to experience the company's new and refreshed website, please visit http://www.MuLondon.com .
About MuLondon
MuLondon brings joy and balance with its award-winning skin care range from London, inspired by traditional herbalism. Pure natural essential oils and herbal extracts are used to divinely scent and gently preserve the certified organic ingredients. MuLondon products include such luxurious essences as 'Marigold, Frankincense & Myrrh' and 'Rose, Rosehip & Rosemary'. The range is certified organic by The Soil Association, cruelty-free by The Leaping Bunny and registered vegan by The Vegan Society. MuLondon is a member of 1% For The Planet and is a Certified B Corporation.
Contact: Boris Zatezic, Founder & CEO
Address: MuLondon, 64C Evelyn Street, London SE8 5DD, United Kingdom
Website: http://www.MuLondon.com
Email: http://www.MuLondon.com/contact
SOURCE MuLondon
WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, national business groups representing the range and breadth of clean energy companies in the United States cheered government statistics showing their industries support more than 3 million American jobs equal to the employment of retail stores across the country, and twice as many jobs as involved in construction of buildings. This is based on 2016 data recently released by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in its second annual U.S. Energy and Employment Report.
DOE does not offer a definition of "clean energy," and the trade associations representing different portions of the industry have their own ways of defining what "clean energy" represents. But the groups all agree that, in the aggregate, these jobs add up to more than 3 million nationwide.
The groups made the announcement on the same day they organized a national social media campaign, encouraging companies and workers to share their employment stories. The purpose of the social media event was to draw attention to these growing industries, which offer good-paying jobs ranging from equipment installation and maintenance to sales and information technology many of them jobs that cannot be automated or moved abroad.
Organizers of the #CleanEnergyJobs campaign include Advanced Energy Economy, American Council on Renewable Energy, AJW (representing Energy Service Companies), Alliance to Save Energy, American Wind Energy Association, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Energy Storage Association, and Solar Energy Industries Association.
"Today, our organizations, member companies, and their workers are celebrating all the people who make up the clean energy industries and the positive impact that we have on the U.S. economy," said Graham Richard, CEO of Advanced Energy Economy. "We are excited to bring visibility to our share of the more than 3 million people that work today in advanced energy across our nation."
"People often don't realize that energy efficiency is such a huge jobs creator," said Alliance to Save Energy President Kateri Callahan. "It supports about three times as many jobs as the mining industry and unlike that sector it is growing and creating good-paying jobs like weatherizing homes and manufacturing high-efficiency appliances or building materials. And the best news is there's just enormous opportunity to expand this work and create more jobs with smart efficiency policies and incentives."
"These impressive employment numbers highlight the tremendous importance of America's renewable energy sector, which attracted nearly $100 billion in investment over the last two years, as a national economic driver," said Gregory Wetstone, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Council On Renewable Energy. "We look forward to working with our members, policymakers, and allies to ensure that the American people have increasing opportunities to work, save, and prosper through renewable power."
"Wind energy has now created over 100,000 jobs that rural and Rust Belt America need, including more than 25,000 manufacturing jobs in 43 states," said Tom Kiernan, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association. "According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, wind turbine technician is now the fastest-growing job description in America."
"The contributions of clean energy jobs to the country's economy are significant and expanding," said Lisa Jacobson, President of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy. "The trend lines are clear: energy efficiency, natural gas and renewable energy are creating well-paying jobs and benefitting American consumers, American businesses and American manufacturers. And that adds up to one conclusion: clean energy wins for America."
"In setting a record for new electric generating capacity, the solar energy industry added one in every 50 new jobs in the economy last year and now employs 260,000 people in America," said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association. "These jobs pay well, they support local economies and they fuel American innovation."
According to the Department of Energy's U.S. Energy and Employment Report, the "clean energy" sector supported more than 3 million U.S. jobs in 2016, including:
Nearly 2.2 million workers making buildings, appliances and other products more energy efficient, saving money for families and businesses.
workers making buildings, appliances and other products more energy efficient, saving money for families and businesses. More than 600,000 workers involved with clean power generation, including biomass, biogas, fuel cells, geothermal, hydropower, nuclear, natural gas, solar, waste-to-energy, and wind.
workers involved with clean power generation, including biomass, biogas, fuel cells, geothermal, hydropower, nuclear, natural gas, solar, waste-to-energy, and wind. 100,000 workers in advanced grid technologies, including energy storage, and another 100,000 workers in biofuels.
workers in advanced grid technologies, including energy storage, and another workers in biofuels. In addition, advanced transportation, including hybrid, electric, and fuel cell vehicles, support 200,000 more jobs.
These jobs are made possible by the growth of markets for clean energy products and services in this country. According to Advanced Energy Economy's Advanced Energy Now 2016 Market Report, total U.S. revenue from the wide range of advanced energy goods and services was $200 billion in 2015, more than pharmaceutical manufacturing in this country. Investment over the past 10 years in zero-carbon electricity generation has totaled $507 billion, with $59 billion invested last year alone, according to the 2017 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, published by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy.
The wind industry gets American-made turbine parts from more than 500 factories in 43 states. AWEA recently highlighted the growing number of jobs throughout the economy that are wind-powered, releasing its latest quarterly results at a General Motors factory near Dallas that builds 1,200 SUVs a day and will soon buy all its electricity from wind farms.
GTM Research and SEIA published a preliminary report last week showing that the solar industry in 2016 nearly doubled its previous record by installing 14,626 megawatts of generating capacity. This flood of new business helps to explain why The Solar Foundation found that the industry added 51,000 American jobs last year alone.
LEARN MORE ABOUT CLEAN ENERGY INDUSTRY GROUPS:
Advanced Energy Economy at www.aee.net
American Council on Renewable Energy at www.acore.org
AJW (representing Energy Service Companies) at ajw-inc.com
Alliance to Save Energy at www.ase.org
American Wind Energy Association at windworksforamerica.awea.org
The Business Council for Sustainable Energy at www.bcse.org
Energy Storage Association at energystorage.org
Solar Energy Industries Association at www.seia.org
MEDIA CONTACTS:
AEE, Monique Hanis, [email protected], 202-391-0884
ACORE, Anna Hahnemann, [email protected], 202-777-7548
AJW, Michael Goo, [email protected], 202-296-8086
ASE, Ben Evans, [email protected], 202-530-2222
AWEA, Evan Vaughan, [email protected], 202-383-2508
BCSE, Laura Tierney, [email protected], 202-785-0507
ESA, Matt Roberts, [email protected], 202-580-6282
SEIA, Alexandra Hobson, [email protected], 202-556-2886
See this statement online here.
SOURCE Advanced Energy Economy
Related Links
http://www.aee.net
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- After a career that has spanned four and half decades of service in the organized construction industry, Paul J' O'Brien announced, at the January 19th meeting of the Building Contractors Association Board of Directors meeting, his retirement as managing director. The Board unanimously voted to appoint assistant managing director John O'Hare to succeed O'Brien as managing director, effective Wednesday, February 15th.
"I want to thank the Board of Directors and the members of the BCA for affording me the privilege of serving as managing director," said O'Brien. "The support, friendship and kindness you have shown me over the years are something I will always treasure. It has been the honor of a lifetime to have played a small role in seeing that New York remains the building and economic capital of the world," said O'Brien. "One of my proudest achievements is the continuing bond between the contractors and the members of the New York City building trades union, insuring that this city remains the leader and envy of the world."
"Paul O'Brien is a giant in our industry," said Ralph Thompson, BCA president and the executive vice president for field operations at F.J. Sciame Construction. "The BCA's preeminent role in New York City's organized construction industry and the respect it has throughout the industry, as well throughout the halls of government is in no small part due to the quiet dignified manner in which Paul O'Brien has conducted himself. We all owe him a debt of gratitude and thanks that can never truly be repaid," said Thompson.
In selecting John O'Hare to serve as the next managing director the BCA, the organization has chosen an 18-year veteran of the association, who while serving as assistant managing director, has been involved in all aspects of the BCA's operation. "John O'Hare has spent the last 18 years working side by side with Paul O'Brien growing and moving the BCA forward," said Ralph Thompson. "Selecting John as the new managing director is a win-win for the BCA, in that we get someone who knows and respects the organizational history and mission of the BCA, while also bringing youth and vitality to the organization," said Thompson.
"I am honored that the Board has entrusted me with this responsibility," said O'Hare. "Following in the footsteps of Paul O'Brien is a daunting and humbling experience. But for the last 18 years I have been fortunate to be able to watch and learn from him. Paul O'Brien leaves big shoes to fill, but I know with the support of the Board of Directors and the members of the BCA, we will continue to thrive and increase opportunities for all the members of the organized construction industry," said O'Hare.
O'Hare, 49, was born and raised in New Jersey, where he lives today with his wife, Maureen and their two daughters, Juliet & Charlotte. While attending school John was a member of Laborers Local 23 where he worked on various construction projects as a super, estimator and project manager. John attended New York University, studying construction management; the Cornell University School of Industrial & Labor Relations; and holds a degree in electronics engineering.
Since its establishment in 1933, the primary purpose of the Building Contractors Association has been to provide negotiation and administration of collective bargaining agreements with the Building Trades Unions.
Currently the BCA negotiates and finalizes agreements throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties. An experienced and knowledgeable staff administers these contracts and answers inquiries, and provides support on various issues and topics concerning the organized construction industry.
The BCA enjoys the reputation of being the most successful, influential and respected association in the organizing construction industry. With over 180 members, ranging from some of the largest construction companies in the world, to small multi-generational family operations, the BCA plays a role in virtually every major private or public construction project that takes place in New York City.
SOURCE Building Contractors Association (BCA)
BENTON HARBOR, Mich., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Whirlpool Corporation announces the sale of its remaining manufacturing building and surrounding land in Fort Smith Arkansas to an affiliate of Milwaukee-based Phoenix Investors. It will be the first Arkansas project for the real estate group and will include a complete renovation of the former Whirlpool Complex suitable for use by warehousing, industrial or manufacturing companies.
Phoenix Investors' portfolio totals approximately 17 million square feet across 22 states. Over the last three years Phoenix Investors has acquired six former Whirlpool plants as part of its core business of revitalizing former manufacturing facilities throughout the United States. Ultimately, this strategy leads to positively transforming communities and restarting the economic engine in the communities in which Phoenix operates.
"Phoenix Investors is a company that understands the opportunities that exist in the Fort Smith, Arkansas marketplace," said Jeff Noel vice president Communications and Public Affairs of Whirlpool Corporation. "Officials with Phoenix Investors are looking forward to working directly with Tim Allen and his team of local economic development professionals along with members of the Arkansas Economic Development Corporation, and leaders of the City of Fort Smith."
"Our core focus and competency lies in restoring legacy industrial properties back to their original greatness," said Frank Crivello executive vice president, Phoenix Investors. "We will bring quality companies and jobs back into the former Whirlpool complex. We already have a list of prospects. We look forward to working with local, regional, and state partners to fulfill our vision for the former Whirlpool complex and surrounding acreage that takes full advantage of the dynamic opportunities that exist in Fort Smith. The infrastructure improvements near the facility, strong community leadership, and a great local workforce are key ingredients we look for in a redevelopment project."
About Whirlpool Corporation
Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is the number one major appliance manufacturer in the world, with approximately $21 billion in annual sales, 93,000 employees and 70 manufacturing and technology research centers in 2016. The company markets Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, Jenn-Air, Indesit and other major brand names in nearly every country throughout the world. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com, or find us on Twitter at @WhirlpoolCorp.
SOURCE Whirlpool Corporation
Related Links
http://www.whirlpoolcorp.com
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- PortfolioScience announced today that it has been featured as one of the "10 Best Hedge Fund Software Providers 2017" in the special edition of Capital Markets CIO Outlook magazine.
"We are delighted to have PortfolioScience in our annual ranking list of 10 Best Hedge Fund Software Providers 2017," said Andy White, Managing Editor of Capital Markets CIO Outlook magazine.
PortfolioScience creates turn-key risk management systems for institutional financial services, allowing them to provide their clients with portfolio risk analysis services virtually. PortfolioScience's RiskAPI System is an on-demand, dynamic risk management software that allows hedge funds to quickly and easily run risk analysis calculations on positions and portfolios.
About PortfolioScience
PortfolioScience specializes in risk management technology for financial institutions, investment services, financial advisors and hedge funds. The company's products allow fund managers, traders and investors alike to access powerful risk analytics capabilities on demand. The company was founded in 2000 and serves the clients spanning across brokerage, fund administrator, hedge fund and mutual fund industries. For more info, visit: www.portfolioscience.com
About Capital Markets CIO Outlook
Capital Markets CIO Outlook is a print magazine published from Fremont, California. It features the viewpoints of CIO's, IT-VP's, CFO's and other decision makers sharing their insights and perspectives on the Capital Market. And, it stands out to be one of the best publishing house from the rest of the crowd that provides the latest trends in Capital Markets arena. For more info, visit: www.capitalmarketsciooutlook.com
Media Contact:
Jessica Kim
212-260-9694
[email protected]
SOURCE PortfolioScience
Related Links
http://www.portfolioscience.com
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina and NEW YORK, N.Y., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Rapsodia, a leading lifestyle and women's apparel brand in Latin America, today announced a significant growth capital investment by L Catterton, the largest consumer-focused private equity firm in the world. Through this partnership, both L Catterton and current shareholder Grupo de Narvaez plan to accelerate the expansion of the Rapsodia brand across Latin America and internationally. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Established in 1999 by Josefina Helguera, Sol Acuna, and Francisco de Narvaez, Rapsodia is a premium hippie-chic inspired womenswear label. With the vast majority of its nearly 1,000 employees women, Rapsodia is a beloved and growing women's lifestyle brand. Rapsodia currently operates 90 stores across six Latin American countriesArgentina, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, and Paraguay. The brand goes beyond apparel, with accessories, footwear and girls, home and lingerie products. With a broad and loyal customer base, Rapsodia has a significant opportunity for growth. Rapsodia will continue to be led by its management team, with the inspiration of its co-founders, and will maintain the support of Grupo de Narvaez.
Sol Acuna, Co-Founder of Rapsodia, said, "The partnership with L Catterton is a recognition of the tremendous efforts and hard work of the Rapsodia team since our founding. We are excited to build on our accomplishments with L Catterton and go global with our brand." Josefina Helguera, Co-Founder of Rapsodia, added, "We started Rapsodia with one small store in the Las Canitas neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Working together with Francisco, we took the brand to another level, and have assembled a talented, world-class team that has driven Rapsodia's success."
"L Catterton's investment demonstrates their confidence in the Rapsodia brand, and everything it represents about the creative talents of Argentina and its textile industry," said Francisco de Narvaez, President of Grupo de Narvaez. "This partnership offers Rapsodia a significant opportunity for further growth, while remaining faithful to its essence and style, marked by professionalism, creativity, inspiration, leadership, and teamwork. With L Catterton's extensive consumer expertise and track record of supporting the success of powerful global brands, we will be able to take Rapsodia to a new level. Together, we will expand our brand across Latin America and globally, further innovate our product lines, and increase job opportunities throughout the region by allowing the Argentine textile industry to become international."
"Rapsodia is one of the most admired and fastest-growing brands in Argentina," said Dirk Donath, Managing Partner, L Catterton Latin America. "With a strong brand identity, broad product line, loyal customer following, and highly talented management team, Rapsodia is well positioned to meet the increasing demand for premium retail offerings in Latin American markets and beyond. We are thrilled to partner with Francisco and the outstanding Rapsodia team to further develop and expand the brand across Latin America and internationally."
"We see tremendous potential in Rapsodia, which has proven to be one of the few apparel brands in Latin America that has been highly successful across multiple markets," said Julio Babecki, Partner, L Catterton Latin America. "Rapsodia's core foundation of quality, creativity and authenticity has enabled the brand to connect meaningfully with today's women across the region. We are truly excited about this opportunity and look forward to continuing to build the brand's success."
Rapsodia is the first investment by the L Catterton Latin America fund in Argentina. This investment is the fund's fourth in Latin America, and the most pan-regional to date. The fund has made previous investments in Bodytech, a leading health and fitness player in Latin America, Grupo St. Marche, one of the most innovative food retailers in Brazil, and Espacolaser, Brazil's leader in laser hair removal. The investment in Rapsodia builds on L Catterton's investments in leading retail and lifestyle brands globally, including Restoration Hardware, Pepe Jeans and Hackett, Sandro&Maje, El Ganso, Ba&sh, Charles & Keith, the Miami Design District, John Hardy, and Frederic Fekkai, among others.
The transaction is subject to completion of certain closing conditions.
About Rapsodia
Rapsodia was founded in 1999, in Buenos Aires, by Josefina Helguera, Sol Acuna and Francisco de Narvaez. The first store outside Buenos Aires was opened in 2005, while 2006 marked the beginning of the brand's expansion in the region with stores in Chile and Mexico. Rapsodia currently operates in six Latin American countries Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Colombia, and Mexico through 90 points of sale and four product lines: Women, Intimates, Girls, and Home. The brand is characterized by a boho-chic, romantic style. It offers an eclectic product portfolio that amalgamates innumerable patterns and a varied range of colors and textures. Each collection is inspired in differ rent cultures and decades, art, music, and world travel, all of which have undoubtedly forged its super feminine, adventurous and free identity. To find out more, visit http://www.rapsodia.com.ar.
About L Catterton
L Catterton, formed in 2016 through the partnership of Catterton, LVMH and Groupe Arnault, is the largest consumer-focused private equity firm in the world, operating multiple funds out of seventeen offices across five continents. Since its founding in 1989, Catterton has leveraged its category insight, strategic and operating skills, and network of industry contacts to establish one of the strongest private equity investment track records in the middle market. L Catterton builds on this heritage and the strong track record of LVMH and Groupe Arnault's existing European and Asian private equity and real estate operations, conducted under the L Capital and L Real Estate franchises. L Catterton invests in all major consumer segments, including: Food and Beverage, Retail and Restaurants, Beauty and Wellness, Fashion and Accessories, Consumer Products and Services, Consumer Health, and Media and Marketing Services, as well as real estate projects anchored by luxury retail. L Catterton's investments include: Steiner Leisure, Groupo St. Marche, Bodytech, El Ganso, Hopdoddy, PIADA Italian Street Food, Mendocino Farms, CHOPT Creative Salad Company, Bruxie, Protein Bar, Snap Kitchen, Peloton, Restoration Hardware, CorePower Yoga, Sweaty Betty, Outback Steakhouse, Plum Organics, Noodles & Company, Vroom, Frederic Fekkai, PIRCH, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Wellness pet food, Nature's Variety pet food, Kettle Foods, Odwalla, P.F. Chang's, Ba&sh, Sandro & Maje, CellularLine, Vicini / Zanotti, Cigierre, Gant, Nutrition and Sante, Pepe Jeans & Hackett, 2XU, Charles & Keith, Marubi, Bateel, Sasseur, Emperor Watch and Jewelry, Miami Design District and G6 in Ginza - Tokyo, to name a few. More information about L Catterton can be found at www.lcatterton.com.
Rapsodia Contacts:
Laura Muchnik / Cristian Marchiaro
Muchnik
+5411-5199-3030
L Catterton Contacts:
Andi Rose / Andrew Squire / Julie Oakes
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449
SOURCE L Catterton
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Las Olas Capital Advisors (lasolascap.com) gained Raymond N. Catone as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer. He will be helping to oversee and continue the growth plans at this Fort Lauderdale-based Registered Investment Advisor firm. He will also be a member of the Las Olas Capital Advisors Investment Committee. Raymond joins the team with over 24 years of experience within the Financial Services Industry having worked at Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, and Barclays prior to his time at Citibank.
Raymond is joining Las Olas Capital Advisors during a period of a growth. "The timing of Raymond coming on board is perfect as Las Olas Capital Advisors continues to grow and needs a Senior Executive to oversee the infrastructure," remarks Las Olas Capital Advisors' Founder, Paul Tanner.
"I am very excited to be joining Las Olas Capital Advisors in this capacity and contributing to their aggressive growth strategy. We have a very accommodative model for our clients, focusing on the preservation, management and growth of their wealth," comments Ray. The addition of Raymond marks a commitment to innovation and growth for this year and a half year old business. The company is already seeing the benefit of this addition to Senior Management through increased integration of all available resources in the Independent Sector of Wealth Management.
About Las Olas Capital Advisors
Las Olas Capital Advisors is a registered investment advisor (RIA) firm based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with additional offices in Tampa and New York. The team has over 50 years of combined experience and each person at the firm understands that business is developed through relationships built on trust and confidence.
Securities and Insurance Products: * Are Not FDIC Insured * Are Not Bank Guaranteed * May Lose Value* Investment Advisory services offered through Las Olas Capital Advisors, LLC, a SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Securities services offered through Capital Guardian LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC. Capital Guardian, LLC and Las Olas Capital Advisors, LLC are not affiliated companies. Las Olas Capital Advisors, LLC does not provide legal, accounting or tax advice. Las Olas Venture Capital is under common ownership and control, which includes personnel and office space. Activities are conducted separate and independent of Las Olas Capital Advisors.
Melissa Stephenson
Las Olas Capital Advisors
954-289-4693
[email protected]
SOURCE Las Olas Capital Advisors
Related Links
http://lasolascap.com
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- RizePoint, the leading provider of brand, quality, and safety management software, today unveiled a new ratings dashboard. The ratings dashboard is the latest addition to the RizePoint suite of pre-built Management Dashboards that provide visibility into quality, safety, and brand audit data for some of the world's largest foodservice and hospitality brands. The ratings dashboard allows quality assurance and operations managers to view historical trends. This allows users to see scoring distributions based upon pre-defined rating groups, such as pass/fail, grade A-F, or other identifiers.
"RizePoint frees quality assurance and operations managers from reporting hassles, and empowers them to focus on continuous improvement informed by easy-to-read data," said Frank Maylett, president and CEO of RizePoint. "With RizePoint's management consoleincluding the new ratings dashboardquality, safety, and brand data become a guiding document of best practices across the business."
The RizePoint dashboard suite brings visibility to key business information. Regional managers are able to validate high-level quality assurance within RizePoint dashboards and are able to drill down into specific issues. For example, a quality assurance or operations manager can utilize the ratings dashboard to identify locations with poor performance and drive any necessary improvements.
This update to the RizePoint enterprise compliance SaaS solution also includes:
A Mobile Auditor thermocouple integration with the Cooper-Atkins Blue2 Instrument that allows auditors to collect temperature data reliably
A growing number of available API calls to manage integrations with the RizePoint system
Additional active home page features that integrate video and images to increase visibility and enhance cross-functional team communication
A new ability to attach files, including images, when creating a new Independent Action Plan so that action can be quickly taken on issues identified outside of audits
RizePoint At-a-Glance
RizePoint mobile and cloud-based software helps organizations improve the quality, safety, and sustainability of their products, services, and facilities.
RizePoint's software is used by 5 of the top 8 hospitality brands and 5 of the top 8 food service brands.
RizePoint serves more than 387,000 users in 120 countries and territories, speaking 40 languages: 105,000 food service restaurants 27,000 hotels and resort properties 13,000 grocery and retail stores
About RizePoint
RizePointformerly Steton Technology Groupis the global leader in software solutions that proactively safeguard enterprise compliancefor both internally imposed standards and externally imposed regulations. RizePoint software builds and protects brand equity by enabling a consistent customer experience. Our customers gather better data, see necessary actions earlier, and act faster to correct issues before they become costly liabilities. Considered the industry standard for food service, hospitality, and retail, RizePoint mobile and cloud-based solutions serve nearly 2 million audits with 200 million questions answered annually. RizePoint is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. For more information, visit RizePoint.com.
Press Inquiries:
Whitney McCarthy
801.285.9827
[email protected]
SOURCE RizePoint
Related Links
http://www.rizepoint.com
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- RizePoint, the leading provider of brand, quality, and safety management software, today launched an integration between Mobile Auditor and the Cooper-Atkins Blue2 Instrument that seamlessly uploads line check temperature data. This new pairing enables food safety teams to gather temperature data reliablyupholding quality standards and mitigating risk. Thermocouple integration is now available to more than 387,000 corporate and third-party auditors who use Mobile Auditor.
"Our food service clients are committed to the safety of raw and prepared foods," said Frank Maylett, president and CEO of RizePoint. "Thermocouple integration is one more way that we're transforming a paper-and-pencil process to a more effective way of gathering data and protecting brand reputations."
RizePoint provides an end-to-end solution to modernize inspections in fast-casual and quick-service restaurants, fresh-prepared foods, and grocery storesensuring a safe customer experience.
With Mobile Auditor, auditors can:
Conduct line checks with Cooper-Atkins Blue2 thermocouple device
Perform audits using smartphones, tablets, or web browsers
Use offline access wherever connections are a concern
Submit corrective action recommendations with video and image markup
Sync audit results for immediate use
Save and share audit results before completion
Start scheduled audits with just one click
About Mobile Auditor
RizePoint Mobile Auditor streamlines remote location assessments. Inspection teams see immediate assessment results in the cloud-based RizePoint Management Console, replacing the long, manual upload process.
Capture data easily using powerful form navigation that leads auditors through the process
Convert negative assessment results into immediate corrective action recommendations
RizePoint At-a-Glance
RizePoint mobile and cloud-based software helps organizations improve the quality, safety, and sustainability of their products, services, and facilities.
RizePoint's software is used by 5 of the top 8 hospitality brands and 5 of the top 8 food service brands.
RizePoint serves more than 387,000 users in 120 countries and territories, speaking 40 languages: 105,000 food service restaurants 27,000 hotels and resort properties 13,000 grocery and retail stores
About RizePoint
RizePointformerly Steton Technology Groupis the global leader in software solutions that proactively safeguard enterprise compliancefor both internally imposed standards and externally imposed regulations. RizePoint software builds and protects brand equity by enabling a consistent customer experience. Our customers gather better data, see necessary actions earlier, and act faster to correct issues before they become costly liabilities. Considered the industry standard for food service, hospitality, and retail, RizePoint mobile and cloud-based solutions serve nearly 2 million audits with 200 million questions answered annually. RizePoint is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. For more information, visit RizePoint.com.
About Cooper-Atkins
Located in Middlefield, CT, Cooper-Atkins Corporation is a leading manufacturer of quality time, temperature and humidity instruments, with focus on the Foodservice, Industrial HVAC and Healthcare markets both domestically and abroad. Cooper-Atkins Corporation is proud to be a Woman-Owned business, certified by the National Women's Business Enterprise Certification (WBENC) as well as an ISO 9001:2008 certified company.
For inquiries and to contact a distributor near you, please call Cooper-Atkins support at: Main (860) 347-2256, Option 2, or visit http://www.cooper-atkins.com/
Press Inquiries:
Whitney McCarthy
801.285.9827
[email protected]
SOURCE RizePoint
Related Links
http://www.rizepoint.com
Name
% of voting rights if it equals or is higher than the notifiable threshold
% of voting rights through financial instruments if it equals or is higher than the notifiable threshold
Ray Chambers
School of Business 1964
Ray Chambers cofounded a successful private equity firm before embarking on a second career in philanthropy and as a United Nations special envoy. His work has had a profound impact on global health initiatives and on the cultural, educational, and economic life of his hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
Alice Lazzarini
Graduate School of New Brunswick 1976, 1996
Alice Lazzarini is a renowned medical researcher and the author of Both Sides Now: A Journey from Researcher to Patient. During the mid-1990s, she codiscovered the first gene mutation linked to familial Parkinsonism, changing the paradigm of Parkinson's research.
Richard Weeks
School of Engineering 1950
Richard Weeks is chair of Weeks Marine, Inc., one of the leading marine construction firms in North America. The company handles projects throughout North and South America, from inland waterways to offshore sites in the Pacific and the Atlantic.
SY Lau
Rutgers Business SchoolNewark and New Brunswick 2004
SY Lau is a leader in the development of China's flourishing internet industry. He is senior executive vice present of Tencent Holdings Limited, the fourth-largest internet company in the world, and president of its Online Media Group.
"The Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni celebrates Rutgers graduates who move our society forward in life-changing ways," said Donna Thornton, vice president for alumni relations, annual giving and communications. "This year's honorees make all of us in the university community proud to be scarlet forever."
The black-tie event will be hosted at the Hyatt Regency in downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey.
More information about the event and the inductees can be found on the event website.
About the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni
Established in 1987, the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni recognizes alumni who, through their superlative achievements in professional and civic life, have brought honor to themselves and to the university.
Only 228 graduates have been inducted into the Hall of Distinguished Alumni in Rutgers' history. Notable members include chef and restaurateur Mario Batali, late actor James Gandolfini, author Janet Evanovich, NBC news anchor Natalie Morales, late actor and humanitarian Paul Robeson, Nobel Prize winners Selman Waksman and Milton Friedman, and five former New Jersey governors.
About the Rutgers University Alumni Association
The Rutgers University Alumni Association (RUAA) is a powerful network of more than 486,000 living Rutgers alumni. Membership is free for life and includes exclusive access to an amazing array of national, local, and university benefits.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Headshots, full biographies, and multimedia of the honorees and the awards ceremony are available for media use. Complete details are available on the event website. Please contact Britt Boehm from the Rutgers University Alumni Association at 848-932-2243 or by email at [email protected] to request any materials.
Contact:
Britt Boehm
Rutgers University Alumni Association
[email protected]
848-932-2243
SOURCE Rutgers University Alumni Association
OSAKA, Japan, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SEKISUI HOUSE, LTD. and Woodside Homes today announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement under which SEKISUI HOUSE will acquire 100% ownership of Woodside Homes. SEKISUI HOUSE, LTD, Japan's largest homebuilder and leading diversified developer, will complete the transaction through one of its wholly-owned US subsidiaries. Woodside Homes is one of America's top 30 homebuilders having built more than 40,000 homes across the US, with current operations in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.
The acquisition of Woodside Homes is part of SEKISUI HOUSE's long-term growth strategy to diversify its business portfolio and create operating synergies within its other operating platforms.
"There is a natural alignment between our companies -- both sharing the same philosophy of creating environmentally sound communities and fulfilling the housing industry's responsibility to future generations. Woodside Homes is an important growth platform for our North America homebuilding operations," said Isami Wada, Chairman, Representative Director & CEO, SEKISUI HOUSE.
Joel Shine, Chief Executive Officer of Woodside Homes, remarks "We're thrilled with the opportunity to join forces with SEKISUI HOUSE. The acquisition provides the opportunity for us to continue to build homes with lasting value, integrity and quality while providing excellent service and earning the trust and respect of customers who seek the most from their homeownership experience."
Woodside Homes' company name, executive team and daily operations will remain the same. SEKISUI HOUSE will provide shared technologies and economic resources in support of Woodside Homes' growth. Both parties will exchange creative ideas and techniques to create value and address the many and varied needs of the individual homeowner and the broader homebuilding market.
Closing is scheduled to occur at the end of February 2017.
Since its founding in 1960, SEKISUI HOUSE has developed housing-related businesses that have come to lead the housing industry by creating environment, economic, social, and homeowner value. NORTH AMERICA SEKISUI HOUSE, LLC (NASH) was established by SEKISUI HOUSE in 2010 as a wholly-owned US subsidiary and its portfolio includes more than 30 active suburban master-planned communities and 20 urban-infill and transit-oriented developments. The acquisition of Woodside Homes firmly establishes SEKISUI HOUSE as a market leader in the US in homebuilding and the development of master-planned communities, mixed-use, multifamily and condominium properties. Representation for this successful transaction was provided by Hearthstone and Morrison & Foerster for SEKISUI HOUSE and Moelis & Company and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley, & McCloy for Woodside Homes and Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP for the representative of the selling equity holders of Woodside Homes.
About SEKISUI HOUSE, LTD.
SEKISUI HOUSE, LTD is the largest homebuilder and one of the leading diversified developers in Japan. SEKISUI HOUSE is managing its US operations through its subsidiaries in the US. The US operations include the development of master-planned communities, mixed-use, multifamily apartment, and condominium properties throughout the US. http://www.sekisuihouse.co.jp/english/index.html
About Woodside Homes:
Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Woodside Homes is a privately held company and one of America's top 30 homebuilders. The company has built more than 40,000 homes across the US, with current operations in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah -- earning the trust and confidence of families who seek the very most from their homeownership experience. www.woodsidehomes.com
Stephanie Orton Lynch
Executive Vice President | Delucchi Plus
703.405.0728 | [email protected]
SOURCE SEKISUI HOUSE, LTD.
Related Links
https://www.sekisuihouse.co.jp/english
HOUSTON, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Shell announced today that they are finalizing Indoor EMV deployment with over 11,000 of their sites fully Indoor EMV operational. EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) is the global standard for cards payments using payment cards with an embedded computer chip and special authentication technology designed to reduce fraud. Almost 80 percent of the Shell-branded retail network is now fully Indoor EMV compliant with the remainder expected by spring 2017.
"The Vantage platform has afforded sites faster and easier deployment of Indoor EMV software while significantly minimizing site downtime and eliminating the need for a technician's visit," said Craig Schneider, Vice President and General Manager Marketing, Shell Americas Fuel Sales and Marketing. "We are confident that we will experience the same success with our Outdoor EMV program."
As full deployment of Indoor EMV approaches, Shell is shifting focus to delivering Outdoor EMV on their network. Shell is fully committed to ensuring all Shell-branded sites are EMV hardware and software ready in advance of the October 2020 liability shift date. Development of the Outdoor EMV software solution is currently in progress with a pilot planned for late 2017.
Shell continues to encourage sites to become EMV hardware ready with new dispensers or upgraded retrofit kits. EMV hardware equipment is available for Shell Wholesalers (and dealers) through Wayne Fueling Systems and Gilbarco Veeder-Root. Shell and Wayne are offering a Direct Purchase Program for both new dispensers and retrofit kits, and Gilbarco is providing dispenser and retrofit kits through their distributors.
"We're excited to bring our Wholesalers and Retailers a high value dispenser program that will help lower their EMV investment costs," said Juan Kemp, General Manager Operations, Shell Americas Fuel Sales and Marketing. "Our top priority is to continue delivering programs and technology that protect the Shell brand and lead to better customer experiences."
Additional details of the Outdoor EMV program will be announced in Q2 2017.
About Shell
Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Royal Dutch Shell plc, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies with operations in more than 70 countries. In the U.S., Shell operates in 50 states and employs more than 20,000 people working to help tackle the challenges of the new energy future. The Shell downstream organization manages a portfolio of top-quality brands, including the No. 1 selling premium gasoline, Shell V-Power NiTRO+ Premium Gasoline, No. 1 selling gasoline, Shell Nitrogen Enriched Gasolines, and Pennzoil, the most trusted motor oil brand in America.
Cautionary Note
The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this release "Shell", "Shell group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this release refer to companies over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to "joint ventures" and "joint operations" respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as "associates". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party interest.
This release contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''anticipate'', ''believe'', ''could'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', ''goals'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''objectives'', ''outlook'', ''plan'', ''probably'', ''project'', ''risks'', "schedule", ''seek'', ''should'', ''target'', ''will'' and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this release, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. All forward-looking statements contained in this release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2015 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov ). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward looking statements contained in this release and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this release, 22 February 2017. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this release.
We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this release that United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov.
SOURCE Shell Oil Company
Related Links
http://www.shellus.com
Sierra shareholders overwhelmingly vote to spin out of Northern Peru Properties into Cautivo Mining
Spin out of properties reduces concession maintenance cost to Sierra Metals and allows for accelerated exploration to enhance value for Sierra shareholders
TORONTO, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Sierra Metals Inc. (TSX: SMT) (BVL: SMT) ("Sierra Metals" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that shareholders have overwhelmingly voted at a special meeting of shareholders on February 16, 2017, to spin-out (the "Spin-out") to existing shareholders its 100% owned Las Lomas Project, into a new public entity called Cautivo Mining Inc. ("Cautivo") by approving a reduction in the capital of the common shares of Sierra Metals for the capital assigned to Cautivo Mining. The final voting results were 99.94% voting in favour of the capital reduction.
On the completion of the Spin-out, Cautivo who are the developer of the properties' main asset will be its indirect interest in the Las Lomas Project (the "Las Lomas Project") consisting of approximately 32,000 hectares of greenfield exploration properties located in northern Peru.
Mark Brennan, President and CEO of Sierra Metals commented: "Sierra Metals is committed to an ongoing program of maximizing value for Sierra shareholders. After completing an extensive review of the Company's assets in Peru, Sierra Metals decided to spin-out to existing shareholders its 100% owned Las Lomas Project. The Las Lomas Project is not considered to be part of the Company's core focus and management, as well as the Board of Directors, believe the value of the Las Lomas Project is not being fully reflected in the current share price of Sierra Metals. The Spin out of properties reduces concession maintenance cost to Sierra Metals and allow for the accelerated exploration and development of properties by Cautivo Mining and thus enhancing value for Sierra shareholders."
On January 12th, Sierra Metals wholly-owned subsidiary, Cautivo Mining Inc. who are the developers of the properties, filed a preliminary prospectus with the securities regulatory authorities for the purpose of qualifying the distribution by Sierra Metals to holders of Sierra's common shares of all of the issued and outstanding common shares in the capital of Cautivo as a return of capital and to effect a rights offering under which recipients of Cautivo Shares will be entitled to purchase additional Cautivo shares. The exercise price for the rights offering will be determined prior to the filing of Cautivo's final prospectus. The effect of the distribution and the rights offering will be to spin-out Cautivo as a standalone public company and to capitalize Cautivo to enable it to pursue its business plan.
Certain details of the distribution and the rights offering, including the number of Cautivo shares to be received by shareholders of the Company for each Sierra share held, the number of rights to be distributed, the subscription price for Cautivo shares under the rights offering, the total size of the rights offering and the timing of the distribution and the rights offering have not been finalized. These details will be contained in the final prospectus. Complete details of the distribution and the rights offering, including the tax treatment of the distribution, will also be contained in the final prospectus which will be sent to each holder of Sierra shares and will be made accessible on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under Cautivo's profile.
Quality Control
All technical data contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gordon Babcock, P.Eng., Chief Operating Officer and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
About Sierra Metals
Sierra Metals Inc. is Canadian based growing polymetallic mining company with production from its Yauricocha Mine in Peru, and its Bolivar and Cusi Mines in Mexico. The company recently completed a very successful operational improvements program at it Yauricocha mine and is now focused on completing a similar program at its Mexican operations to increase production volume, recoveries and modernize operations. Sierra continues to grow its mineral resources with several exciting brownfield opportunities such as the Esperanza Zone at the Yauricocha Mine which went from first discovery to mining in less than one year. The Company has several other brownfield exploration opportunities at all three Mines in Peru and Mexico within or very close to the existing mines which its actively exploring and hopes to daylight in the short-term. The company has large land packages at all three Mines with several regional highly prospective targets providing longer term exploration upside and mineral resource growth potential.
The Company's shares trade on the Lima Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Valores de Lima) and on the TSX under the symbol "SMT".
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for statements of historical fact contained herein, the information in this press release may constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities law. Statements containing forward-looking information express, as at the date of this news release, the Company's plans, estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations or beliefs as to future events or results. These statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements unless required by securities laws applicable to the Company. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in filings by the Company with the Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com.
Continue to watch our progress at:
Web: www.sierrametals.com
Twitter: sierrametals
Facebook: SierraMetalsInc
LinkedIn: Sierra Metals Inc
SOURCE Sierra Metals Inc.
Related Links
www.sierrametals.com
Trading Symbol: TSX: SVM
VANCOUVER, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Silvercorp Metals Inc. ("Silvercorp" or the "Company") (TSX: SVM) announces that the company will attend the BMO 26th Capital Markets Annual Global Metals & Mining Conference from February 26 to March 1, 2017 in Hollywood, Florida. A PDF of the slide presentation will be available on the Company's website at http://silvercorpmetals.com.
Silvercorp Metals Inc. will also attend and present at the PDAC 2017 International Convention in Toronto, Canada, on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, at 2:00p.m. (ET). A PDF of the slide presentation will be available on the Company's website at http://silvercorpmetals.com. Silvercorp will also be at Booth #2223A in the Investor Exchange at the PDAC Convention from Sunday through Monday, March 5-6, 2017.
About Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Silvercorp is a low-cost silver-producing Canadian mining company with multiple mines in China. The Company's vision is to deliver shareholder value by focusing on the acquisition of under developed projects with resource potential and the ability to grow organically. For more information, please visit our website at www.silvercorpmetals.com
SOURCE Silvercorp Metals Inc
Related Links
www.silvercorpmetals.com
WASHINGTON and Northfield, Ill., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The College of American Pathologists (CAP) and the American Society of Hematology (ASH) today published an evidence-based guideline that addresses the initial work-up of acute leukemia. The guideline was published in an early online edition of the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
"Initial Diagnostic Work-up of Acute Leukemia: Guideline from the College of American Pathologists and the American Society of Hematology" defines the recommended clinical information and laboratory testing needed for proper diagnosis, with the goal of optimal prognosis, of pediatric and adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), and mixed-phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL).
By relying on this guideline, hematologists, oncologists, pathologists, allied clinicians, and patient advocacy groups can better ensure that each patient receives the most accurate diagnostic testing and subsequent care.
"The laboratory testing to diagnose acute leukemia and inform treatment is increasingly complex, making this guideline essential," explains Daniel A. Arber, M.D., University of Chicago School of Medicine, who served as the CAP representative co-chair for the guideline. "New gene mutations and protein expressions have been described over the last decade in all types of acute leukemiaand many of them impact diagnosis or inform prognosis."
Most notably, the guideline underscores the essential steps to coordinate and communicate across clinical teams, specifying information that must be sharedparticularly among treating physicians and pathologistsfor optimal patient outcomes, and to avoid unnecessary duplicative testing. By identifying the best timing and setting for recommended tests, the guideline also provides structured, baseline recommendations to manage molecular testing.
"With its multidisciplinary perspective, this guideline reflects contemporary, integrated cancer care, and therefore, it will also help providers realize efficiencies in test management," said ASH guideline co-chair James W. Vardiman, M.D., the University of Chicago School of Medicine.
Drs. Arber and Vardiman led an interdisciplinary team of hematologists, and hematopathologists. This panel systematically sought and reviewed published evidence to answer six questions for the initial diagnosis of the specified range of acute leukemias, including of ambiguous lineage:
1) What clinical and laboratory information should be available?
2) What samples and specimen types should be evaluated?
3) What tests are required for all patients during the initial evaluation?
4) What tests are required for only a subset of patients?
5) Where should laboratory testing be performed?
6) How should the results be reported?
In addition to the full guideline, the recommendations will also be available in a printed pocket guide and digitally in the ASH Pocket Guides app.
Given the incidence of leukemia, the new CAP/ASH guideline holds promise for broad clinical reach and positive patient impact. Every three minutes, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with blood cancer, and nearly 176,000 new cases are expected this year. Of these, an estimated 35 percent will be a type of leukemia, according to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
About the American Society of Hematology (ASH)
The American Society of Hematology (www.hematology.org) is the world's largest professional society concerned with the causes and treatment of blood disorders. Its mission is to further the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders affecting blood, bone marrow, and the immunologic, hemostatic, and vascular systems by promoting research, clinical care, education, training, and advocacy in hematology. The official journal of ASH is Blood (www.bloodjournal.org), the most cited peer-reviewed publication in the field, which is available weekly in print and online. In 2016, ASH launched Blood Advances (www.bloodadvances.org), an online, peer-reviewed open-access journal.
About the College of American Pathologists (CAP)
As the world's largest organization of board-certified pathologists and leading provider of laboratory accreditation and proficiency testing programs, the CAP serves patients, pathologists, and the public by fostering and advocating excellence in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide. For more information, READ THE CAP ANNUAL REPORT at cap.org.
SOURCE College of American Pathologists
Related Links
http://www.cap.org
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Research shows states and districts are expanding Advanced Placement access and success for public high school students, including efforts to secure funding for low-income students via new funding sources.
The AP Program Results: Class of 2016 released today shows an increase in both the participation and passing rates for the high school graduating class of 2016. The data show the number of public high school students taking at least one AP Exam has almost doubled in 10 years from 645,000 for the class of 2006 to 1.1 million students in the class of 2016. Since 2006, the percentage of U.S. students taking AP classes and then earning a score of 3 or higher on at least one AP Exam has grown by 7.6 points from 14.3% to 21.9% of public high school graduates.
"There is a widespread belief in education that it is impossible to expand access while maintaining high performance. The AP Program tells a different story," said David Coleman, president and CEO of the College Board. "Across the country AP participation rates are rising, as are passing rates for AP Exams. State and district leaders who have acted decisively to increase AP access are seeing those efforts pay off for students."
State legislators are also making it easier for students to earn college credit by implementing statewide AP credit policies. So far, 22 states, encompassing more than 60% of the U.S. population, currently apply statewide AP credit policies, so students and families have a guarantee that the state's public colleges and universities will award college credit for qualifying AP Exam scores.
An independent researcher from the American Enterprise Institute, Nat Malkus, has called the rise in AP participation and performance "the rarest kind of success in public education." His data show that in 2012, about 90% of all students attended a school that offered at least one AP course, and that rate was similar for black, Hispanic, Asian, and white students.
Students who have the opportunity to take part in challenging AP courses develop skills they'll need for college and potentially save money and time by earning college credit. Research shows students who succeed on AP Exams are more likely to earn higher GPAs in college, take more classes in their discipline, and graduate college on time.
For the first time, Massachusetts led the nation in AP results, achieving the highest percentage of public high school graduates scoring a 3 or higher on an AP Exam in 2016.
After leading the nation every year since 2009, Maryland this year had the second highest percentage of public high school graduates that scored a 3 or higher on an AP Exam.
And Nevada had both the largest three-year increase and a one-year increase in the percentage of public high school graduates scoring 3 or higher on an AP Exam.
Top 10 States with the Highest Percentage of 2016 Public High School Graduates Succeeding on AP Exams :
Massachusetts 31.0 Maryland 30.4 Connecticut 30.1 Florida 29.5 California 28.5 Virginia 28.3 New York 27.3 Colorado 26.9 New Jersey 26.5 Illinois 25.1
Reaching All Students with AP Computer Science Principles
The College Board launched a new course in the fall of 2016, AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP), with the goal of creating leaders in computer science and giving those who are traditionally underrepresented in the computer science field tools and opportunities to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). As of the 20162017 school year, AP CSP is offered in more than 2,500 schools, making this the largest AP course launch ever.
Many states and districts are taking the lead in making computer science a priority for their high school students. At the end of last year, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval announced that every school district in his state will offer AP Computer Science Principles beginning in the 20172018 school year.
Data show that many students who are likely to do well on an AP Exam in computer science or other STEM subject don't go on to take the exam in high school. For example, out of all students in the class of 2016 whose scores on the PSAT/NMSQT showed they would likely do well on the AP Computer Science A Exam, less than 9% took the exam. Among the rural students and female students in that group, less than 5% took the exam. AP CSP was built to appeal to students who have the potential to succeed in a college-level computer science class but who might not believe that computer scienceor STEM courses in generalare for them.
For rural students, especially, AP CSP offers a way to get familiar with the foundational concepts of computer science. AP CSP classes can be led by teachers from a variety of backgrounds, which allows more rural schools to offer the course.
"In all 50 states, the number of job openings that require computing skills far exceeds the number of qualified graduates," said Trevor Packer, the College Board senior vice president responsible for the AP Program "We believe all students deserve to attend a high school that provides coursework like AP Computer Science Principles, a class designed to prepare students for the incredible career opportunities of our century."
What's the Future of AP Exams Funding?
Since 1998, the federal government has joined the College Board in reducing the cost of AP Exams for low-income students. In 1999, over 45,000 low-income students used a combination of federal funding and College Board fee reductions to eliminate or greatly reduce the AP Exam fee; in 2016, more than 450,000 did. The College Board offers eligible low-income students a $31 fee reduction per exam.
Due to a change in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states and districts can't access funds through the AP Test Fee Program because funding is no longer earmarked exclusively for AP Exam fees . States and districts need to proactively dedicate funding under ESSA Title IV and Title I, or under their own education budgets, to cover the exam fees and provide AP courses not currently offered.
Several states have already responded to the federal funding changes. In November 2016, the Texas Education Agency announced that in addition to the $30 state subsidy it provides for funding each AP Exam taken by low-income students, it will use its ESSA Title IV-A federal funds to maintain fee assistance for over 200,000 students. The Texas Education Agency is currently working with districts and state charter schools to create a cost-sharing strategy for future funding of AP Exams taken by low-income students.
Declaring that "all students should have equal access to the benefit of Advanced Placement," Kentucky Commissioner of Education Stephen L. Pruitt announced in December 2016 that his department would use state funds to cover the loss of dedicated federal funding for low-income students' AP Exams. The Kentucky Department of Education stated it was making this commitment so that "schools will continue to provide Kentucky's [low-income] students with the opportunity to take rigorous AP courses that prepare them to excel in their future college and career choices."
"There are more than 500,000 low-income students sitting in AP classes now who are affected by the federal funding changes," said Trevor Packer, senior vice president of AP and Instruction. "These students have embraced the challenge of advanced coursework, doing the extra work AP classes require, so we urge states and districts to partner with the College Board to subsidize the fees for these students, ensuring access to the college credit these low-income students have been working so hard to secure for themselves."
More than ever, low-income students are participating and experiencing success in AP, making the funding of AP Exams under ESSA grant programs an essential part of creating equal access for all students going forward.
For more information about the 2016 AP Program Results: Class of 2016, please click here.
About the College Board
The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world's leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college successincluding the SAT and the Advanced Placement Program. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators, and schools. For further information, visit collegeboard.org.
SOURCE The College Board
Related Links
http://collegeboard.org
"While it is very rewarding to be in the business of helping women and men look and feel their best, Stitch Fix's offering felt incomplete without being able to serve a more comprehensive range of women's sizes. Our Plus team invested a lot of time and resources in order to bring the same great client experience to life and we're thrilled to be able to offer a personalized styling service that is a broader reflection of American women today," said Katrina Lake, Founder and CEO of Stitch Fix. "We are thrilled to expand our service for everybody and every body tall or petite, size 2 or size 24, bold or reserved, starting a new job, starting a family or starting fresh. We will now deliver personalized style that gives every woman, regardless of shape, taste or budget, the style she is looking for through a convenient, personalized shopping experience."
To understand the needs of its Plus clients, Stitch Fix created a dedicated fit team comprised of trained stylists who specialize in the plus sector, focusing on sizing, fit, customer pain points and product development. In addition, Stitch Fix created the Curvy Style Council, which includes three leading plus-size style bloggers Allison Teng, Kristine Thompson and Alexandra Thomas who lent their thought leadership in the space and provided real-time feedback on product fit, trends, brand partners and product assortment.
"Like everyone, this woman wants to look and feel great! We're excited to help her find the right, stylish product she loves. With our Plus fit team and Curvy Style Council committed to ensuring consistency in fit and more than 200 specifically-trained plus stylists, Stitch Fix Plus will continue to revolutionize the shopping experience for women," shared Lake.
The Stitch Fix Plus assortment was created in partnership with top Plus brands and new vendors to develop the best product mix consistent with the fit, style and quality of Stitch Fix's broad assortment. Stitch Fix Plus will offer a range of styles from more than 90 broad-based recognizable and smaller up-and-coming brands including City Chic, Eloquii, Kiyonna, Junarose Slink Jeans and Universal Standard, as well as exclusive brands including Market & Spruce, Pixley and 41Hawthorn.
The contemporary and popular plus retailer, Eloquii, will be available in Stitch Fix Plus's assortment. "The opportunity to experience fashion should not be limited by a woman's size. Our partnership with Stitch Fix offers us an opportunity to introduce our brand to even more women throughout the U.S. We're excited to continue to move the fashion industry forward and we're proud to partner with Stitch Fix as they add sizes 14 and beyond," said Mariah Chase, CEO of Eloquii.
Sizes will include 14W-24W, 1X-3X, in addition to existing women's sizes of 0-16, XS-XXL, maternity, petite and multiple lengths of pants and denim to accommodate varying heights. Stitch Fix Plus will be seamlessly incorporated into the existing brand and site experience. Women simply visit StitchFix.com, sign up and fill out a Style Profile to share their size and style preferences. A personal stylist, specifically trained on how to style Plus sizes, selects five items of apparel, footwear, and accessories that best fit a client's unique taste, budget, lifestyle and special requests. The items are shipped right to her door, where she can try on her Fix in the comfort of her own home and buy what she wants and send the rest back with free shipping both ways and free exchanges.
On February 27, 2017 Stitch Fix will begin styling plus clients. Interested clients can sign up for the waitlist now at www.stitchfix.com and follow us on our Blog, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.
About Stitch Fix:
Stitch Fix is the world's leading online personal styling service tailored to your taste, budget and lifestyle that helps both men and women discover the apparel and accessories that they love. Apparel and accessories range from $20 - $400 per item and include many beloved brands such as Ella Moss, Joie, Splendid, Trina Turk, Penguin and Scotch & Soda, as well as hundreds of smaller, boutique labels. Clients simply fill out an online style profile and Stitch Fix personal stylists handpick a selection of five clothing items and accessories that best fit each client's taste, budget and lifestyle. Clients keep what they love and easily return the rest. Founded in 2011 by CEO Katrina Lake, Stitch Fix is headquartered in San Francisco, California and employs 5,300 people across the country, including 3,000 stylists who are employees of Stitch Fix, as well as 75 data scientists. For more information about Stitch Fix, please visit http://www.stitchfix.com.
SOURCE Stitch Fix
Related Links
http://www.stitchfix.com
LONDON, Feb. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Regional competition to heat up the global storage area network market in the next 10 years
The worldwide boom in IT has redefined many industries and built the base of many budding economies spread across the globe. IT based technologies such as SAN (storage area network) have immensely helped small and medium scale entrepreneurs. The inbuilt capabilities such as shared storage, centralised control and flexibility to share capacity between multiple hosts is creating a broader market acceptance of the product within the small and medium scale business entities present in the global market. The surged spending on ICT is probably going to buckle up the global storage area network market. An influx of funds has been injected into the ICT sector, mushrooming in some of the developing economies of the world such as Asia, MEA and Latin America. This factor is expected to play the role of a catalyst in the hike of the global storage area network market revenues.
Revenue growth of the global storage area network market is predicted to soar in the APEJ region. APEJ is estimated to register a robust Y-O-Y growth and expand at a CAGR of 4.8%. The major booming economies of the APEJ region such as India and China are fuelling the growth of the APEJ SAN market. India is expected to climb the ladder of growth and record a CAGR of 5.3% within the period of forecast. But the dragon economy of China is expected to dominate the market scene till the end of 2026. The APEJ region is an emerging contender in the global SAN market, backed by extensive investments done by public cloud service providers in order to improve their network infrastructure.
North America will continue to maintain its lead within the period of assessment
The North America SAN market, which was valued close to US$ 5 Bn in 2015 will continue its growth lap till the end of 2026. North America will account for more than 30% revenue share of the global storage area network market. As the region is populated with cloud service providers and several big companies that provide seamless data services, the market for storage area networks is massively increasing in this part of the globe. One of the major economies of this region the U.S is anticipated to play a significant role in the development of this regional market. Market anatomy: Storage Area Network market (North America)
The key players of the global storage area network market such as CISCO extracted a lion's share of revenue from the markets fragmented across the North America region. The North America region contributed more than 60% of their revenue in 2015. NetApp, Inc. another major shareholder in the global storage area network market fished out more than 50% of the revenue share from the North America market in 2015. The unparalleled importance of the North America region in the global market arena of storage area networks is soaring and as predicted North America will continue to rule the global storage area network market till the end of the forecast period.
The hardware segment of the North America SAN market is expected to dominate the market till the end of 2026. At the same time the software segment is assessed to be the most attractive segment in terms of revenue within the North America region and it is predicted to record a CAGR of 4.0% by the end of the foreseen period. The conventional SAN segment will showcase better output in the North America region, but in terms of revenue the virtual SAN segment will attract more attention. The FibreChannel technology segment is likely to rule the North America SAN market along with the BFSI end user segment. In terms of revenue, the large enterprises and IT and telecommunication segments are expected to remain the most attractive within the period of forecast.
Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4715249/
About Reportbuyer
Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers
http://www.reportbuyer.com
For more information:
Sarah Smith
Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 208 816 85 48
Website: www.reportbuyer.com
SOURCE ReportBuyer
Related Links
http://www.reportbuyer.com
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Sharp to reinforce a leading role within European audio-visual market
Skytec UMC today announced the successful closing of the share transfer agreement with Sharp Corporation resulting in Sharp Corporation acquiring a majority 56.7 % stake in Skytec UMC Ltd. The result is the establishment of a new subsidiary with the objective to promote the manufacturing and sale of Sharp branded audio-visual products in Europe. The two companies combine their competences to create a powerful electronics business under the known Sharp brand.
"We are convinced that combining the brand image and innovation capability of Sharp and our knowledge of the European market, product requirements and our customer contacts, we set the path to become one of the major players in the European TV market," underlines Aslan Khabliev, CEO at Skytec UMC Ltd.
Skytec UMC provides a well-established infrastructure from manufacturing to sales, after sales service and marketing of TV devices in Europe. Since licensing the Sharp brand in Europe in 2015, Skytec UMC has shown convincing sales figures, successful localizing and selling top-of-the range TV sets at the best price point.
The current Skytec UMC organization remains entirely operative with Aslan Khabliev as CEO and is even going to be expanded to allow for further growth of the TV business under the Sharp brand. Furthermore the company continues to produce television sets under the "Blaupunkt" brand as well as private label televisions. Skytec UMC's fully owned plant in Poland will become part of the new Sharp subsidiary.
Sharp, pioneer in flat panel TVs and market leader in Japan, adds its innovation power to the new organization, while Foxconn Technology Group, the strategic alliance partner of Sharp Corporation, provides extremely cost effective manufacturing and major purchasing power.
Press Contact: [email protected]
SOURCE Universal Media Corporation
TROY, Mich., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SunTel Services a complete provider of services for unified communication networks to businesses throughout Michigan and across the country welcomes Cathy Murray as Manager of Human Resources and Administration. Murray will be responsible for all aspects of human resources, facilities management, and employee relations.
She joins SunTel from Sodecia located in Center Line, Michigan. Sodecia is a worldwide, full- service provider in the automotive industry. It was there that Murray was responsible for a three shift operational plan, including labor relations for three unions, benefits open enrollment, 401K administration, and onboarding and training of new employees amongst other duties. At SunTel, she will utilize her 15+ years of experience and handle OSHA training, fleet management and updating company policies.
"I am so excited to be a SunTel team member," said Cathy Murray. "This great opportunity will not only allow me to utilize my skills, education, and knowledge to assist all employees but to also grow in various aspects I haven't worked in before."
Gary Jackson, President of SunTel Services, states "Cathy is a great fit for the SunTel family and her vast knowledge and experience in human resources management will be a great asset to us."
About SunTel Services
SunTel Services has provided complete life cycle services for unified communication services as a Michigan based company since 1986. With more than 1,000 customers and over 2,500 installations, SunTel offers a wide breadth of expertise and product offerings to customers across the automotive, manufacturing, government, healthcare, education, finance, professional services and technology sectors.
With certifications in all critical network services, SunTel offers service programs up to and including management of customer networks. The company holds key partnerships and certifications with industry technology leaders, such as Adtran, APC, Avaya, Blue Coat Systems, Check Point, Citrix, Cisco, Dell, Fortinet, HP, Infoblox, Juniper Networks, Microsoft, Mitel, Polycom, Pulse Secure and VMware.
SunTel serves the global communication system requirements of international companies through offices in Troy, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids and Traverse City. Learn more at http://www.suntel.com.
SOURCE SunTel Services
Related Links
http://www.suntel.com
TORONTO, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Symbility Solutions Inc. ("Symbility" or the "Corporation") (TSX.V: SY), a global software company focused on modernizing the insurance industry, is pleased to announce fiscal 2017 Guidance. In 2017, the Corporation estimates that it will generate revenue in the range of $40 million to $42 million. This revenue growth is expected to generate Adjusted EBITDA1 in the range of $2 million to $3 million. The Corporation also expects to have positive cash flow.
"The momentum we created in 2016 saw Symbility sign some significant new contracts in North America and Europe; plus, entry into Australia, which lead to revenue growth beyond our original expectations," commented James Swayze, CEO of Symbility Solutions. "Considering our continued expansion in pipeline opportunities and the ongoing momentum in our sales cycles, we are confident that we can maintain our revenue growth rate in this range while generating sufficient operational leverage to achieve a positive Adjusted EBITDA margin."
1 Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS measure and is calculated as earnings before interest income, taxes, depreciation and amortization, impairment losses, stock-based compensation, and other non-recurring gains or losses including transaction costs related to acquisition and restructuring cost. Management believes Adjusted EBITDA is a useful measure that facilitates period-to-period operating comparisons. Adjusted EBITDA does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and is not necessarily comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net earnings (loss) prepared in accordance with IFRS as issued by IASB. All other financial measures referenced herein have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards unless stated otherwise.
CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This press release may contain forward-looking statements with respect to the Corporation, its products and operations and the contemplated financing. These statements generally can be identified by use of forward looking words such as "may", "will", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intends", "believe" or "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. The actual results and performance of the Corporation discussed herein could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among other things, general economic and market factors, competition, changes in government regulations, and the factors described under "Risk Factors" in the Management's Discussion and Analysis and Annual Information Form of the Corporation which are available at www.sedar.com. The cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements attributable to the Corporation and persons acting on their behalf. Unless otherwise stated, all forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and the Corporation has no obligation to update such statements.
ABOUT SYMBILITY
Symbility (TSX.V: SY) believes in creating world-class experiences that simplify business and improve lives. With a history in modernizing insurance claims solutions for the property and health industries, Symbility has established itself as a partner that puts security, efficiency and customer experience first. Symbility PROPERTY brings smarter thinking to property insurance. Symbility HEALTH helps benefits professionals build their brands and businesses. Our strategic services team, Symbility INTERSECT empowers a variety of businesses with smarter mobile and IoT product development strategy, design thinking and engineering excellence. With our three segments pushing industries forward, Symbility proves that change for the better is entirely possible. symbilitysolutions.com
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
All trade names are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE Symbility Solutions Inc.
Related Links
www.symbilitysolutions.com
BOSTON, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SysAid, a leading provider of help desk and IT service management (ITSM) solutions, has announced that the company has been named a "Master" in the January 2017 FrontRunners for Help Desk Software. The quadrant, published by Software AdviceTM, a Gartner company, counts SysAid among the most capable and valuable Help Desk systems for small businesses.
"We're pleased that our users have, once again, placed SysAid among the top performing Help Desk solutions," said Sarah Lahav, CEO of SysAid. "Our customers range from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises and continue to be our guides in this market. Their needs, feedback, and experiences have driven the direction of SysAid since day one. Supporting them, and the wider IT community, is at the heart of everything we do."
The FrontRunners analysis is a data-driven assessment identifying products in the Help Desk software market that offer the best capability and value for small businesses. The data comes from verified user reviews collected at three Gartner Digital Markets sites: softwareadvice.com, capterra.com, and getapp.com.
The FrontRunners capability score takes into account user ratings of the product's functionality, ease of use, and customer support. It also considers how products compare to each other in terms of functionality and integrations. The value score counts user ratings of satisfaction, relative pricing, and the likelihood that users will recommend the product. Each product's market presence, total user reviews, and prevalence in Google search contribute to the value score as well.
In total, SysAid received 36 reviews across Gartner Digital Markets sites. Multiple reviewers commented on SysAid's good value, powerful functionality, and ease of implementation, use, and maintenance. Several reviewers mentioned service, noting, for instance, that "the service after [the] sale is very good" and that the company offers "Excellent support." One reviewer commended SysAid for being the "Most helpful international company [I've] ever dealt with," reporting that "requests are resolved pronto, user requested features are evaluated and implemented where practical."
Visit FrontRunners for Help Desk Software to see the quadrant and read more SysAid reviews.
To learn more about SysAid's ITSM, service desk, and help desk software solutions, please visit www.sysaid.com.
About SysAid Technologies
Founded in 2002, SysAid Technologies Ltd. partners with IT professionals to make their work easier. The company provides IT service management (ITSM) solutions to more than 10,000 customers in 140 countries. From small businesses to Fortune 500 enterprises, IT departments use SysAid to deliver better service.
Available in 42 languages as a cloud-based or on-premises solution, SysAid combines all the essential IT tools in one simple and clever platform. For more information, please visit www.sysaid.com.
-Join more than 180,000 IT professionals in the SysAid Community
-Follow SysAid on Twitter @Joe_the_IT_Guy and @SysAid
SOURCE SysAid Technologies
Related Links
http://www.sysaid.com
LONDON, Feb. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the most technologically advanced and innovation driven countries in the Asian continent. Total population of the country was recorded to be approximately 23 million in 2015, and has emerged as one of the fastest developing economies in the region. However, demand for automobiles declined significantly in the country over the past few years, which caused a negative impact on the tire market in Taiwan. Over the last few years, major automobile manufacturers in Taiwan have also been increasing their focus on exports of automobiles to other countries. Moreover, presence of number of tire manufacturing companies in the country have further fueled tire exports over the past few years, wherein passenger car tire accounted for largest share in tire exports from Taiwan. Furthermore, increasing production of tires, coupled with rising sales of automobiles and growing demand for tires from the replacement tire segment are further expected to drive Taiwan tire market during the forecast period.
Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4368346/
According to TechSci Research report, "Taiwan Tire Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2011 - 2021'', tire market in Taiwan is projected to surpass USD1.2 billion by 2021, owing to rising production of automobiles and growing demand for tires from replacement tire segment in the country. Taiwan tire market was dominated by two-wheeler tire segment over the past few years, and this segment is further expected to continue its dominance in the coming years as well, owing to expanding two-wheeler fleet size and rising sale of two-wheelers in Taiwan. Northern region is the highest demand generating region for tires in the country on account of presence of prominent cities like Taipei City, New Taipei City, Yilan County, Taoyuan County, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Keelung City and Hsinchu City in the region.
"Taiwan Tire Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2011 - 2021" discusses the following aspects of the tire market in Taiwan:
- Taiwan Tire Market Size, Share & Forecast
- Segmental Analysis By Vehicle Type (Two-Wheeler, Passenger Car, Light Commercial Vehicle, Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicle, and OTR), By Demand Category (OEM Vs Replacement)
- Regional Analysis Northern, Central, Southern, Island region
- Policy & Regulatory Landscape
- Changing Market Trends and Emerging Opportunities
- Competitive Landscape and Strategic Recommendations
Why You Should Buy This Report?
- To gain an in-depth understanding of tire market in Taiwan
- To identify the on-going trends and segment wise anticipated growth in the coming years
- To help industry consultants, tire companies and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies
- To obtain research based business decision and add weight to presentations and marketing material
- To avail 10% customization in the report without any extra charges and get the research data or trends added in the report as per the buyer's specific needs
Report Methodology
The information contained in this report is based on both primary and secondary sources. Primary research included interviews with tire companies, distributors and industry experts. Secondary research included an exhaustive search of relevant publications like company annual reports, financial reports and proprietary databases.
Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4368346/
About Reportbuyer
Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers
http://www.reportbuyer.com
For more information:
Sarah Smith
Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 208 816 85 48
Website: www.reportbuyer.com
SOURCE ReportBuyer
Related Links
http://www.reportbuyer.com
NEW YORK and MUMBAI, India, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, today announced that it has been officially certified as a 'Top Employer in North America 2017' by the Top Employers Institute, an independent organization that certifies employers around the world for excellence in creating a total work environment for their employees. This is the third consecutive year TCS has been certified in the U.S. and the second consecutive year for TCS in Canada.
The Top Employers certification is awarded to a select group of employers who provide excellent employee conditions, nurture and develop talent throughout all levels of the organization and strive to continuously optimize employment practices. TCS was recognized as an exceptional performer across nine categories: Talent Strategy, Workforce Planning, On-Boarding, Learning and Development, Performance Management, Leadership Development, Career and Succession Management, Compensation and Benefits, and Culture.
"TCS is proud to be certified as a Top Employer in North America for three consecutive years," said Sury Kant, President, North America, UK and Europe, TCS. "We have a deep commitment toward providing the best programs to retain, engage and enable our employees to learn and grow."
"Optimal employee conditions ensure that people can develop themselves personally and professionally," said David Plink, CEO of the Top Employers Institute. "Our comprehensive research concluded that Tata Consultancy Services provides an outstanding employment environment and offers a wide range of creative initiatives, from secondary benefits and working conditions, to performance-management programs that are well thought out, and truly aligned with the culture of their company."
Established in 1991, the Top Employers certification is designed to identify and recognize the world's leading organizations in the field of HR management and employee conditions. The award certification is based on an industry-leading research methodology, conducted by the Top Employers Institute.
About the Top Employers Institute
The Top Employers Institute globally certifies excellence in the conditions that employers create for their people. Optimal employee conditions ensure that people develop themselves personally and professionally. This in turn enables companies to grow and to develop, always. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company has recognized Top Employers around the world since 1991. The company is now active in more than 100 countries and in six regions: North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Almost 1,100 Top Employers were successfully certified in 2016.
About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS)
Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPS, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India's largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 378,000 of the world's best-trained consultants in 45 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $16.5 billion for year ended March 31, 2016 and is listed on the BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) and the NSE (National Stock Exchange) in India. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com.
To stay up-to-date on TCS news in North America, follow @TCS_NA. For TCS global news, follow @TCS_News.
SOURCE Tata Consultancy Services
Related Links
http://www.tcs.com
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- An increase in drilling activities as a result of oil price recovery, will drive the growth of the global downhole tools market. However, stringent regulatory processes, oil price volatilely, and harsh environments are heightening the need for judicious and efficient equipment to reduce operator costs and maximize profits. Access to massive unconventional resources in North America, South America and parts of Asia is driving exploration and production (E&P).
The Global Downhole Tools Market, Forecast to 2022 insight is part of Frost & Sullivan's Oil & Gas Growth Partnership Subscription and provides an in-depth evaluation of all the downhole tools segments, including downhole tubulars, drilling tools, wellbore cleanup tools, downhole communication tools, and support tools. Market revenue forecasts, drivers and restraints, technology advancements, competitors and market dynamics are assessed in detail.
Click on the following link for complimentary access to more information on this analysis or to register for a Growth Strategy Dialogue, a free interactive briefing with Frost & Sullivan's thought leaders: http://frost.ly/1cn
"Technologically improved downhole tools ensure greater penetration, real-time analysis, heightened performance and increased productivity that translate into significant capital cost savings, reduced well downtime, and increased well life expectancy," said Frost & Sullivan Energy & Environment Industry Analyst Rasholeen Nakra. "While North America continues to lead the downhole tools market with advanced technology in multi-well horizontal drilling and production, the Asia-Pacific Region and Middle East will be key markets as these regions continue to explore large untapped oil and gas reserves."
The total market is estimated to increase at a CAGR of 5.8 percent from 2015 to 2022, reaching $5.44 billion by 2022. The drilling tools segment is expected to grow at a higher CAGR of 6.6 percent from 2015 to 2022 due to a shale gas boom in the United States and high oil and gas demand globally.
"The downhole tools market is mature, with a mix of participants of different sizes and expertise. The top five participants constitute 69.5 percent of the total market share in downhole tools," noted Nakra. "In order to remain competitive in a volatile market, key players such as Schlumberger, Halliburton, Baker Hughes, and National Oilwell Varco (NOV) consider merger and acquisition strategies."
About Frost & Sullivan's Oil & Gas Team
Global Downhole Tools Market, Forecast to 2022 is part of the Oil & Gas Growth Partnership Subscription. Related studies include Malaysia Oil and Gas Services Sector Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Opportunities Forecast to 2025, Oil and Gas and Petrochemicals Market Update, Assessment of Global Liquefied Natural Gas Market, Strategic Analysis of Global Heavy-oil and Bitumen Market, and many more. All studies in the subscription provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion
Global Downhole Tools Market, Forecast to 2022
NF06-14
Contact:
Jaylon Brinkley
Corporate Communications North America
P: (210) 247.2481
F: (210) 348.1003
E: [email protected]
http://www.frost.com
SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
Related Links
http://www.frost.com
Jury secretary Manuel Arellano describes Acemoglu as "outstanding in his ability to combine a prolific output of exceptional quality in diverse research fields, with major contributions in each, with an approach that is at once empirical and theoretical."
The new laureate, he continues, "has helped elucidate the determinants of long-term economic development, with particular emphasis on the important role played by institutions and social organization. Acemoglu's novel contribution was to deploy a strategy that led him to empirical evidence identifying the causal effect of institutions on development." His research has opened up a whole new field where researchers can measure and quantify the impact of the institutional model on a society's development at different scales.
Growth economics explores the question of why some countries are richer than others. A research field brought to prominence from the 1950s onwards by the work of Robert Solow, the 1987 Nobel Laureate and one of Acemoglu's nominators, it nonetheless had to contend with a lack of consensus over the determinants of growth, and a dearth of empirical evidence to support the contesting theories.
Solow himself in his nomination statement cites Acemoglu's Introduction to Modern Economic Growth (2009), now a standard work of reference setting out tools, models and background knowledge for researchers in the field. But it was before this, in 2001, that Acemoglu published "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," with professors Simon Johnson and James Robinson. In this paper, the authors took issue with the dominant current of geographical determinism, producing empirical evidence of institutions' causal role in economic growth. Their evidentiary starting point was settler mortality: in colonies with a greater chance of survival, settlers sought to replicate the governance institutions of their home countries, and this eventually set their economies on a trajectory of stronger, more sustained growth. For instance, comparing Nigeria and Chile in 1995, they concluded that with institutions similar to Chile's, the income of Nigeria would have increased seven fold.
Acemoglu employs a broad definition of institution, extending to "all the formal and informal rules that govern human interaction," from labor legislation to property and contract rights (legal certainty), by way of transaction costs, infrastructures or the education system as a means to spread out opportunity.
In 2012, he published Why Nations Fail. The Origins of Power, Poverty and Prosperity, again with James Robinson, in which the two men developed the concept of inclusive and extractive institutions. As Acemoglu defines them, "inclusive institutions provide incentives for investment and innovation and they provide a level playing field so that the majority of a nation's population can deploy their talent. These economic institutions generate prosperity. But most societies are ruled by extractive institutions, which create insecure property rights, don't allow contracts, discourage innovation and technology adoption, and most importantly, create a very tilted playing field, advantaging a small segment of society, and sometimes even coercing people to work at low wages in occupations they shouldn't be in, and banning them from occupations they wish to enter."
On the question of how a society can get from an extractive to an inclusive institutional framework, Acemoglu says that "there is no easy way, but summarizing our research briefly, we have also found no other way of ensuring long-run prosperity for a nation than striving towards achieving inclusive institutions." It is possible for an economy in the grip of extractive institutions to experience vigorous growth for a time, but "long-run, sustained economic growth needs technological change, innovation and creativity, and all those things flourish under inclusive economic institutions."
Angus Deaton, also a nominator and Nobel laureate in 2015, explains that Acemoglu's leadership in this field relies on "a mixture of deep historical analysis, research into politics, and a range of imaginative econometric investigations."
The jury also makes mention of Acemoglu's incisive analyses of labor market differences, showing, for instance, "how directed technical change can explain a number of puzzling observations such as the concomitant increases in the wages of skilled workers and their supply." It might seem counterintuitive that a growing supply of skilled workers would serve to increase rather than lower their wages, but Acemoglu showed that with the right technology complement, the resulting advance in productivity permits an accompanying advance in wages.
He has recently been drawn to analysis of the linkage between new technologies and the economy, with particular regard to network interactions.
Daron Acemoglu bio notes
Daron Acemoglu (Istanbul, Turkey, 1967) graduated from the University of York (United Kingdom) in 1989 then went on to earn a PhD in 1992 from the London School of Economics, where he stayed on teaching for a year. In 1993, he joined the faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he is currently Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics.
He has authored around 120 papers in leading international publications like the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy or Review of Economic Studies, as well as four books.
A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Economic Association and the Econometric Society, at the age of just forty he was appointed editor of the society's journal Econometrica. His multiple distinctions include the 2005 John Bates Clark Medal, which the American Economic Association then bestowed biennially on the most outstanding U.S. economist under forty.
About the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards
The BBVA Foundation has as its core objectives the promotion of scientific knowledge, the transmission to society of scientific and technological culture, and the recognition of talent and excellence across a broad spectrum of disciplines, from science to the arts and humanities.
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards were established in 2008 to recognize outstanding contributions in a range of scientific, technological and artistic areas, along with knowledge-based responses to the central challenges of our times. The areas covered by the Frontiers Awards are congruent with the knowledge map of the 21st century, in terms of the disciplines they address and their assertion of the value of cross-disciplinary interaction.
Their eight categories include classical areas like Basic Sciences and Biomedicine, and other, more recent areas characteristic of our time, ranging from Information and Communication Technologies, Ecology and Conservation Biology, Climate Change and Economics, Finance and Management to Development Cooperation and the innovative artistic realm that is Contemporary Music.
The BBVA Foundation is aided in the organization of the awards by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the country's premier public research agency. As well as designating each jury chair, the CSIC is responsible for appointing the technical evaluation committees that undertake an initial assessment of the candidates put forward by numerous institutions across the world, and draw up a reasoned shortlist for the consideration of the juries.
Economics, Finance and Management jury and technical committee
The jury in this category was chaired by Eric S. Maskin, Nobel Laureate in Economics and Adams University Professor at Harvard University (United States), with Manuel Arellano, Professor of Econometrics in the Center for Monetary and Financial Studies (CEMFI) of Banco de Espana (Spain), acting as secretary. Remaining members were Pinelopi Goldberg, William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Economics at Yale University (United States); Andreu Mas-Colell, Professor of Economics at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona (Spain); Lucrezia Reichlin, Professor of Economics at the London Business School (United Kingdom); and Jean Tirole, Nobel Laureate in Economics and Chairman of the Foundation Jean-Jacques Laffont at Toulouse School of Economics (France).
The CSIC technical committee was coordinated by Ana Guerrero, the Council's Deputy Vice President for Scientific and Technical Areas, and formed by: Jose Luis Oviedo, Tenured Researcher at the Institute of Public Goods and Policies (IPP); Francisco Javier Sanz Canada, Tenured Researcher at the Institute of Economics, Geography and Demography (IEGD); Esther Hauk, Research Scientist at the Institute for Economic Analysis (IAE); Laura Beatriz Mayoral Santamaria, Research Scientist at the Institute for Economic Analysis (IAE); and Jose Antonio Berenguer Sanchez, Coordinator of the CSIC Humanities and Social Sciences Area and Research Scientist at the Institute of Languages and Cultures of the Mediterranean and the Middle East (ILC).
Calendar of upcoming award announcements
Development Cooperation Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Previous awardee in this category
The Economics, Finance and Management award in last year's edition went to Robert B. Wilson for his research on auctions, electricity pricing and reputation, and his analysis of strategic interactions when economic agents have limited and different information about their environment.
Five of the 79 winners in earlier editions of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards have gone on to win the Nobel Prize. Shinya Yamanaka, the 2010 Biomedicine laureate, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2012; Robert J. Lefkowitz, awardee in the same Frontiers category in 2009, won the Chemistry Nobel in 2012. In Economics, Finance and Management, three Frontiers laureates were later honored with the Nobel: Lars Peter Hansen, winner of the Frontiers Award in 2010 and the Nobel Prize in 2013; Jean Tirole, Frontiers laureate in 2008 and Nobel laureate in 2014; and Angus Deaton, 2011 Frontiers laureate and Nobel laureate in 2015.
LAUREATE'S FIRST DECLARATIONS AND IMAGES A video recording of the new laureate's first interview on receiving news of the award is available from the Atlas FTP with the following coordinates:
Server: 5.40.40.61
Username: agenciaatlas5
Password: premios The name of the video is:
"PREMIO ECONOMIA" In the event of connection difficulties, please contact Alejandro Martin at Atlas:
Mobile: +34 639 16 58 61
E-mail: [email protected]
For more information, contact the BBVA Foundation Department of Communication and Institutional Relations (+34 91 374 5210/+34 91 374 3139/+34 91 374 8173, [email protected]) or visit www.fbbva.es
SOURCE BBVA Foundation
LONDON, Feb. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Timetric's 'The Insurance Industry in Mozambique, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2020' report provides a detailed analysis of the Mozambican insurance industry.
Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/1172010/
It provides key performance indicators such as written premium, incurred loss, loss ratio, commissions and expenses, total assets, total investment income and retentions during the review (20112015) and forecast periods (20152020).
The report also gives a comprehensive overview of the Mozambican economy and demographics, and provides detailed information on the competitive landscape in the country. It also includes analysis of the impact of natural hazards on the insurance industry.
The report brings together Timetric's research, modeling and analysis expertise, giving insurers access to information on segment dynamics and competitive advantages, and profiles of insurers operating in the country. The report also includes details of insurance regulations and recent changes in the regulatory structure.
Summary
Timetric's 'The Insurance Industry in Mozambique, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2020' report provides in-depth market analysis, information and insights into the Mozambican insurance industry, including:
- An overview of the Mozambican insurance industry
- The Mozambican insurance industry's growth prospects by segment and category
- A comprehensive overview of the Mozambican economy and demographics
- The detailed competitive landscape in the Mozambican insurance industry
- Details of regulatory policy applicable to the Mozambican insurance industry
- Analysis of natural hazards in the Mozambican insurance industry
Scope
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the insurance industry in Mozambique:
- It provides historical values for the Mozambican insurance industry for the report's 20112015 review period, and projected figures for the 20152020 forecast period.
- It offers a detailed analysis of the key segments in the Mozambican insurance industry, with market forecasts to 2020.
- It covers an exhaustive list of parameters, including written premium, incurred loss, loss ratio, combined ratio, total assets, total investment income and retentions.
- It profiles the top insurance companies in Mozambique, and highlights recent developments.
- It covers the economic and demographic structure of Mozambique.
- It analyzes the impact of natural hazards in the Mozambican insurance industry.
Reasons To Buy
- Make strategic business decisions using in-depth historic and forecast market data related to the Mozambican insurance industry, and each segment and category within it.
- Understand the demand-side dynamics, key market trends and growth opportunities in the Mozambican insurance industry.
- Assess the competitive dynamics in the Mozambican insurance industry.
- Identify growth opportunities and market dynamics in key segments.
- Gain insights into key regulations governing the Mozambican insurance industry, and their impact on companies and the industry's future.
Key Highlights
- According to the Finscope Consumer Survey, in 2014 only 24.0% of adults in urban areas had access to formal financial services.
- The life segment accounted for 18.0% of the industry's gross written premium in 2015.
- The personal accident and health segment accounted for 10.3% of the industry's gross written premium in 2015.
- As of 2015, there were 18 operational insurance companies, of which four were composite, three were life and 11 were non-life insurers.
Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/1172010/
About Reportbuyer
Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers
http://www.reportbuyer.com
For more information:
Sarah Smith
Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 208 816 85 48
Website: www.reportbuyer.com
SOURCE ReportBuyer
Related Links
http://www.reportbuyer.com
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Luzzatto Company, Inc. (TLC), a Santa Monica-based real estate investment firm, announced that Asher Luzzatto has joined the firm as Vice President & General Counsel.
In his new role, Luzzatto will focus on all aspects of TLC operations, including acquisitions, investor relations, asset management, financing, and development. He will also oversee all of TLC's in-house legal work.
Prior to joining TLC, Mr. Luzzatto was an attorney at Pircher, Nichols & Meeks, one of the premiere real estate law firms in the United States. His practice focused on complex real estate transactions, with an emphasis on the representation of private equity funds and other institutional investors in the acquisition, disposition, financing and leasing of commercial real estate assets. Mr. Luzzatto is also the owner and founder of Hyperslow, a wellness complex in Miracle Mile. Mr. Luzzatto has a B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles and a J.D. from The University of Chicago Law School.
"We're delighted welcome Asher to our team," said Marc Luzzatto, President of TLC. "He's ready to make an immediate impact in our office and drive the firm forward as we look to accelerate the pace of our acquisitions and continue our legacy of generating above-market returns on our investments."
About TLC
TLC is a Santa Monica, Calif. private equity firm that invests nationwide in real estate and real estate-related debt with existing investments in ten states. TLC acquires properties through its equity fund as well as through existing ventures and partnerships with high net worth individuals and institutional investors. For more information, please visit: www.luzzattocompany.com.
Contact:
Marc Luzzatto at The Luzzatto Company
310.829.7181
[email protected]
Related Links
Company Website
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com
SOURCE The Luzzatto Company, Inc.
MISGAV, Israel and SINGAPORE, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
The Trendlines Group Ltd. (the "Company" and together with its subsidiaries and associated companies, "Trendlines" or the "Group") an Israeli company focused on developing technology-based companies in the medical and agricultural fields, announced its financial year ended 31 December 2016 financial results ("FY2016").
(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/467300/The_Trendlines_Group_Logo.jpg )
2016 Highlights:
10 new portfolio companies established
Fair Value of Portfolio: US$83.7 million (FY2015: US$84.4 million )
(FY2015: ) Total current assets: US$17.3 million (FY2015: US$24.0 million )
(FY2015: ) Trendlines Labs revenue almost triples to US$1.14 million (FY2015: US$0.4 million )
(FY2015: ) Sale of E.T.View Medical Ltd. ("ETView") US$13.6 million ; proceeds to Trendlines of US$3.6 million and a net gain of US$2.1 million
; proceeds to Trendlines of and a net gain of Net loss: US$6.6 million (FY2015: US$3.6 million )
FY2016 Financial Results:
For FY2016, Total Income was US$0.1 million, compared to US$9.9 million in FY2015. The decrease in Total Income primarily reflects the US$8.0 million loss from the change in the fair value ("Portfolio Value") of Trendlines' portfolio companies, which compares to a net gain of approximately US$5.0 million in FY2015. The loss was partly offset by a US$2.1 million gain from the sale of ETView held by Trendlines under the equity method, and a strong rise in revenues from Trendlines Labs, which rose to US$1.14 million from US$0.4 million in the financial year ended 31 December 2015 ("FY2015").
Operating, general and administrative expenses were US$8.7 million in FY2016, compared to US$6.7 million in FY2015. Operating, general and administrative expenses were US$2.0 million higher in FY2016, mainly due to an increase in employment costs due to recruitment of new high level employees as part of the Company expansion, and listing expenses as a public company. Net loss for FY2016 was approximately US$6.6 million, compared to a loss of US$3.6 million in FY2015.
Current assets were US$17.3 million as at 31 December 2016, compared to US$24.0 million as at 31 December 2015. The fair value of portfolio companies was US$83.7 million as at 31 December 2016. This compares with a portfolio value of approximately US$84.4 million as at 31 December 2015.
Commenting on corporate developments during 2016, Chairman and CEO Steve Rhodes said, "In 2016, Trendlines succeeded in achieving significant goals that we set for ourselves and our investors. The accomplishment of these objectives has set the stage for strong portfolio expansion in 2017 and beyond. Early in the year, the Israel Innovation Authority renewed our incubator license for an additional eight years and approved our request to include both medical and agricultural technology investments in the renewed license. We started 10 new companies, bringing the total number of portfolio companies, net of write-offs, to 46. Seventeen of our portfolio companies raised a total of US$20 million in follow-on capital in 2016. We have successfully grown Trendlines Labs from a unit producing revenues of $0.4 million in 2015, to a unit working with multinationals in Europe, Asia and North America, producing 2016 revenues of $1.14 million.
Regarding the Group's international expansion and Trendlines' growing partnership network, Chairman and CEO Todd Dollinger said "2016 was a year of meaningful milestones for Trendlines. Most obvious among our 2016 achievements was the establishment of Trendlines Medical Singapore, our first incubator outside of Israel. We are very pleased with the support we have received both from B. Braun in its role as an active minority shareholder and from SPRING Singapore, the enterprise development agency of the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry, which awarded a S$2.2 million grant to the new incubator.
Mr. Dollinger continued, "Partnering with multinational corporations has been a key element of the Trendlines success at many levels and our partnerships with multinational corporations deepened significantly during 2016. In addition to the investment by B. Braun in Trendlines Medical Singapore, B. Braun also invested in two of our portfolio companies, ApiFix and Gordian Surgical and is now working actively with our team at Trendlines Labs. Another major European partner, Bayer AG, joined with Trendlines in April 2016 to form and invest US$10 million in the Bayer Trendlines Ag Innovation Fund to invest in Trendlines portfolio companies.
In addition to Bayer and B. Braun, we have agreements in place with other multinationals in Asia and the U.S., including one for which our Labs' division developed a device which is one of the leading products for that industry giant."
We look forward to growing our work with our partners and international investors in 2017. We invite the investment community to our Company Showcase in Israel on March 29, 2017, where there will be an opportunity to hear presentations from nine of our portfolio companies and visit with the Trendlines' team."
For full financial information, please see our announcement: Unaudited Financial Statement and Dividend Announcement for the Financial Year Ended 31 December 2016
About The Trendlines Group Ltd.
Trendlines is an innovation commercialization company that invents, discovers, invests in, and incubates innovation-based medical and agricultural technologies to fulfill its mission to improve the human condition. As intensely hands-on investors, Trendlines is involved in all aspects of its portfolio companies from technology development to business building. Trendlines' shares are traded on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX: 42T) and in the United States as an American Depositary Receipt (ADR) on the OTCQX International (OTCQX: TRNLY).
Forward Looking Statement
Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the Company's actual operating results to be materially different from any historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe these risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements that contain terms such as "believes," "belief," "expects," "expect," "intends," "intend," "anticipate," "anticipates," "plans," "plan," to be uncertain and forward looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Investor Contact Information:
Israel
Judith Kleinman
Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
[email protected]
+972.72.260.7000
SOURCE The Trendlines Group Ltd.
OTT providers with Electronic Program Guides Freecast and Pluto TV
Smart TV manufacturers Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Opera TV, Sharp, Sony, and others
Streaming Devices Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV
"We pride ourselves on being early adopters of emerging technology and we recognize there's ongoing evolutionary change in how consumers access weather content," said Pierre Morrissette, President & CEO of Pelmorex Media Inc., parent company of The Weather Network. "That's why we're building multiplatform experiences for consumers who are moving toward new platforms and prefer the interaction and personalization available with TV Apps and OTT services."
TV Apps and live streaming offerings from The Weather Network help users with their planning and safety needs. The services provide comprehensive local weather information for cities around the world along with maps, warnings & alerts, user generated content, and a large collection of on-demand video content. The Weather Network's TV apps are designed for the 10-foot viewing experience and offer unlimited favorite saved city selections, satellite and radar images and interactive traffic flow maps for the continental US.
"We have been and continue to be a pioneer in the field of TV apps and live-streaming as The Weather Network was one of the first to launch interactive TV over satellite and over cable through Videoway technology in 1991. The continual evolution and growth of our TV apps and streaming services shows just how committed we are to be a leader in the space," said Naomi Lipowski, Director of TV Apps and Emerging Technology for The Weather Network. "It's personalized and on-demand, which is the way of the future."
The Weather Network is continually innovating throughout the organization to deliver the most up to date weather forecasts and information, ensuring it fulfils the promise of providing your weather when it really matters.
About The Weather Network
Celebrating 28 years, The Weather Network is a leading multi-platform provider of weather related information. It is a division of the parent company Pelmorex Media Inc., which offers multi-platform weather information via leading brands such as The Weather Network (US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, India), MeteoMedia (Canada, France), Eltiempo.es (Spain), Clima (LATAM, Hispanic US) and Wetterplus.de (Germany). Pelmorex also operates Canada's National Alerting Aggregation and Dissemination System (Alert Ready) which distributes emergency alerts issued by authorized government agencies.
SOURCE The Weather Network
This event marks the first time WNET will release an archival film via Facebook. "We are privileged to have a broad archive of noteworthy film content from throughout our 54-year history," says WNET President and CEO Neal Shapiro, "And Facebook Live can serve as yet another way to broaden the channels we use to reach the public with high-quality, informative and free content."
In Take this Hammer, author and activist James Baldwin meets with members of the local African-American community in San Francisco in the spring of 1963. He is escorted by Youth For Service's Executive Director Orville Luster and is intent on discovering "the real situation of Negroes in the city, as opposed to the image San Francisco would like to present."
Excerpts from Take this Hammer appear in the Academy Award-Nominated film, I Am Not your Negro, a film by Raoul Peck, Remi Grellety and Hebert Peck that explores Baldwin's plans to write a biography of Malcom X, Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Join the livestream of Take This Hammer on Friday, February 24 at 8 PM here: https://www.facebook.com/thirteenwnet/videos/10154089637265059/. It will be available for viewing for one-week.
About WNET
WNET is America's flagship PBS station and parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21 . WNET also operates NJTV, the statewide public media network in New Jersey. Through its broadcast channels, three cable services (KidsThirteen, Create and World) and online streaming sites, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than five million viewers each week. WNET produces and presents such acclaimed PBS series as Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, PBS NewsHour Weekend, Charlie Rose and a range of documentaries, children's programs, and local news and cultural offerings. WNET's groundbreaking series for children and young adults include Get the Math, Oh Noah! and Cyberchase as well as Mission US, the award-winning interactive history game. WNET highlights the tri-state's unique culture and diverse communities through NYC-ARTS, Reel 13, NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams and MetroFocus, the daily multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region. In addition, WNET produces online-only programming including the award-winning series about gender, First Person, and an intergenerational look at tech and pop culture, The Chatterbox with Kevin and Grandma Lill. In 2015, THIRTEEN launched Passport, an online streaming service which allows members to see new and archival THIRTEEN and PBS programming anytime, anywhere: www.thirteen.org/passport.
Press Materials: thirteen.org/pressroom
Website: wnet.org
Facebook: ThirteenWNET / WLIW21 / NJTV
Twitter: @WNET / @ThirteenWNET / @WLIW21 / @NJTVonline
SOURCE WNET New York Public Media
Related Links
http://www.wnet.org
PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ThoughtSpot, the leader in search-driven analytics for the enterprise, today announced that Gartner, Inc. has recognized ThoughtSpot as a new entrant in the 2017 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms report. ThoughtSpot sees its debut in the Magic Quadrant as a reflection of the market's increasing demand for search-driven analytics.
According to Gartner, "The business intelligence and analytics platform market's shift from IT-led reporting to modern business-led analytics is now mainstream." As part of the analyst firm's planning assumptions, Gartner also states, "By 2020, 50% of analytic queries will be generated using search, natural-language processing or voice, or will be autogenerated." Furthermore, "Modern BI tools that can support greater accessibility, agility and analytical insight while also maintaining ease of use (but at enterprise scale and trust for complex and large datasets) will drive and dominate new buying."
In addition, according to Gartner's 2016 Hype Cycle for Business Intelligence and Analytics, "Search-based data discovery technology can help drive adoption by users resistant to or intimidated by using traditional BI and analytics interfaces for interacting with data, but who are quite comfortable using a search engine to find the information they need."
"Two years ago ThoughtSpot introduced a radically different approach to analytics," said Ajeet Singh, co-founder and CEO of ThoughtSpot. "We are excited to make our first appearance on the Gartner MQ this year for our search-driven analytics solution. ThoughtSpot's momentum signifies the market's strong appetite for this next generation of analytics technology that goes beyond visualizations. Our Relational Search platform is comprised of several layers of fundamental innovation and is built from the ground up with a singular mission - to deliver access to data at 'human-scale' and enable anyone to analyze their data in seconds."
ThoughtSpot has created the world's most advanced yet easy-to-use number crunching machine powered by Relational Search. ThoughtSpot's new breed of BI architecture and in-memory calculation engine makes it easy to analyze billions of rows of data across multiple data sources, while delivering sub-second performance and enterprise-wide governance. As a result, non-technical business people can search to find answers to their data questions fast while BI and Analytics teams have cut down their reporting backlogs by 90%.
ThoughtSpot's Relational Search can also be embedded within custom apps or portals to deliver self-service insights to users beyond the enterprise. ThoughtSpot vastly expands the reach of business intelligence as anyone can now be their own data analyst. Leading Fortune 500 brands in retail, financial services, telecom and healthcare are turning to ThoughtSpot to help every employee make fast data-driven decisions to drive innovation and accelerate growth.
A full copy of the Gartner report is available at: http://go.thoughtspot.com/gartner-analyst-report-2017-magic-quadrant.html.
1Gartner, Inc., "Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms," by Rita L. Sallam, Cindi Howson, Carlie J. Idoine, Thomas W. Oestreich, James Laurence Richardson, Joao Tapadinhas, February 16, 2017.
2Gartner, Inc., "Hype Cycle for Business Intelligence and Analytics, 2016," by Kurt Schlegel, July 25, 2016.
Gartner Disclaimer
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
About ThoughtSpot
ThoughtSpot is a next generation analytics platform powered by the World's first Relational Search engine. ThoughtSpot's search-driven analytics lets business people build reports and dashboards in seconds. ThoughtSpot's new breed of BI architecture and in-memory calculation engine was built from the ground up to make it easy to analyze billions of rows of data across multiple data sources, while delivering sub-second performance and enterprise-wide governance. ThoughtSpot connects with any on-premise, cloud, big data, or desktop data source and deploys 85% faster than legacy technologies. With ThoughSpot, BI & Analytics teams have cut their reporting backlogs by over 90% and enabled thousands of daily decisions throughout their organizations. ThoughtSpot has built the world's most advanced, yet easy-to-use number-crunching machine with a singular mission - to deliver access to data and insights at "human scale." For more information please visit thoughtspot.com.
SOURCE ThoughtSpot
Related Links
http://thoughtspot.com
DALLAS, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The US country boasts some of the top universities in the world, making it a destination of choice when studying internationally. American universities have seen a 40% increase in the number of international students choosing to study in the US. In 2016, the international student population exceeded one million.
Top Three Reasons To Use University Express Mail Service
These students come from all over the world to study various majors, ranging from STEM majors to business majors. They will be making America their home, at least until they graduate. After graduating, however, international students only have 60 days before they must return back to their home country. If they wish to gain some work experience in the US they can with Optional Practical Training (OPT), a 12-month working period granted to F-1 students.
Students can complete OPT either before graduation or after. In order to apply to OPT, students must have completed nine or more months of education at a US university. They only have a total of 12 authorized months that they can complete. Students can apply for OPT up to 90 days prior to graduating for a post-graduation OPT.
There are several steps and a lot of paperwork to fill out when applying for OPT, all of which takes time. Students submit OPT applications to their schools International Student Services office. This process can take 1-2 weeks. After the students receive their documents and OPT package, they need to fill out the forms and ship the documents to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office. Students are recommended to start the OPT process early because it can take the USCIS several months to process the application.
There are only two USCIS locations that accept OPT applications: Phoenix and Dallas. The state the student resides in will determine which location they will send the paperwork to. Because time is sensitive, students may want to consider expediting the process. eShipGlobal's University Express Mail Service (UEMS), a trusted shipping service used by over 800 universities, has recently updated their system to making it even easier to ship OPT applications.
The UEMS system is completely free to sign up and the process is simple. Once signed in they click the OPT/Send to USCIS option and follow the steps. The USCIS addresses are already loaded into the system, so students just need to select the location they need to send their OPT to. Students can ship using trusting shipping carriers like UPS and FedEx, while saving money through the use of eShipGlobal's discounted shipping rates.
There is only a 150-day time frame in which students have to complete the OPT process. UEMS's new streamlined process for shipping OPT applications hopes to help students save not only money, but also time.
About eShipGlobal:
eShipGlobal is dedicated to serving the global community by providing solutions that simplify and enhance the shipment of goods. Their software shipping solutions make it easier for universities, research labs, and businesses to better manage their shipping while saving time and money.
Media Contact:
Saul Severe
Phone: 972.518.1775
Email: [email protected]
Related Images
image1.png
image2.png
Related Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spVeUOzQ7GY
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com.
SOURCE eShipGlobal Inc
Related Links
http://study.eshipglobal.com
SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Togo's Eateries, LLC, the "West Coast Original" known for its big, fresh and meaty sandwiches, has named Glenn Lunde Chief Concept Officer (CCO). Lunde joins Togo's with more than 25 years of experience in the restaurant and retail business. He will lead marketing, brand strategy, and concept development for Togo's.
"Glenn has a proven track record of building national franchises into sustainable, profitable operators that achieve long-term success. He will be a valuable leader for our brand repositioning and concept development efforts," said Tony Gioia, CEO at Togo's. "I envision Glenn's role expanding over time, and it is my pleasure to welcome Glenn to the Togo's family."
A C-level marketing executive for the past 15 years, Lunde has led restaurant and retail franchises through turnaround situations, market expansions, and profitable growth. Before joining Togo's, Lunde served as CMO at Grocery Outlet, a $1.8 billion grocery retailer with over 270 locations, each run by an independent owner-operator. Prior to that, he was CCO at Einstein Noah's Restaurant Group, a 900-unit company where he led menu architecture, culinary innovation, store design, and marketing efforts.
Earlier in his career, Lunde served as CMO of Panda Restaurant Group for more than seven years. His leadership in brand, menu, and concept innovation development helped grow the restaurant chain from 779 units to over 1,500 units, yielding nearly $2.0 billion in annual sales. He also served as CMO of Round Table Pizza and VP of Marketing at Taco Bell. He worked on numerous projects that continue to be a foundation of those businesses today.
"As a Bay Area native, I've been a huge Togo's fan for decades, and I believe the brand has a ton of untapped potential," said Lunde. "I am excited to work with the Togo's corporate team and franchisees on identifying, testing, and pursuing new opportunities to grow our business and thrill customers."
About Togo's Eateries, LLC
Togo's was founded in 1971 by a young college student with a large appetite and little money looking to make sandwiches the way he liked them big, fresh and meaty. Keeping in the spirit of the original, Togo's products are still made with only the highest quality ingredients; including fresh-baked Artisan breads, hand sliced premium pastrami, turkey and roast beef, as well as Hass avocados and cheeses. Togo's proprietary brand of old-fashioned Pastrami, 98 percent fat-free slow-roasted turkey, and Togo's all natural chicken set the brand apart from other sandwich shops. With more than 300 locations open and under development throughout the West, Togo's is a franchise-based business that offers online ordering and catering services.
For more information, call 877.718.6467 or visit www.togosfranchise.com. For general information on Togo's Eateries, LLC., please visit www.togos.com.
SOURCE Togos Eateries, LLC
Related Links
http://www.togos.com
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HomeAid America, a building industry charity and one of the nation's largest builders of housing for the homeless, has announced that TRI Pointe Group will continue in the non-profit's Corporate Partnership program as a leading national sponsor in 2017. TRI Pointe Group is a family of six premium regional homebuilders and one of the top 10 largest public homebuilders in the United States, based on equity market capitalization.
Quadrant Homes Care Kit Day for Teen Feed
HomeAid America CEO Peter Simons said, "TRI Pointe and its family of homebuilders have been supporters of HomeAid across the country for several years, building projects for the homeless, volunteering in community outreach activities, and providing needed funding locally. Their support for HomeAid America as Corporate Partners is critical to help us support our chapters and create new ones to continue our ongoing effort on behalf of the building industry to help end homelessness in this country."
TRI Pointe will continue to be represented on the HomeAid America Board by John Monacci, Executive Vice President of Winchester Homes, a member of TRI Pointe Group in the Washington DC Area and who also sits on HomeAid Northern Virginia's chapter Board. TRI Pointe Group's other homebuilding companies are active with HomeAid in its markets in Arizona as Maracay Homes, in California and Las Vegas as Pardee Homes, in Seattle as Quadrant Homes, in California and Colorado as TRI Pointe Homes, and in Houston as Trendmaker Homes.
"We're honored to continue our involvement with HomeAid to lend a hand and give back to our communities in a meaningful way," said Linda Mamet, Vice President of Corporate Marketing at TRI Pointe Group. "Moving into 2017, we'll continue to look for opportunities to get all our team members involved with HomeAid at both the national and local chapter levels."
The team members from TRI Pointe Group's family of builders have helped numerous HomeAid chapters across the country over the past year. Working with HomeAid Northern Virginia (HANV) and Final Salute, Winchester Homes is serving as the builder captain to renovate a home that provides housing for female veterans and their minor children who are struggling with homelessness or military transition.
Trendmaker Homes recently helped with the construction of the Greater Houston Builders Association (GHBA) Benefit Home. Trendmaker donated construction management for the new home in the Meridiana master planned community. It is currently on the market for sale with proceeds benefiting HomeAid Houston, among others.
Working with HomeAid Southern Nevada, Pardee Homes Las Vegas served as builder captain for an extensive three-week renovation of Catholic Charities Men's Night Shelter, which houses an average of 500 men each night, 365 days a year. Pardee Homes also served as builder captain for a remodel of Family to Family Connection's two suites inside Cambridge Community Center in Las Vegas.
Quadrant Homes along with other sales and marketing leaders from across TRI Pointe Group participated in a community outreach Care Kit Day to assemble and donate more than 600 CareKits for Teen Feed, a local homeless youth service provider in Seattle's University District. Quadrant Homes Vice President of Land Acquisition and HomeAid Puget Sound Board member Pete Nichols also helped organize a model home furniture sale with proceeds benefiting the Puget Sound chapter.
Maracay Homes also held a community outreach Care Kit Day to benefit Sojourner Center, a service provider that houses and helps women and children affected by domestic violence in the Phoenix area. More than 30 Maracay team members, led by President Andy Warren, assembled and donated 400 Care Kits to Sojourner Center.
TRI Pointe Group partnered with HomeAid Orange County to prepare 200 sack lunches to distribute to the homeless at the Santa Ana Civic Center. They also prepared 200 hygiene kits and employee-donated clothes that went to Isaiah House, a woman's homeless shelter in Santa Ana, Calif. TRI Pointe Group Vice President Mike McMillan sits on HomeAid Orange County's Board of Directors and is also on the leadership committee overseeing the Family CareCenter project. Anticipated to open in Fall 2017, Family CareCenter will provide emergency housing and services for homeless families and children in Orange County.
TRI Pointe Homes Southern California participates annually in HomeAid Essentials Drive, which collects and provides diapers to thousands of homeless families in Orange County. In 2016, TRI Pointe Homes raised support for 34,670 diapers. Additionally, TRI Pointe Homes is a Corporate Partner of HomeAid Inland Empire.
Pardee Homes Los Angeles/Ventura Project Manager Greg Ray is a member of the Board of Directors for the newly formed HomeAid Los Angeles chapter.
ABOUT HOMEAID AMERICA
HomeAid is a leading national non-profit provider of housing for homeless families and individuals, founded in Southern California in 1989. Through the generosity of builders, their trades and their suppliers, HomeAid has completed over 470 housing projects nationwide at a value of more than $210 million, of which nearly 50 percent has been donated by the building industry. HomeAid currently has 70 additional projects in development across the country. Over the years, HomeAid has added nearly 9,000 beds in facilities helping the homeless, housing over 270,000 people. HomeAid works through a network of 17 active chapters in 12 states across the country. For more information about HomeAid, call 1-888-3HOMEAID or visit www.homeaid.org.
ABOUT TRI POINTE GROUP
Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TRI Pointe Group is a family of premium regional homebuilders that design, build, and sell homes in major U.S. markets. As one of the top 10 largest public homebuilding companies by market capitalization in the United States, TRI Pointe Group combines the resources, operational sophistication, and leadership of a national organization with the regional insights, community ties, and agility of local homebuilders. The TRI Pointe Group family includes Maracay Homes in Arizona, Pardee Homes in California and Nevada, Quadrant Homes in Washington, Trendmaker Homes in Texas, TRI Pointe Homes in California and Colorado, and Winchester Homes in the Washington, D.C. area. TRI Pointe Group was recognized as 2014 Developer of the Year and 2015 Builder of the Year. For more information, please visit www.TriPointeGroup.com.
Press Contacts:
HomeAid America:
Peter Simons, CEO
720-490-1900
[email protected]
TRI Pointe Group:
Carol Ruiz
[email protected]
SOURCE HomeAid America
WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mercury, a leading global, bipartisan public strategy firm, announced today the addition of Bryan Lanza, Communications Director for President Donald J. Trump's Transition Team. Lanza, who served as Deputy Communications Director for the Trump-Pence campaign prior to his leading role with the new administration, joins Mercury as a Managing Director in the Washington, DC office.
"Washington has been radically transformed in just the first few weeks of the Trump administration," said Vin Weber, Mercury Partner and leader of the firm's Washington, DC operation. "Nowhere is this change more evident than in the growing significance of communications and the means by which it is employed. With critical communications roles throughout the campaign and installation of the new administration, Bryan keenly understands the nuances of this sea change. He is best in class, and rounds out Mercury's unique public affairs expertise to deliver results in this new environment. We're excited to welcome him to the firm."
Lanza joins a robust communications capability at Mercury with deep ties to conservative media including: Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, Senior Counselor to the firm, as well as media strategy specialists Dan Bank and Dan Wilson. Lanza's addition is the latest in a series of hires of leading Republican political strategists across Mercury's offices, including: former U.S. Senator David Vitter, Al Simpson, former Chief of Staff to new OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, Brian Swensen, Deputy Campaign Manager for Marco Rubio's successful re-election bid and Andrea Bozek, former Communications Director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). The 2017 growth to date underscores Mercury's commitment to build a first-class, bipartisan consultancy comprised of accomplished leaders across the arenas of media, business, politics and policy.
"Mercury, with its top-tier talent and robust policy and public affairs operations, was the ideal next step for me after an incredible and incomparable experience working with President Trump and his team," said Lanza. "I am excited to return to my roots in strategy, and help clients across every sector navigate opportunities as the administration and Congress outline their policy priorities."
Lanza has worked closely with President Trump and White House leadership throughout the 2016 election cycle, inauguration and transition periods. In his role with the transition team, Lanza worked with Cabinet nominees and Ambassador appointees, helping to prepare them for confirmation hearings. He served as Deputy Communications Director for the Trump-Pence campaign, helping to craft strategy and messaging for the campaign, in addition to media relations oversight and surrogate management.
Lanza's work with the Trump White House is preceded by a sterling reputation as a key adviser in conservative politics and policy. Prior to his time with the Trump-Pence campaign, Lanza was the Communications Director for Citizens United, where he worked closely with the group's President David Bossie on strategy and messaging, as well as managing the organization's media relations. His policy experience includes chief of staff tenures at the California State Senate and Assembly where he specialized in agriculture, heath and transportation policy, and was involved in a number of key statewide initiatives and budget negotiations. Lanza's career also includes work in public affairs strategy with Townsend Public Affairs from 2013-2014, and as President of Lanza Strategies from 1999-2007, prior to his years working in the California legislature. Given his west coast roots and deep experience in state politics and policy, Lanza will be servicing clients across Mercury's U.S. and international offices.
Lanza joined Mercury on February 15, 2017.
About Mercury
Mercury is a high-stakes, bipartisan public strategy firm. The firm provides a comprehensive suite of services that includes federal government relations, international affairs, digital influence, public opinion research, media strategy and a bipartisan grassroots mobilization network in all 50 states. Our firm is not just led by top talent we distinguish ourselves by having senior talent deeply engaged in each project from start to finish, a promise we keep to clients. The firm has an established global presence, with U.S. offices in Washington, DC, New York, California, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Tennessee, as well as international offices in London and Mexico City. Mercury is a part of the Omnicom Public Relations Group.
About Omnicom Public Relations Group
Omnicom Public Relations Group is a global collective of three of the top global public relations agencies worldwide and specialist agencies in areas including public affairs, marketing to women, fashion, public health and corporate social responsibility. It encompasses more than 6,000 public relations professionals in more than 330 offices worldwide who provide their expertise to companies, government agencies, NGOs and nonprofits across a wide range of industries. Omnicom Public Relations Group delivers for clients through a relentless focus on talent, continuous pursuit of innovation and a culture steeped in collaboration. Omnicom Public Relations Group is part of the DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. that includes more than 200 companies in a wide range of marketing disciplines including advertising, public relations, healthcare, customer relationship management, events, promotional marketing, branding and research.
SOURCE Mercury
Related Links
http://www.mercuryllc.com
Nolan, a former federal prosecutor and a distinguished leader of the bar, has developed a market-leading, national commercial litigation practice building on more than three decades of litigation work in California. A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, he has been involved in many significant commercial trials in Los Angeles and New York for a generation. His diverse practice includes the full range of complex civil litigation matters. Nolan has also successfully represented clients in complex criminal and US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement matters.
Hamilton is an accomplished litigator of securities and complex disputes. He has served as a lead trial lawyer in a range of high-stakes disputes, representing public and private companies and their senior executives at trial and in securities class actions and shareholder derivative actions. Hamilton has also successfully led significant matters for financial institutions and investment funds in both the private equity and hedge fund industries. Hamilton frequently counsels clients on litigation and regulatory proceedings initiated by the SEC and other government agencies. As part of his broad securities regulation experience, he represents special committees of boards of directors in internal investigations.
"We're extremely pleased to welcome both a seasoned trial lawyer and one of the sharpest young litigators in the state," said Jeffrey Greenberg, Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins' Los Angeles and Century City offices. "Tom and Josh are both dynamic and experienced trial litigators who represent the determined and insightful counsel our litigation team offers clients."
Jamie Wine, global Chair of the firm's Litigation & Trial Department, said: "The arrival of these two top-notch trial lawyers which follows Marvin Putnam joining the firm's Century City office marks another milestone in the continuing growth of our practice. Tom and Josh will complement our team well, offering keen commercial instincts, tested courtroom tenacity, impeccable judgment and sound negotiation skills."
Marvin Putnam, local Co-chair of the firm's Litigation & Trial Department, added: "We're building a litigation force to be reckoned with in Southern California to add to our elite US practice. Tom and Josh add further depth and dynamism to the firm's trial-ready team at a time of rapid market change. We have the wind at our back and are excited by the opportunities to build the unequalled, market-leading practice in Southern California and nationally."
Nolan said: "I am delighted to be joining Latham & Watkins' exceptional team of litigators who consistently demonstrate the highest level of client service and who are fierce and accomplished advocates for their clients. With a dynamic and growing local litigation presence, the firm provides an ideal platform for me to continue to collaborate with talented colleagues across practices and offices who combine best-in-class legal acumen and business savvy."
Hamilton said: "I am excited to be joining Latham's phenomenal trial litigation team. I was particularly attracted to the firm's collaborative culture and look forward to further building my practice in step with the securities and complex commercial litigation teams in California and nationally."
Nolan joins Latham & Watkins from Skadden in Los Angeles. He received his undergraduate degree and his JD from Loyola University.
Hamilton joins Latham & Watkins from Paul Hastings in Los Angeles. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his law degree from the Santa Clara University School of Law.
About Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins is a global law firm with approximately 2,200 lawyers in its offices located in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States, including: Barcelona, Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Century City, Chicago, Dubai, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, New York, Orange County, Paris, Riyadh, Rome, San Diego, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. For more information on Latham & Watkins, please visit the website at www.lw.com.
Notes to Editors
1 Latham & Watkins operates as a limited liability partnership worldwide with affiliated limited liability partnerships conducting the practice in the United Kingdom, France and Italy and affiliated partnerships conducting the practice in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. Latham & Watkins operates in Seoul as a Foreign Legal Consultant Office. Latham & Watkins practices in Saudi Arabia in association with the Law Office of Salman M. Al-Sudairi.
Contacts
Jeffrey Greenberg, Office Managing Partner, Los Angeles and Century City, [email protected], +1.213.891.8080
Jamie Wine, global Chair, Litigation & Trial Department, [email protected], +212.906.2904
Marvin Putnam, local Co-chair, Litigation & Trial Department, [email protected], +1.424.653.5588
SOURCE Latham & Watkins LLP
Related Links
http://www.lw.com
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Continental Who's Who recognizes Vanessa Gonzalez, CMS, CHt, FIBH, as a Pinnacle Lifetime Member in recognition of her contributions to the Hypnotherapy field.
Gonzalez brings expertise in all areas of hypnotherapy as well as physical and emotional well-being to her own practice, Vanessa Gonzalez Hypnotherapy. She has owned and operated the practice successfully for the past nine months and takes a particular interest in working with pregnant women.
"I specialize in Medical Hypnotherapy which is an effective adjunct to conventional medical treatment," Gonzalez said. "I believe that we have the power within us to create a truly happy, healthy and fulfilling life."
Gonzalez earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Montclair University. She is affiliated with the International Board of Hypnotherapy and is a member of the National Association of Professional Women. She is certified in Past Life Regression Therapy and Natal Regression Therapy.
"Hypnotherapy is a positive, life-changing tool and a gateway to living a more joyful life," Gonzalez said. "As a Medical Hypnotherapist, my client's goal becomes my goal. Physical and emotional healing can be achieved through hypnosis."
Gonzalez cites freedom from traumas and phobias, managing physical pain, weight loss, preparing for childbirth and eliminating asthma as just a few benefits of Hypnotherapy. She offers free consultations to any new, potential clients.
When not working, Gonzalez devotes her time to Operation Smile. She enjoys quality family time as well as spending the precious moments with her dog.
Gonzalez dedicates this recognition to her parents, Alejandro and Olexis, and thanks them for their love and support.
For more information, visit https://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/name/Vanessa+Gonzalez+Hypnotherapy_San+Francisco_California_275011
Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]
SOURCE Continental Who's Who
Related Links
http://www.continentalwhoswho.com
PROVO, Utah, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- VitalSmarts, a TwentyEighty, Inc. company and an innovator in corporate training and leadership development, today announced that the award-winning Crucial Conversations Training course is now available online in a completely on-demand, asynchronous learning experience designed to reach the modern learner.
While Crucial Conversations Online teaches the same award-winning content as the classroom course, it turns traditional online training on its head by harnessing the latest instructional design behind modern learning to deliver a flexible, social and interactive experience that translates into real behavior change.
Flexible Users can learn when it's most convenient and at their own speed. All users need is an internet connection and a computer, smart phone or tablet.
Users can learn when it's most convenient and at their own speed. All users need is an internet connection and a computer, smart phone or tablet. Engaging Users learn through self-paced activities focused on observing and recognizing the skills and then applying those skills to a crucial conversation of their own. They earn badges for completing these activities. Skills are taught in bite-sized modules via a variety of learning tools including videos, quizzes, articles, journaling, discussion forums and video practice sessions.
Users learn through self-paced activities focused on observing and recognizing the skills and then applying those skills to a crucial conversation of their own. They earn badges for completing these activities. Skills are taught in bite-sized modules via a variety of learning tools including videos, quizzes, articles, journaling, discussion forums and video practice sessions. Social Users learn in cohorts and interact socially by liking, commenting and sharing feedback with their learning partners. They also observe members of their cohort putting their skills into action when they upload videos for feedback and review.
Crucial Conversations Online is already on its way to leading the industry in online learning solutions. In November 2016, the course was named The Best Soft Skills Solution at DemoFest, part of eLearning Guild's 2016 DevLearn conference.
"We are excited to deliver the next generation of Crucial Conversations Training," said Andrew Shimberg, CEO at VitalSmarts. "We're confident this award-winning online training modality will not only appeal to the modern learner, but offer our client organizations the ability to more easily train an entire workforce in the dialogue skills demonstrated by top performers. To date, more than one million people have graduated from Crucial Conversations. We believe Crucial Conversations Online will help us reach millions more."
Crucial Conversations Online is ideal for modern learners who have limited travel budgets, who work in remote locations, or who simply want to access training in the location of their choice and in shorter intervals. In addition to flexibility, beta participants indicate that Crucial Conversations Online delivers an effective, engaging, and fast-paced learning experience.
"Crucial Conversations Online is very organized, simple to work through and engaging," said beta participant Kelli Klecan. "Learning was effortless and I believe retention of each lesson will be just as high, or perhaps even higher, online than in the classroom."
Crucial Conversations Online has ten hours of total instructional time that can be delivered all at once (completely self-paced) or in a time-released format over four weeks (users have three months of unlimited access). Regardless of delivery preference, the lessons and skills are offered on-demand and allow users to dive into both required and additional learning content at their own speed and ability leveldelivering skills in the moment when the user needs them most.
To learn more about Crucial Conversations Online, visit vitalsmarts.com/crucialconversationsonline.
About VitalSmarts
Named a Top 20 Leadership Training Company, VitalSmarts is home to the award-winning Crucial Conversations, Crucial Accountability, and Influencer Training and New York Times bestselling books of the same titles. When used in combination, these courses enable organizations to achieve new levels of performance by changing employee behavior. VitalSmarts has consulted with more than 300 of the Fortune 500 companies and trained more than 1.8 million people worldwide. www.vitalsmarts.com
SOURCE VitalSmarts
Related Links
http://www.vitalsmarts.com
The study, now in its 28 th year, examines problems experienced during the past 12 months by original owners of 2014 model-year vehicles. Overall dependability is determined by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100), with a lower score reflecting higher quality. The study covers 177 specific problems grouped into eight major vehicle categories.
The study finds that the 10 top-selling 2014 model-year vehicles average 134 PP100, which is significantly better than the industry average of 156 PP100. Two perennial best sellersthe Ford F-150 and the Toyota Camryalso lead their segments in the VDS this year.
"We find buyers are increasingly avoiding models with poor reputations for dependability, so manufacturers can't afford to let quality slip, particularly on their best sellers," said Dave Sargent, vice president, global automotive at J.D. Power. "While many expensive and niche vehicles do have excellent quality, the fact is that most consumers are shopping in the high-volume mainstream segments. The good news is that consumers don't have to spend a lot of money to get a very dependable vehicle."
J.D. Power finds that in addition to impacting purchase decisions and brand loyalty, better long-term quality is a key factor in contributing to higher residual values for vehicles. For example, J.D. Power estimates that Toyotathe highest-ranked non-premium brand in the studyhas a residual values benefit of more than $750 per vehicle, compared with the average brand. This translates into a benefit of more than $1.3 billion for the 2014 model year alone.
"In the current industry environment of record levels of leasing and long-term loans, higher residual values allow automakers to provide more competitive deals to buyers," said Jonathan Banks, vice president of vehicle analysis and analytics at J.D. Power. "This creates the opportunity to achieve higher market share and/or elevated profit margins."
Highest-Ranked Nameplates and Models
Lexus and Porsche tie to rank highest in vehicle dependability among all nameplates, with a score of 110 PP100. This is the sixth consecutive year of Lexus topping the nameplate rankings in the VDS.
Toyota (123 PP100) follows in the rankings, moving up one rank position from 2016.
(123 PP100) follows in the rankings, moving up one rank position from 2016. Following Toyota in the rankings are Buick (126 PP100) and Mercedes-Benz (131 PP100).
(126 PP100) and (131 PP100). Hyundai (133 PP100) is the most improved nameplate in the study, improving by 25 PP100 from 2016. At sixth position (up from 19 th in 2016), this is Hyundai's best-ever ranking in the VDS.
(133 PP100) is the most improved nameplate in the study, improving by 25 PP100 from 2016. At sixth position (up from 19 in 2016), this is Hyundai's best-ever ranking in the VDS. Other notable improvements include Dodge and Ford, which both improve by 21 PP100 from 2016, and Land Rover, which improves by 20 PP100.
Toyota Motor Corporation models receive 10 of the 18 segment awards, representing the highest number of awards ever received by an individual corporation in the study. These awardees are Lexus ES; Lexus GS; Lexus RX; Toyota Avalon; Toyota Camry; Toyota FJ Cruiser; Toyota Prius; Toyota Prius v; Toyota Sienna; and Toyota Venza. The Toyota Camry has the lowest PP100 score industry-wide.
General Motors models receive four segment awards for the Chevrolet Camaro; Chevrolet Sonic; Chevrolet Silverado HD; and Chevrolet Tahoe.
Other models receiving segment awards in the study are the Ford F-150; Honda Ridgeline; Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class; and Volkswagen Tiguan.
Other Key Findings
Continuing increases in technology-related problems have contributed to dependability worsening in the industry for a second consecutive year. The industry average of 156 PP100 is a 4 PP100 increase from 2016.
The Audio/Communication/Entertainment/Navigation (ACEN) category continues to be the most problematic area, accounting for 22% of all problems reportedup from 20% last year.
For a third consecutive year, the problems most reported by owners are Bluetooth pairing/connectivity and built-in voice recognition misinterpreting commands.
New to the top 10 list of problems reported in 2017 is battery failure. In fact, 44% more owners report a battery failure this year than in 2016. Batteries are the most frequently replaced component not related to normal wear and tear in 3-year-old vehicles at 6.1%up 1.3 percentage points from 2016.
The 2017 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study is based on responses from 35,186 original owners of 2014 model-year vehicles after three years of ownership. The study was fielded from October through December 2016.
Find more detailed information on vehicle dependability, as well as model photos and specs, at www.jdpower.com/dependability.
J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. Those capabilities enable J.D. Power to help its clients drive customer satisfaction, growth and profitability. Established in 1968, J.D. Power is headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., and has offices serving North/South America, Asia Pacific and Europe.
Media Relations Contacts
Geno Effler; Costa Mesa, Calif.; 714-621-6224; [email protected]
Monica Favorite; Westlake Village, Calif.; 805-418-8883; [email protected]
About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules www.jdpower.com/about-us/press-release-info
SOURCE J.D. Power
Related Links
http://www.jdpower.com
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Iraqi Children Foundation (ICF) will host its 5th Annual "In Their Shoes" 5K run/walk on May 20, 2017 at the US Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia. The 5K will benefit Iraq's most vulnerable: orphans, street children, and kids displaced by ISIS.
ICF is honored to recognize three Young Ambassadors from Iraq, who will walk in solidarity for the children in their home country. Teeba (15) and Humoody (14) suffered traumatic and life-changing injuries as a result of war. Ala'a (22) was abandoned as a little boy because of his cerebral palsy.
Funding from the 5K will empower ICF to give hope to Iraqi children who are vulnerable to abuse, neglect, and recruitment by extremists and human traffickers. It will provide education, legal protection, rescue from the streets, access to food and medical care, psychosocial and financial support, and childhood joys such as toys.
ICF Advisor Barbara Marlowe, said: "As Teeba's American mom, I am proud of her resilience and heart for other kids in Iraq who have suffered like she has. The 5K is a great opportunity for Teeba to lend her voice as a champion for Iraqi kids."
According to UNICEF, "Iraq is now one of the most dangerous places in the world for children." ISIS violence in Iraq has displaced more than 1 million children, compounding the crisis already facing 800,000+ children identified as orphans after the previous decade of war.
Alexandria City Mayor Allison Silberberg will be joined on the Honorary Committee by Ambassador Ali Alhakim Iraqi Ambassador to the UN; General David Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) and Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan; former Iraqi Ambassadors Lukman Faily and Samir Sumaida'ie; former US Ambassadors James Jeffrey, Richard Schmierer, William Taylor and Ron Neumann; Shameem Rassam AlHurra TV; Janice Chance and Kelly Swanson Gold Star Mothers; and Dr. Jeremy Kohomban The Children's Village.
Founded in 2007 by two Americans working in Iraq, ICF brings awareness to the crisis facing Iraq's children. Join us as we run/walk for a day "in the shoes" of some of Iraq's most vulnerable.
Register here.
For sponsorship opportunities: [email protected]. Those unable to attend are invited to donate.
Media Contact: Kristin Roach [email protected]
SOURCE Iraqi Children Foundation
CHICAGO, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Zekelman Industries announced that it has acquired American Tube Manufacturing, Inc., based in Birmingham, Alabama.
Through this acquisition, Zekelman Industries and its Atlas Tube operating division will expand their presence into the southeastern region of the United States in the structural tubing market.
American Tube will continue to operate under their brand and identity and will become part of the Atlas Tube division. "American Tube is a perfect complement to our Atlas Tube division and will enable Zekelman Industries to provide improved customer service and an enhanced structural tube product offering to customers in the southeast," said Tom Muth, president of the structural tube product divisions for Zekelman Industries.
Rucker Durkee from American Tube said: "We are thrilled to become part of Zekelman Industries. Zekelman's history of operational excellence and support will expand our ability to better service our customers."
"At Zekelman Industries, we are constantly exploring how we can improve operations and better service our customers. Bringing American Tube into our family is an example of that continued focus and determination. The team at American Tube is excellent at what they do, and we are excited to begin this next chapter with them," said Barry Zekelman, executive chairman and chief executive officer of Zekelman Industries.
For more information about Zekelman Industries, please visit zekelman.com
About Zekelman Industries
Zekelman Industries includes the operating divisions of Atlas Tube, Picoma, Energex Tube, Sharon Tube, Wheatland Tube, Z Modular and Western Tube & Conduit Corporation. Zekelman Industries delivers a broad range of industrial solutions that build its customers' success.
About American Tube Manufacturing, Inc.
Based in Birmingham, Alabama, American Tube Manufacturing, Inc. is a leading producer of round, square, and rectangle shaped hollow structural sections (HSS) for the southeastern region of the United States.
SOURCE Zekelman Industries
Related Links
http://www.zekelman.com
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this
Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
United Nations, Feb 16 : The UN chief has warned US President Donald Trump against abandoning the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying there is "no alternative".
It came after Trump went against decades of US policy, saying he would back whatever formula led to peace.
Palestinians reacted with alarm to the possibility that the US could drop support for Palestinian statehood. The last round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down in 2014, BBC reported on Thursday.
Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, President Trump promised to deliver a "great" peace deal. But he said both sides must compromise. "So I'm looking at two states and one state," he said. "And I like the one that both parties like."
Following the press conference, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged the international community to do everything it could to bring about a two-state solution. He said there was no other option for resolving the conflict.
A "two-state" solution to the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is the declared goal of their leaders and the international community.
It is the shorthand for a final settlement that would see the creation of an independent state of Palestine within pre-1967 ceasefire lines in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, living peacefully alongside Israel.
When he was asked about a two-state solution, Netanyahu said he wanted to focus on "substance" and not "labels".
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, said he remained committed to the goal. He also seized upon Trump's comments urging Netanyahu to "hold back on settlements for a little bit".
New Delhi, Feb 17 : Delhi High Court on Friday directed Delhi Police to immediately ensure safety to app-based taxi service providers Ola and Uber, observing that recently there was violent protest by agitating taxi drivers in the national capital.
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw directed Delhi Traffic Police to ensure that drivers or owners who want to ply and have contract with Ola and Uber are not stopped or blocked.
The court also directed police to ensure that incidents like damaging of vehicles do not happen.
The court was hearing a plea by app-based taxi service providers against the strike called by taxi drivers unions, Sarvodaya Driver Association of Delhi (SDAD) and Rajdhani Tourist Drivers' Union.
The court also criticised the violent protest by app-based taxi drivers and said the two drivers' unions cannot demand anything from plaintiffs except by peaceful commercial negotiations.
The court asked the unions to create a peaceful atmosphere and listed the matter for further hearing on February 28.
"The Delhi High Court's order today (Friday) reaffirmed that no one can engage in violence or prevent drivers who wish to drive using apps like Uber from doing so. We're dismayed that violence and intimidation of drivers has continued, despite a court order on February 13 prohibiting such actions," an Uber spokesperson said in a statement.
The Uber spokesperson added that continued disruptions will harm drivers looking to earn an honest living, and riders looking to move around Delhi. "We're also grateful that the court has directed the police to take appropriate action to stop this cycle of intimidation," the spokesperson said.
Uber, in its plea, has accused the two drivers' unions of blocking cabs of drivers who had not joined the strike.
Since February 10, hundreds of app-based taxi drivers have been on strike in Delhi-NCR over several financial issues with app-based taxi service providers Ola and Uber.
Chandigarh, Feb 18 : The Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government in Haryana on Saturday announced compensation to those injured during the 2016 Jat agitation.
Violence during the February 2016 agitation left 30 people dead and over 200 injured. Government and private properties worth hundreds of crores were also damaged.
The Chief Minister announced the compensation here a day ahead of the Jat community's next move, who have called for 'Balidan Diwas' (sacrifice day) to mark the first anniversary of the violence on Sunday.
"It has been decided to release compensation to the innocent persons who sustained injuries during the 2016 Jat reservation agitation," a state government spokesman said quoting Khattar.
"While any person who sustained a bullet injury will be paid Rs one lakh, those who suffered a fracture otherwise will be paid Rs 50,000. The amount of compensation will be Rs 25,000 for those who sustained any other minor injuries," the spokesman added.
The compensation amount would be paid out of the Chief Minister's Relief Fund and the Deputy Commissioners have been directed to immediately release the payment, he added.
Of the 30 people who were killed in the violence, the Haryana government has given jobs and compensation to the kin of 17 of them. The remaining 13 have been classified as rioters.
The Jat leadership is demanding compensation for all those who died and those injured in the violence.
Agitating Jat leaders on Friday turned down an offer from the Khattar government for dialogue.
All eyes were now on the future course of the agitation that the Jat leadership will take on Sunday (February 19).
The Jat agitation, which started on January 29, continued for the 21st day on Saturday with no breakthrough in sight over acceptance of their demands by the Haryana government.
All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (Aijass) president Yashpal Malik accused Khattar and his government of not taking the agitation seriously.
He, however, added that the Jats will continue to protest peacefully.
The Haryana government on Friday deputed senior IAS officers "to guide and support" Deputy Commissioners in eight districts in view of the ongoing Jat protests.
Their demands include reservation for Jats; jobs to the next of kin of those killed in the 2016 violence; compensation to those injured; withdrawal of cases against the Jats and action against officers who were involved.
Jammu, Feb 19 : Firing exchanges continued well past midnight after Pakistan Rangers violated ceasefire at the International Border in Ramgarh sector of Jammu region, a BSF official said on Sunday.
According to the Border Security Force official here, the Pakistani side at around 11.30 p.m. on Saturday resorted to unprovoked firing at S. M. Pura and Fathwal border outposts in Samba district.
They used small arms and automatics, the official said.
"The troops of 62 battalion of the BSF retaliated effectively. The firing exchanges continued till 12.15 a.m. on Sunday."
"No casualty or damage has been reported from our side," he said.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : Indian-born Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Tuesday met Union IT and Electronics Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad here.
The details of the meeting and the talks were yet to emerge but Nadella, after visiting Bengaluru on Monday, was scheduled to call on the minister before heading to address "Future Decoded" --Microsoft's two-day flagship technology and business conference in Mumbai that kicked off on Tuesday.
The conference is a platform that brings together 1,500 business and government decision-makers to engage in conversations on how technology will transform all aspects of our work and life.
Earlier, leading e-commerce major Flipkart on Monday tied up with global software major Microsoft to use its Azure Cloud platform for boosting its e-tail sales.
The strategic partnership was announced by Satya Nadella on his maiden visit to Bengaluru after he took over the reins of the world's largest software product firm in February 2014.
"At Microsoft, we aim to empower every Indian and every Indian organisation with technology through strategic partnerships with innovative firms like Flipkart," said Nadella on the occasion.
As a public cloud computing platform, Azure provides a range of services, including analytics, storage and networking on network of computers (cloud).
"By combining our public cloud platform and AI (Artificial Intelligence) capabilities with Flipkart's services and data assets, we will enable the e-tailor to accelerate its digital transformation and deliver new customer experiences," said Nadella.
New Delhi, Feb 21 : Union IT and Electronics Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday met Indian-born CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella and urged him to consider the use of Microsoft's innovative technology in the upcoming DigiGaon (Digital Village) initiative.
"Had a good &productive meeting with @satyanadella. He deeply appreciated the success of ongoing #DigitalIndia program, which is transformative," the minister tweeted after talks with Nadella here.
"Requested @satyanadella to consider the use of their innovative technology in the proposed Digigaon (Digital Village) initiative," Prasad added.
In the Union Budget for the 2017-18 Fiscal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that a DigiGaon initiative will be launched for the provision of telemedicine, education and skills with the help of digital technology.
"It was fantastic to spend time with Minister Prasad, talking about the great progress India is making with IndiaStack and Digital India," Nadella said.
IndiaStack is a set of application programming interface (APIs) that allows governments, businesses, startups and developers to utilise an unique digital infrastructure to solve India's problems towards "presence-less, paperless, and cashless service delivery".
"For us at Microsoft, our mission is to empower every Indian and every Indian organisation to be able to achieve more and with the policies of the Government of India. We are excited to contribute to help take advantage of Digital India," Nadella said in a video posted by Prasad on his Twitter account.
On Wednesday, Nadella will address "Future Decoded" -- Microsoft's two-day flagship technology and business conference that started off in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The conference is a platform that brings together 1,500 business and government decision-makers to engage in conversations on how technology will transform all aspects of our work and life.
Earlier on Monday, leading e-commerce major Flipkart tied up with the global software major Microsoft to use its Azure Cloud platform for boosting its e-tail sales.
The strategic partnership was announced by Satya Nadella on his maiden visit to Bengaluru after he took over the reins of the world's largest software product firm in February 2014.
"At Microsoft, we aim to empower every Indian and every Indian organisation with technology through strategic partnerships with innovative firms like Flipkart," said Nadella on the occasion.
As a public cloud computing platform, Azure provides a range of services, including analytics, storage and networking on network of computers (cloud).
"By combining our public cloud platform and AI (Artificial Intelligence) capabilities with Flipkart's services and data assets, we will enable the e-tailor to accelerate its digital transformation and deliver new customer experiences," said Nadella.
Shimla, Feb 22 : As the population of the western tragopan, a brilliantly-coloured Asian pheasant species, hovers on the brink of extinction globally, Himachal Pradesh is engaged in breeding its state bird in captivity.
The world's only breeding centre in Sarahan town, located some 160 km from this state capital, has 26 breeding birds. Five chicks were born in 2016.
"Currently, we have 12 female and 14 male western tragopans," breeding centre biologist Lakshmi Narasimha told IANS.
The pheasantry is jointly funded by the Central Zoo Authority and the wildlife wing of the state Forest Department.
The western tragopan is listed in the Red Data Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a compendium of species facing extinction.
It is the least-studied bird in the world owing to the tough topography of its habitat and being a shy bird.
The first breeding in the centre, which was earlier used as a rehabilitation centre for rescued wild birds, was way back in 2005 when a western tragopan was bred in captivity for the first time in the world.
Subsequently, the Sarahan pheasantry was designated as a western tragopan conservation breeding centre in 2007.
John Corder of the World Pheasants Association was consulted on the overall management of the birds.
Narasimha said in the past five years, 23 chicks have been born in the pheasantry and five natural deaths of the newly-born were reported during this period.
Ornithologists say the western tragopan, belonging to the family Phasianidae that also includes the peafowl and the red jungle fowl, is found in the northwestern Himalayan region of India and Pakistan.
In India, its habitat is at an elevation of 2,400m to 3,600m in the Kashmir region of Jammu and Kashmir and Kullu and Shimla districts of Himachal Pradesh.
It has also been reported in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. In the eastern Himalayas, the western tragopan is replaced by the satyr tragopan.
Wildlife experts attribute their downfall to habitat degradation, hunting and extensive grazing of the forest by livestock.
The Daranghati Wildlife Sanctuary, located in the proximity to the Sarahan breeding centre, and the Great Himalayan National Park in Kullu district, are the potential western tragopan habitats.
"Our preliminary estimation in the Daranghati sanctuary indicates that it holds a good population of the western tragopan. We even have the reported presence of the Himalayan serrow (goat-antelope), a near threatened species, and the musk deer during surveys carried out by the Sarahan wildlife division," Narasimha said.
In 2010, western tragopan conservation efforts suffered a big setback with three adult birds dying within a month in the Sarahan pheasantry. Post-mortem findings confirmed E. coli bacteria as the cause of death. The infection had severely affected the organs of the nine surviving pairs, including the reproductive system.
After a gap of two years, all the surviving pairs multiplied and seven chicks were born in 2012.
Jennifer R.B. Miller, who surveyed the Great Himalayan National Park in April-May 2008 during a US Fulbright Student Research Scholarship, said the population of three pheasant species -- western tragopan, koklas and Himalayan monal -- in the park have grown since surveyed in the late 1990s.
"The relative abundance of all three pheasant species was significantly higher (in 2008) than in previous surveys," said Miller in her paper titled 'Himalayan pheasants in the Great Himalayan National Park' published in the Indian Birds journal in 2010.
For estimating the population of the western tragopan, as with other pheasant species, specialised techniques are needed. One of the standard census techniques is recording its call counts at a specified times and locations.
From March-end till mid-June, the male tragopan gives a loud chorus before dawn during the breeding season. In the estimation, every male call is counted, which gives an index of the population in a specified area.
"We have western tragopans living for up to 14 years in captivity. We know that breeding is slow at this stage, but all the signs are that within five-six years we will be breeding large numbers of birds each year," Narasimha said.
As for the inbreeding problems being faced by other captive species in India, Narasimha said: "All tragopans are ringed and micro-chipped on arrival and at the time of birth at the centre. A key requirement is to have an adequate founder population so that there is a sufficient genetic resource to manage this issue."
"We are maintaining a studbook, a definitive record of each bird, any pairing, breeding attempts, and offspring so that we can carefully manage the birds and avoid close relatives from being put together in future. This is a part of our genetic management," he explained.
Narasimha is quite confident about the survival of the western tragopans in nature after being bred in captivity. "There will be pre-release phases to ensure the birds smoothly transit from captivity to the wild."
Like the highly-endangered cheer pheasant birds, which are also being bred in captivity in the state, the wildlife wing plans to also release the western tragopan captive-bred birds into the wild.
(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
New York, Feb 22 : Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of President Donald Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, attended with her two-year-old daughter Charlotte an anti-Trump rally here to show solidarity with the Muslim community.
Clinton on Sunday joined hundreds of protesters to attend the rally in Times Square here, The Hill magazine reported.
She wrote on Twitter that the event was the first protest by Charlotte.
"Thank you to all who organised #IAmMuslimToo today (Sunday) -- Charlotte's first protest rally. #NoBanNoWallNoRaids," Clinton tweeted.
The event featured speakers including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, mogul Russel Simmons, who is a former friend of Trump, actress Susan Sarandon, and several prominent activists.
"We are here to show middle America our beautiful signs and through our beautiful actions and intention, that they have been misled," Simmons said.
"We are here unified because of Trump. We want to thank him for bringing us together."
The rally came after Trump signed an executive order temporarily barring visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US.
The order also put a temporary halt on the acceptance of refugees and an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees.
The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday issued revised memos after the order was halted by federal courts.
Mumbai, Feb 22 : Microsoft on Wednesday launched Skype Lite, an exclusive "Made for India" app to provide seamless experience in messaging, audio and video calling even at lower bandwidths.
"Packed in a 13MB file, the new app is available only for Android devices and is especially designed to save data," Satya Nadella, Indian-born CEO of Microsoft, told the media at the company's "Future Decoded" event here.
The lightweight app supports Indian languages including Gujarati, Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.
"Skype Lite" has data-friendly features such as "tracking data usage" which tells a user about how much data was used.
It also categorises the internet usage into two sections -- the amount of mobile data or Wifi used while using the app.
With these new features, the app lets a user to share multimedia files without downloading them to the device.
Microsoft also introduced a dark theme for the new app making it easy for users to work in the night without having much strain in the eyes.
"Skype Lite" is an all-in-one app and has functionalities such as integrated calling and SMS by which a user can make it the default calling and messaging app.
To make it easier for a user to differentiate between important and junk SMSs, Microsoft has used the artificial intelligence (AI) that segregates normal text messages, Skype messages and promotional texts under three different categories.
"Skype Lite" has an integrated camera app with it and added fun bots with a conversational interface that runs on Microsoft's AI technology.
The bots, for example, can recognise a selfie and tell about a person's age and his/her character using the algorithms and artificial learning.
"Future Decoded" -- Microsoft's two-day flagship technology and business conference -- is a platform that brings together 1,500 business and government decision-makers to engage in conversations on how technology will transform all aspects of our work and life.
United Nations, Feb 22 : US ambassador to UN Nikki Haley has said the US will not compromise on its support for the European Union and NATO in its quest to improve relations with Russia.
"The US thinks it's possible to have a better relationship with Russia. After all, we confront many of the same threats," Haley said on Tuesday at a meeting of the UN Security Council.
She singled out Russia over its attempts to "destabilise" Ukraine, adding: "Greater cooperation with Russia cannot come at the expense of the security of our European friends and allies."
According to Channel News Asia, the remarks came as European leaders are seeking reassurance after President Donald Trump applauded Britain's decision to leave the EU, criticised NATO members over burden-sharing and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.
White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon is an ardent supporter of nationalist movements throughout the continent which promote a breakdown of the EU.
Over the weekend in Brussels, Vice President Mike Pence said the US was committed to both the EU and NATO.
Enlarging NATO has been a major bone of contention with Russia, which sees any expansion of the military alliance in eastern Europe as a policy of containment directed against Moscow.
Aizawl, Feb 22 : Two decades after it got Union cabinet approval, a 60 MW project in Mizoram will see the light of day in June making the hilly state the third power-surplus state in northeast India after Sikkim and Tripura.
Farmers' agitations and administrative hurdles delayed the commissioning of the power plant, the biggest in Mizoram, which shares a border with Myanmar (510 km) and Bangladesh (318 km).
State-run North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), a "Mini Ratna" company under the Union Ministry of Power, will be commissioning the hydro-electric project along the Tuirial river in Aizawl district.
"The first unit would start generation in June and the second unit in September," NEEPCO general manager P.K. Bora told IANS.
"The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared the project on July 7, 1998. The project was conceptualised in 1994. NEEPCO has so far invested Rs 1,100 crore on the project."
After the project work started, the locals launched a massive agitation due to submerging of their standing crops and farmland under the reservoir that would be created.
"The project work came to total stop on June 9, 2004, due to the stir launched by the newly-formed Tuirial Crop Compensation Claimant Association, claiming compensation for the standing crops in the riverine reserve forest," Bora said.
"After the Union Power Ministry, NEEPCO and the Mizoram government jointly negotiated with the agitators, work resumed in 2011 after seven years of stoppage."
Till June 2004, 30 per cent of the project work and 95 per cent of the design and engineering work had been completed.
The NEEPCO official said that though the company has invested Rs 1,100 crore so far due to delay and price escalation, the original sanctioned cost was Rs 369 crore.
With a population of just 1.1 million, Mizoram's current demand of electricity is only 85 MW and this is being met by state's mini power projects and availability of its share of power from central sector projects.
Thus, the additional power is likely to be supplied to the regional or national grid.
Sikkim is self-sufficient at 95.70 MW while Tripura, whose daily need is 272 MW, is self-reliant in electricity.
Since March last year Tripura is supplying 100 MW of power to Bangladesh and is ready to provide an additional 100 MW if the central government permits it to do so.
(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
Los Angeles, Feb 22 : Actor-filmmaker George Clooney has branded US President Donald Trump a "Hollywood elitist" and a "demagogue".
In an interview with French channel Canal+, Clooney said that Meryl Streep "had every right to speak up" at the Golden Globes against Trump, reports hollywoodreporter.com.
"When Meryl spoke, everyone on that one side said, 'Well that's elitist Hollywood speaking.' Donald Trump has 22 acting credits in television. He collects $120,000 a year in his Screen Actors Guild pension fund. He is a Hollywood elitist," Clooney said.
Clooney went on to slam Tump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon.
"Steve Bannon is a failed film writer and director. That's the truth. That's what he's done. He wrote a Shakespearean rap musical about the Los Angeles riots that he couldn't get made. He made a lot of money off Seinfeld. He's elitist Hollywood, I mean, that's the reality," he said.
The actor also called for journalists to continue to hold Trump's "feet to the fire".
"We have a demagogue in the White House. We need the Fourth Estate, which is journalists, to hold his feet to the fire," Clooney said.
"They didn't do a very good job during the campaign and they haven't done a particularly good job yet, but those things will change," he added.
Washington, Feb 22 : A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the state can't cut off funding for reproductive healthcare group Planned Parenthood over secretly recorded videos taken by anti-abortion activists in 2015, which critics said were misleading.
"A secretly recorded video, fake names, a grand jury indictment, Congressional investigations -- these are the building blocks of a best-selling novel rather than a case concerning the interplay of federal and state authority through the Medicaid programme," US District Judge Sam Sparks wrote in an order on Tuesday.
"Yet, rather than a villain plotting to take over the world, the subject of this case is the State of Texas's efforts to expel a group of healthcare providers from a social health care programme for families and individuals with limited resources," wrote the judge who was appointed by Republican former President George H.W. Bush.
Planned Parenthood had repeatedly denied that it did anything wrong or illegal. Sparks made the comments in an order granting a preliminary injunction preventing the Texas Health and Human Services Commission from ending Medicaid agreements with the healthcare group, NBC News reported.
Sparks wrote that the commission relied on "unsubstantiated and indeterminate allegations" about a "willingness" to violate ethical standards and that it had produced no evidence of any actual violation.
The commission issued an initial notice of termination of Medicaid contracts following the release of the videos in 2015, which critics said was heavily edited and misleading.
Investigations into the videos by 13 states have concluded without criminal charges, and Planned Parenthood officials have denied any wrongdoing.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, called Sparks' ruling "disappointing" and vowed to appeal.
In announcing the judge's decision on Twitter, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas said its "doors [are] still open to low-income Texans who count on us for healthcare".
Ranchi, Feb 22 : Opposition parties as well as some Ministers in Jharkhand have opposed the Raghubar Das government's move to sell liquor through its own outlets to generate revenue.
According to sources, three Ministers have opposed the government move to sell liquor when the issue came during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Jharkhand Urban Development Minister C.P. Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Saryu Rai and Water Resources Minister and alliance partner All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) legislator Chadra Prakash Chaudhary opposed the cabinet noting of selling of liquor by the state government.
"The state government's image will be dented after the cabinet approves the proposal," Saryu Rai reportedly said in the cabinet meeting.
Minister C.P. Singh is reported to have asked, "What is the guarantee that the state will generate more resources by running liquor shops."
The Jharkhand cabinet on Tuesday approved the proposal of the excise department that the state government would sell liquor in the state.
"The Jharkhand cabinet meeting on Tuesday gave its approval of selling liquor by the state government. Jharkhand State Beverages Corporation Ltd will sell the liquor from August 1," Avinash Kumar, state Excise Secretary, told reporters.
The Jharkhand government has taken the decision to generate more resources through selling liquor. The district administrations have been asked to find shops and make arrangements to sell the liquor.
However, liquor shop owners are protesting the state government move. In Jharkhand there are more than 1,400 liquor shops and after the state government decision more than 5,000 people will become jobless.
Opposition parties have also criticized the state government move.
"The Jharkhand government will buy land for industrialists and sell liquor. What kind of state government is this which is not bothered about the people of the state," Hemant Soren, former Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), executive president told reporters.
"(BJP President) Amit Shah during his campaign in Uttar Pradesh boasted of getting river of milk, and now in Jharkhand the BJP-led state government will sell liquor for money. The Prime Minister appreciated Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for banning liquor. Why is he silent at the Raghubar Das government's move to sell liquor," Alok Dubey, General Secretary of Jharkhand Congress, told IANS.
Kolkata, Feb 22 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday pulled up city-based private hospitals for "unethical" money-making practices and announced the formation of a regulatory commission to monitor their activities.
The Trinamool Congress supremo berated hospital managements for excess billing and medical negligence and called upon them to show a "humane" side.
Banerjee met the top brass of private hospitals (that have 100-plus bed capacity) at Town Hall with a roster of grievances of the public against them, including turning away emergency patients.
"We are setting up a West Bengal Health Regulatory Commission headed by an ex-chief justice or judge and experts. It will have representation of the public, the physicians and the hospitals as well. There will comprehensive monitoring from billing to performance," she said.
The Commission will submit a report every month.
She also said the West Bengal Clinical Act will be amended and will be made stronger.
While admonishing the hospital authorities, Banerjee advised citizens to refrain from taking law into their own hands, referring to the vandalism at CMRI hospital where relatives of a patient and locals ransacked the hospital accusing it of wrong treatment and demanding money without taking care of critical patients.
The incident triggered the meeting where all senior Bengal health services officials were present.
"I appeal to the public to not take law into their own hands. One (doctor) can make a mistake but that does not make everybody a culprit," she said, requesting physicians to stand by the kin of the deceased and display empathy.
Banerjee also informed the hospital officials that a survey had been carried out recently following which as many as 70 hospitals were slapped showcause notices.
"Out of 2088 healthcare facilities, we have surveyed 942 places and 70 have been showcaused. Thirty-three licenses have been cancelled. We had been getting complaints for a long time and it's not that we didn't do anything," she said.
She vowed to clamp down on "unethical" practices.
"There is absence of cleanliness and coordination. There is excess billing and some patients are being admitted to ICUs or put on ventilator when these options are not required in their cases.
"Doctors are forcing patients to go for expensive tests and treatments for small issues. Doctors are not to be blamed. They are being forced to bend to the will of hospital authorities and go for pricier treatment for commissions," a stern Banerjee said.
"I will not allow private hospitals to extort money from patients. Have you ever thought how a poor man will pay bills in lakhs (of rupees)? Some people have to sell away every thing to get access to the dead body of a relative. I have reports on unethical practices being carried out at hospitals," she said.
Banerjee also put forth peeves by foreign patients who complain about absence of beds and high treatment cost.
"There are patients in Bengal from Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan as well as north-eastern states and Odisha. We have to be humane. Let's be frank, we should aim for convenience of the people.
"If you feel that you need 100 per cent profit rather than 20 per cent, then it becomes a factory," she said.
She individually questioned the hospital officials and gave a patient hearing to their responses.
Banerjee recommended e-prescriptions and e-records to be made compulsory.
Opening up fair price diagnostics and medicine facilities and budget sections were also discussed.
Child trafficking and organ donation rackets also figured on the agenda.
Prominent establishments like Apollo Gleneagles and Belle View were on her radar for excess billing.
Taking stock of the functioning of these hospitals, Banerjee stressed on affordable healthcare, simplicity of service, transparency in action and offering services with a smile, noting it is the prerogative of the patient to choose either state-run or private healthcare services.
She said "27,000 beds have been increased in the government hospitals in the last few years. Four lakh people have been registered under the Swastha Sathi programme and government hospitals have also started e-prescriptions. Wherever necessary we give free services, but the state government can't offer all facilities and that is why private hospitals are needed."
New Delhi, Feb 22 : In a move towards developing the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem in India, IT industry's representative organisation Nasscom on Wednesday signed an MoU with the IoT Acceleration Consortium (ITAC)-Japan.
Under the MoU, Nasscom and ITAC-Japan will collaborate to address digital technology shifts and accelerate IoT adoption at a global level across the industry.
"It is imperative that there is global effort towards accelerating IoT in every sector, this partnership will be another key milestone in building this robust ecosystem of collaboration and open new avenues," said K.S. Viswanathan, Vice President (Industry Initiatives), Nasscom.
Both Nasscom and ITAC-Japan will share information on the ecosystem, new practices and technological developments.
The IoT market in India is expected to reach $15 billion by 2020 accounting for nearly five per cent of the total global market and the worldwide IoT market is poised to be a $328 billion market by 2020.
Kabul, Feb 22 : At least three persons lost their lives and 22 others were injured on Wednesday as a motorbike bomb struck a bazaar in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan, a provincial government spokesman said.
The explosion took place in Jani Khil district, spokesman Mohammad Rahman Ayaz said.
"A terrorist planted an explosive device into the cavities of a motorbike and detonated it in the bazaar of Jani Khil district today around 1 p.m., killing three persons on the spot and injuring 22 others," Ayaz told Xinhua news agency.
Some of the injured persons were in critical conditions, the official added. All the victims of the blast were civilians, he said.
The provincial government spokesman blamed the Taliban for the attack, but the armed outfit has yet to claim responsibility.
Srinagar, Feb 22 : A court in the Kashmir Valley on Wednesday suspended the bail order of hardliner separatist leader Masrat Alam.
Lodged in Sumbal police station in north Kashmir's Bandipora district, Alam was granted bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bandipora recently.
But the state government contested the move in the District and Sessions Court of Bandipora, which ordered that the bail given to Alam would remain suspended till February 27.
Seen as the perpetrator of 2010 summer unrest in the valley, Alam was arrested in July 2010 and has since been kept under detention by the authorities.
Over 120 people were killed in the 2010 unrest in bloody clashes between protesters and the security forces.
Kolkata, Feb 22 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday publicly lashed out at the privately run Medica Superspecialty Hospital here for its alleged role in kidney racket, ordering it to check the practice. The hospital, however, denied the charge.
"Has the kidney racket stopped at your hospital," she questioned one of the representatives of the hospital during an open meeting of the state government with the managements of city-based private hospitals at the Town Hall.
"There was no such racket," claimed the official in the presence of a large posse of media persons with some news channels covering the interaction live.
But Banerjee persisted.
"There was a police inquiry. Centre had sent us a document. The matter had gone to court... since there was no law.... you went scot-free.
"The law has to be drafted in a different way. I know the case," Banerjee then turned to state Director of Health Services B.R. Satpathy and asked him to come up with a new legislation.
The Chief Minister also asked city Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, who was present at the meeting, to look into the matter.
"My point is to not let such rackets continue. I do not want any child or kidney racket in the future," she said, overruling the hospital representative who tried to counter her politely.
New Delhi, Feb 22 : Delhi Congress on Wednesday extended its support to Ola-Uber drivers' union "Sarvodaya Drivers", saying "the party is with them in their fight for justice".
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Ajay Maken held a detailed discussion with the union's representatives about "exploitation" of the drivers by companies like Ola and Uber and assured them of his party's support, a statement said.
"The Ola-Uber drivers should form a co-operative society and start a separate mobile phone App to do their business, in which the Delhi Congress will help them," the statement quoted him as saying.
The Congress leader said the drivers should be given financial aid so that they can become independent, and the money they earn stays in the country.
New Delhi, Feb 22 : Authorities on Wednesday raided Delhi's iconic Kake Da Hotel after an unverified video showed a cook kneading dough with his feet. The restaurant denied the charge.
The Delhi government's Food Safety Department raided the 86-year-old eatery in the heart of the capital and took away food samples.
An official said the samples were being sent to a laboratory for examination.
"Any further action will be taken after a report from the laboratory," the official said after a team led by Deputy Food Safety Commissioner Pawan Kamra inspected the restaurant.
The official said a tandoor was found at the restaurant in the open on the rooftop in violation of food safety norms.
In the video apparently recorded on a mobile phone, a man is seen standing in a huge bowl allegedly containing flour.
The man is seen stomping as if he is making dough out of flour and water as the camera shifts to Kake Da Hotel's banner.
The veracity of the video could not be verified.
A restaurant official said the man in the video was washing clothes and not kneading dough.
"He was washing his own clothes," a man claiming to be the cashier of Kake Da Hotel told IANS.
One of the restaurant's tandoor cook also said the man was washing clothes.
Opened in 1931, Kake Da Hotel - known to old-timers as Kake Da Dhaba - has been a food lover's paradise for its desi ghee soaked Punjabi cuisine, especially non-vegetarian delights.
The eatery, located in Connaught Place, has a patronage that has passed on from one generation to another.
Ankara, Feb 22 : Turkey on Wednesday lifted a ban on female officers wearing the veil in the country's armed forces, the local media reported.
Women serving in the armed forces "will be able to cover their heads" under their caps or berets so long as the headscarf is "the same colour as the uniform and without pattern", said a new Defence Ministry regulation.
The move applies to female officers working in the General Staff and command headquarters and branches, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
The lift on the ban will come into effect once the regulation is announced in the Official Gazette, according to the Turkish media.
Speaking to Turkish reporters at his office in Ankara, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said he believed the removal of the ban was "very positive", pro-government daily Yeni Safak said.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has long pressed for the removal of restrictions on women wearing the headscarf in the officially secular state.
Turkey lifted a ban on the wearing of headscarves on university campuses in 2010.
It allowed female students to wear the garment in state institutions from 2013 and in high school in 2014.
In August 2016, AKP government lifted the ban on headscarves in the police force.
Turkish military has long been known as the "protector of secularism" in the country and worked against efforts to lift the headscarf ban in the public sector for decades.
Agartala, Feb 22 : In the absence of a recognised Leader of Opposition in the Tripura Assembly, the issue of appointment of Lokayukta has been hanging fire in the state since last December, forcing the Left Front government to amend the existing act.
According to the Tripura Lokayukta Act, 2008, the Chief Minister, in consultation with the Assembly Speaker and the Leader of Opposition, would advise the Governor to appoint the Lokayukta to deal with complaints of corruption.
"The five-year term of Lokayukta Pradip Kumar Sarkar (a former judge of the Gujarat and Gauhati high courts) ended on December 16 last year. In the absence of a recognised opposition leader in the state assembly, the post has been lying vacant since then," an official of the Law Department said.
He said: "To overcome the situation, a bill was passed on Wednesday in the state assembly, amending the existing act to make provision that leader of the single-largest opposition party in the absence of the designated opposition leader would be the member of the three-member Lokayukta Selection Committee."
In the 60-member Tripura Assembly, the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front has 51 members, while the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has six members and the Congress three.
Six MLAs, led by former Leader of Opposition Sudip Roy Barman, quit the Congress on April 7 last year and joined the TMC on June 7 in protest against the Congress's alliance with the Left parties ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections in April-May last year.
Another Congress MLA Jitendra Sarkar resigned from the House in July last year and re-joined the CPI-M, reducing the Congress's strength to only three.
According to constitutional experts, to get recognition as the opposition party, their strength must be equal to the quorum of the House, which is 10 per cent of the total strength of the House.
New Delhi, Feb 22 : Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday inspected three mid-day meal kitchens in north Delhi and collected food samples which he sent for examination to a laboratory.
A government official said Jain, along with the officials of health and food safety departments, visited kitchens in Burari and Jagatpur areas of north Delhi where mid-day meal for the nearby schools is prepared.
"The team took food samples and send them to laboratory for examination. Such inspections will continue till February 24," the official A dead rat was found in a midday meal served at the Government Boys Senior Secondary School in Deoli area on February 16, after which at least nine students were hospitalised.
Jain's inspection came after Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday ordered that all 33 mid-day meal kitchens should be inspected by senior officers.
During the inspection, Jain said: "Annually, we collect around 2,000 food samples of mid-day meal for examination, but now we have set up a target of collecting and testing annually 20,000 mid-day meal samples."
Kolkata, Feb 22 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday gave an unprecedented public tongue lashing to city-based private hospitals for "unethical" money-making practices and announced the formation of a regulatory commission to monitor their activities.
A stern Banerjee berated hospital managements for excess billing and medical negligence and called upon them to show a "humane" side.
Banerjee met the top brass of private hospitals (that have 100-plus bed capacity) at Town Hall with a roster of grievances of the public against them, including turning away emergency patients and refusing to release dead bodies if the families fail to cough up the bills.
"We are setting up a West Bengal Health Regulatory Commission headed by an ex-Chief Justice or judge and experts. It will have representation of the public, the physicians and the hospitals as well. There will be comprehensive monitoring from billing to performance," she said in the presence of a large posse of media persons with some news channels covering the interaction live.
The Commission will submit a report every month.
She also said the West Bengal Clinical Act will be amended and strengthened.
Leaving the management representatives stunned and often fumbling for words, Banerjee called them one after another and underscored the specific complaints against them.
Medica Superspecialty Hospital representative had the most difficult time.
"Has the kidney racket stopped at your hospital?" Banerjee asked the Medica official, who denied the charge, but the Chief Minister was unimpressed.
"There was a police inquiry. Centre had sent us a document. The matter had gone to court... since there was no law.... you went scot free," she said, prodding a senior health official and the city Police Commissioner to get going about the legislation.
At times, Banerjee instructed the senior bureaucrats to read out specific allegations against the hospitals and asked the managements to respond.
But while admonishing the hospital authorities, she advised citizens to refrain from taking law into their own hands, referring to the vandalism at CMRI hospital where relatives of a patient and locals ransacked the premises accusing it of wrong treatment and demanding money without taking care of critical patients.
The incident triggered the meeting where senior ministers, top bureaucrats including Chief Secretary Basudeb Banerjee, all high-level Bengal Health Department officials, Director General of Police Surajit Kar Purkayastha and city Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar were present.
Banerjee also informed the hospital officials that a survey had been carried out recently following which as many as 70 hospitals were slapped showcause notices.
"Out of 2,088 healthcare facilities, we have surveyed 942 places and 70 have been showcaused. 33 licenses have been cancelled. We had been getting complaints for a long time and it's not that we didn't do anything," she said.
She vowed to clamp down on "unethical" practices.
"There is absence of cleanliness and coordination. Some patients are being admitted to ICUs or put on ventilator when these options are not required in their cases.
"Doctors are forcing patients to go for expensive tests and treatments for small issues. Doctors are not to be blamed. They are being forced to bend to the will of hospital authorities and go for pricier treatment for commissions," she said.
"I will not allow private hospitals to extort money from patients. Have you ever thought how a poor man will pay bills in lakhs (of rupees)?" she asked.
Banerjee also put forth peeves by foreign patients who complain about absence of beds and high treatment cost.
"There are patients in Bengal from Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan as well as northeastern states and Odisha. We have to be humane. Let's be frank, we should aim for convenience of the people.
"If you feel that you need 100 per cent profit rather than 20 per cent, then it becomes a factory," she said.
Banerjee recommended e-prescriptions and e-records be made compulsory.
Opening up fair price diagnostics and medicine facilities and budget sections were also discussed.
Prominent establishments like Apollo Gleneagles and Belle Vue were on her radar for excess billing.
Diplomat MFT addresses the needs of customers with FTP servers that need automation capabilities without requiring a full-blown migration to a new MFT solution. James Lewis, Managing Director at Pro2col
Coviant Software has entered into a partnership agreement with Pro2col to offer Diplomat Managed File Transfer products. Pro2col is an independent consultancy specializing in Managed File Transfer solutions headquartered in London.
Our partnership with Coviant Software brings us another MFT solution that helps our clients choose the best technology for their file transfer project, both now and in the future, says James Lewis, Managing Director at Pro2col. Diplomat MFT offers an automation layer that can be transparently added to existing file transfer environments. In particular, Diplomat MFT addresses the needs of customers with FTP servers that need automation capabilities without requiring a full-blown migration to a new MFT solution.
Pro2col combines a deep understanding of their clients file transfer needs with expertise across many Managed File Transfer solutions. We are happy to have a partnership with such a key MFT player in the UK. says Pam Reid, CEO at Coviant Software.
About Coviant Software
Coviant Software has been a trusted provider of secure file transfer and OpenPGP encryption solutions for over 10 years. Coviant Software delivers Managed File Transfer solutions to improve the productivity of file transfer administrators.
About Pro2col
Pro2col is an independent consultancy specializing in Managed File Transfer solutions. Since 2003, Pro2col helped businesses select, implement and support Managed File Transfer solutions, to automate workflows, secure data and achieve compliance.
PR News will hold its annual Measurement Conference, which includes the Social Media Boot Camp on April 20-21 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., where attendees will learn the newest best practices in measuring social media engagement and tying PR to the bottom line. The full-day boot camp on social media is designed for PR, marketing and social media professionals and will focus on the ins and outs of the top social platforms and what it takes to succeed in this multimedia digital space. Early Bird rates ends March 31 and government/nonprofit rates are available.
More Information
At the PR News Measurement Conference, youll hear from thought leaders at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Porter Novelli, Marriott International, Amtrak and Paine Publishing as they'll walk attendees through the steps of creating a measurement dashboard all the way through to tying PR metrics to sales figures.
Sessions for the PR News Measurement Conference, which includes the Social Media Boot Camp include:
Measurement Dashboards That Communicate PR's Business Value
How to Buy Smart on Facebookand Reach Your Audience Organically When Buying Isnt an Option
How to Measure Media Coverage and Tie It to Organizational Goals
Case Studies: What Success on Twitter Really Looks Like
How to Choose Between Snapchat and Instagram Stories
Case Study: PR Measurement at Work in the Real World
Measuring Social: How to Measure Your Impact Across Social Media Platforms
Presented by PR News, the industry's most trusted PR and marketing brand, these events will fill up quickly so register today. Thank you to our event sponsor, BurrellesLuce. To become a sponsor, contact Fay Shapiro at fshapiro(at)accessintel(dot)com. For questions regarding registration, contact Jessica Placencia at jplacencia(at)accessintel(dot)com.
PR News is a go-to resource that serves the communications and marketing community at corporations, agencies and nonprofits. For more information, please visit http://www.prnewsonline.com.
Most healthcare practices don't realize how much money they're leaving on the table. Practice owners that don't have an organized approach to managing inventory can lose hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year.
Management of supply inventory in a healthcare practice is directly linked to the profitability of the business. But many practices often relegate this task to the bottom of the "to do" list. A new white paper written by the staff at Preferred Therapy Providers, Inc and available on their website, reveals how healthcare business owners can easily manage medical inventory supply and add more profitability to the bottom line.
The white paper, "More Revenue: How to Manage Medical Office Supply Inventory, Eliminate Waste, and Reduce Costs" covers the steps to more efficient supply management.
"Most healthcare practices don't realize how much money they're leaving on the table," said Steven Allred, PT, President of Preferred Therapy Providers, Inc. "Practice owners that don't have an organized approach to managing inventory can lose hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year. With the current fluctuations in the healthcare industry, there's no room for inefficiencies that can contribute to negative cash flow. This white paper is part of our continuing commitment to find ways to help private practice owners in healthcare thrive."
Healthcare practices are businesses and must perform the services they offer while managing productivity, costs and profitability. Devoting the proper amount of time on revenue generating tasks such as patient intake or treating as many patients as possible can be reduced or wasted when systems and processes in the practice are haphazard. With a little planning and organizing of medical supply inventory, unnecessary costs and wasted precious time can be avoided.
This white paper covers several topics including how to establish a purchasing policy, how to budget for supplies, how to develop an easy ordering system and how to source and negotiate discounts with vendors.
Download a complimentary copy of the white paper by visiting the Resources section of Preferred's website.
About Preferred Therapy Providers, Inc.
Founded in 1992, Preferred Therapy Providers, Inc. began in the southwest and has since grown to be one of the largest, centrally managed contract procurement services in the country. Preferred contracts with a variety of payers on both the national and local level including group health and workers compensation, working with fully and self insured payers. The professional contracting team has over fifty years of combined experience.
Preferred also collaborates with a select handful of partners who understand how to reduce costs and streamline efficiencies for private practices. These programs are value-added benefits of membership in Preferred's network.
# # #
Kids and teens should feel safe at school. Im proud that we can partner with the state of Oregon on the SafeOregon program. Oregon has taken incredible steps to ensure the safety of their students. Sprigeo CEO and Founder, Joe Bruzzese.
Sprigeo (http://www.sprigeo.com) is pleased to have been selected by the Oregon State Police as the primary vendor for SafeOregon, a new school safety tip line program available to all public K-12 schools in Oregon at no cost to use. SafeOregon requires schools to complete a sign-up process in order for students to use.
Sprigeo provides tip-line services and school safety resources to over 4,500 schools across 29 states in an ongoing effort to promote school safety. Over the past 6 years, Sprigeo has been fortunate to have built relationships with school leaders and nationally recognized experts that have shared strategies and expertise with their growing network of school districts. Sprigeo CEO and Founder, Joe Bruzzese shared, Kids and teens should feel safe at school. Im proud that we can partner with the state of Oregon on the SafeOregon program. Oregon has taken incredible steps to ensure the safety of their students.
SafeOregon is a way for students, staff or other members of the public to anonymously report and share confidential information of a threat or a potential threat to student safety. Trained staff are available 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year reached through a phone call, text message, mobile application or website. The main goal of SafeOregon is to intervene at the earliest possible point in the life of a young person who is struggling, helping them when they need it, before the situation turns into a tragedy.
SafeOregon is designed to encourage Oregon students to share and respond to anything that threatens their safety or the safety of others, anything that makes a student feel unsafe or if a student knows someone who feels unsafe. Here are a few examples: safety threats, violence, threats of violence, fights, drugs, alcohol, weapons, bullying or friends that talk about hurting themselves, harassment, intimidation, cyber bullying, or self-harm.
Jodi Sherwood, Oregon State Police SafeOregon Project Manager quote: Sprigeo has a proven solution, easily scalable to fit Oregons need for a statewide approach. We are pleased to work with a vendor who has taken the time to understand the different needs of our state and work with us on the opportunities to improve school safety in a bolder, more proactive way helping our students achieve success.
Tips can be submitted 24/7/365 through the SafeOregon.com web portal, by e-mail to tip(at)safeoregon(dot)com, through the SafeOregon mobile application (available for android or iOS device), or by calling or texting 844-472-3367. Tips are promptly analyzed and routed for the most appropriate follow up and urgency. This may be to school officials, law enforcement, community mental health programs or other appropriate local or state agencies. Tip Line staff make sure follow-up is noted and recorded.
SafeOregon the school safety tip line became Law through HB 4075 (2016), as a result of recommendations from the Oregon Task Force on School Safety charged with improving safety and security at schools across the state. The task force was established by House Bill 4087, bringing together representatives from police, fire, school administration, teachers, school boards and service districts, along with the Governors education and public safety policy advisors, and legislators. The task force is chaired by Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts and Dr. David Novotney Willamette Education Service District.
For more information, visit http://www.safeoregon.com. The resource page has more information for students, parents and for schools to sign-up. Students are encouraged to talk to their school administration about making SafeOregon available in their school.
Additionally:
It is a violation of ORS165.570 to improperly use the SafeOregon system.
Our Revolution Abroad supports Keith Ellison for DNC Chair because his grassroots vision and organizing track record are what are needed now to revitalize our Democratic Party and win back our country for the hard-working majority of the American people.
Our Revolution Abroad (ORA) today announced its enthusiastic endorsement of Rep. Keith Ellison for Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in the DNC Chair election set to take place Feb. 23-26 in Atlanta.
ORA representatives are urging progressive Democrats worldwide to lobby Democrats Abroad (DA) DNC reps to cast their ballots for Rep. Keith Ellison and his grassroots 3,143-county organizing strategy to revitalize the Democratic Party.
Our Revolution Abroad urges Keith Ellisons supporters to speak out now and to send a signal to the DNC by endorsing Keith in this survey in the next 24 hours: http://bit.ly/2l5vO8l
At 69%, an overwhelming majority of Democrats Abroad supported the progressive candidacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders in the DA Global Primary held a little over a year ago in February 2016. Our Revolution Abroad (ORA, http://www.OurRevolutionAbroad.org) is now forming as the global affiliate of Our Revolution in the United States, representing the progressive views of the overwhelming majority of Democrats living and working overseas.
Our Revolution Abroad proudly supports Rep. Keith Ellison to chair the DNC," said Travis Mooney, an ORA co-founder and country coordinator for Our Revolution UK. "His grassroots vision and organizing track record are what our Democratic Party needs to revitalize itself, and to restore economic and social justice as core principles. Keith's leadership is what we need now to win back our country for the hard-working majority of the American people.
Keiths grassroots 3,143-county organizing strategy is the only way forward for our Democratic Party following the Nov. 8th election, said Alex Gonzalez, an ORA co-founder and country coordinator for Our Revolution Japan. Keiths leadership is vital to the partys future as we seek to reclaim hundreds of seats lost in State Legislatures since 2008, win back Governorships in traditionally Democratic States and get ready to take back the U.S. House and Senate from the billionaire class and radical conservatives that now run our government.
By electing Rep. Keith Ellison as Chair of the DNC, we will send a clear message of support to people all across America who are concerned about threats to their healthcare as well as to their basic Constitutional rights from the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, said Karen Olson, an ORA co-founder and country coordinator for Our Revolution Switzerland. With Keith at the helm of the DNC, we as Democrats will organize from the ground-up in every community nationwide to defend the rights, safety and well-being of all Americans and to take back our government in the name of social and economic justice for all.
All Progressive Democrats living abroad who support Keith Ellison: now is the time to lobby your DA DNC reps to vote for Keith Ellison for DNC Chair via this quick three-minute online survey: http://bit.ly/2l5vO8l
Results for the Democrats Abroad 2016 Global Presidential Primary are available here: http://www.democratsabroad.org/global_presidential_primary_results
About Our Revolution Abroad
Our Revolution Abroad (ORA) began forming as a grassroots effort by a group of progressive Democratic activists around the world in late-2016 in the wake of the worldwide support for the presidential campaign of. Sen. Bernie Sanders. The global affiliate of Our Revolution, the movement Bernie Sanders founded to fight to transform America and advance the progressive values on which he campaigned, ORA has a growing presence in dozens of countries worldwide and represents the progressive views of a clear majority of tens of thousands of Democratic voters living and working abroad. For more information, visit: http://www.OurRevolutionAbroad.org.
Specialty Technical Consultants
Specialty Technical Publishers (STP) and Specialty Technical Consultants (STC) announce the availability of the newly updated International Audit Protocol Consortium (IAPC) EHS audit protocol for Ireland. Leading companies around the world use IAPC EHS audit protocols to understand the scope of their EHS regulatory obligations and rapidly collect, share, archive, and export audit findings in a cost effective manner. IAPC EHS audit protocols are now prepared by STC in partnership with STP and continue to focus on those national (plus, in some cases, regional or provincial) EHS requirements that have site-specific application for manufacturing operations. As a leading EHS management consulting firm with a global network of experienced EHS teaming partners, STC has indepth knowledge and technical expertise of local/regional EHS requirements.
STP and STC maintain leading-edge EHS audit protocols for more than 30 jurisdictions. The protocol documents are written in English and are available in MS Word, Adobe Acrobat and Excel formats, as well as through STPs web-based portal or can be integrated into an existing company platform. Using the protocols custom templates and advanced functionality features, auditors can easily track audit findings and manage data over time to improve compliance, risk management and safety performance. In addition, STPs formatting is compatible with leading risk management and sustainability platform providers.
Highlights of selected legislation covered in the newly updated protocol include:
"European Union (Energy Efficiency) Regulations 2013 [S.I. 426 of 2014]" were added to the General Environmental section of the Protocol. These regulations set forth requirements for energy audits including developing a program for certified energy auditors.
"European Union (Sulphur Content of Heavy Fuel Oil and Gas Oil) Regulations 2014 [S.I. No. 273 of 2014],2 was added to the protocol and gives effect to "Council Directive 1999/32/EC2" relating to a reduction in the sulfur content of certain liquid fuels. The full provisions of the "1999 Directive," including amendments are transposed under these "Regulations. Council Directive 1999/32/EC" has been repealed and replaced by "Directive (EU) 2016/802;" however, the "2014 Regulations" still reference the "1999 Directive." The "2014 Regulations" also repeal and replace the "Sulphur Content of Heavy Fuel Oil, Gas Oil, and Marine Fuels Regulations, 2008."
"Directive (EU) 2016/802 of the European Parliament and of the "Council of 11 May 2016 Relating to a Reduction in the Sulphur Content of Certain Liquid Fuels" repealed and replaced "Council Directive 1999/32/EC;" however, Ireland legislation still references the "1999 Directive." As a result, the "1999 Directive" is cited in the protocol to provide the definitions of terms used in the "European Union (Sulphur Content of Heavy Fuel Oil and Gas Oil) Regulations 2014."
"Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 of the European Parliament and of the "Council of 16 April 2014 on Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases and Repealing (EC) No 842/2006" replaced and repealed "Regulation (EC) No 842/2006" with effect from 1 January 2015. References to "Regulation (EC) No 842/2006" in the protocol shall be construed as references to this "Regulation" and read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex VIII. At the time of this update, this Regulation had not yet been transposed into the relevant National legislation which references "Regulation (EC) No 842/2006;" therefore, both regulations are binding.
"European Union (Packaging) Regulations, 2014 [S.I. No. 282 of 2014]" replaced the "Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 2007," as amended. These "Regulations" transpose "Directive 94/62/EC on Packaging and Packaging Waste," as amended, and establish requirements for producers who supply packaging to the Irish market. The "Regulations" also provide for limits on the concentration levels of certain heavy metals in packaging.
"European Union (Radioactive Substances in Drinking Water) Regulations 2016 [S.I. No. 160/2016]" establish a new regime for the protection of groundwater from radioactive substances. Irish Water and local authorities are required to monitor water supplies that are suspected to contain radioactive substances.
"European Union (Simple Pressure Vessels) Regulations, 2016 [S.I. No. 227 of 2016]" were added to the protocol to implement "Council Directive 2014/29/EU of 26 February 2016," as amended by "Council Directive 90/488/EEC of 17 September 1990," on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to simple pressure vessels. "Council Directive 2014/29/EU" was also added to the protocol.
"Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Electromagnetic Fields) Regulations 2016 [S.I. 339 of 2016]" were added to the protocol. The "Regulations" give effect to "Council Directive 2013/35/ EU" implementing minimum health and safety standards for exposure to risks arising from electromagnetic fields.
For more information on all International EHS audit protocols offered by STP and STC click here.
About Specialty Technical Publishers
Specialty Technical Publishers (STP) produces technical resource guides covering environmental, health & safety, transportation, accounting, business practices, standards and law, offering comprehensive guidance on key compliance and regulatory issues. STP is a division of Glacier Media Inc., a Canadian information communications company that provides primary and essential information in print, electronic and online media. Glaciers Business and Professional Information Group publishes directories, technical manuals, research and development materials, medical education, electronic databases, investment information and specialty websites.
About Specialty Technical Consultants
Specialty Technical Consultants, Inc. (STC) is a specialized management consulting firm working to enhance environmental health and safety (EHS) performance. Through its consulting services, STC partners with clients to strengthen management systems' design and implementation, and identifies needs and implements solutions to meet business objectives. Services provided include: EHS compliance support; risk assessment; EHS auditing; corporate responsibility and sustainability; EHS management systems development and implementation; EHS regulatory information tools; and EHS training.
STC is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Womens Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and the Supplier Clearinghouse for the California Public Utilities Commission, and as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program.
. Integrating Genomic information in the EHR is crucial for making genomics part of everyday medical care and helping to improve healthcare quality and outcomes. Dr. Andrew Ury, ActX CEO
(PRWEB) February 22, 2017 -- Precision Medicine is coming to Vancouver, WA, where The Vancouver Clinic, a large multi-specialty provider, has decided to adopt ActX Genomic Decision Support. ActX will enable The Vancouver Clinics 250 providers to use genomics in everyday patient care by integrating clinically actionable insights within the Epic workflow. For patients who choose to have this testing, their providers will be able to better personalize medication and screening choices based on each persons individual genetic profile.
The Vancouver Clinics decision to offer genomic screening is an important step toward their mission to excel at innovative patient-focused, quality-proven care.
The ability to use a patients individual genomic information as we care for them, and to consider this as we make treatment decisions about the use of medication, will make a powerful difference in our ability to give people the very best care available. We are very excited to bring these cutting-edge tools to our patients, says Marcia Sparling, M.D., Medical Director for Operations and IT at The Vancouver Clinic. This is an evolving area of medicine, and this tool will only become more powerful with time.
With the implementation of ActX, patients will be able to obtain testing, and those results show up in the electronic health record, allowing The Vancouver Clinic providers to use genomics to personalize therapies and manage hereditary risks. Every time their provider orders medication through EpicCare, ActX will alert them in real time about potential adverse reactions, drug efficacy or dosing issues based on the patient's genetics. Evidence-based decision support will also help providers take proactive steps toward minimizing actionable hereditary conditions. This functionality will allow providers to better understand the potential clinical implications of genomic findings and tailor their patient's care accordingly.
The genomic information is optimized for clinical use through close integration with The Vancouver Clinic's Electronic Health Record, which is provided by Epic. Genomic alerts and profiles are built into the provider's normal workflow, giving them the information they need, where they need it.
We are very excited to work with The Vancouver Clinic and Epic to bring genomic decision support to The Vancouver Clinic, says Dr. Andrew Ury, ActX CEO. Integrating this information with the EHR is crucial for making genomics part of everyday medical care and helping to improve healthcare quality and outcomes.
To learn more about ActX, visit http://www.actx.com. To learn more about The Vancouver Clinic, visit http://www.tvc.org.
About ActX:
ActX is the industry leader in EHR-integrated Precision Medicine. Our service helps physicians make better decisions about medical treatment, using a patients genetic information to guide therapy. Integrated into a physicians electronic health record workflow, ActX analyzes the patients genetic information in real time. To take the next step toward Precision Medicine, visit http://www.actx.com, email info(at)actx(dot)com or call 888-998-2289.
About The Vancouver Clinic:
The Vancouver Clinic (TVC) has served residents of Southwest Washington since 1936, and is the largest private multi-specialty clinic in Clark County with over 250 providers and 1,100 staff. TVC operates five clinics across Vancouver, Battle Ground and Washougal, and provides 40 medical specialties. Its mission is to be the best in the Northwest for patient-focused, quality-proven care.
Our agreement with BDO reinforces that Qvinci is providing tomorrows tools to todays accountant.
Qvinci Software today announced that it has been chosen as a preferred provider by BDO USA, LLP, one of the nations leading accounting and consulting firms.
Under the agreement, BDO will use Qvinci for Accountants to enhance the technology platform of BDODrive, the firms cloud-based solution for outsourced financial management, accounting services and business intelligence.
According to Qvinci Softwares CEO Brad Adams, BDO USAs selection of Qvinci further solidifies the companys position as the industry standard for automating the templating and authoring of reports, financial consolidation and benchmarking.
Our agreement with BDO reinforces that Qvinci is providing tomorrows tools to todays accountant. As a company, we take pride in our ability to provide ERP-like functionality to accountants without the high price tag or complexity, Adams said.
Regardless of a firms size, Qvinci for Accountants increases collectable billable hours, automates and standardizes client reporting, and optimizes efficiencies by eliminating redundant tasks and bottlenecks. Qvincis patented, cloud-based solution allows firms to provide their clients with high value services including benchmarking, KPIs and dynamic custom reporting in a fraction of the time.
The ability to customize financial reporting for our clients is key for our business. This financial reporting tool allows for consolidation with multi location companies. Qvinci is a welcomed part of the overall BDODrive solution, said Kelly Johnson, Partner and National Practice Leader for Business Services & Outsourcing.
BDODrive is an integrated, scalable solution for financial management, accounting services and business intelligence that fundamentally improves upon the traditional concept of business outsourcing. Leveraging leading-edge cloud technology and security, BDODrive provides clients with a real-time, mobile view of their businesss performance that enables them to operate more efficiently and effectively. Some of the key features delivered through BDODrive include accounting and financial management, online payments, auto bank feeds and reconciliation, business data analytics, secure document management and customized reporting of key performance indicators delivered in real-time with 24/7 mobile access. Most important, all of these features are enhanced by the active involvement of experienced BDO professionals who assist clients in identifying opportunities and mitigating risk. For more information, go to BDODrive.
_ _ _ _ _
About Qvinci Software: Qvinci is the #1 rated reporting app in the Intuit App Store and is ProAdvisor recommended. Developing and provisioning key enablement technologies is integral to Qvincis long-term strategy of providing state-of-the-art solutions to the accounting, franchise and multi-unit industries. Our patented technology supports a wide range of accounting file types including all versions of QuickBooks, Xero, MYOB and Excel. Set-up is quick and easy. Impact is immediate. For more information, visit Qvinci for Accountants, attend an overview webinar or call 844-422-5037.
About BDO USA: BDO is the brand name for BDO USA, LLP, a U.S. professional services firm providing assurance, tax, financial advisory and consulting services to a wide range of publicly traded and privately held companies. For more than 100 years, BDO has provided quality service through the active involvement of experienced and committed professionals. The firm serves clients through more than 60 offices and more than 400 independent alliance firm locations nationwide. As an independent Member Firm of BDO International Limited, BDO serves multi-national clients through a global network of more than 1,300 offices in over 150 countries. BDO USA, LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership, is the U.S. member of BDO International Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, and forms part of the international BDO network of independent member firms. BDO is the brand name for the BDO network and for each of the BDO Member Firms. For more information, please visit: bdo.com.
Home Trends & Design "We want our furniture to be a healthy addition to your home."
Dallas Market Center and ART announced the winners of the 28th annual ARTS Awards during a gala event held Friday, January 20 at the Hilton Anatole hotel and attended by 650 guests. The ARTS Awards is the premier international awards program for the home industry honoring manufacturers, retailers, designers, and sales representatives and is held each January during the Dallas Total Home & Gift Market. Awards were presented across major industry categories including manufacturing, retail, design, and sales as well as two special leadership and achievement awards.
Home Trends & Design was nominated in the Accent Furniture category for a second year running. Accent furniture continues to grow each year for HTD, and theyre proud to represent the category as an ARTS Award Winner. Terri Cravey accepted the award on behalf of co-founders Hank Cravey and Dhaval Lodhavia. We want our furniture to be a healthy addition to your home, said Mrs. Cravey. Home Trends & Design, who is a founding member of the Sustainable Furnishings Council and creator of the Mango Foundation, has its eye on the environment using eco-friendly finishes, construction techniques such as mortise and tenon joinery that reduce the need for glues, and reclaimed materials.
Winning an ARTS Award is an outstanding accomplishment, and we send our congratulations to the winners, Cindy Morris president and CEO of Dallas Market Center said. There are so many outstanding individuals and companies that continue to creatively shape the home industry, and it is our honor to recognize them for their inspiring leadership.
At this years ARTS Awards twenty industry leaders, style experts, and celebrity designers presented the awards including Kelli Ellis, Libby Langdon, Jason Harris, Caroline Hipple, and Jan Barboglio. Also in attendance were the ARTS Awards judges, the ARTS Awards committee members from ART, and members of the ARTS Awards nominating panel.
By recognizing industry innovation and leadership, we hope to encourage growth and ingenuity within the community, Sharon Davis, executive director of ART, said. The ARTS Awards are an excellent way to honor and inspire those who work so diligently to advance the home industry. In addition, honoring two business legends serves as an inspiration to the next generation.
For a complete list of the 28th ARTS Awards Winners, please click here.
The 28th annual ARTS Awards are sponsored by enLIGHTenment, Gifts & Decorative Accessories, Giftware News, HFN, Home Fashion Forecast, Home & Textiles Today, Home Accents Today, Interior Design Society, Lyon Credit Services, Residential Lighting and the Sustainable Furnishings Council.
About Home Trends & Design
Home Trends & Design is an Austin-based furniture manufacturer that is committed to preserving the environment through the use of sustainable hardwoods, reclaimed materials and eco-friendly finishing techniques. All of HTDs products are handcrafted from solid wood to create a home furnishings collection that represents some of the most beautiful, carefully constructed pieces on the market today. For more information, please visit htddirect.com.
About ART
ART is the creative home furnishings network representing manufacturers, retailers, representatives and other individuals and companies interested in promoting and enhancing the market position of the home furnishings industry. Each year ART sponsors programs such as the ART conference, regional educational seminars, the ART card and the ARTS Awards. The ART website is available at accessoriesresourceteam.org.
About the ARTS Awards
The ARTS Awards is the premier international awards program dedicated to the home industry. Up to 27 categories exist under the headings Manufacturer, Retailer, Product Designer, Interior Designer, Sales Representative, Rising Star, Green, Legendary Leadership and Academy of Achievement. Anyone in the industry can nominate including manufacturers, retailers, sales representatives, designers, suppliers, consultants and other industry professionals. Academy of Achievement, Rising Star and Legendary Leadership honorees are selected by an ARTS Awards committee each year. Companies that have won an ARTS Award five times are inducted into the Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame members are: Beatriz Ball Collection, Arteriors Home, BJs Home Accents, C.S. Wo & Sons, Distinctive Designs International Inc., Feizy Rugs, Fine Art Lamps, Global Views, Natural Decorations Inc., Palecek, Paragon, Schonbek Worldwide Lighting, and Seasonal Living. The ART website is available at dallasmarketcenter.com/artsawards.
Historically, African American/Black students have had limited access to higher education in the field of medicine. Doctors On Board provides students with their first critically important steps towards managing their journey to becoming doctors. Past News Releases RSS
Physicians Medical Forum (PMF) aims to expand the pipeline and the number of African American/Black students who want to become physicians. PMF also provides a network of support that encourages medical students and residents to pursue their careers as physicians in the Oakland/San Francisco Northern California, Bay Area. PMFs mission is to improve the delivery of culturally competent medical care to better meet the healthcare needs of the community-at-large. To that end, on Saturday, March 18th, the non-profit organization will host its Seven Annual "Doctors On Board Pipeline Program (DOB), a day-long, tuition-free, information-filled series of workshops on admissions, exam prep, writing personal statements and mastering interviewing skills, and mentoring sessions with physicians that inspire the growth of African American/Black, Native American and other underrepresented minority students to attend medical schools and residency programs.
Stalfana A. Bello, M.P.A., Physicians Medical Forum Executive Director, stated, "The Doctors On Board Pipeline Program is a one of a kind program that pulls together major resources to focus students on becoming physicians. The beauty of DOB is that almost all of the students will be the First Generation in their families to become doctors or pharmacists."
Dr. Albert L. Brooks, PMF President and Chief of Medical Services at Washington Hospital Healthcare System in Fremont, CA said, Historically, African American/Black students have had limited access to higher education in the field of medicine. This remains to be a startling truth, even today. Doctors On Board provides students with their first critically important steps towards successfully managing their exciting journey to becoming doctors.
Many of Northern California's most prominent physicians from medical schools in Northern California and nationwide, from Kaiser Permanente, the Sinkler Miller Medical Association and the Students National Medical Association (SNMA) Chapters from UCSF, UC Davis and Stanford Schools of Medicine and others will provide students with an innovative opportunity to explore varied facets of medicine and provide information about medical school preparation, specialties field, and life as a physician.
Physicians Medical Forum is supported by The California Wellness Foundation, Kaiser Foundation Hospital Fund for Community Benefit Programs at the East Bay Community Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, Wells Fargo, and the National Medical Fellowships.
Segments of the DOB Program will include:
Workshop on admissions, financial aid, SAT and MCAT Prep Information
Workshop on Writing the Best Personal Statements and Outstanding Interview Skills
Speed Mentoring Session with more than 50 physicians and medical student of varying specialties from throughout the Northern California Bay Area
Networking/mentoring luncheon with doctors, residents and medical students
Mock Primary Care Clinics with real patients
Mock Suture/Surgery Clinic Training Session
Suture Knot Tying Basic Skills Training
Workshop for parents and families of future doctors
Students will be awarded Certificates of Completion followed by a reception (at the end of program)
Students who wish to take part in this innovative, inter-active, one-day program may learn more and register by visiting http://www.PMFMD.com. Student Applications may be submitted online no later than 5:00 p.m., Friday, March 3, 2017. Parents, guardians and adult family member of students who are accepted into the program may also register at the website to attend the workshop, Guide to Parents/Family of Future Doctors.
WHO: Physicians Medical Forum (PMF)
WHAT: Doctors On Board Pipeline Program (Pre-medical Pipeline School Conference)
WHEN: Saturday, March 18, 2016 | 6:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
Registration & breakfast (6:30 A.M. 7:30 A.M.); Workshops, mentoring, lunch, mock clinics (7:30 A.M.-4:00 P.M.);
Workshop: Guide for Parents/Family of Future Doctors (2:00 - 4:00 P.M.);
Certificate of Completion Award Ceremony and Reception (4:00 - 5:00 P.M.)
WHERE: Claremont A Fairmont Hotel | 41 Tunnel Road, Berkeley, CA
Leading physicians, faculty, residents, medical students and business professionals will instruct, mentor and network with the program's student participants. They will include representatives from the PMF Board of Directors, Kaiser Permanente, Sinkler Miller Medical Association (SMMA), Student National Medical Association (SNMA), UCSF, UC Davis, and Stanford Schools of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Well Fargo, UCSF Office of Diversity and Outreach, Sutter Health, Washington Hospital Healthcare System, Highland Hospital and San Francisco General Hospital, US Navy Medical Service Corps (partial list).
ABOUT PHYSICIANS MEDICAL FORUM (PMF):
The Physicians Medical Forum is an Oakland, CA-based non-profit 501(c)(3) whose mission is to encourage recruitment and retention of African American/Black physicians to eliminate health disparities; improve access to care; and maintain diversity within the profession, thereby, improving the quality of healthcare for the community overall.
PMF programs and initiatives include: Community Health Ambassadors Internship Program; Doctors Rock Workshop Series on Mentoring, Exam Prep, Interview/Personal Statement Skills Clinics; Physicians mentoring and networking events, studies on physicians retention and recruitment; Visiting Elective/Visiting Clerkship Resident Scholarships, physician education and development; providing scholarships for medical students and residents; networking with legislators and medical organizations; and community outreach programs.
EDITORS: The following Doctors On Board Pipeline Program participants are immediately available for pre-event interviews:
Stalfana A. Bello, M.P.A, PMF Executive Director & Conference Coordinator
Albert L. Brooks, M.D., PMF President
Warren J. Strudwick, M.D., PMF Chief Financial Officer
J. Renee Navarro, PharmD., M.D., Vice-Chancellor, UCSF School of Medicine, PMF Board
Sandra R. Weatherby, M.D., Internal Medicine, Kaiser Permanente
Italo Brown, M.D., M.P.H., Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
Justin McCummings, MEd. GME & Office of Physician Recruitment, Boston Medical Center
To arrange interviews, contact:
Stalfana A. Bello, M.P.A. | 510.562.5560 | bhpubrel(at)aol(dot)com
PHYSICIANS MEDICAL FORUM
2201 Broadway, Suite 212 Oakland, CA 94612 510.562-5560 p http://www.pmfmd.com
Corra Group is based in El Segundo, California," said Corra Group Co-Founder, Gordon Basichis. "With clients in the information security and defense industries, we want to offer the best service for employment screening."
Corra Group attended the recent RSA Cybersecurity Conference, in San Francisco, California. The Conference featured 15 keynote presentations, more than 700 speakers across 500+ sessions and more than 550 companies on the expo floors, all dealing with information security and cybersecurity.
Corra Group has clients in the information security and cybersecurity space, said Corra Group Co-Founder, Gordon Basichis. Being headquartered in California, and especially in El Segundo, California, one of the central business centers for defense, aerospace, and advanced technology, it is imperative we stay up on the latest innovations in this expanding industrial space.
Some of the companies exhibiting at the show are our neighbors here in Southern California, said Basichis. Some of the entities at the show are iconic entities in the American corporate environment, while others are newcomers to this industry. As a background checking company that provides both employment screening and the due diligence process, we are always looking to engage prospective clients.
Basichis pointed out that Corra Group offers a full spectrum of background checks that are relevant to the technology and defense industries. He noted that Corra Group services companies on a national and global level.
One of our specialties is helping employers fulfill their compliance mandates with employment screening packages for government contracts. We have a thorough understanding of the background checks an employer requires to qualify for federal and state contracts where the job itself contains sensitive and critical information.
It is no secret that we are in a volatile environment where there is a near-constant rise in threats to our sensitive data, arising from everything from ransomware to data theft, said Basichis. As such, cybersecurity will continue to expand and with it we will most likely see quantum leaps in machine learning, which more than likely will dramatically change our world. It is but one of the reasons Corra Group obtains a comprehensive understanding of this space, the advances being made, including the latest tactics, the need for intelligence sharing, and the key focal point in the coming year.
Basichis noted that it is no mystery this years RSA conference had record crowds of some forty-three thousand people. I dont think there is any company anymore that isnt touched in some way by threats to its information, said Basichis. This is our present and this will be our future. This is why Corra Group will be a key provide of background checks to this industry.
BACKGROUND: Corra operates as Corra Group and Corra Global Research and specializes in employment screening and corporate research and due diligence. It is one of the few companies that will answer the phone. You can review the website at http://www.corragroup.com.
Bucks Locavore ~ Buy Local Event 2017 Patrick Kennedy of Superior Woodcraft says, Its important to become informed about the local independent businesses in your community. These local independent businesses are the backbone of our communities.
Doylestown, PA-February 21, 2017-The business community is invited to attend a unique networking opportunity hosted by Superior Woodcraft. The 8th annual event, celebrates and promotes independent, locally owned businesses in and around Bucks County, PA featuring over 35 of the regions top food and beverage purveyors.
Superior Woodcraft, Inc., nationally-acclaimed custom cabinetmaker once again hosts this exceptional networking event showcasing locally produced products from in and around Bucks County, Pa. Over seven hundred guests are expected to gather at Superior Woodcraft on Thursday, February 23rd, from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Attendance is free and open to the public, all businesses as well as media organizations.
Guests attending the Bucks Locavore Event will relish in amazing cuisine inside a historical factory building where custom cabinets are handcrafted. Business owners are invited to come network and strengthen their business partnerships while learning more about the exceptional quality and diversity of locally available goods, products and services.
Over thirty five local producers will be offering scrumptious samples of their products, including Bills Best BBQ, Board Room Spirits, Buckingham Valley Vineyard, Bucks County Brewery, Bucks County Cookie Co., Bucks County Preserves, Castle Valley Mill, Confection Perfection, Corporate Source Catering, Crooked Eye Brewery, Dont Worry BEE Healthy, Doylestown Brewing Co., Doylestown Food Market, Fulper Farms, Graziano Products, Hewn Spirits, Homestead Coffee Roasters, Just Food, Karamoor Estate Vineyard, Lauries Chocolates, Locavore, Masey and Leigh, McCaffreys, Ninas Waffles & Ice Cream, Offbeat Gourmet, Olive Oil Etc., One Sweet Baker, Perfect Day Coffee, Qs Cookies, Rose Bank Winery, Saucy Sues, Sole Kambucha, Sweetahs, Sweet Victory Gluten & Dairy Free Treats, The Brown Soap Company, The Market at Del Val/Shady Brook, Wrightstown Farmers Market, Wycombe Vineyard
Superior Woodcraft is committed to keeping the local economy strong by hosting the Bucks Locavore event each year. Patrick Kennedy of Superior Woodcraft says, Its important to become informed about the local independent businesses in your community. These local independent businesses are the backbone of our communities. In many different ways local businesses enrich our daily lives. The success and quality of our communities is directly tied to the success of local business. The Bucks Locavore ~ Buy Local event strives to bring this message to the forefront of everyones mind.
The Bucks Locavore ~ Buy Local event offers awareness to the community of what's available to them in their own backyard. By sampling and ultimately purchasing these goods it reminds people how crucial it is to reinvest in the local economy in order to see the infrastructure and public assets continue to thrive and in turn, makes our community a better place to live. By participating and attending the event it benefits consumers, producers and everyone who lives in and around Bucks County.
About Superior Woodcraft, Inc.
Superior Woodcraft, in Doylestown, PA, designs and handcrafts heirloom-quality cabinetry for the whole home with sustainable methods and materials, providing beauty, utility and peace of mind. Family owned and operated since 1967. http://www.superiorwoodcraft.com
Contact:
Mr. Patrick Kennedy
pkennedy(at)superiorwoodcraft(dot)com
Superior Woodcraft, Inc.
160 N. Hamilton Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
215-348-9942
For more information or to RSVP, visit us on Facebook- Bucks Locavore
We take great pride in our people and culture and are truly honored to be recognized as having one of the best company cultures in America.
Informz, Inc., was recently ranked on Entrepreneur's Top Company Cultures list, a comprehensive ranking of U.S.-based businesses exhibiting high-performance cultures created in partnership with culture management software and service provider CultureIQ. The Top Company Cultures list has placed Informz as 34th in the medium-sized company category. Informz is recognized for creating an exceptional culture that drives employee engagement, exceeds employee expectations and directly impacts company success.
We take great pride in our people and culture and are truly honored to be recognized as having one of the best company cultures in America by Entrepreneur and CultureIQ, said Joe Tyler, CEO of Informz. Building a great company culture takes hard work and dedication to fostering an environment of continuous feedback, creating a sense of community, and collaborating towards a common goal of driving great results for our customers.
Informz cultivates a fun, professional, and friendly environment where employees are passionate about the Informz mission: to turn all clients into Superfans. With bagel Mondays and pizza Fridays, monthly parties, employee recognition programs, annual two-on-one meetings with CEO Joe Tyler and COO Terry Nawrot, and a comprehensive benefits program, employee satisfaction is a top priority for senior management.
"Great company cultures dont happen on their own. Theyre the result of great leadership, and a conscious effort to make everyone on a team feel engaged and important, says Jason Feifer, editor in chief of Entrepreneur. The honorees on our 2017 list are proof that strong cultures make even stronger companies. Entrepreneurs at all levels can draw inspiration from them.
The full list, presenting a total of 153 companies categorized as small, medium-sized or large companieswith 25-49 employees, 50-99 employees and more than 100 employees respectively is available on Entrepreneur.com. Core insights, behaviors and attributes that have helped to shape the high-performing cultures presented by the top companies are shared alongside practices to help other companies develop their own workplace environments.
The rankings for all companies were determined using CultureIQ's methodology for measuring high-performance cultures. Employees at each company received a survey of multiple-choice questions and the answers were used to assess a company's strength across 10 core components of culturecollaboration, innovation and communication to name a few. The companies with the highest scores became the Top Company Culture list in ranking order. To be considered for the ranking, a company must have at least 25 employees, have been founded before Jan. 1, 2015 and be headquartered in the U.S.
To view Informz in the full ranking, visit entm.ag/TopCultures
About Informz
http://www.informz.com
Informz is a leading provider of digital marketing solutions to the association and nonprofit industries. The Informz solution provides customers with the tools and expertise to easily and cost-effectively promote their brands, stay in touch, generate and analyze data about their markets, manage information about their members and constituents, and receive valuable feedback to refine future action. The Informz portfolio of solutions includes email marketing, marketing automation and consulting services.
For more information, visit http://www.informz.com, follow us on Twitter at @Informz and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/Informz.
ABOUT ENTREPRENEUR MEDIA INC.
For nearly 40 years, Entrepreneur Media Inc. has been serving the entrepreneurial community providing comprehensive coverage of business and personal success through original content and events. Entrepreneur magazine, Entrepreneur.com and publishing imprint Entrepreneur Press provide solutions, information, inspiration and education read by millions of entrepreneurs and small business owners worldwide.
To learn more, visit entrepreneur.com. Follow us on Twitter at @Entrepreneur and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/entmagazine.
About CultureIQ
CultureIQ is a platform that enables organizations to make positive, measurable changes to their culture, and a community that connects peers and experts around the topic of culture. The CultureIQ platform helps companies actively manage their culture through an ongoing process of collecting, understanding and responding to internal feedback to drive employee engagement, retention and success.
Based in New York City, CultureIQ was founded in 2013 by Greg Besner, an adjunct professor at New York University Stern School of Business and one of the original investors in Zappos.com. CultureIQ is backed by a group of notable investors including Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Founder Collective and Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsiehs VTF Capital.
For more information, visit http://www.cultureiq.com, follow us on Twitter at @CultureIQ and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/CultureIQ.
###
The Libman Company, an American manufacturer of household and commercial cleaning products, has donated over four thousand of its products to 83 non-profit organizations across the country including 46 Pets for the Elderly partner animal shelters, all the American Cancer Societys 36 Hope Lodges, and the Eastern Illinois Food Bank. The donation is just one of many the company makes throughout the year to charities and non-profit organizations that can benefit from the companys many cleaning products.
We are extremely grateful to Libman for their generous donation to our participating shelters. Of course, it is critical to keep the shelters clean for the health and well-being of the animals, staff and visitors and we value Libmans generosity, said Susan Kurowski, executive director at the Pets for the Elderly Foundation.
We are so grateful to Libman for providing this generous donation, said Susan Brinkley, director, Hope Lodge Expansion & Operations. There is never a charge to the patient to stay at one of the Societys Lodges but it does take resources to keep the Lodges operating and donations like Libmans help us to continue to provide a nurturing, comfortable environment for patients during their stay. Not having to worry about lodging allows them to focus on what is most importantfighting cancer, said Brinkley.
Libmans donations offer our clients access to great products that they often forgo since they operate on limited budgets, said Kristen Bosch, VP of development and community partnerships. Were so grateful to Libman for their continued generosity to Eastern Illinois Foodbank.
We recognize the numerous organizations that are positively impacting the lives of humans and animals every day, said Andrew Libman, president of The Libman Company. These organizations are valued as an integral part of their communities and we are proud to support them, said Libman.
About the Pets for the Elderly Foundation
The Pets for the Elderly Foundation is an organization that assists with the cost of adoption of a companion animal by a senior citizen - thus reducing the number of animals in shelters and providing companionship, health and happiness to senior citizens. Pets for the Elderly works with 46 participating animal shelters across the U.S.
About Hope Lodge
Last year Hope Lodge facilities across the country provided more than 456,000 nights of free lodging, saving cancer patients an estimated $37 million in hotel expenses. Altogether these facilities nationwide serve about 24,000 patients and their caregivers yearly. Hope Lodge locations vary in size, but each Lodge offers a private bath and sleeping accommodations for two (one guest undergoing cancer treatment and one caregiver). There are also community dining, laundry, kitchen and recreational areas.
About Eastern Illinois Food Bank
The Eastern Illinois Food Bank is a Springfield-based regional, non-profit food distributor serving 150 agencies in 21 counties in central Illinois. The Eastern Illinois Foodbank collects food from manufacturers, grocery stores, individuals and others to efficiently distribute food resources to food pantries, soup kitchens, and residential programs. It distributes more than 9 million pounds of food annually.
About the Libman Company
The Libman Company is a family-owned company that has been making quality cleaning tools since 1896. The company manufactures products from brooms and mops to more specialized tools for kitchen and bathroom cleaning and industrial uses. Libman proudly manufactures most of their products in the United States, including the companys well-known Wonder Mop. For more information about the Libman Company, please visit http://www.libman.com.
The first-ever National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day is being celebrated throughout the country today, as organizations, advocates, and individuals join together to increase recognition about the risks of heart valve disease (HVD) and improve detection and treatment access to ultimately save lives.
Today we mark a nationwide movement to raise awareness about a disease that has not received the attention it demands. Considering that heart valve disease affects more than five million Americans, public awareness of the condition is shockingly low. A recent survey from the Alliance for Aging Research found that three out of four adults know little to nothing about valve disease, says Susan Peschin, MHS, Alliance for Aging Research president and CEO. The good news is that, while heart valve disease can be serious, innovative treatment saves lives and enables most patients to enjoy significant improvements in their quality of life. In this case, education and awareness have the potential to make a tremendous difference.
National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day activities begin with a 12 noon EST briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Expert speakers include: Gary H. Gibbons, M.D., director, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH, and Joseph E. Bavaria, M.D., former president, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. It will be moderated by Peschin. The briefing will also be live-streamed here.
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons is honored to partner with the Alliance for Aging Research on the first-ever National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day, says Bavaria. This collaboration represents an annual opportunity to provide potentially life-saving information to millions of patients with heart valve disease. Educating patients about the signs and symptoms of valve diseasesuch as persistent shortness of breath or dizzinesswill help open new conversations with primary care doctors and lead to earlier treatments.
The briefing also features Dennis and Ann Dobkowski, American Heart Association Heart Valve Ambassadors. They will share their personal experience with the condition.
We are so excited to come out and speak on Capitol Hill about our story, says Dennis. National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day offers a forum to encourage people to be aware about the dangers of heart valve disease. People often have symptoms like I had and think it is connected to old age. But they can be the warning signs for heart valve disease. We want people to listen to their heart and get it checked out with their doctor. It could be life-saving. In my case, it was, and every new day is a gift for me.
The days activities conclude with a Twitter chat on heart valve disease at 4 p.m. EST. The chat can be followed at #ValveDiseaseDay.
National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day centers around four key messages:
Listen to your body. HVD, which disrupts blood flow in the heart by affecting how a valve opens or closes, is not always serious, but can lead to major complications, including death. It can often be detected when a health care professional, while listening to the heart, hears a heart murmur. Follow-up testing may be needed to confirm the diagnosis.
Know your risk factors. Age is the greatest risk factor for HVD. Unfortunately, the symptoms older adults with heart valve disease experience are too often dismissed as a normal part of aging. One in eight people ages 75 and older are estimated to have moderate to severe HVD. If someone has had a previous heart condition, they could be at higher risk for valve disease.
Get your heart checked regularly. During regular check-ups, doctors often detect the early warning signs of HVD. Valve disease can usually be successfully treated with valve repair and replacement in patients of all ages.
Spread the word and raise awareness. Through education efforts such as National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day, strides can be made against the disease.
The campaign was initiated by the Alliance for Aging Research and has been joined by 20 national partners. It is also supported by a resolution (H.Res.146) introduced by U.S. Rep. Tony Cardenas. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has listed the awareness day on its National Health Observances Calendar.
National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day offers a website at ValveDiseaseDay.org, along with a Twitter page, @ValveDiseaseDay. A video news release giving more information about National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day can be viewed and downloaded here.
The Alliances activities around National Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day were conducted with unrestricted educational support from Edwards Lifesciences Foundation.
About the Alliance for Aging Research
The Alliance for Aging Research is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the pace of scientific discoveries and their application in order to vastly improve the universal human experience of aging and health. The Alliance was founded in 1986 in Washington, D.C., and has since become a valued advocacy organization and a respected influential voice with policymakers. Visit http://www.agingresearch.org for more information.
###
"These international companies showcase the wide range of remote job opportunities available around the world that now exist for job seekers," said Sara Sutton Fell, Founder and CEO of FlexJobs
February 22, 2017 To help job seekers tap into the global job market, FlexJobs has identified the top ten international companies to watch for remote jobs in 2017. These companies are internationally-headquartered in countries such as Australia, China, Germany, India, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and are included on FlexJobs Top 100 Companies to Watch for Remote Jobs in 2017 list. This list was based on an analysis of over 47,000 companies and their telecommuting job posting histories in the FlexJobs database during 2016.
A forecast of employment trends by the World Economic Forum called flexible work, including virtual teams, "one of the biggest drivers of transformation" in the workplace. Advances in technology have made many jobs compatible with remote work, and knowledge workers are increasingly comfortable working from a variety of locations. Over the past decade, a rising number of young professionals in particular have leveraged technology to work remotely and live a nomadic lifestyle.
These international companies showcase the wide range of remote job opportunities available around the world that now exist for job seekers, said Sara Sutton Fell, Founder and CEO of FlexJobs. With 100 percent telecommuting the most desirable form of flexible work, and the digital nomad population growing in popularity, smart companies are seizing the changing workplace landscape by making strategic hiring decisions that leverages this interest in remote work. Millennials and other groups that value mobility and work flexibility will continue driving this trend, and forward-thinking companies that integrate remote jobs into their workforce will gain access to talent from around the world.
The ten companies below span industries, including computer and IT, education, healthcare, travel and others, and hire for a variety of positions, such as financial analyst, online teacher, biostatician and travel consultant.
1. Allergan
Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland
A global pharmaceutical company, Allergan develops, manufactures, and commercializes
medical devices and biologic products.
Medical Science Liaison
Regional Pharmcovigilance Director
Business Development Manager
2. Appen
Headquarters: Chatswood, Australia
Appen serves a global clientele with search, text, and speech technologies, including voice
recognition and social media services.
Social Media Evaluator
Linguist Consultant - Lao
Social Media Evaluator
3. BCD Travel
Headquarters: Utrecht, Netherlands
BCD Travel is a travel consultant company that helps individual travelers, procurement
managers, and executives meet travel and leisure goals.
Corporate Travel Consultant
Meeting Coordinator Groups
Director Global Business Solutions and Technology Strategy
4. Cactus Communications
Headquarters: Mumbai, India
Cactus Communications offers solutions including writing and editing services for clients in
the academic, pharmaceutical, and medical device sectors.
Simplified Chinese to English Translator
Freelance Writing - Medicine
5. Eaton
Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland
Eaton is a global power management company specializing in energy-efficient solutions in
electricity, mechanics, hydraulics, automotive, and hybrid power sectors, among others.
Director, Architecture, Internet of Things
Area Sales Manager Rail
Sales Engineer - Electrical Products
6. hibu
Headquarters: Reading, United Kingdom
hibu is a digital marketing and advertising company specializing in website development and
management, SEO, print and digital directories, and social media campaign management,
among other services.
Account Representative - Outside Sales
Advertising Consultant
7. Real Staffing
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Real Staffing provides staffing and recruitment solutions to the biotech, pharmaceutical,
healthcare IT, and medical device sectors.
Network Security Specialist
Biostatistician
Technical Writer
8. SAP
Headquarters: Walldorf, Germany
An enterprise application software company, SAP specializes in business intelligence,
analytics, sustainability, and innovation.
Customer Engagement Executive
Portfolio and Solutioning, Senior Consultant
Cloud Solution Architect, Principal
9. VIPKID
Headquarters: Beijing, China
A provider of English language learning services, VIPKID works to offer the American
elementary school experience to students in China.
Online ESL Teacher
10. Worldpay
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Worldpay provides global payment processing on-site, online, and via mobile devices.
Bank Alliance Account Executive
Financial Analyst
Corporate Business Sales Executive
Job seekers can also visit Remote.co to see additional international companies, such as Canonical, DVMelite and Envato currently hiring remote workers. For more information, please visit https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/top-international-companies-for-remote-jobs/ or contact Kathy Gardner at kgardner(at)flexjobs(dot)com.
About FlexJobs
FlexJobs is the leading online service for professionals seeking telecommuting, flexible schedule, part-time, and freelance jobs. With flexible job listings in over 50 career categories, and opportunities ranging from entry-level to executive and freelance to full-time, FlexJobs offers job seekers a safe, easy, and efficient way to find professional and legitimate flexible job listings. Having helped over two million people in their job searches, FlexJobs has appeared on CNN, CNBC and Marketplace Money and in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TIME, Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company and hundreds of other trusted media outlets. FlexJobs' Founder & CEO Sara Sutton Fell has also launched two additional partner sites, Remote.co and 1 Million for Work Flexibility, to help provide education and awareness about the viability and benefits of remote working and work flexibility. Sutton Fell is also the creator of The TRaD* Works Conference (*Telecommuting, Remote, & Distributed), dedicated to helping companies leverage the benefits of telecommuting, remote and distributed teams.
TAKE Supply Chain (TSC), a division of TAKE Solutions Ltd., today announced that it has formally launched the TAKE Digital Supply Chain Initiative in partnership with Nick Vyas, Executive Director and Professor of Clinical Data Science and Operations, USC Marshall Center for Global Supply Chain Management. This joint research project aims to evaluate the impact of key emerging technologies identified by Gartner at its 2016 Supply Chain Conference in Phoenix.
Through this initiative graduate students at the USC Marshall Center for Global Supply Chain Management will apply Six Sigma practices and techniques to determine if and how transformative new technologies such as Blockchain, Augmented Reality, Predictive Analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), Digital Supplier Networks, and Conversation Based User Interfaces can be effectively applied to remove data silos across supply chain organizations.
In todays world, supply chains typically rely on multiple technology systems to manage their procurement processes, warehouses, logistics, and enterprise resource planning processes in addition to the manual, or paper-based, business processes. These are typically spread across multiple functional and geographic silos. Despite attempts at system convergence, these silos still do not share information well, and that continues to challenge supply chain performance and efficiency, explained Steve Rice, director, product group at TAKE Supply Chain. However, at TSC we believe that these information silos can be removed via the Digital Supply Chain initiative to provide full data transparency and real-time accessibility across entire operations, thus improving agility and cost effectiveness of entire supply chains as market economics change.
Throughout the duration of the project, USC students will evaluate whether or not these emerging technologies are potentially transformative and how they can drive improved collaboration and decision making across supply chain environments. At the conclusion of this project, TAKE will introduce a new Digital Supply Chain Roadmap that aligns with the USC teams findings. The company will then commit a set of global resources to the development of globally relevant solutions that will deliver increased accuracy, visibility and responsiveness across its customers supply chains.
For 20 years, TAKE has been on the cutting-edge of supply chain innovation and we have a clear understanding of the challenges facing global supply chains today. We are excited to partner with the USC Marshall Center for Global Supply Chain Management to prove the viability of emerging technologies. Were confident this project will help us quickly define new solutions to address our customers supply chain challenges, added Brad Huff, executive vice president and general manager, TAKE Supply Chain.
Girls in Tech logo In introducing a TED-style of presentation, were excited to help conference participants learn practical skills to further their careers in technology, said Adriana Gascoigne, Founder and CEO of Girls in Tech.
Girls in Tech, a global non-profit dedicated to eradicating gender disparity in technology, today announced the return of Catalyst Conference to San Francisco on June 20 - 22. The 40+ speakers will aim to educate and engage -- in a practical manner -- with conference attendees on topics including trends, design thinking, science, leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, venture capital, politics, and diversity. Attendees of previous sold-out Catalyst Conferences have been Venture Capitalists, tech entrepreneurs and employees, journalists, and students.
In introducing a TED-style of presentation, were excited to help conference participants learn practical skills to further their careers in technology, said Adriana Gascoigne, Founder and CEO of Girls in Tech. A key difference with Catalyst will be the accessibility of the conference, which will be in San Francisco and cost only $199, if you buy your ticket early -- a fraction of the cost of similar conferences. While the conference is big, it will also be intimate and interactive, with candid presentations from diverse leaders.
The three-day Catalyst Conference will be held at Bespoke in San Francisco and expects over 1,000 attendees. Other speakers include, Heidi Roizen, Operating Partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Connie Guglielmo, Editor-in-Chief of CNET, Lisa Falzone, CEO of Revel Systems, and Nidhi Gupta, VP of Engineering of Hired. The format will be split into keynotes, workshops, fireside chats, and networking events.
"At Box, we have a shared interest with Girls in Tech's mission of ending gender disparity across the technology industry," said Aaron Levie, cofounder and CEO of Box. "I'm delighted to join the impressive lineup of speakers at this year's Catalyst Conference in San Francisco's backyard to help empower women who are passionate about tech to advance their careers in STEM fields."
The last time Catalyst Conference was in San Francisco was in 2012. Catalyst Conference is sponsored by Cisco, Automattic, RocketSpace, LoopUp, and Athena Alliance. More info about Catalyst, including speakers, agenda, and tickets, can be found here: http://catalystsf.girlsintech.org/
About Girls in Tech
Girls in Tech (GIT) is a global non-profit focused on the engagement, education and empowerment of girls and women who are passionate about technology. Adriana Gascoigne founded GIT in 2007 to create a support framework to help women advance their careers in STEM fields. GIT aims to accelerate the growth of innovative women entering into the high-tech industry and building startups. GIT achieves this through the creation of proprietary, innovative programming and strategic global partnerships.
With headquarters in San Francisco and more than 50,000 members located around the globe, GIT relies on volunteer efforts to lead each of the 60 local chapters. Programming and events vary by chapter based on local interests and needs. GIT is not just for professional women. It exists for anyone with an interest in technology, startups and providing women with a platform for growth. But GIT operates with the spirit of the girl within all of usfearless, lively and determined. For the latest updates, read GITs blog or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.
Contact:
Kevin Leu
kevin.leu(at)girlsintech(dot)org
Susan Shaffer wants to share the rewards of art by sharing with as many other women as possible.
The Franklin County Visitors Bureau invites the public to celebrate five years of business with Joyful Arts Studio, 21 East Baltimore Street in Greencastle. As year number five concludes on March 9, 2017, Susan Shaffer, the owner of Joyful Arts Studio, is still as passionate about art and its ability to bring joy to life as when she opened the art studio and gallery. Joyful Arts Studio is truly a labor of love for Shaffer, and it is personal, too. I believe art transformed my life by giving me self-confidence, self-esteem, and helping me learn to love myself, she says. With such a powerful impact on her own life, Shaffer wants to share the rewards of art by sharing with as many other women as possible. It is this foundation coupled with a nurturing environment that carries Joyful Arts Studio into year six.
Join Joyful Arts Studio on Friday, March 10, from 1 PM to 6 PM, and Saturday, March 11, from 10 AM to 4 PM, for a Student Art Exhibit with an artist reception from 1 PM to 4 PM. Relax and enjoy the creativity of others, make a memory in the photo booth, and sign the Joys and Gratitude Journal. The public is invited to view the artwork and vote for the Peoples Choice Award as they imagine what adding art to their own life will do.
Joyful Arts Studio, which is non-franchise and independently owned, offers a variety of original classes year-round. Some are simply an evening art project, like the upcoming Creating Your Way to JOY! On Friday, February 24. Others are month-long, exploring art theory. Theory classes accept a variety of levels because one-on-one instruction gives an individualized opportunity to learn and grow. Instruction covers a variety of mediums, such as watercolor, oil, acrylic, pencil drawing, batik silk scarf, wine glass painting, pencil drawing, and mixed media. For more on upcoming classes, visit http://www.joyfulartstudio.com. Joyful Arts Studio offers youth classes, also.
The Franklin County Visitors Bureau invites all to explore Franklin County PA and enjoy the trails of history, arts and architecture, recreation, natural beauty, fresh foods and the warm hospitality of communities like Chambersburg, Greencastle, Mercersburg, Shippensburg, and Waynesboro. Franklin County PA is located just north of the Mason Dixon Line and is an easy drive to Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Discover more. Plan a visit soon at ExploreFranklinCountyPA.com or by contacting 866.646.8060.
Netcapital, the private securities platform, today launched its comprehensive fundraising and investing platform. The platform blends key infrastructure inspired by public markets with the flexibility of internet fundraising, providing growing companies with the tools they need to rocket through the funding process and helping investors stay engaged. Using Netcapitals standardized process, entrepreneurs can avoid the drudgery of fundraising and focus on the excitement they are creating, while investors can join in with a few clicks and invest as little as $99.
Thanks to changes in regulation that took effect in 2016, entrepreneurs may now advertise certain offerings over the internet and accept investments from non-accredited investors. Netcapitals scalable technology helps entrepreneurs leverage their personal network to unlock this new source of funding from friends, family, customers, and followers.
In addition, entrepreneurs can reach a broad network of accredited investors to close larger sums. Netcapital streamlines their experience with easy access to legal agreements, documents for due diligence, and an e-commerce-like purchase process.
After pounding the pavement to scrape together seed rounds for a couple of companies, I knew there had to be a better way, said Jason Frishman, Founder and CEO of Netcapital. When there wasnt, I knew we had to build it.
Netcapitals comprehensive platform offers entrepreneurs everything they need to raise capital at any stage of the growth process by bringing together several partners and services, including:
Automated completion of SEC forms and legal documents, reducing the need for major legal fees in typical circumstances
An SEC and FINRA registered funding portal to facilitate 4(a)(6) offerings for companies raising a friends-and-family or seed round
Broker-dealer relationships to facilitate multiple types of offerings, including simultaneous 4(a)(6) and 506(c) offerings, for multimillion-dollar fundraising
An escrow service to make sure funds are dealt with fairly and safely
A transfer agent to manage the new class of securities, removing some burden from entrepreneurs and improving recordkeeping for investors
A custodian to hold securities and exercise voting rights for investors, streamlining investor relations for companies
Netcapital is backed by a wide range of tech entrepreneurs and business leaders that bring together the best of finance and innovation, including: Jason Robins, co-founder and CEO of DraftKings, Ivan Seidenberg, former chairman and CEO of Verizon, Alan Matthews, founder and chairman of Rapid7, and James Schmidt, former manager of the $4B John Hancock Financial Industries Fund.
Netcapital appeals to me because Ive had firsthand experience with the passion and support that comes from an engaged user base, and Ive seen how that excitement translates into funding, said Jason Robins, co-founder and CEO of DraftKings and advisor to Netcapital. I think we could have had just as much success raising money from the fans at the bar as the VCs in the conference room.
Companies interested in selling securities, and investors interested in buying private securities, can learn more by visiting Netcapital.com.
About Netcapital
Netcapital is a private securities platform that brings together entrepreneurs and investors. For entrepreneurs, Netcapital reduces the complexity and cost of issuing shares, fundraising, and collaborating with investors. For investors, Netcapital provides deal flow and tools to track investments. Through relationships with a funding portal, broker-dealers, a transfer agent, and a custodian, Netcapital provides services to private markets that are inspired by public markets. For more information, visit https://netcapital.com or follow on Twitter, @netcapital.
In this press release, Netcapital refers to Netcapital.com, a web site operated by Netcapital Systems, LLC, which is neither a funding portal nor a broker-dealer. Sections of the web site are operated by Netcapital Funding Portal, Inc., which conducts all 4(a)(6) offerings as a funding portal registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and as a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Sections of the web site are operated by Livingston Securities, LLC, which conducts all 506(c) offerings as a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and as a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. None of these companies provide investment advice or make investment recommendations; nothing shared in this press release nor posted to the web site should be construed as such.
Consequence Media and PopMatters Join Forces
Consequence Media, LLC, an independent digital media company, is excited to announce a partnership with acclaimed international pop cultural publication PopMatters.
PopMatters (http://popmatters.com/) joins Consequence Media's (http://consequencemedia.com/) digital properties that serve more than 6.5 million unique visitors monthly. Additionally, Consequence Media will leverage PopMatters passionate followers in establishing unique experiential activations.
I have long thought that independent media companies needed to start teaming up with each other to be able to compete in an increasingly corporatized media landscape. We are impressed with Consequence Medias growth and excellence in delivering compelling advertising solutions to clients. Naturally, we thought Consequence Media would be a perfect fit, says Sarah Zupko, CEO and Publisher of PopMatters Media.
Quality, high-brow writing is an increasing rarity in pop culture/music journalism, which is why were so excited to be partnering with PopMatters. For 17 years and counting, Sarah and her team have set a high standard for cultural criticism and analysis. Their coverage verticals focusing on books, video games, and the visual arts also fill a void missing from Consequence Medias stable of publishers, adds Rick Cantinella, president of Consequence Media.
About Consequence Media
Consequence Media connects brands to the world's premiere independent publishers in music, film, gaming, and pop culture, as well as a highly engaged audience of influential millennials. Our publishers including Consequence of Sound, YourEDM, The Hard Times, PopMatters and The Quietus, among others continue to deliver award-winning branded and experiential activations, critically acclaimed content, exclusive scoops, and cutting-edge video.
About PopMatters Media
PopMatters is an international magazine of cultural criticism that essays the pop culture that matters. Its scope is broadly cast on all things pop culture and it is the largest site that bridges academic and popular writing. PopMatters provides in-depth reviews, engaging interviews, and essays in areas such as music, film, television, books, games, theatre, visual arts, comics and more. PopMatters is independently women-owned and operated. Since 1999, PopMatters has been providing smart readers with sharp, entertaining writing on a wide range of topics in popular culture, offering a refuge from the usual hype and gossip.
Displaced women in Sangaya Camp, Dikwa, northeast Nigeria. Photo credit: Mercy Corps The only way we will break this vicious cycle is by responding quickly to urgent needs in order to save lives. At the same time, we must support longer-term programs that can reduce vulnerability and prevent conflict
Ahead of this weeks Humanitarian Conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region taking place in Oslo, Norway, the global organization Mercy Corps urges governments to commit funding to meet humanitarian needs and tackle underlying causes of conflict. The United Nations appeal for the region in 2017 is $1.5 billion to fund assistance to more than 10 million people across the Lake Chad region, including more than 500,000 children expected to suffer from severe malnourishment this year.
The Lake Chad Basin, with Nigeria at its epicenter, is currently experiencing one of the worlds largest overlooked humanitarian crises, resulting from chronic underdevelopment and grievances that have created a self-perpetuating cycle of insecurity, violence and poverty, says Iveta Ouvry, Mercy Corps Country Director in Nigeria. The only way we will break this vicious cycle is by responding quickly to urgent needs in order to save lives. At the same time, we must support longer-term programs that can reduce vulnerability and prevent conflict.
Mercy Corps provides vital assistance such as food vouchers, cash, non-food items and water and hygiene support to tens of thousands of people across northeast Nigeria. In a recent assessment conducted in Dikwa and Ngala, two towns in northern Borno State hosting more than 120,000 displaced people, Mercy Corps found that food continues to be the main need, compounded by fuel shortages that limit many families to cooking only one meal a day. Mercy Corps will begin food distributions in Dikwa in the coming weeks.
The assessment, conducted over a two-day period in January, also found that latrines are in short supply, causing people to resort to open defecation with limited access to water and soap for handwashing. Bathing also takes place in the open and usually at night, creating huge safety concerns for women and children.
To tackle underlying drivers of the crisis, Mercy Corps is also working in Borno State to reduce youth vulnerability to radicalization, based on recommendations from its 2016 two-part report examining factors behind youth participation in Boko Haram.
Read Mercy Corps' brief for conference attendees here. Join us and support Mercy Corps work in the Lake Chad region and elsewhere in the world.
El Silencio Lodge & Spa Being recognized as an exceptional destination that showcases the best of Costa Ricas hospitality is a cherished honor.
Forbes Travel Guide today unveiled its annual Star Rating list, naming El Silencio Lodge & Spa as a new Forbes Travel Guide Recommended Hotel. El Silencio Lodge & Spa will be showcased with all of the Star Rating recipients on ForbesTravelGuide.com.
El Silencio Lodge & Spa showcases Costa Ricas unique cloud forest landscapes, underscoring a deep connection to nature and culture through engaging experiences and heartfelt hospitality. Trimmed by two national parks, it features a private nature reserve dotted with waterfalls. Two restaurants, a spa, an organic mini-farm, a thrilling zip-line and rappelling course, and select accommodations create a natural wonderland to savor and explore.
Our team receives the news with sincere enthusiasm. Being recognized as an exceptional destination that showcases the best of Costa Ricas hospitality is a cherished honor, commented Karin Zurcher, Owner of El Silencio Lodge & Spa.
As an independent property, we are thrilled to welcome travelers who seek unique experiences of distinct authenticity. By engaging visitors with caring hospitality and a deep connection to the land, we hope to create precious memories of love, laughter, and awe.
El Silencio Lodge & Spa is the latest addition to the luxury travel ratings that have been the gold standard in the hospitality industry since 1958.
We are delighted to recognize the 2017 Star Rating recipients, an exceptional collection of hotels, restaurants and spas that demonstrates a strong culture of service, said Gerard J. Inzerillo, Chief Executive Officer of Forbes Travel Guide.
In an online environment of confusion and clutter, Forbes Travel Guide is the most trusted source of information to assist guests in making informed decisions, Inzerillo said. These properties, the largest and most global group in the companys history, achieve an impeccable standard of excellence in hospitality, underscoring our overall mission of positively contributing to the international tourism industry as well as individual hotel experience. We are proud to congratulate everyone associated with the prestigious properties recognized today.
For a detailed explanation of how Forbes Travel Guide compiles its Star ratings, visit http://www.forbestravelguide.com/about/ratings.
Connect with Forbes Travel Guide:
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ForbesTravelGuide
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ForbesInspector
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ForbesTravelGuide
Connect with El Silencio Lodge & Spa:
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ElSilencioLodge
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ElSilencioLodge
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ElSilencioLodge
About Forbes Travel Guide:
Forbes Travel Guide is the originator of the prestigious Five-Star Rating system, and has provided the travel industrys most comprehensive ratings and reviews of hotels, restaurants and spas since 1958. Forbes Travel Guide has a team of expert inspectors who anonymously evaluate properties against up to 800 rigorous and objective standards in 162 destinations across 42 countries. Forbes Travel Guide is the most prestigious standard for luxury hospitality worldwide. For more information about Forbes Travel Guide, visit http://www.forbestravelguide.com.
About El Silencio Lodge & Spa
El Silencio Lodge & Spa is an inspired wellness retreat set in Costa Ricas pristine central volcanic region. Surrounded by emerald cloud forests and mystical waterfalls, it offers a seamless natural immersion experience that showcases the signature elements of Costa Ricas rural traditions, colorful culture, farm-to-table dining, and enthralling natural landscapes. For more information visit: http://www.elsilenciolodge.com
# # # #
Garrett Derderian Garretts experience sorting through New York Citys vast housing data and applying meaningful annotation is a unique skill set that fits in perfectly with our long-term vision.
Stribling & Associates, a premier New York residential brokerage, announces that Garrett Derderian has joined the firm as Director of Data & Reporting. In his new role, Derderian will oversee Striblings proprietary data platform, integrating the most current, accurate, and relevant information for Stribling agents and their customers. Additionally, he will author a series of monthly, quarterly, and annual State of the Market reports analyzing comparative data for New York Citys residential market.
Garretts experience sorting through New York Citys vast housing data and applying meaningful annotation is a unique skill set that fits in perfectly with our long-term vision, said Elizabeth Ann Stribling-Kivlan, President, Stribling & Associates. Im confident that Garretts contributions, coupled with the expertise of our more than 300 exceptional agents and staff, will further solidify Striblings position as an industry leader.
Prior to joining Stribling, Derderian was a research analyst at both Douglas Elliman Development Marketing and Compass, where he created and authored market reports, outlined data trends, and generated statistics for the NYC residential market. He also worked in data research in the NYC commercial market at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. Most recently, Derderian worked in Capital Markets at Lloyd Jones Capital.
I am excited to join Stribling, one of New Yorks preeminent legacy real estate firms, during this great time of growth for the company, said Derderian. This is a wonderful opportunity to build a new and innovative data reporting system while working alongside some of the most talented people in the industry.
Derderian will be based out of Striblings Upper East Side flagship at 924 Madison Avenue.
About Stribling:
Stribling & Associates, Ltd. is a premier residential real estate firm with over 300 agents throughout three locations in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. As one of the most renowned brokerages in New York, Stribling uses its respected expertise in the current market to provide individualized services to both buyers and sellers. Stribling agents specialize in the sale of luxury townhouses and cooperative and condominium apartments. The companys philosophy is based on professional, personalized services coupled with exceptional knowledge of key residential market trends. Stribling Private Brokerage specializes in the discreet marketing of properties over $5 million and commands a prominent market share in that sector of Manhattan residential real estate. Stribling Marketing Associates, one of NYCs most successful development marketing firms, specializes in consulting, marketing and sales of new developments and conversions.
The City of Hamburg, Germany and its partners present Reeperbahn Hamburgers at SXSW 2017, a series of events organized in the spirit of the Reeperbahn Festival bringing together a collaboration of music, film and digital technology. A total of six tech start-ups will be participating in the March events hosted in Austin. Additionally, executives from three leading Hamburg tech companies will be speaking on two SXSW panels during SXSW Interactive.
Many start-ups from Hamburg have long since become international players InnoGames, Facelift, Mytaxi and XING to name a few, said Matthias Beer, project manager of media relations at Hamburg Marketing. With Spherie, we previously brought a very successful start-up to SXSW. This year we are thrilled to travel with six amazing start-ups to Austin. As a place known for its internationality and tolerance, we are also happy that Harald Neidhard from the Hamburg-based start-up MLOVE will be on an official SXSW panel to show how tech can help solve social challenges.
Start-ups from Hamburg:
Six start-ups from Hamburg will be showcasing new innovations in the areas of sports, medical and visual technologies, as well as market research and BaaS:
Baqend makes the world's fastest web and app platform available to the public.
PuttView revolutionizes how golfers practice putting with AR technology.
Appinio provides the fastest market research tool worldwide.
Picalike offers 1 billion product recommendations monthly based on visual similarity and machine learning.
LifeTime lets users keep track of medical files on their smartphone and allows on-demand sharing to ensure the best treatment possible.
NUWIEL is a smart, e-powered bicycle trailer that automatically follows a bicycle and provides enhanced safety through an integrated braking system.
(Recently NUWIEL received third place at the Food+City Challenge in Austin, and it will participate at Smart City Day on Sunday, March 12 during SXSW.)
Reeperbahn Hamburgers:
In addition to presenting these start-ups, Hamburg will host several networking events during SXSW, where entrepreneurs, investors and media can connect.
TexConnect will bring together top professionals in the entrepreneur and tech space with key investors and media on Saturday, March 11 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Reeperbahn Hamburgers (c/o Downtown Burgers, 503 East Cesar Chavez Street, Austin, TX 7870).
Two Reeperbahn Hamburgers receptions will be exclusively available to SXSW badge holders who are interested in meeting with representatives from Hamburgs digital industries. This event will be held on Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Reeperbahn Hamburgers. A reception for professionals from the music industry will also be held on Wednesday, March 15 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the same location. Badge holders will have the opportunity to meet with leaders from Hamburgs music industry.
The Digital Media Women Day on March 13 from 3 to 7 p.m. at Reeperbahn Hamburgers will provide an international platform to discuss, deliberate and create visibility around digital leadership and ideas that matter most to women. Digital Media Women (#DMW) is a network of women in tech and media from Germany, founded in Hamburg.
Music Cities Mixer, presented by Music Cities Network and the cities of Aarhus, Groningen, Hamburg and Sydney, will be a musical mash-up of these international hotspots discussing the future of music across the globe on March 16 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Downtown Burgers.
Recommended panels at SXSW:
In addition to these events, four Hamburg start-up executives will be speaking on two SXSW panels. Harald Neidhardt from MLOVE Inc. will be moderating the panel Tech for Good: Solutions for the Refugee Crisis, in which participants will discuss how technology and communities can be used to create solutions for the greater good. Arne Kittler with XING and Ina Feistritzer and Martin Recke with SinnerSchrader will be speaking on The Product People Shift panel to discuss why todays society is experiencing a shift to product and product thinking, to people and human-centered design, and to the product personnel who make all this magic happen.
Hamburg facilitates a vibrant start-up ecosystem, and we look forward to showcasing some highly innovative technologies coming out of our city, Matthias Beer said. We would also like to take the opportunity to invite start-ups, entrepreneurs and investors to join us in September at the Reeperbahn Festival, Europe's largest club festival and one of the most important international events for the music and digital industries.
More information and RSVP on Hamburg at SXSW: http://www.hamburg-business.com/
About Reeperbahn, St. Pauli and Hamburg:
Hamburg a hub for creative industries and a city on the waterfront is the most dynamic economic region in northern Europe. Hamburg is the advertising and media capital of Germany and the favorite working place for creative minds, artists, musicians, game designers and major industry leaders such as Facebook and Google. The Hanseatic city is one of the top locations in Europe for start-ups. As the center of the country's music industry, it attracts both artists and music business professionals and hosts one of the three biggest and most important music business events in Europe, with around 35,000 visitors: the Reeperbahn Festival from September 2023, 2017.
The citys wide variety of high culture provides a stimulating environment and excellent opportunities for creative spirits and start-ups. The legendary clubs on the infamous Reeperbahn have been seen as springboards to fame: the Beatles were not the only ones to have their breakthrough here. Most of the young music scene is based in the districts of Altona and St. Pauli home to the Reeperbahn. Hamburgs position as one of the most dynamic economic regions in Europe is rooted in a mix of economic potential and a high standard of living. Many start-ups from Hamburg successfully developed into international companies, including InnoGames, Bigpoint, Facelift, Goodgame Studios, Jimdo, mytaxi, and XING. Start-ups such as Dreamlines, Kreditech, Stuffle and Sonormed continue to write this success story.
Further information on partners, activities and events at SXSW, visit: http://www.hamburg-business.com/
A new study by Hear the World Foundation reports that nearly half of Americans feel that they have difficulty hearing
Forty-five percent of American respondents feel that they have difficulty hearing and 72 percent of those report that family members or friends have also commented about their poor hearing. However, only 13 percent of those who think they suffer from hearing loss wear hearing aids. One reason, suggested by 89 percent of American respondents, is that they dont want to publicly acknowledge their hearing loss. This and further facts were revealed in an international study, How the world hears by the Hear the World Foundation.
The ear is our most powerful sensory organ: Used 24 hours a day, the ear can recognize up to 400,000 sounds and process some 50 sensations every second twice as many as our eyes do. Unfortunately, the ears importance is often neglected in our visually orientated word. By publishing the study How the world hears, the Hear the World Foundation aims to increase public awareness and emphasize the importance of good hearing while also sharing tips on how people can protect their hearing.
The most significant results for the U.S. at a glance:
Self-assessed awareness of hearing loss: Around half (45 percent) of those surveyed think that they have difficulty hearing occasionally. Of those, 58 percent think they have mild hearing loss, 34 percent think they have moderate hearing loss and three percent think they have severe hearing loss.
Awareness raised by family and friends: For those who recognize they have trouble hearing, 72 percent have heard remarks from family members and friends about their poor hearing. This was true for only 11 percent of respondents who were sure their hearing was good.
Hearing tests: 36 percent of respondents have had their hearing tested within the last five years.
Few wear hearing aids: Only 13 percent of the Americans surveyed, who think they suffer from hearing loss, actually wear hearing aids.
A possible reason: 89 percent of respondents believe, at least somewhat, that people decide against hearing aids because they dont want to publicly acknowledge their hearing loss. Thirty-six percent are convinced this is a reason.
Hearing loss often untreated motivation from family can help
These study results show that even when family and friends of someone with hearing loss notice and comment about their poor hearing, very few people decide to use hearing aids.
"The process from initial awareness to treatment of a hearing loss requires time. Family members and friends can play an important role in it, by accompanying the person affected by hearing loss through the process. Our experience shows that people with hearing loss, who have the support of their loved ones, more often decide to wear hearing aids and are happier with this decision, said Dr. Prof. Jerry L. Northern, Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Advisory Board member of the Hear the World Foundation.
In addition to the person affected, family members and friends are benefiting from the decision to wear hearing aids, which is reflected in the Hear the World Foundation's study "Hearing is living". Seventy eight percent of respondents wearing hearing aids said that the activities in the circle of friends have changed positively, and 73 percent say the relationship with their family members has improved since they are wearing hearing aids.
Tips to protect hearing:
Do not turn music up too loud: noise levels below 85 dB are considered safe for our hearing. If you listen to music through audio devices, do not turn it up any louder than 60 percent of the maximum volume.
Listen to music through headphones that fit well and block out background noise, as this will enable you to enjoy music at a low volume even in noisy surroundings.
Wear earplugs at concerts and clubs and in other noisy environments. They can reduce the noise level by 5 to 45 dB.
Use smartphone apps to measure the level of background noise to which you are exposing your ears.
To give your ears a rest, make a conscious effort to take acoustic breaks and turn off all noise sources.
Have your hearing regularly checked by a hearing care professional.
About the study
From September to November 2015, the market research organization Research Now asked 1,000 women and men aged between 16 and 55 in Germany, Switzerland, the USA, Brazil, and China about the issues of hearing and hearing loss for the How the World Hears study.
About the Hear the World Foundation
By supporting the charitable Hear the World Foundation, Sonova is campaigning for equal opportunities and a better quality of life for people with hearing loss. As a leading provider of hearing care solutions, Sonova fosters social responsibility and contributes towards a world where everyone has the chance to enjoy good hearing. For instance, the Hear the World Foundation supports disadvantaged people with hearing loss around the world and gets involved in prevention. It focuses particularly on projects for children with hearing loss, to enable them to develop at the appropriate rate for their age. Since its establishment in 2006 the Swiss foundation supported over 80 projects in 39 countries and thus helped thousands of people to hear better. More than 100 celebrity ambassadors, including celebrities such as Cindy Crawford, Placido Domingo, Annie Lennox and Sting champion the Hear the World Foundation.
http://www.hear-the-world.com/en
The infographic in high resolution to download you find here: https://www.hear-the-world.com/images/press/downloads/htw_infografik_wie_bitte3.png
Further knowledge about hearing and hearing loss you find here: http://www.hear-the-world.com/en/knowledge/overview-knowledge
For any further information please contact:
Hear the World Foundation
Louise Kaben
E-Mail: louise(dot)kaben(at)hear-the-world(dot)com
Tel: +41 58 928 01 01
US Public Relations
Beth Fichtel
E-mail: brgelbert(dot)yahoo(dot)com
Phone: +1 (914) 588-2695
Cassandra Hegarty
E-mail: cassandra(dot)hegarty(at)gmail(dot)com
Phone: +1 (917) 653-4038
Which Wich Superior Sandwiches has announced its new partnership with Kentucky-based Houchens Industries, one of the largest employee-owned companies in the nation, to expand its footprint into new territory. The sandwich shops will soon emerge inside a number of Houchens upscale neighborhood markets, Crossroads IGA.
Houchens, which began in 1917 with a small grocery store, now boasts 18,000 employees and is dedicated to growth and purchasing businesses in the food industry. Crossroads IGA is the freshest and most unique addition the Houchens family of brands. Crossroads is the ultimate market concentrating on high quality perishables, freshly prepared meals to go and grocery essentials delivered with unparalleled customer service. Under the 15-unit agreement with Which Wich, restaurants will be developed within Crossroads locations throughout the country, five of which are expected to open within the next year.
We are looking for companies that are well run, have a profitable history and have the mindset that they want to be part of something that is good for everyone, said Houchens Senior Management. The Which Wich concept matches the vision at Houchens and both companies are excited about the opportunity to partner.
According to Houchens, consumers today are searching for a more customized, quality product with a broad menu offering that services multiple day parts. While the company distinctively meets those demands, Which Wich was additionally chosen for Crossroads IGA based on its superior product, unique customer experience, a world class franchise support system and culture that puts people first.
The Houchens Industries business model aligns perfectly with our core value of delivering superior products and a superior in-store experience to our guests, said Which Wich Manager of Franchise Development AJ Schuler. As we continue to grow our footprint into the non-traditional space, finding great innovative partners like Houchens is crucial to our long term development strategy.
Which Wich currently has locations in 40 states and 11 countries. New territories remain available across the United States with a heavy focus on the addition of new locations in Chicago, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Washington D.C./Baltimore. The brand is also focused on international expansion as it closes out its strongest year of growth yet, with new openings scheduled in Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
ABOUT WHICH WICH:
Which Wich Superior Sandwiches was founded in Dallas in late 2003 by restaurant entrepreneur, Jeff Sinelli. The national sandwich franchise chain is best known for its customizable sandwiches, creative ordering system, and personalized sandwich bag. In 2014, QSR named Which Wich one of their "2014 Best Franchise Deals" and Forbes listed Which Wich as one of their 2014 30 Best Franchises To Buy. Which Wich is also the recipient of the 2015 Nations Restaurant News MenuMasters Healthful Innovations award. Which Wich currently has 400 locations open or in development in 38 states and 10 countries. For more information, visit http://www.whichwich.com.
ProMIS Neurosciences (ProMIS or the Company), a company focused on discovery and development of precision treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, today announced it has issued a scientific white paper entitled Results from recent Alzheimers disease trials validate the ProMIS approach. This is one of a series of commentaries from ProMISs scientific team offering insight into the Companys product portfolio and Alzheimers disease (AD) science in the popular press.
The white paper discusses the recent late-stage clinical trial failures of Eli Lillys solanezumab, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) mainly targeting Amyloid beta (A monomers, and Mercks verubecestat, a small molecule BACE inhibitor that blocks the cleavage of amyloid precursor protein, thereby significantly reducing the formation of A monomers in the brain.
Commenting on the results of the failed clinical trials, Dr. Johanne Kaplan, ProMIS Chief Development Officer stated, Both approaches, which mainly target A monomers failed to show clinically significant cognitive benefit as they failed to engage toxic A oligomers, which propagate in a prion-like manner and are the primary drivers of neurodegeneration and cognitive decline in AD patients.
Conversely, Biogens monoclonal antibody aducanumab, which binds A oligomers and plaque, reduced cognitive decline in a Phase 1b trial. Binding to plaque however, was associated with dose-dependent toxicity (brain edema, or ARIA-E), which limits the therapeutic window for this antibody.
The white paper concludes that human clinical data to date are supportive of the ProMIS approach of selectively targeting soluble toxic A oligomers. We believe our approach will lead to best in class therapy as selectively targeting the toxic prion-like A oligomers maximizes efficacy by avoiding off target binding to non-pathogenic A monomers, and decreases the risk of edema and vascular adverse events associated with plaque binding, stated Dr. Elliot Goldstein, ProMIS President & CEO.
About ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc.
The mission of ProMIS Neurosciences is to discover and develop precision medicine therapeutics for effective treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimers disease and ALS.
ProMIS Neurosciences proprietary target discovery engine is based on the use of two, complementary techniques. The Company applies its thermodynamic, computational discovery platformProMIS and Collective Coordinates to predict novel targets known as Disease Specific Epitopes (DSEs) on the molecular surface of misfolded proteins. Using this unique "precision medicine" approach, ProMIS Neurosciences is developing novel antibody therapeutics and specific companion diagnostics for Alzheimers disease and ALS. The company has also developed two proprietary technologies to specifically identify very low levels of misfolded proteins in a biological sample. In addition, ProMIS Neurosciences owns a portfolio of therapeutic and diagnostic patents relating to misfolded SOD1 in ALS,
and currently has a preclinical monoclonal antibody therapeutic against this target.
The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This information release may contain certain forward-looking information. Such information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by statements herein, and therefore these statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. All forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to it as well as other factors. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified by the Company in its public securities filings, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For further information, and to access the white paper, please consult the Company's website at:
http://www.promisneurosciences.com
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on LinkedIn
NATIONAL Equicom
Abby Garfunkel
Tel. 403-218-2887
agarfunkel(at)national(dot)ca
or contact
Dr. Elliot Goldstein
President and Chief Executive Officer, ProMIS Neurosciences Inc.
Tel. 415 341-5783
Elliot.goldstein(at)promisneurosciences(dot)com
Landis, Before and After Landis is the perfect example of the types of stories we are creating. The site sees more and more traffic every day and we want to find homes for as many pets as we possibly can! Ryan Vayo, Founder/CEO Past News Releases RSS Newest Pet Adoption Site,...
Meet Landis, the first adoption through mycomPETibility.com - the first algorithmic pet adoption website designed to match adopters with the perfect pet waiting in a shelter/rescue either nearby or throughout the US. Landis was a case of serious neglect. He is also a shining example of what happens when we put these pets in the perfect home, not just any home.
Landis is the perfect example of the types of stories we are creating. We have over 10,000 shelters/rescues pre-approved on our site and encourage adoption organizations to sign up at http://www.shelter.mycomPETibility.com. The site sees more and more traffic every day and we want to find homes for as many pets as we possibly can! Ryan Vayo, Founder/CEO
Pets like Landis are why MycomPETibility.com was founded. Landis was 40 lbs, under developed, and malnourished when he was rescued by Second Chance Rescue in NY. Like too many pets he was afraid of the world, needed extensive care including mental and physical rehab, and needed a home that could spend the time and energy to nurse him back.
Today Landis stands proud at 85 lbs, still thinks he is a lap dog, and spends his days with his new family that includes a brother and sister (both adopted greyhounds). Landis, aside from being an inspirational story that fortunately has a very happy ending, is a great example of what happens when you let our algorithm-based pet adoption system help your animals find their Fur-Ever home.
Ventiv Technology announced that Peter Yang has joined the company as chief information officer, effective immediately. The announcement was made by Bill Diaz, chief executive officer of Ventiv Technology.
In his role as chief information officer, Yang will be responsible for overseeing the DevOps of the company architectire, development, data tools, and hosting.
Peter is a deeply technical and hands-on manager, says Diaz. He can roll up his sleeves to perform architectural design, code reviews, and help solve the most challenging application issues. I am deeply confident his RMIS/claims domain expertise will provide tremendous value to Ventiv.
Prior to beginning work at Ventiv, Yang spent four years as chief technology officer at FIS Insurance, leading development operations across a wide range of products across life & annuity, health insurance, property & casuality and financials. Prior to FIS, he spent 13 years holding engineering leadership roles at Marsh ClearSight. His expertise lies in building effective teams and architecting scalable, secure, cloud-friendly and high-performing enterprise applications and data/BI solutions.
I like the vision the team at Ventiv has and I am very excited to be a part of it, says Yang. Im confident in our companys dedication to delivering innovative and effective business solutions to our clients.
Yang holds a B.E. in biomedical engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and an M.S./PhD in computer science and hearing science from Vanderbuilt University.
Thanks to timely coordination and quick work by the installer, the project was finished with time to spare.
When it came time to restore the main floor entrance and lobby of a new healthcare contact center in Georgia, PENETRON Specialty Products (PSP) provided the solution. Januarys grand opening presented the gleaming results.
One of the nations largest healthcare systems recently invested $51 million to purchase and renovate the 185,000 square-foot office complex, which was also designed to meet LEED requirements for certification as a green building.
When the general contractor, McCarthy Building Companies, needed to restore the main floor entrance, they asked Baker Paint and Flooring, a floor preparation contractor, for recommendations.
Bakers Project Manager, Mike Portwood said, The existing floors in the building entrance and the main lobby urgently needed to be repaired and resurfaced prior to the installation of the final tile flooring.
These areas are intensely high-traffic, adds Bob Baumeister, PSP Product Specialist. They chose our LEVELINE self-leveling underlayment, along with our PRIMER STX100, for optimal adhesion in the areas adjacent to the entrance. RENEW WS concrete resurfacer was used for the decorative topping in the lobby.
As the PSP distributor for the Atlanta market, Building Restoration Products quickly delivered the material, thanks to a large inventory of PSP flooring products. Owner Matt Lawler noted, Thanks to timely coordination and quick work by the installer, the project was finished with time to spare.
With national contact centers already in operation in California, Colorado, Hawaii and Maryland, this new center will serve more than 10 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia, including approximately 300,000 members in Georgia.
The PENETRON Group is a leading manufacturer of specialty construction products for concrete waterproofing, concrete repairs and floor preparation systems. The Group operates through a global network, offering support to the design and construction community through its regional offices, representatives and distribution channels.
For more information on PENETRON waterproofing solutions, please visit penetron(dot)com or Facebook(dot)com/ThePenetronGroup, email CRDept(at)penetron(dot)com, or contact the Corporate Relations Department at 631-941-9700.
Mr. Ciruli is the Director of the Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Denvers Josef Korbel School of International Studies. He is an adjunct professor teaching public opinion and foreign policy. The Crossley Center conducts research and presents live and virtual programs on foreign policy, politics, public policy and public opinion.
Mr. Ciruli holds a law degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and a bachelors degree cum laude in political science from UCLA. He is a member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), and is the past-president of the Pacific Chapter of AAPOR (PAPOR). Mr. Ciruli is a board member of the Social Science Foundation of the University of Denver Josef Korbel School of International Studies and past-president of the Georgetown Law Alumni Board and the Denver Athletic Club.
The Trump administration plans to revamp and rename President Obamas former Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Working Group by changing the focus strictly to combatting Islamism and changing the groups name to something along the lines of Countering Radical Islamic Extremism.
Daniel Pipes, President of the Middle East Forum, along with Chrisopher C. Hull, President of Issue Management, Inc, have crafted a comprehensive plan (available here) for a White House Commission on Radical Islam to use.
Gregg Roman, Director of Middle East Forum, is available to discuss this plan and how the new focus on Islamism diverts from the groups agenda under the Obama administration.
The comprehensive plan recommends that the overall goal of the Commission should be to bring the American people together around a common understanding of the adversarys nature, how it can be defeated, and specifics to accomplish this objective. The authors suggestions for the commission include:
Structure- To be successful, all its members must be selected by the president. power to subpoena documents, compel testimony, and grant immunity.
Personnel- A diverse mix of experts, elected officials, law enforcement and military officials along with Muslim reformers and victims of radical Islam should be included.
Mandate- The commission should expand on Trumps commitment to explain the core convictions of Islamists to expose their networks, and develop new protocols for law enforcement. practices; and assess how political correctness impedes an honest appraisal of radical Islam.
Implementation- For the commissions work to be relevant, it must coordinate with federal agencies,
About Middle East Forum:
The Middle East Forum is dedicated to promoting American interests in the Middle East and protecting the West from Middle Eastern threats. It does so through intellectual, activist, and philanthropic efforts.
Toronto hospitals busy entrance corridor fitted with Three Boon Edam revolving doors The Boon Edam revolving doors are the best solution, given our space and property limitations. They have cut our wind tunnel effect by 60-70%, the revolving doors are the biggest factor in that improvement. Tony Khouri, VP, Facilities/Capital Development Past News Releases RSS
Boon Edam Inc., a global leader in security entrances and architectural revolving doors, today announced that Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto has achieved success in reducing wind tunnel issues within its high-volume, three entrance public corridor into the hospitals main entrance. Dor-Control Craftsmen, Ltd. installed the entrances and oversees on-going maintenance needs.
Sinai Health System is comprised of Mount Sinai Hospital, Joseph & Wolf Lebovic Health Complex; Bridgepoint Active Healthcare; Circle of Care; the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, and is a full affiliate of the University of Toronto.
Toronto is known for its cold and blustery winter months. Prior to February 2016, Mt. Sinai Hospital employees, patients, and visitors often had to endure freezing wind tunnel conditions within a street level entrance corridor linking University and Murray Streets. Wind conditions could be so severe that employees using a smaller, employee-designated swinging entrance at times could not manually open that door.
On the hospitals main floor, explained Tony Khouri, Vice President, Facilities and Capital Development, there is a long corridor between University and Murray Streets. Formerly, we had double sliding doors at each entrance, and because of the high foot traffic we had lots of problems with blasts of cold air running up and down the corridor. The corridor not only connects the two streets to the main entrance of the hospital, it also has retail and other shops located along its length.
The hospital engaged an expert about renovating the entrances, and the consultant recommended installing revolving doors to stop the infiltration of air. In a competitive bid process, Boon Edam revolving doors were selected.
Throughput was an issue, Compared to other hospitals, we have a high number of users for these entrances, averaging 1000 per hour, said Khouri. Mt. Sinai installed a 16 diameter, dual-wing Duotour at Murray St., the larger of the two main entrances. This entrance is more accessible for patients arriving or leaving by car, and can accommodate wheel chairs and patients on stretchers. The smaller entrance, University St., is accessed up a flight of stairs and has been fitted with a 12 diameter, two-wing Duotour. Both entrances also maintain one set of push-button activated sliding doors alongside the revolving doors to conform with the Ontario Disabilities Act and for emergency egress. A third, 8 diameter, four-wing, BoonAssist TQ manual revolving door is installed at the employee entrance, thereby eliminating the stuck door problem when it was a manual swinging door.
The Boon Edam Duotour is a high capacity, automatic revolving door. When an entry needs to channel the flow of visitors in high numbers at peak times, or those accompanied by carts, wheelchairs or hospital gurneys, the Duotour two-wing automatic revolving door is often the solution. Due to the relatively large size of its two compartments compared to 3- or 4-wing doors, the Duotour can channel a high capacity of traffic while having a fairly small footprint.
We try to monitor the sliding door use as much as possible, but we still have some gusting issues, said Khouri. "The revolving doors are the best solution, given our space and property limitations, and these entrances have cut our wind tunnel effect by 60-70 percent. I believe that the revolving doors are the biggest factor in that improvement. The Boon Edam revolving doors are of good quality, theyre superior to regular doors, and they are helping us achieve our entrance and comfort goals.
Dor-Control Craftsmen
Dor-Control Craftsmens 50 years of world-class experience in the industry enabled us to partner with Boon Edam to create a solution uniquely tailored to the needs of Mount Sinai Hospital. Our knowledge and expertise allows us to appreciate each unique business challenge and to support our clients with the most efficient solutions for all types of entrances. Our commitment to Mount Sinai Hospital, and to healthcare facilities across the globe, ensures the continuous performance, safety and convenience of its entrances, commented Michael Manocchio, Sales Manager, Dor-Control Craftsmen Ltd.
For Further Information, Please Contact:
Tracie Thomas
Marketing Manager
T 910 814 8239
E tracie.thomas(at)boonedam(dot)com
For Media Queries, Please Contact
Bruce Doneff
Public Relations
T 843 476 3022
E doneff(at)verizon(dot)net
About Royal Boon Edam
With work environments becoming increasingly global and dynamic, the smart, safe entry has become the center of activity in and around many buildings. Royal Boon Edam is a global market leader in reliable entry solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, with 140 years of experience in engineering quality, we have gained extensive expertise in managing the transit of people through office buildings, airports, healthcare facilities, hotels and many other types of buildings. We are focused on providing an optimal, sustainable experience for our clients and their clients. By working together with you, our client, we help determine the exact requirements for the entry point in and around your building. You can find more news about Boon Edam on http://www.boonedam.us/news.
A cylindrical pipeline used for treating large brain aneurysms is just as effective on smaller and sometimes harder to reach ones, according to the results of a clinical trial announced Wednesday.
The studys findings were presented at the International Stroke Conference in Houston by Ricardo A. Hanel, MD, PhD, neurovascular surgeon with Baptist Health and Lyerly Neurosurgery and director of the Baptist Neurological Institute. Eric Sauvageau, MD, neurovascular surgeon and director of the Baptist Stroke & Cerebrovascular Center, was also a co-author and co-investigator on the study.
This study shows the benefit of this breakthrough technology for smaller aneurysms. It demonstrates that the Pipeline Embolization Device is a safe and effective way of dealing with under 12 millimeter aneurysms, Dr. Hanel said. The good thing about the pipeline device is once the aneurysm is closed off and treated, the patient is cured, which is very empowering.
The Pipeline is likely more durable and, in the hands of experienced operators like the ones in the study, has low complication rates, he added.
A cerebral aneurysm (also known as an intracranial aneurysm) is a weak or thin spot on a blood vessel in the brain that balloons out and fills with blood.
The Pipeline, a braided cylindrical mesh known as a flow diverter, is inserted through a microcatheter into an artery in the groin. The device is then threaded through the body to the brain to slow the flow of blood into the aneurysm and allow the diseased vessel to heal.
The Pipeline is currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for adults with large aneurysms (which are greater than 12 mm). The results of the clinical trial could open up the procedure for use on patients with small- and medium-sized, wide-necked, unruptured aneurysms, which make up the majority of the cases.
"This study confirms that flow diversion is a valid alternative to complement our existing techniques to fix brain aneurysms, Dr. Sauvageau said.
PATIENTS GRATEFUL TO BE ALIVE
Twenty-two sites in the United States and one in Canada participated in the PREMIER study and 141 patients, including 21 from Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville, which had the highest number enrolled.
The study found that a high rate of aneurysms were completely healed at the one-year follow up, with no cases of recurrence. There were also no incidents of aneurysms rupturing one year after the procedure. These results will be submitted to the FDA for review.
Dana Bean, of Fernandina Beach, was one of the first to participate in the study; Kristine Meyer, from Mandarin, was the last. Both had successful treatment and surgery at the Baptist Neurological Institute and the Stroke & Cerebrovascular Center at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and Lyerly Neurosurgery.
Bean, now 54, had lived with a small, hard-to-reach brain aneurysm for six years. It was in the exact spot as the aneurysm that took her mothers life when Bean was just 6. Her mother collapsed on the playground, as Bean and her brothers played nearby. An ambulance came and she never saw her mother again.
She used to wake up in the middle of the night worrying that her aneurysm would burst. In 2014, she became just the second person in the world to be part of the Pipeline clinical trial. At her two-year follow up this past fall, Bean described life without the aneurysm.
Before I worried about dying or being a burden to other people, she said. I wanted to be here for graduations, weddings and new babies and the future. Now that Im cured, I know to seize every day. I live every day to the fullest and Im excited about the future.
The 42-year-old Meyer worried that her brain aneurysm would burst while driving in her car, with her young children in the back seat. She had the Pipeline procedure in November 2015. Last October, she learned that her aneurysm was gone after shrinking over time. That was the best Thanksgiving gift I could have received. I dont have to live with that fear anymore of what could go wrong, Meyer said.
More than a year earlier, she had been experiencing numbness in her arm, dizziness and headaches, which led to the discovery of her aneurysm. My equilibrium was off, which wasnt the norm for me. I felt like something was wrong, Meyer said.
The aneurysm was in a difficult location behind her eye and nose, and Meyer said she didnt want to risk any complications from other more invasive brain surgeries. Using the Pipeline, Dr. Hanel was able to reach the aneurysm and redirect the blood flow away from the aneurysm. The commercial real estate broker was home the next day and was back to work in just two weeks.
Dr. Hanel really took time explaining the procedure and answering questions with not only me, but my husband and mother. We never felt rushed, Meyer said. I was excited I had the opportunity to participate [in the study], otherwise I would have had to live with it and not know if and/or when it was going to rupture.
For more information on Baptist Health and Lyerly Neurosurgery, go to lyerlyneuro.com.
###
About Baptist Health
Baptist Health is a faith-based, mission-driven system in Northeast Florida comprised of Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville; Baptist Medical Center Beaches; Baptist Medical Center Nassau; Baptist Medical Center South; Baptist Clay Medical Campus and Wolfson Childrens Hospital the regions only childrens hospital. All Baptist Health hospitals, along with Baptist Home Health Care, have achieved Magnet status for excellence in patient care. Baptist Health is part of Coastal Community Health, a regional affiliation between Baptist Health, Flagler Hospital and Southeast Georgia Health System forming a highly integrated hospital network focused on significant initiatives designed to enhance the quality and value of care provided to our contiguous communities. Baptist Health has the areas only dedicated heart hospital; orthopedic institute; womens services; neurological institute, including comprehensive neurosurgical services, a comprehensive stroke center and three primary stroke centers; a Bariatric Center of Excellence; a full range of psychology and psychiatry services; urgent care services; and primary and specialty care physicians offices throughout Northeast Florida. Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center is a regional destination for multidisciplinary cancer care which is clinically integrated with MD Anderson Cancer Center, the internationally renowned cancer treatment and research institution in Houston. For more details, visit baptistjax.com.
Stratford School students learn the fundamentals of coding, engineering and design as part of their regular curriculum. We know that balancing science, technology, engineering and mathematics with visual/performing arts and social sciences produces outstanding students who are able to succeed and thrive in a changing world.
From a light switch in a small, rural village to the transportation systems in a sprawling city, engineers have a fingerprint on nearly all aspects of life. As we move further into the 21st Century, how do we prepare the next generation of engineers?
Students and educators at Stratford School are celebrating engineers and the many contributions they make to society during DiscoverEs Engineers Week February 19 to 25. The schools 23 locations and nearly 6,000 students will celebrate by spending nearly 20,000 hours on engineering coursework and projects during the week.
As engineering, science, healthcare and technology jobs increase significantly in the coming decades, its vital that we develop creative problem-solving, critical thinking and collaboration skills in our students, says Monisha Gupta, senior director of Curriculum and Instruction at Stratford. We know that balancing science, technology, engineering and mathematics with visual/performing arts and social sciences produces outstanding students who are able to succeed and thrive in a changing world.
According to a report from the U.S. Department of Labor, 65 percent of todays grade school students will eventually hold jobs that have yet to be invented. Collaboration, critical thinking, communication and creativity skills will be essential skills for these new jobs.
Stratfords proven STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) curriculum introduces critical thinking, real-life problem solving, and innovation to students beginning in preschool through eighth grade, says Gupta. This encourages our students to begin asking the right questions and identifying and analyzing possible solutions, in addition to building a base of fundamental knowledge in core subjects.
Stratford teaches engineering in its STEAM curriculum throughout the entire year. Examples of student classroom projects include creating roadways and control systems that alleviate traffic jams, constructing blood vessels and heart lung models, designing artificial limbs and constructing cities of the future that use less energy and produce less waste.
Activities are happening across Stratfords campuses in the Bay Area. Contact us for details and to set up times. Convenient locations include:
Fremont - Kindergarten through 8th Grade
5301 Curtis Street
Fremont, CA 94538
Pleasanton - Preschool through 5th Grade
4576 Willow Road
Pleasanton, CA 94588
San Francisco - Preschool through 8th Grade
301 De Montfort Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94112
Santa Clara - Preschool through 5th Grade
890 Pomeroy Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95051
Sunnyvale - Sunnyvale Raynor Middle School
1500 Partridge Ave
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
This year, three Stratford teams won numerous awards in the 2017 Future City regional competition sponsored by DiscoverE. One of the three award-winning Stratford teams has been invited to present their Future City concept to leaders of the City of Oakland on March 17.
Engineers Week runs February 19 to 25, 2017. Founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers in 1951, Engineers Week celebrates how engineers make a difference in the world by bringing it to life for kids, educators and parents. For more information about Engineers Week, please visit http://www.discovere.org.
###
About Stratford School
Established in 1999, Stratford School is a leading independent private school founded on the belief that education is a significant influence in the life of a child. Stratford offers an accelerated curriculum from preschool through eighth grade with an emphasis in the areas of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) that incorporates music, physical education, foreign language, and social skills development. Stratfords goal is to prepare and mentor students for admission to competitive high schools and colleges. All students are provided the necessary tools to excel, and are encouraged to participate actively in leadership, community service, and extracurricular activities. Visit http://www.stratfordschools.com for more information.
Miami-Dade County single-family home sales, median prices and dollar volume increased year-over-year in January, according to a new report by the MIAMI Association of REALTORS (MIAMI) and the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system.
Led by a significant surge in traditional sales and transactions for properties listed from $200,000 to $600,000, Miami single-family home sales rose 4.4 percent last month. Median sale prices ($310,000) and dollar volume ($397 million) expanded 14.8 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively.
Miami real estate opened 2017 with strong sales for single-family homes, said Christopher Zoller, the 2017 MIAMI chairman of the board. Now that the uncertainty of the election is over, home buyers are coming off the sidelines. There is high demand for homes priced from $200K to $600K. As reflected in our January statistics, we are also seeing Miami single-family home sales for properties from $600K to $1 million showing strong gains.
More home buyers are taking advantage of current mortgage rates, which despite their increases are still at historic lows. According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage is 4.15 percent.
Single-Family Home Sales Rise
Total existing Miami-Dade County residential sales which posted a record year in 2013 and near record years in 2014 and 2015 decreased 3.3 percent year-over-year from 1,790 to 1,731.
Single-family home sales rose 4.4 percent year-over-year from 821 in January 2016 to 857 last month. The Miami single-family homes market is coming off a 2016 in which it posted the third-most annual sales in county history. Existing condo sales which are competing with a robust new construction market decreased 9.8 percent year-over-year, from 969 transactions to 874.
Sales for mid-market Miami single-family homes, or properties listed from $200,000 to $600,000, increased 22.5 percent in January, from 476 to 583. Homes sold in the $200K to $600K range represent 33.7 percent of total Miami single-family home sales.
Sales for Miami single-family homes listed from $600,000 to $1 million increased 62.3 percent in January, from 53 to 86.
Miami single-family traditional sales also posted gains, jumping 19.3 percent from last year. This growth in traditional sales, from 612 to 730 transactions, is great news for the local market.
Total sales volume for all properties accounted for $702.3 million last month, a 5.2 percent decrease from the $740.5 million sales volume a year ago. These sales do not include Miamis multi-billion dollar new construction condo market.
Median Prices Rise for All Properties
Miami-Dade County single-family home prices jumped 14.8 percent in January 2017, increasing from $270,000 to $310,000. Miami single-family home prices have now risen for 62 consecutive months, a streak spanning more than five years. Existing condos increased 8.4 percent, from $205,000 to $222,250. Condo prices have increased in 66 of the last 68 months.
Despite the rise in prices, Miami real estate remains a major bargain. A condominium in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach cost $170,000 in 2016 Q3, according to the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). The average cost of a 120 square meter apartment in 2016 in the prime inner city areas of London ($4.1 million), Hong Kong ($3.1 million), and New York ($2.2 million) were at least ten times higher, according to Global Property Guide.
Miami Distressed Sales Continue to Decline
Total Miami distressed sales declined 44.7 percent year-over-year, from 398 to 220 last month. Only 12.7 percent of all closed residential sales in Miami were distressed last month, including REO (bank-owned properties) and short sales, compared to 22.2 percent in January 2016. In 2009, distressed sales comprised 70 percent of Miami sales.
Short sales and REOs accounted for 2.9 and 9.8 percent, respectively, of total Miami sales in January 2017. Short sale transactions dropped 35.4 percent year-over-year while REOs fell 47.0 percent.
Nationally, distressed sales accounted for 7 percent of all sales in January, down from 9 percent a year ago.
Miami Real Estate Selling Fast and Close to List Price
The median number of days between listing and contract dates for Miami single-family home sales was 61 days, a 27.1 percent increase from 48 days last year. The median number of days between the listing date and closing date for single-family properties decreased 1.7 percent to 113 days.
For condos, the median time to contract increased 13.3 percent to 85 days. The median number of days between the listing date and closing date increased 4.8 percent to 131 days.
The median percent of original list price received for single-family homes decreased 1.0 percent to 94.5 percent. The median percent of original list price received for existing condominiums decreased 0.5 percent to 93.4 percent.
Lack of Condo Financing Continues to Impact Sales
In addition to competing sales from new construction units, the lack of access to mortgage loans continues to impact existing condominiums. Of the 9,307 condominium buildings in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, only 12 are approved for Federal Housing Administration loans, down from 29 last year, according to statistics from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and FHA.
National and State Statistics
Nationally, total existing-home sales expanded 3.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.69 million in January from an upwardly revised 5.51 million in December 2016, according to NAR. January's sales pace is 3.8 percent higher than a year ago (5.48 million) and surpasses November 2016 (5.60 million) as the strongest since February 2007 (5.79 million).
Statewide closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 16,779 last month, up 5.2 percent from January 2016, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide condo closed sales totaled 7,209 last month, up 6.2 percent compared to January 2016.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types in January was $228,900, up 7.1 percent from January 2016 ($213,700). January's price increase was the fastest since last January (8.1 percent) and marks the 59th consecutive month of year-over-year gains.
The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes last month was $220,000, up 10.1 percent from the previous year, according to Florida Realtors. The statewide median price for townhouse-condo properties in January was $161,000, up 6.6 percent over the year-ago figure. January marked the 62nd month in a row that statewide median prices for both sectors rose year-over-year.
Miamis Cash Buyers Represent Nearly Double the National Figure
Miami cash transactions comprised 43.4 percent of January total closed sales, compared to 52.7 percent last year. Miami cash transactions are more than double the national figure of 23 percent. Miamis high percentage of cash sales reflects South Floridas ability to attract a diverse number of international home buyers, who tend to purchase properties in all cash.
Condominiums comprise a large portion of Miamis cash purchases as 59.5 percent of condo closings were made in cash in January compared to 27.1 percent of single-family home sales.
Balanced Market for Single-Family Homes, Buyers Market for Condos
Inventory of single-family homes increased 5.2 percent in January from 6,262 active listings last year to 6,590 last month. Condominium inventory increased 13.8 percent to 13,284 from 15,111 listings during the same period in 2016.
Single-family homes have a 6.0-month supply, which indicates a balanced market. Existing condominiums have a 13.4-month supply, which indicates a buyers market. A balanced market between buyers and sellers offers between six and nine months supply of inventory.
Total active listings at the end of January increased 11.0 percent year-over-year, from 19,546 to 21,701. Active listings remain about 60 percent below 2008 levels when sales bottomed. New listings of Miami single-family homes decreased 3.0 percent, from 1,816 to 1,871. New listings of condominiums decreased 3.8 percent, from 2,742 to 2,637.
Nationally, total housing inventory at the end of January rose 2.4 percent to 1.69 million existing homes available for sale, but is still 7.1 percent lower than a year ago (1.82 million) and has fallen year-over-year for 20 straight months.
New Construction Market Update
Most Miami preconstruction condo developers require a 50-percent cash deposit on new units. The deposit is not only one of the highest in the United States but is significantly higher than the 20 percent required during the last real estate cycle. The large cash deposits show how committed Miamis preconstruction condo buyers are to the local market.
Sixty-four condo towers with 6,760 units have been completed in Miami-Dade County east of I-95 in the last five years since the start of 2011, according to a Jan. 23 report from preconstruction condo projects website Cranespotters.com and MIAMI.
To access January 2017 Miami-Dade Statistical Reports, visit http://www.SFMarketIntel.com
Note: Statistics in this news release may vary depending on reporting dates. MIAMI reports exact statistics directly from its MLS system.
About the MIAMI Association of REALTORS
The MIAMI Association of REALTORS was chartered by the National Association of Realtors in 1920 and is celebrating 97 years of service to Realtors, the buying and selling public, and the communities in South Florida. Comprised of six organizations, the Residential Association, the Realtors Commercial Alliance, the Broward Council, the Jupiter Tequesta Hobe Sound (JTHS) Council, the Young Professionals Network (YPN) Council and the award-winning International Council, it represents nearly 45,000 real estate professionals in all aspects of real estate sales, marketing, and brokerage. It is the largest local Realtor association in the U.S., and has official partnerships with 160 international organizations worldwide. MIAMIs official website is http://www.miamire.com
###
Jahana Hayes As a teacher, I strive to facilitate learning in a way that engages students by connecting on a personal level and stimulating academic growth, while simultaneously producing conscientious and productive members of society. Jahana Hayes
The Daniel Trust Foundation, a leading youth development nonprofit organization, is pleased to announce that Jahana Hayes, 2016 National Teacher of The Year, will provide the keynote address at The 2017 Daniel Trust Awards, the Foundations annual awards dinner.
Sponsored by Praxair, Inc., The Daniel Trust Awards will be hosted on Friday, June 2, 2017 at the Bridgeport Holiday Inn from 6PM-9PM. At the dinner, 12 high school seniors will be awarded the Foundations college scholarship and will have the opportunity to honor 12 teachers who have made a big difference in their lives.
As the 2016 National Teacher of The Year, Jahana Hayes travels the nation and the world advocating and representing the 3.5 million teachers in the United States. Last year, President Barack Obama honored Jahana at a White House ceremony. Jahana has appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, CBS This Morning and Face The Nation.
Jahana Hayes personal story and advocacy for young people and educators make her a great role model for our scholarship recipients and teacher honorees, said Daniel Trust, Founder and CEO of The Daniel Trust Foundation. We are honored to welcome her as our keynote speaker at this years Daniel Trust Awards.
Jahanas students describe her enthusiasm for her work as infectious. Over the last decade, she has taught World History, Roots of American Citizenship, U.S. History, Civics & Geography, and African-American History. She earned a bachelors degree from Southern Connecticut State University, a masters from the University of St. Joseph and a certificate of advanced study from the University of Bridgeport.
About The Daniel Trust Foundation
The Daniel Trust Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization that invests in and supports students from low-income communities with their educational and career needs and honors teachers who are making a difference in the lives of their students and communities in which they teach. The foundation accomplishes its mission through 3-targeted programs towards the needs of the community. These programs are: (1) a mentoring program for high school juniors and seniors, (2) a college scholarship program for graduates of the mentoring program and (3) a teacher recognition program. To sponsor or register for the 2017 Daniel Trust Awards, please visit http://www.DanielTrustFoundation.org.
Book by Melanie Mitchell: Complexity: A Guided Tour The sciences of complexity have forced us to reexamine long-held assumptions about the way the world works, in disciplines ranging from genetics to economics, from insect colonies to human social networks.
Cyon Research announced today that Melanie Mitchell, an expert in complex systems, will give the Friday keynote at COFES 2017: The Congress On the Future of Engineering Software. COFES 2017 is being held in Scottsdale, Arizona, April 6-9 at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort.
This year at COFES 2017, attendees will take a deep dive into Complexity and Transformation. The growth of complexity is presenting businesses with new and difficult challenges from the constantly changing business environment to conflicting requirements of more complex products that must be delivered more simply to the customer. New phenomena result from complexity, often requiring consideration of things that were not previously an issue. Rather than focus on how to design complex systems from scratch, COFES 2017 will challenge attendees to focus on interventions that can transform existing systems to mitigate the effects of complexity.
In her keynote "An Introduction to Complexity" Mitchell will take participants on a tour of the sciences of complexity, a broad set of efforts that seek to explain how large-scale complex, organized, and adaptive behavior can emerge from simple interactions among a myriad of individual components. Based on her work at the Santa Fe Institute, Mitchell brings clarity to the workings of complexity across a broad range of biological, technological, and social phenomena.
The sciences of complexity have forced us to reexamine long-held assumptions about the way the world works, in disciplines ranging from genetics to economics, from insect colonies to human social networks, Mitchell explains. "My talk will explore some of the important lessons we have learned from complex systems thinking.
Your first encounter with the emerging science of complexity will alter your world view, said Michael Tardif, Managing Partner, Building Informatics. Melanie Mitchell and her peers are only the second generation of scientists to undertake the daunting task of understanding the world as it is, rather than trying to fit it into predefined theorems. One day, the history of science will be taught as B.C. (before complexity) and A.C. (after complexity). Dr. Mitchells COFES 2017 keynote is your chance to bear witness to and become a part of this seminal moment in the history of science. (Building Informatics empowers building owners to optimize the financial and operational performance of their real property assets throughout their lifecycle).
Melanie Mitchell is an intellectual leader in the field of complex adaptive systems and one of the most effective communicators of complex systems ideas to scientists, engineers, and the public at large, said C. C. Wood, External Professor, Former Vice President Santa Fe Institute. Melanie is the prize-winning author of Complexity: A Guided Tour (Oxford, 2009) and a gifted teacher, having founded and led the Santa Fe Institutes Complexity Explorer series of online courses. Like it or not, increasing complexity in the systems we engineer, build, and sell is a fact of modern technological life, and COFES attendees will benefit significantly from Melanies perspectives. (The Santa Fe Institute is the world headquarters for complexity science, operated as an independent, not-for-profit research and education center located in Santa Fe, New Mexico).
We live in a complex world, but our brains are wired for simplicity, said Brad Holtz, president and CEO of Cyon Research Corporation. When confronted with logarithmic growth, we are constantly surprised because our innate expectation that the world follows linear projections consistently leads us to the wrong conclusions. Similarly, the complexness and interconnectivity of our world continues to baffle us. Melanies talk will help us understand not just why, but also how to think. Which is what COFES is all about.
About Mitchell
Melanie Mitchell is Professor of Computer Science at Portland State University and External Professor and Member of the Science Board at the Santa Fe Institute. She attended Brown University, where she majored in mathematics and did research in astronomy. She also attended the University of Michigan, where she received a Ph.D. in computer science. Her dissertation, in collaboration with her advisor Douglas Hofstadter, was the development of Copycat, a computer program that makes analogies. She has held faculty or professional positions at the University of Michigan, the Santa Fe Institute, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the OGI School of Science and Engineering, and Portland State University. She is the author or editor of five books and over 80 scholarly papers in the fields of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and complex systems. Her most recent book, Complexity: A Guided Tour, won the 2010 Phi Beta Kappa Science Book Award.
About COFES
Now in its 18th year, COFES is the annual, invitation-only event for the design and engineering software industry. Widely recognized as a think-tank event, COFES (cofes.com) gathers design and engineering software leaders (vendors, users, press, and analysts) together to discuss the role engineering technology will play in the future survival and success of business. COFES is renowned for hosting leading keynote visionaries that provide a new perspective to the future of the industry. The by-invitation-only COFES is a Cyon Research event. Apply for an invitation at apply.cofes.com.
About Cyon Research
Cyon Research Corporation is a think-tank providing key information, research, analysis, and consulting to its clients worldwide. COFES (The Congress on the Future of Engineering Software) and ASSESS (Analysis, Simulation, and Systems Engineering Software Strategies) are Cyon Research's primary events. cyonresearch.com.
J. Randall Gladden, also known as Randy At each event I encourage attendees to dispel the myths circulating about the current economic condition
Fans will have three new opportunities to connect with trusted advisor, author, and public speaker, J. Randall Gladden and upcoming events. Heres your chance to connect with Randy and learn how to fulfill Gods purpose by living to your fullest potential.
Randy will be speaking at Parkland Chapel in Farmington, MO this weekend, February 25, 2017. He will be meeting with the church leaders on Saturday morning, and you are in the area Randy is speaking at both the 9:00 am and 10:30 am CT services. There will be time to connect with him both Saturday and Sunday after the services.
Randy will then travel to Branson, MO on Sunday night, February 26 for a meeting with a group of ministry leaders on Monday morning. Your other opportunity to catch Randy live will be as the main speaker at The Church of God in Christ Conference in Fairbanks, AK on Friday night March 24, 2017 and again Saturday morning March 25.
The most rewarding part of my work is when I get a chance to travel to different cities across the country and around the world to share how embracing positive attributes of the economy can help manifest Gods plan for their future, said J. Randall Gladden.
At each event I encourage attendees to dispel the myths circulating about the current economic condition, continued Gladden. I want to equip them with skills and strategies to experience financial success so that they have the greatest opportunity for personal and financial growth.
In addition to those dates listed above, Randy will be traveling quite a bit in the coming months. To connect with Randy or have him speak at your church or organization please visit http://www.lordgladden.com.
ABOUT J. RANDALL GLADDEN
J. Randall Gladden (Randy) engages, enlightens and challenges audiences across the world to live to their fullest potential by reminding them God created them for a purpose. Randys decades of experience as a wealth adviser have led him to an asset strategy blending moral values with economic realities; he calls this Legacy Wealth. He lives daily to fulfill his God-given mandate to encourage, equip and empower those in the Church to transform their world.
Randy also serves as a university guest lecturer, syndicated media commentator and strategic advisor to businesses and ministries internationally. Additionally, he owns several businesses; one recently was named the small business of the year in the State of Washington. Randy has been married to his wife Elsie for 13 years and together they have two sons, Jack and Alex. When Randy is not traveling to work with clients abroad, the family resides in Southern California.
Tom Perkins, European Director, Pennside Partners ... an integral part of our plans to expand our European presence
Pharma and biotech consulting firm Pennside Partners, Ltd., announced the addition of Tom Perkins as European director. Operating from Pennsides Zurich headquarters, Pennside Partners, GmbH, Mr. Perkins brings 14 years of pharmaceutical consulting experience to Pennside.
Perkins joins Pennside after more than a decade with leading market research firm, GfK. He began his pharma career first as an intern at V2 (acquired by GfK) during his studies at St. Josephs University (Philadelphia, PA, United States). He then quickly advanced through the organization to become a Division Manager of GfKs Swiss arm based in Basel, Switzerland, where he was the key account manager for one of GfKs top clients.
Perkins brings vast expertise in respiratory conditions (COPD, PAH, Cystic Fibrosis) and previous experience in oncology and hematology. In his last 3 years with GfK, Perkins ran launch tracking for a major respiratory player. Previously, he was the project leader for the largest primary market research program ever conducted in Type 2 Diabetes wherein over 6,000 physicians and 10,000 patients from 26 countries provided insights on physician communication and marketing. Publications regarding this Diabetes project will be forthcoming in 2017.
We are excited to have Tom join our team. He will be an integral part of our plans to expand our European presence while continuing to provide excellent service to our existing client base, said Tom Penrice, VP and Co-Founder of Pennside Partners. Our recent staff additions as well as the opening of our Manchester, UK area office in May of 2016 demonstrate our commitment to delivering the highest quality business development support, strategy, and competitive intelligence services to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries on a global scale.
For more information you may contact Pennside Partners at 1-610-372-7000 or consult[at]pennside[dot]com. Pennsides Zurich office is located at Balsberg, Balz Zimmermann Strasse 7, CH-8058 Zurich-Flughafen, Switzerland and can be reached at +41 79 372 7070 or via the company website listed below.
About Pennside Partners
Pennside Partners, Ltd., is a leading business development consulting firm serving the global pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device sectors for more than 25 years, with offices in Wyomissing, PA, USA, Alderley Edge, UK, and Zurich, Switzerland. Their mission is to help pharma and biotech clients rapidly formulate winning strategies and tactics by providing the industrys most accurate business intelligence and actionable market insight through their worldwide team of industry professionals. Find them at http://www.pennside.com.
Veteran Services at FPS Promoting positive paths to growth, well-being and long-term success for Veterans and their families.
FPS is a nonprofit mental health agency that has served military veterans who suffer from combat-related PTSD.
Established in 1977, our organization was at the forefront in working with veterans with PTSD-related symptoms. During the Vietnam-era, the challenges of military returning to civilian life were evident and served as the catalyst for the establishing the agency.
Run by veteran's for veterans, the treatment model is different than that of a traditional mental health facility. The counselors have all served in conflicts ranging from Vietnam to Iraq. Upon returning to civilian life, each pursued an education in the mental health field.
For more than a decade, our organization has been sustained by a grant from the state of New Jersey. This grant allows our counselors to see veterans at no charge, once they qualify for services. The program has been very successful and the number of veterans seen has multiplied many times over since its inception.
In order to sustain and grow these services in 2017 and beyond, a key focus will be on grant seeking, fundraising and the pursuit of both individual and corporate donations.
The name change will allow for more continuity and alignment within the veteran community, as a means to convey our goals and mission.
Veteran Services at FPS is part of Family & Psychological Services, which offers mental health services to civilians in a behavioral health setting.
Left To Right- Tiffany Barber, Chris Lester, Sarah Via, David Johnson, Chris Owens, Michael Huff, Jim Cowell, and John Eiler We see nothing but immense growth for Southern Trust Mortgage in 2017." said Jerry Flowers, STM CEO and President.
Southern Trust Mortgage, a full-service mortgage lender, announced today the opening of a branch office in Mechanicsville, Virginia (NMLS #2921). Mechanicsville is the latest to join the company's eighteen branches along the East Coast, making it the seventh office in Virginia. The office will be led by Branch Manager, Chris Owens - NMLS# 211851.
We see nothing but immense growth for Southern Trust Mortgage in 2017. Adding another branch will allow us to better serve the state of Virginia and assist home buyers with one of the most important decisions they will make in their life. We take pride in our diverse mortgage product offerings and one-of-a-kind customer service," said Jerry Flowers, STM CEO and President.
Southern Trust Mortgage was founded in 1998 and is a DIRECT lender. As a direct lender, they control every step of the mortgage process, from pre-qualification to in-house underwriting, through funding.
The Mechanicsville branch is located at 9207 Chamberlayne Rd, Mechanicsville, Virginia 23116. If you are in the market for a new home or would like to contact a loan officer, please visit http://www.southerntrust.com.
Ken Witte - Starkey Mortgage, Tim Shipskie - CORE Homebuilders, Cassie Shipskie , Tamra Wade - Tamra Wade and Partners, Brian Milbrett - CORE Homebuilders, JoAnn MacHamer - Tamra Wade and Partners The Greater Atlanta community is very supportive of Starkey Mortgage and this is a way we can give back to those in our community who are in need," said Ken Witte, Atlanta Central branch manager at Starkey Mortgage.
Starkey Mortgage, a nationally recognized residential mortgage company, presented a $1000 check through Starkey Mortgages Community Connection program to HomeAid Atlanta during the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Associations Installation and Awards Program.
Starkeys Community Connection program provides a way for the company to contribute to charitable organizations in the communities it serves. All non-profit and not-for-profit groups that have a current 501(c)(3) status are eligible. These groups can be local, national or international and can include youth, school, education, health, environmental and animal programs.
Our team is excited to support HomeAid Atlantas Closing Campaign program. We believe this will be the first of many donations to assist HomeAid in building new lives for Atlanta's homeless families and individuals, said Ken Witte, Atlanta Central branch manager at Starkey Mortgage. The Greater Atlanta community is very supportive of Starkey Mortgage and this is a way we can give back to those in our community who are in need.
Core Homebuilders has also committed to match any donations the Starkey Mortgage Community Connection program makes to HomeAid Atlanta on a monthly basis. Mandy Crater, executive director of HomeAid Atlanta said, We are thankful for Starkey Mortgages and Core Homebuilders ongoing commitment to HomeAid Atlanta and our cause to help the estimated 7,500 people in Metro Atlanta experiencing homelessness on any given night, 40 percent who are women and children.
About HomeAid Atlanta
HomeAid Atlanta, founded in 2001, is a nonprofit organization that builds new lives for homeless families and individuals through housing and community outreach. HomeAid works in partnership with the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association, as well as community building industry organizations, to assist people experiencing homelessness. To date, HomeAid Atlanta has completed over 76 housing, remodel and care day projects at locations that serve victims of domestic violence, teen mothers, and more. Learn more at http://www.homeaidatlanta.org.
About CORE Homebuilders
Based in Historic Buford GA, CORE Homebuilders is built on a commitment to operational excellence, predictable quality, and customer service unmatched in the industry. CORE began building homes in the Atlanta area in 2012. Years of experience with both local and national builders coupled with a passion to be better, led to creating a different kind of homebuilder. While new as a name brand, CORE boasts a unique blend of skills and knowledge that balance tried and true building techniques with new technology and products. Partnering with an award winning, nationally experienced architect and professional designer combined with a dedication to technology and quality control throughout the building process ensures a home that homeowners will be delighted to live in for years to come. http://www.corehomebuilders.com
About WR Starkey Mortgage, LLP.
Starkey Mortgage (WR Starkey Mortgage, LLP NMLSR# 2146), is a nationally recognized residential mortgage company intent on providing exceptional, individualized service and maintaining supportive, lasting relationships with borrowers, Realtors, and builders. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Starkey Mortgage opened its doors in March 2000 and offers home purchase, refinance and renovation loans with offices throughout Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas. (http://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). Developing a reputation for quality and excellence in the mortgage industry, Starkey Mortgage has been recognized by National Professional Mortgage Magazine as a Top Mortgage Employer: 2016, Mortgage Executive Magazine as a Top 100 Mortgage Company: 2011-2016 and as a Top 50 Company to Work For in America: 2014 - 2015. http://www.starkeymortgage.com
Welcome Guest! You Are Here:
Welcome Guest! You Are Here:
Home Regional News East
Cookies
What are cookies ?
How do we use cookies?
How to control cookies?
Managing cookies in your browser
see what cookies you have got and delete them on an individual basis
block third party cookies
block cookies from particular sites
block all cookies from being set
delete all cookies when you close your browser
X
A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. Cookies are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.Website use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google") to help analyse the use of this website. For this purpose, Google Analytics uses"cookies", which are text files placed on your computer.The information generated by the cookies about your use of this website - standard internet log information (including your IP address) and visitor behaviour information in an anonymous form - will be transmitted to and stored by Google including on servers in the United States. Google will anonymize the information sent by removing the last octet of your IP address prior to its storage.According to Google Analytics terms of service, Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website and compiling reports on website activity.We not use, and not allow any third party to use the statistical analytics tool to track or to collect any personally identifiable information of visitors to this site. Google may transfer the information collected by Google Analytics to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google`s behalf.According to Google Analytics terms of service, Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.You may refuse the use of Google Analytics cookies by downloading and installing Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. The add-on communicates with the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js) to indicate that information about the website visit should not be sent to Google Analytics.Cookies are also used to record if you have agreed (or not) to our use of cookies on this site, so that you are not asked the question every time you visit the site.You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish. You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed.Most browsers allow you to:If you chose to delete cookies, you should be aware that any preferences will be lost. Also, if you block cookies completely many websites (including ours) will not work properly and webcasts will not work at all. For these reasons, we do not recommend turning cookies off when using our webcasting services.
News
From Bulgaria
Azerbaijan Confirmed Engagement to Deliver 1 bn cub. m of Gas
Baku is interested in taking part in the extension of Bulgaria
AUTHOR: publics.bg
Bulgarian interim energy minister Nikolay Pavlov during his visit in Baku
Bulgarian Ministry of Energy
Azerbaijans energy minister Natig Aliyev has confirmed to the Bulgarian interim energy minister Nikolay Pavlov Bakus engagement to deliver 1 bn. cub. m of natural gas per year to Bulgaria. The announcement was made by the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy following a meeting on Wednesday between the two in the Azerbaijani capital.
Aliev and Pavlov discussed the development of the bilateral relations in the energy sector, with Pavlov set to attend the third ministerial meeting on the Southern Gas Corridor on Thursday. The Bulgarian delegation also comprises the CEOs of the Bulgarian Energy Holdings and its gas subsidiaries Bulgargaz and Bulgartransgaz.
Aliev however stressed that the requirement for the delivery of these quantities is the realization of the Greece- Bulgaria gas interconnector (IGB).
Currently there is intense preparation work on the tender procedure for the construction of the IGB, so that the actual construction work could kick off in 2018, minister Pavlov said.
He said that the project is financially secured . It has so far received EUR 45 m of gratuitous funding under the European Energy Programme for Recovery and a EUR 110 m state guarantee, the latter poised to secure a credit line from the EBRD and the EIB. The Bulgarian energy ministry said that there are also efforts to get additional grants from the European structural and investment funds.
Minister Pavlov said that Azerbaijani companies AGSC and SOCAR have assisted for accomplishment of the contract for gas delivery from Shah Deniz II gas field. The contract was concluded between AGSC and Bulgargaz.
The [Bulgarian] Ministry of Energy, Bulgargaz, and the Bulgarian Energy Holding, as a stakeholder in the IGB, we showed sufficient guarantees and we managed to persuade our partners from AGSC that the Bulgarian state is firmly involved in the construction of the IGB in due time, minister Pavlov said.
He added that he could see a partnership between the two countries in terms of the Balkan gas hub project, adding that Bulgaria developed the concept of the gas hub with the European Commission and that the project was among the European projects of common interest. Pavlov said that this would allow for the transport of Azerbaijani natural gas via the Bulgarian gas infrastructure.
He also invited experienced Azeri companies to take part in the tender for 3D seismic research on the extension of Bulgarias sole underground gas storage at Chiren.
Azerbaijans gas sources are real, as are the possibilities to increase production. I think that we could be interested in the planned gas projects in Bulgaria. We are ready to take part. We count, most of all, to take part in the project for the gas storage, Natig Aliyev said, adding that Baku believed the IGB project would be finished on time.
He called Bulgaria a leader in the Southern Gas Corridor today, adding that the Balkan gas hub was an interesting project and that Azerbaijan expects that its gas could access other European countries, such as Romania, via Bulgaria.
The two ministers supported the idea of a future Bulgaria-Azerbaijan meeting to broaden their energy cooperation.
Malin Persson Giolitos English language debut, Quicksand, is the story of an 18-year-old girl accused in a horrific school shooting.
Despite President Donald Trumps comments at his Feb. 18th rally in Florida, there have been no terrorist attacks in Sweden, and no school shootings to date, even though the country boasts a sizeable per capita immigrant population.
But while life for the most part in this Scandinavian country is peaceful, Sweden, like its Nordic neighbors, is a hotbed of crime. . . writing, that is. With a population of well under ten million, the country has a disproportionate number of authors writing in that genre (theres also a disproportionate number of billionaires but thats another story). The success of the Millennium Trilogy author Stieg Larsson is credited with starting it all in 2005 with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
But this March, with the publication by Other Press of English language debut novel Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito, a new talent arrives. Quicksand, about a school shooting in Stockholms wealthiest suburb, was voted Best Swedish Crime Novel of 2016 and has topped Swedens sales charts and critic lists.
Quicksand recounts the trial of the accused school shooter, Maja Norberg. And Persson Giolito has the pedigree: shes the oldest daughter of Swedish crime writer G.W. Persson, and in her career as a lawyer at a large corporate firm, she learned her way around a courtroom. At her lunch at the Swedish Embassy in New York hosted by the Swedish Consul General, Persson Giolito was enthusiastic when she said, I love the law and I love the courtroom.
She also generously praises her collaboration with translator Rachel Willson-Broyles. Not only did Willson-Broyles translate the book from Swedish to English but Persson Giolito credits her with ably capturing the voice of Maja, a just-turned 18-year-old charged with the shootings that killed her boyfriend, her best friend, her teacher and other students. When I read the first draft, it was so moving, says Persson Giolito in the interview at the office of her publisher following the embassy lunch. It was my novel but in translation, I saw it with completely different eyes, as if I were reading it for the first time. Her awe quickly morphed into incredulity. Oh my God, this is good, was her initial reaction. She laughs, remembering thinking, Am I this good?
The former lawyer turned full-time writer who lives in Brussels with her husband and three daughters manages to turn a book set during a courtroom trial into a surprising page-turner. The book has sold more than 90,000 copies in Swedenthe most of any of her four previous booksand her readers, she says, range in age from 16 to 98.
The 408-page novel opens on the first day of the trial with chapters alternating courtroom scenes with the compelling back-stories of the rich entitled students and the events that conspired to make them the victims of a mass-murder.
Persson Giolito consciously mixes in a heavy dose of contemporary social issues. The book addresses class and immigration, race and racism, criminal justice and conviction by media, wealth and leisure, love and obsession. And thats not all: the story examines loyalty and codependence, innocence and guilt, and, for all the helicopter moms and dads in the audience-what is owed by a parent to a child. I want to tell stories in a context, says Persson Giolito.
The books trial, led by defense attorney Peder Sander, is an accurate portrayal of the proceedings within the Swedish justice system. In previous novels, Persson Giolitos used a female lawyer schooled in criminal justice as her protagonist. For this book, used a teenage narrator. She also wrote in first person for the first time. And, she broke rules beyond her own dicta: A school shooter is almost always a white male, not necessarily from a marginalized environment, she says.
Maja is a 100% honest narrator. She wants to tell the truth, Persson Giolito says. Maja gives voice to the helplessness we feel right now, whether its Syria, ISIS, or the repairman who doesnt show up for the job.
Readers can relate to the helplessness Maja feels. Its like quicksand, Persson Giolito says, evoking the title. You cant move without going deeper into the situation. Persson Giolito had other reasons for changing her narrator to a disaffected young person; Maja resembles a favorite character from the authors own teenage years: Holden Caulfield. I read Catcher in the Rye 30 times. I related to him as a deeply depressed funny teenager. He formed the teen me, she says.
Like her protagonist and Holden Caulfield, Persson Giolito went to an upscale prep school. Literature was her first love, but she took an introductory law course, which she loved. At the same time I hated literature studies: the snobbery of it and the absolute meaningless of it. Her father, a criminologist, confirmed her change in career direction. He told me that nobody can live by reading alone, she remembers. Persson Giolito had a stunning start to her law career, recruited following graduation by the largest Nordic law firm. I was the golden child of the firm until I had my first child, she says. By the time she was pregnant with her third child, she was fired, shortly before Christmas. It was a shock, she says, but by New Years, she was contemplating her annual and often repetitive resolutions: lose ten pounds, exercise more, write a novel. She figured if not now, when, and knocked out her first book in less than nine months. She delivered the manuscript the day her daughter was born. The writing had gone fast, perhaps because she wrote what she knew: a novel about a female lawyer who is fired while pregnant. It got a lot of press, and everybody knew which law firm it was. They had to hire crisis management for six months. Of this initial success, she says: Who wants to be an angry bitch? But I was good at being revengeful.
Now she spends her days at home writing full time from 9am to 4pm. She only stops to meet her children at the bus stop and to walk the dog. The day of this interview, following her U.S. book tour, she was headed back to Brussels to begin a fifth book. Shes already decided that the protagonist will be a character she knows well: Peder Sanders from Quicksand. And, like her other novels, it will be set in present time. Shes not quite sure what the plot will be but she says she doesnt rule out the topic of terrorism. After all, its been in the news a lot lately. Or, at least the fake news.
Literati, a new subscription service for childrens books based in Austin, Tex., which debuted last November, has just begun fulfilling orders. The online service, unveiled at the Texas Book Festival, charges a recurring $9.95 membership fee for five curated titles a month.
Jessica Ewing, Literati's CEO, said the company promises parents "developmentally age-appropriate books" for children from newborns to age eight. Customers, who receive five titles per delivery, can keep the books for a week and then either purchase them or return them. Discounts are offered on an escalating scale: 10% off the purchase of one book, 15% off two books, 20% off three books, 25% off four books and 30% off five books. We are operating like Trunk Club and similar try-before-you-buy services, said Ewing, a former Google executive who moved to Austin to become a writer.
Each monthly shipment is organized around a themeJanuary was, for example, science and innovation"and each box includes a unique piece of childrens illustration done specifically for the club.
According to Ewing, the company carries a mix of backlist and new titles with special attention paid to books that are "lesser known classics... books that we think may be overlooked, but are really diamonds in the rough. Recent examples include When Pigasso Met Mootisse by Nina Laden (Chronicle), Illuminature by Rachel Williams, illustrated by Carnovsky (Wide Eyed Editions), and Mr. Ferris and His Wheel by Kathryn Gibbs Davis, illustrated by Gilbert Ford (HMH).
The company also has an eye on giving back. The company is testing whether it can set up a system through which the children who use its service can donate their unwanted books. Ewing is also looking into the possibility of getting books to foster children who don't have a personal library. "There are a lot of ways that we can impact the world through what we do, Ewing said.
For now, though, Ewing admitted that the priority is making her business work. Part of the appeal of our subscription model is that it takes the frustration out of shopping for books," she said, as well as "the uncertainty of not knowing whether or not a book will be age-appropriate." She added that she thinks the service will especially appeal to parents who "don't want their children catered to by an algorithm on Amazon."
PEN America has announced the winners of the majority of its 2017 Literary Awards, which include novelist, essayist, and critic Aleksandar Hemon for his oral history of Bosnian migrants, How Did You Get Here?: Tales of Displacement, and novelist Helen Oyeyemi for her debut story collection, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours.
"As global and national political discourse turn toward exclusion, PEN America continues to uphold the humanities' place in fostering coherent dialogue," PEN America president Andrew Solomon said in a statement. "Many of this year's honored books explore the social themes that are at the surface of our nation's consciousness. The PEN America Literary Awards grant us a critical opportunity to recognize the literary excellence of these works and to celebrate the varied experiences of their creators."
Winners of the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature, the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, and the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay will be announced live at the 2017 PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony. The ceremony, to be hosted by comedian Aasif Mandvi, will be held on March 27 at The New School's John L. Tishman Auditorium in Manhattan.
The 2017 awards will confer 23 distinct awards, fellowships, grants, and prizes, totaling to nearly $315,000. PEN America established its Literary Awards program in 1963.
Right thinking leads to right action, Buddhism teaches. And while Buddhism is best known in the West as a path to inner change, and it has no social justice teachings per se, a number of books show how Buddhist principles can prompt activism on issues such as racism, poverty, and xenophobia.
The spike in titles related to social issues arrives amid a steady demand for books on Buddhism, but the audience may be shifting, according to Monkfish publisher Paul Cohen. We believe Buddhism has an even greater appeal to millennials than previous generations due to its simpatico nature with sciencesomething many other religions are still struggling with, he said.
Daniel Aitken, publisher of Buddhist-specialty press Wisdom Publications, also sees a solid audience for Buddhist ideas, especially in todays political and cultural climate. Any type of major change brings with it a sense of uncertainty and readers will naturally look to the wisdom found in these kinds of books, he says. Buddhist ideas of interdependence and impermanence, in particular, can offer not only comfort during these times, but also methods for skillfully approaching difficult situations.
Rather than offering specific steps or programs, five booksthree new and two in new editionsfocus on how transforming hearts and minds can lead to social change. That begins with seeing others not as the other, but as our collective selves, authors argue.
Interconnected: Embracing Life in Our Global Society By Ogyen Trinley Dorje (Wisdom, Feb.) Tibetan Buddhist monk Dorje builds a case that all humans, in spite of differences, are related and reliant on each other. He writes, Along with the Internet, we should develop an Innernet... by cultivating a universal sense of connectedness. He adds, Minority communities in every society are subjected to prejudice and abuse at the hands of other communities. By actively cultivating positive feelings toward all others universally, we can find the resolve to seek out ways to end such suffering.
Friendship as Freedom: Mindful Practices for Resisting Oppression and Building Community By Kate Johnson (Parallax Press, Oct.) Johnson, who teaches yoga and meditation in NYC public schools, draws on Buddhist teachings and on her experience as a biracial child growing up in Chicago to encourage readers to form relationships that bridge differences in faith, race, gender, sexual orientation, and physical ability. Friendships might contribute to political shifts that lean towards justice, she writes. If we are to build stronger social justice movements we are going to have to learn to trust each other. This will only happen one relationship at a time.
Grassroots Zen: Community and Practice in the Twenty-First Century Perle Besserman and Manfred Steger (Monkfish, Apr.) Although Zen Buddhism has an esoteric image, cofounders of the Princeton Area Zen Group Besserman and Steger show how the meditation cushion can be a launching pad for activism. They write, "Grassroots Zen is not an isolated metaphysical practice cut off from the world; it integrates meditation and daily life in the busy marketplace beyond the monastery. The unity of being experienced in Zen meditation must be expressed in the world as openness, nonviolence, compassion, friendship, and democracy." Monkfish publisher Cohen says Grassroots Zena substantially revised, expanded, and updated edition of the 2001 edition from Tuttleemphasizes gender equality and envisions a socially engaged Buddhism where zazen [meditation practice] is integrated each day with work, family, and social obligations. Cohen decided to publish a new edition because we're seeing a whole new generation of spiritual seekers who are more worldly and sophisticated than the seekers of the 60s and 70s, and they are looking for more integrated spiritual approaches.
Why the Dalai Lama is a Socialist: Buddhism, Socialism and the Compassionate Society By Terry Gibbs (Zed Books, dist. by U. of Chicago Press, Mar.) Canadian social scientist Gibbs connects Buddhism to social justice by comparing it to socialist traditions. Gibbs writes that both Buddhism and socialism help human beings become aware of our delusions, including the belief we are separate from each other. Our interdependence, or interbeing, means that our wealth creation and our consumption habits have global dimensions for human beings, other animals and nature, Gibbs writes. Both Buddhism and socialism recognize this interdependence andsuggest that rather than living on auto pilot, we could more intentionally work to create the future we want. In this, it becomes clear that what we do in the realm of our day-to-day lives as parents, teachers, plumbers or musicians is incredibly important.
March will see the release of Lies We Believe About Godthe first work of nonfiction by bestselling author of The Shack William Paul Young, as well as a collection of writings by James Martin, the Jesuit priest well-known for serving as the official chaplain of the Colbert Nation on Comedy Centrals The Colbert Report.
Nonfiction
March 1
This Is Our Time by Trevin Wax (B&H, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-4336-4847-2) Washington Post and Christianity Today contributor Wax aims to help readers see through myths of society and the truth of the gospel by examining common beliefs and practices, such as cell phone use.
Reimagining Exodus by David Zaslow (Paraclete, $17.99 paper, ISBN 978-1-61261-780-0) explores the Exodus as a link between Judaism and Christianity, and looks at how the story of freedom can offer hope in the face of modern-day struggles.
The Reckless Way of Love by Dorothy Day (Plough, $8 paper, ISBN 978-0-87486-792-3) collects lessons from Catholic convert and social activist Day on how to seek Jesus and follow his example and teachings.
March 3
Getting Past Perfect by Kate Wicker (Ave Maria, $ 14.95 paper, ISBN 978-1-5947-1716-1). Journalist and the creator of CatholicMom.com Wicker offers a portrait of Catholic womanhood to help mothers overcome unrealistic expectations.
March 7
Lies We Believe About God by Wm. Paul Young (Atria, $, ISBN 978-1-5011-0139-7). Young presents personal anecdotes and stories about the compassion readers felt after reading The Shack in order to demonstrate a new way to address issues such as sin, religion, hell, politics, identity, creation, human rights, and Gods love.
Misfit Faith by Jason J. Stellman (Convergent, $24, 978-0-8041-4062-1). Former Protestant pastor Stellman explores what it means to be a mixed-up Catholic in the 21st century through theological insights and personal experiences.
Long Days of Small Things by Catherine McNiel (NavPress, $14.99 paper, 978-1-63146-643-4) features spiritual practices that can be done in the sacred mundane or every mothering moment.
Boundless Heart: The Buddhas Path of Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity by Christina Feldman (Shambhala, $16.95 paper, ISBN 978-1-61180-373-0). Feldman, a teacher with the Insight Meditation Society, walks readers through a course in the Buddhist practice of the brahma viharas, or heavenly abodes.
Only Love Today by Rachel Macy Stafford (Zondervan, $22.99; ISBN 978-0-310-34674-6) is a devotional from the author of Hands Free Mama that centers on the four seasons and encourages readers to let go of distractions.
March 8
Sefer ha-Bahir by Geoffrey W. Dennis (Llewellyn, $29, 978-0-7387-4921-1) is a collection of 51 teachings from Sefer ha-Bahir, an anonymous mystical work attributed to a 1st-century rabbinic sage.
March 14
The Dawn of Christianity by Robert J. Hutchinson (Thomas Nelson, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-7180-7942-0) features known accounts of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus in narrative form.
March 15
Daniel Rudd by Gary B. Agee (Liturgical Press, $14.95, ISBN 978-0-8146-4525-3). Agee, teacher at the School of Theology and Christian Ministry at Anderson University, looks at the life and work of Rudd, an African-American journalist and activist who was born into slavery but was inspired to fight for liberty and justice through his Catholic faith.
March 16
James Martin: Essential Writings by James Martin (Orbis, $22, ISBN 978-1-62698-213-0) collects writings by Catholic priest and spiritual writer Martin from sources including books and essays on prayer, depression, sexuality, and more.
March 20
A Call From Heaven by Josie Varga (New Page Books, $15.99 paper, ISBN 978-1-63265-081-8) examines anecdotes and research on deathbed spiritual phenomena, making a case that we do not die alone and that we all will be guided to the other side.
March 21
The First Love Story by Bruce Feiler (Penguin Press, $28, ISBN 978-1-59420-681-8) columnist for the New York Times Feiler visits four continents while tracing the story of Adam and Eve and argues that theirs was a model for a healthy, long-term, and resilient relationship.
March 24
Wendell Berry and the Given Life by Ragan Sutterfield (Franciscan Media, $22.99; ISBN 978-1-63253-122-3). Naturalist Sutterfield explores Christian teachings of humility and creation through Wendell Berrys vision of creaturely life or of humans who rely on the earth.
March 27
Origins of the Sphinx by Robert M. Schoch, Robert Bauval (Inner Traditions/Bear & Company, $24.95 paper, 978-1-62055-525-5). Egyptologists Schoch and Bauval examine the evidence (seismic studies, archeoastrological alignments, and more) and argue that the Great Sphinx of Giza is thousands of years older than believed, indicating the existence of an early civilization before the end of the last ice age.
March 28
The Face of Water by Sarah Ruden (Pantheon, $26.95, ISBN 978-0-307-90856-8). Scholar and translator of classical literature Ruden reassesses the language and translation of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, to reveal poetry, drama, and humor.
Fiction
March 1
The Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan (B&H, $14.99, 978-1-4336-4993-6) is the latest edition of the allegory to Christian life originally published in 1678. It features questions at the end of each chapter.
March 21
A Lady in Disguise by Sandra Byrd (Howard, $15.99, 978-1-4767-1793-7). Gillian Young makes a new start as a costume designer at a renowned theater following the mysterious death of her father.
Grace and the Preacher by Kim Vogel Sawyer (WaterBrook, $14.99, 978-1-60142-902-5). A man desperate for a second chance finds romance through a false identity.
March 27
A Trail of Crumbs by Susie Finkbeiner (Kregel, $14.99, 978-0-8254-4446-3) follows Pearl and her family who are forced out of their Oklahoma home and into an uncertain future.
Amid reports of declining church attendance in the U.S. today, religion publishers are addressing a major factor that drives congregants awaynegative experiences with clergy members or other parishioners.
In 2015, the Pew Research Center surveyed over 35,000 American adults and reported a decline in the number of people who say they regularly go to religious services. Pew followed up in 2016 with a study on how Americans choose a new church and why, finding that 11% of adults have left a congregation due to a disagreement with clerics or fellow churchgoers.
On the heels of those findings, new books suggest a need for resources on how to cope with disagreements between congregants and their churches, as well as more serious problems such as mistreatment and rejection occurring within houses of worship. Each title includes examples of painful experiences and different ways to find healing in the church again.
Hurting in the Church: A Way Forward for Wounded Catholics By Fr. Thomas Berg (Our Sunday Visitor, Feb.) Father Berg, professor of moral theology at St. Josephs Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., addresses the issue of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, drawing on his painful experience and sharing the stories of others. He makes a case that not only is healing possible, but that wounds can help build stronger Christians and better disciples.
Healing Spiritual Wounds: Reconnecting with a Loving God After Experiencing a Hurtful Church By Carol Howard Merritt (HarperOne, Feb.) Presbyterian pastor Merritt presents a plan to help those who have suffered from sexism, homophobia, or manipulative religious politics in their churches. She writes that the first step toward healing is to separate God from the wounds inflicted in his name and find a way to hold on to the sweetness and wholeness and healing the spiritual life can bring.
Wounded in the Church: Hope Beyond the Pain By Chris Hayward and Ray Beeson (Whitaker House, Mar.) Veteran ministry leaders Hayward and Beeson collect accounts of Christians who have been rejected, abused, or frightened by members of their church or church leaders. The book offers examples and tips for how to help people learn to grieve abuse, leave unhealthy attitudes and patterns, and regain trust in the church.
Debut Italian Thriller Attracts European Pubs
Longing for Blood by Dario Correnti, which sold to Italian publisher Giunti Editore after a four-way auction, has now made its way to other houses in Europe. The thriller, slated to be published in Italy in early 2018, has also sold to Penguin Verlag (Germany) and Grijalbo (Spain), with all rights being controlled by Italian based Piergiorgio Nicolazzini Literary Agency (PNLA). In the novel, a Northern Italy town is rocked when it becomes the site of a series of gruesome murders. The two journalists investigating the crimes think the killer is copying the first known Italian serial killer.
Bestselling Vatican Expose Makes Rounds
Francesca Chaouqui's In the Name of Pietro, which was published on February 7 by Sperling & Kupfer (Italy), has been sold in Albania, Slovenia and Serbia. The book, which is now a bestseller in Italy, is being handled by Vicki Satlow, who controls all rights. Chaouqui was part of Pope Francis commission to clean up the Vaticans financial affairs, and found she was the only one on the committee who actually wanted reform. She was later accused of leaking documents. The book is a first person account of her time in the Vatican.
South African Novel Continues to Rack Up Sales
Evening Primrose by Kopano Matlwa, the new title for Period Pain (which we initially reported on last month), has recently sold to btb Verlag (Germany) and Catedral (for Spanish and Catalan rights). The book, which is handled for foreign rights by Pontas Literary & Film Agency, is about a young woman who fulfills her childhood dream to become a doctor, only to find that the reality of her job, working at a state-run hospital in South Africa, does not match what she envisioned. The book was originally published in South Africa by Jacana Media.
American YA Novel Hits Foreign Rights Milestone
See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng, which publishes this month in the U.S. and Germany, has now been sold in over 20 territories. We originally reported on it in 2015, and Jessica Craig at Barcelona-based Craig Literary controls all foreign rights. In the book, 11-year-old Alex comes to idolize the famous Carl Sagan after his father dies.
Italian Novel Moves to Greece & Spain
The new novel by Antonella Lattanzi, A Dark Story, has sold to Psichogios in Greece and Roja y Negra/Penguin Random House in Spain. Mondadori is publishing the book in Italy next month. Italys Maletesta Agency controls all rights to the novel, and said there is also film interest in the project. The title revolves around the disappearance of a man with a secret family who abused his wife; it explores who might be responsible for his vanishing.
MOLINE Despite a slumping farm economy, John Deere shareholders got good news Wednesday at their annual meeting. That includes a strong stock price and commitment from the company to remain based in Moline.
Following chairman/CEO Sam Allen's prepared remarks in the auditorium of Deere's world headquarters, the first stockholder question asked if the 180-year-old ag-equipment giant may abandon its longtime home for Chicago as Boeing and ADM have done, and competitor Caterpillar plans to do.
"At John Deere, we feel very strongly that this is our home; we want to stay here," said Mr. Allen, who's been with the company 41 of his 63 years. "We want to work with the community to make it a better community, to continue to attract talent."
"The other thing it does here, we can go three or four miles out of town and connect with our customers," he said. "We think there's a lot of inherent advantages. As long as I'm around, there's absolutely no chance we will move away from here."
Archer Daniels Midland, formerly based in Decatur, Ill., moved its HQ to Chicago in 2014, and Peoria-based Cat announced Jan. 31 it would move its main offices to the city. Deere headquartered in Moline since 1848 has 8,700 employees in the Quad-Cities, and 56,767 worldwide.
That is down from 67,044 three years ago, when Deere saw record sales of $37.8 billion and net income of $3.54 billion. Since the U.S. farm economy has slowed, starting in 2014, the maker of farm, construction, forestry, and turf equipment, parts and power systems has had sales plunge by $10 billion and profit by half.
Deere closed the fiscal year ending Oct. 30, 2016 with sales of $26.6 billion and profits of $1.5 billion. But Mr. Allen noted the company is weathering the downturn much better than the farm crisis of the 1980s, with a broader product portfolio, more advanced technology to serve needs, and investments in the future.
"John Deere is widely known for signature products like large tractors and combines," the CEO said. "Last year, however, sales of large farm machinery made up not three-fourths of our sales, or even half but right around one-third. And remember, we still had one of our 10 best years."
Deere's businesses apart from large ag equipment (like parts, financial services, forestry and turf) "don't necessarily move in lockstep with the broader cycles for farm and construction machinery," Mr. Allen said.
Looking ahead, the "worst may be over for our key markets," he said, but 2017 "looks like another difficult year," with profits in line with last year, he said.
Last week, Deere reported that first-quarter sales were up 2 percent compared to the previous year, and forecast worldwide sales of agriculture and turf equipment increasing 3 percent for fiscal year 2017. Ag-equipment sales in the U.S. and Canada are expected to be down 5 to 10 percent, with weakness in the livestock sector and low crop prices affecting both large and small equipment, the company said.
Deere's ability to operate profitably across business cycles also reflects "the steady advances we've made managing assets in a disciplined way and keeping a tight rein on costs," Mr. Allen said Wednesday. That includes reducing administrative expenses (things like travel and advertising) and holding steady on research and development spending, he noted.
"The investment community has taken note of our success establishing a wider range of revenue sources and a more durable business model," Mr. Allen said, citing Deere stock surging to record highs in recent months.
Year-end stock price rose from $78 per share in 2015 to $88.30 in 2016, and Wednesday morning, Deere's stock opened at $109.53. That reflects investors' "long-term view" of the company's health, spokesman Ken Golden said following the meeting.
"We have to feed more people and build more roads," he said, noting Deere's niche in serving global demand for grain and estimated population growth of 2.3 billion more people worldwide by 2050.
Agricultural output "will have to double over the first half of the century to keep pace with demand," Mr. Allen said. "And it will need to happen with no more land and even less labor and water."
Deere continues to focus on quality and innovation, with stronger commitment to after-market products and services, and advanced technology like precision farming, he said. Deere also emphasizes its commitment to being a good corporate citizen as last year it made charitable contributions of $31 million worldwide, and U.S. employees alone gave more than 160,000 hours of volunteer time, Mr. Allen said.
The current chairman lauded late CEO Hans Becherer (who died in October) for embodying that commitment with "a sense of purpose that goes deeper than the bottom line." Mr. Allen praised both Mr. Becherer (who served from 1962 to 2000) and the late CEO Robert Hanson (who died in May, and served Deere from 1950 to 1990) in a tribute before his formal remarks.
That tribute is part of the 2016 annual report, which can be found at deere.com.
Injuries that took a man to the hospital in Kewanee and then to OSF Saint Francis in Peoria resulted in a finding of probable cause for a felony battery charge in Henry County Circuit Court on Tuesday.
Stanley E. Scott, 44, was charged Feb. 10 with Class 3 felony aggravated battery following an incident the night before at The End Zone bar in Kewanee, in which he allegedly struck a man during an argument about his pool handicap.
Kewanee Police Officer Andrew Kingdon testified he spoke with the injured man after he got out of the hospital Feb. 19 and learned he had broken bones in his neck and other injuries. Witnesses said he hit head on the pool table as he fell, according to the officer.
Judge Ted Kutsunis found probable cause to believe a felony was committed and also denied a motion to reduce bond from $25,000 to $15,000. He cited Mr. Scott's two prior domestic battery charges, his felony probation on a separate charge, his being in a bar in violation of that probation and the nature of the injuries.
Any time you have broken vertebrae in the neck, this court considers it to be a very, very serious situation, he said.
A March 21 pretrial hearing was set.
A Davenport man was sentenced to 63 months, or over 5 years, in prison last week in connection with three Davenport bank robberies in 2015.
Terrance L. Hicks, 41, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa to attempted bank robbery and bank robbery, according to court documents.
In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed one count of attempted bank larceny and one count of attempted bank robbery.
Following his prison term Mr. Hicks will serve three years of supervised release. He is ordered to pay $200 for special assessments.
According to an affidavit filed against Mr. Hicks:
On Oct. 24 at about 10:06 a.m., a man dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt entered Northwest Bank & Trust at 1454 West Locust St. He approached a teller and handed a note demanding "10 grand" and "no dye bags or security buttons." The teller yelled for another teller and Mr. Hicks said "nevermind" and left the bank. The bank teller and Mr. Hicks' probation officer later identified the man as Mr. Hicks.
The same day around 12:53 p.m. a man in a black sweatshirt entered Wells Fargo Bank at 1618 Main St. He approached a teller and handed the teller a note demanding "3 grand" and "no dye bags or buttons." The teller relinquished $3,000 in 50- and 100-dollar bills. The man then left the bank on foot. The bank teller later identified the man as Mr. Hicks.
On Nov. 10 at about 4:22 p.m. a man wearing a black sweatshirt, a dark ball cap, sunglasses a black backpack and gloves entered the same Wells Fargo Bank. An off-duty police officer in uniform was at the bank. When the man saw the police officer, he walked away. The police officer recognized Mr. Hicks from two bank robberies in 2003. The officer followed Mr. Hicks and arrested him. At the time Mr. Hicks had a warrant for his arrest for probation violation. The officer found on Mr. Hicks' person a note that said, "5 grand now no dye bags or security buttons."
DAVENPORT Out of concern for finding unbiased jurors, a Scott County judge is considering moving the Stanley Liggins murder trial from Davenport to somewhere else in Iowa.
Mr. Liggins, who is to be tried a third time in the murder of Jennifer Lewis, is in court this week as both his attorneys and prosecutors file motions in advance of the trial set for May 22.
On the night of September 17, 1990, Jennifer's burning body was found on the outskirts of the playground of Jefferson Elementary School in Davenport. An autopsy of the 9-year-old Rock Island girl found that she had been sexually assaulted, strangled, doused with gasoline and set on fire.
While the homicide occurred nearly 27 years ago, it remains vivid in many Quad-Citians minds, Assistant Iowa Public Defender Miguel Puentes said.
Patricia Duffy, president of PMR Research, testified her firm surveyed 400 Scott County residents to determine to what extent members of the community have formed opinions on the case.
She said 55 percent of those surveyed were aware of the crime and 27 percent said they have already formed an opinion on whether or not Liggins is guilty.
Mr. Puentes noted the case has been covered extensively by all the community's newspapers as well as its television stations.
He added that the podcast "Suspect Convictions," which launched last month has further contaminated the potential jury pool by reporting information that the defense does not want jurors to know.
Among the information reported by "Suspect Convictions" that might not be admitted in court are that Liggins has prior convictions for armed robbery and aggravated sexual abuse and that he was acquitted of murder in a prison stabbing in a Mississippi prison.
"Suspect Convictions" is a joint endeavor between WVIK-FM public radio and Reeder Reporting LLC. The podcast has been ranked as high as No. 2 on iTunes and has been downloaded about 1.5 million times since it was launched Jan. 9.
Assistant Scott County Attorney Julie Walton noted the podcast is international in nature and would be a factor to be considered in jury selection anywhere.
"Presumably, if we were having a trial in Tokyo, we would have to ask about it, she said.
Ms. Walton added the survey, which was commissioned by the defense, failed to ask those who said they had an opinion about whether or not Liggins' is guilty whether they could set those opinions aside and keep an open mind if instructed by a judge.
But Mr. Puentes said feedback provided to PMR Research pollsters showed strong opinions on the case among residents of Scott County.
Among the responses cited by Puentes were:
"He should have been shot a longtime ago."
"He needs to stay where he is. Quit wasting our time and taxpayer dollars."
"Two juries have already rendered a verdict, and he does not deserve a new trial."
Chief Judge Marlita A. Greve said that if she were to rule that the trial is to be moved, it would need to be done quickly so that courtroom space can be found elsewhere. She did not set a date for her ruling
Assistant Scott County Public Defender Derek Jones suggested that the trial be moved to Des Moines, Waterloo or Cedar Rapids. Greve instructed County Attorney Mike Walton to provide her with suggestions as well.
Liggins was convicted of the murder in 1993 by a Scott County jury. That conviction was overturned by the Iowa Supreme Court on the grounds that testimony regarding Liggins' alleged involvement in the Quad-Cities illegal drug trade unduly prejudiced jurors against him. The high court also was concerned that pretrial news coverage may have made it difficult to find unbiased jurors in the Quad-Cities.
In 1995, he was tried again and convicted by a Dubuque County, Iowa, jury after a change of venue was granted.
In 2013, the Iowa Appellate Court ruled that Liggins was denied a fair trial because prosecutors didn't reveal that a key witness was a paid police informant in unrelated cases. The court also found that more than 70 police reports were not turned over to the defense.
ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) A Rockford man has been sentenced to prison in another case after serving a decade behind bars for a homicide he was later acquitted of committing.
The Rockford Register Star reports 36-year-old Anthony Ross was sentenced Tuesday to 11 years and three months in federal prison for firearms and drug counts. The father of six said during sentencing that he couldn't find a better-paying job to support his family after he was released from prison. He said he let frustration "overpower and cloud my judgment."
CHICAGO (AP) A three-year prison sentence has been handed a man who pleaded guilty to wire fraud for a scheme to defraud foreign investors into backing a convention complex by Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
Anshoo Sethi of Chicago admitted to using fraudulent documents to raise millions from mostly Chinese investors who believed they'd get U.S. residency in return. The case involves the EB-5 visa program, which allows foreign investors green cards.
The 33-year-old Sethi pleaded guilty in January 2016 to a wire fraud count alleging he lied to about 290 Chinese nationals who bankrolled the $145 million project.
During sentencing, U.S. District Judge John Lee told Sethi he took advantage of hundreds of people for personal gain. In addition to the prison term, Lee ordered Sethi to pay $8.8 million in restitution to his victims.
After 25 minutes of occasionally heated debate, the Rock Island County Forest Preserve Commission voted down a document partly intended to encourage commissioners to be on their best behavior on the grounds that it doesn't fit well with an elected body.
The Commissioner Creed and Code of Conduct under consideration were meant to establish "high ethical standards" for commission decision-making and were modeled on language endorsed by the Illinois Association of Park Districts, commission President Kai Swanson said.
The Commissioner Creed included such items as:
** "Make no disparaging remarks in or out of meeting about fellow commissioners."
** "Respect the opinion and decision of fellow commissioners."
** "Recognize the integrity of my fellow commissioners and the merit of their work."
And, in the Code of Conduct:
** "When outside of commission meetings, avoid making individual pronouncements and public conjectures about agency matters not yet decided by the board."
Mr. Swanson called the creed and code of conduct an "aspirational document," with no enforcement provisions but offering important guidelines nonetheless.
"There is a lot of scrutiny being placed on local government in Rock Island County, and it's my opinion that the more we do to publicly pivot toward good governance, integrity and ethics, the better served we are," Mr. Swanson said.
The commission voted down a very similar document last month, and it came back on Tuesday with wording changed to reflect that the forest preserve district has a "director" and not a "superintendent" and other changes from the original IAPD language.
However, commission member Don Johnston, D-Moline, said those changes weren't enough to make the document palatable. Other park districts in the state are not elected bodies like the Forest Preserve Commission, he said. The language of the IAPD documents are not appropriate for elected bodies, he said.
The commission has the same membership as the Rock Island County Board and oversees county-owned recreational facilities.
"This is something that looks to me belongs in a boys and girls club rather than an elected body," Mr. Johnston said. "... It's obvious that this is a very poorly written or copied document. It doesn't apply to an elected body as this commission is. I think it should be at least revised."
The commission did delete two provisions of the creed, including one that stipulated that commissioners "remain politically nonpartisan on commission issues."
"I wonder how that works as far as us being a partisan board," commission member Mia Mayberry, D-Rock Island, said. She also raised concerns about the provision that "commission members avoid making individual pronouncements and public conjectures" about matters not yet decided, but that provision remained in.
After the commission voted down the revised Commissioner Creed and Code of Conduct, by a vote of 8 to 13, supporter Rodney Simmer, R-Rock Island, reacted angrily.
"I think you're pushing this off," Dr. Simmer told the commision. "It's something that's a creed; it is nothing too crazy. You've voted a lot more crazy stuff through here and never talked about it for more than two minutes."
Mr. Johnston responded that Dr. Simmer had just gone against a provision in the failed creed.
"If we'd passed this, you're not supposed to criticize the final decisions of the commission, which I think he just did," Mr. Johnston said.
Before the proposal comes back, commission member Richard H. "Quijas" Brunk, D-Moline, said it should be fully reviewed by the county state's attorney's office.
A review has started, Forest Preserve Director Jeff Craver said, but hasn't been finished because of the office's heavy caseload. Mr. Craver said the language of the document has been vetted by the IAPD's legal counsel.
Rock Island County State's Attorney John McGehee said the commission could go ahead and vote on the document.
"It's up to you," he said.
Though the document has no enforcement provisions, Mr. Brunk said a full opinion from Mr. McGehee's office would be important for a reconsideration. The document, he said, "is a template for how we're supposed to move forward and how we conduct ourselves here" and needs a full review.
Immigration is a hot-button issue today, but a new partnership between WQPT-TV and Hola America News will avoid politics in focusing on Moline's Floreciente neighborhood.
"This project, we're putting politics aside," Tar Macias, founder/director of Hola America Media Group, said Tuesday of the new Vibrant Neighborhoods project, which he's coordinating.
"The angle we're taking with this project, we want to show how Floreciente became a gateway for the new Americans the Swedish, Belgian, Greek, Mexican," he said, noting past and present immigrants often have been blamed for societal ills.
"They didn't destroy America; they didn't destroy the Quad-Cities. They built the Quad-Cities," Mr. Macias said. "In retrospect, you can see how that xenophobic aspect was based on ignorance. In reality, if it wasn't for those Swedish immigrants, those Belgian immigrants, John Deere wouldn't be where it is."
Floreciente which means "blooming" in Spanish is the northwest gateway to Moline and the first of many Q-C neighborhoods to be featured by WQPT (the area PBS station) in this new initiative. It's funded by Global Communities, a nonprofit which works in more than 20 countries to bring about "sustainable changes that improve the lives and livelihoods of the vulnerable," according to WQPT.
Funded locally by the John Deere Foundation, Global Communities is working in Floreciente to organize and educate residents and business owners to take part in decisions affecting their neighborhood. Deere chose this area for the program because of its proximity to two John Deere facilities, the WQPT release said.
The first 18-month initiative will include screenings and discussions and taped interviews with stakeholders in the neighborhood that will be broadcast on WQPT and available through WQPT and Hola America social media.
We are pleased to be working with Global Communities in their community revitalization program, WQPT general manager Mary Pruess said. What we hope to achieve through this program is to provide a wider visibility of the Floreciente neighborhood to the greater Quad-Cities area, help facilitate community change, and to help tell their story."
Now a heavily Hispanic neighborhood, Floreciente is still a gateway for many people from different backgrounds setting roots in the Quad-Cities, and its one of the most culturally rich neighborhoods in the area," said Mr. Macias, 43, who moved from Mexico to his grandfather's house across from the former Ericsson School 30 years ago with his family. Today, he lives in East Moline.
That school building, at 335 5th Ave., Moline, is now the Esperanza Center and will host the project's first screening from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, along with Mexican food. A 17-minute documentary about a dropout-prevention program in San Antonio will be shown, followed by a moderated discussion in English and Spanish.
WQPT will film short videos (2-3 minutes) starting in April (with a total of 12), to address the history of the Floreciente neighborhood, education, business, religion and culture. They will be shown in rotation throughout WQPT's regular schedule, marketing director Lora Adams said Tuesday.
"The idea came from Mary Pruess. One of the things we're wanting to do at QPT is to shine and focus a light on the area we live in," Ms. Adams said. "We're hoping Floreciente is just the beginning of many. We all don't know about the history of these neighborhoods. I'm from Chicago, where every neighborhood is really defined. I think the same thing is here."
"It's an opportunity for people to learn more about our history," she said. The old Ericsson School (closed in 2015) was named for Swedish inventor John Ericsson.
"This is a great project," Mr. Macias said. "I think it's the right time to do. Nowadays, we need something to bring us together. I hope people will feel pride in the neighborhoods of the Quad-Cities."
The biggest misconception of the area is that it's dangerous, he said, noting if people don't know about something, they tend to have a negative opinion of it.
Mr. Macias founded Hola America (holaamericanews.com and holaiowa.com), a free bilingual newspaper, 17 years ago, expanding into all of Iowa two years ago. The print publications come out once a month, and it has a growing social-media presence, he said.
Vibrant Neighborhoods will include an initial online survey about public perception and understanding of Floreciente and another toward the end of the initiative, Ms. Adams said.
For more information, visit globalfloreciente.org.
WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration is revoking U.S. transgender guidelines, stepping into an emotional national issue and stripping students of federal protections to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching gender identities that differ from their birth certificates.
The administration is coming down on the side of states' rights, revoking federal guidelines that had been issued by the Obama administration. Without the Obama directive, it will be up to states and school districts to interpret federal anti-discrimination law and determine whether students should have access to restrooms in accordance with their expressed gender identity and not just their biological sex.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Wednesday the current directive, issued last August, is confusing and hard to implement. An official with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press that anti-bullying safeguards would not be affected by the change.
That official was not authorized to speak publicly about the plans and did so on condition of anonymity. Spicer did not say when the Trump administration action might actually come.
A federal judge in Texas put a temporary hold on the Obama guidance soon after it was issued after 13 states sued.
Even without that hold, the guidance carried no force of law. But transgender rights advocates say it was useful and necessary to protect students from discrimination. Opponents argue it was federal overreach and violated the safety and privacy of all other students.
"The president has made it clear throughout the campaign that he is a firm believer in states' rights and that certain issues like this are not best dealt with at the federal level," Spicer said.
Conservative activists hailed the change, saying the Obama directives were illegal and violated the rights of fixed-gender students, especially girls who did not feel safe changing clothes or using restrooms next to anatomical males.
"Our daughters should never be forced to share private, intimate spaces with male classmates, even if those young men are struggling with these issues," said Vicki Wilson, a member of Students and Parents for Privacy. "It violates their right to privacy and harms their dignity."
However, the reversal is a setback for transgender rights groups, which had been urging Trump to keep the guidelines in place. Advocates say federal law will still prohibit discrimination against students based on their gender or sexual orientation.
Still, they say lifting the Obama directive puts children in harm's way.
"Reversing this guidance tells trans kids that it's OK with the Trump administration and the Department of Education for them to be abused and harassed at school for being trans," said American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.
Spicer denied media reports that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who has been criticized for her stance on LGBT issues, had opposed the change but was overruled by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose agency was also involved in the process. Spicer said any disagreement was merely over wording and timing.
"There is no daylight between anybody," Spicer said, adding that DeVos was "100 percent" on board with the decision.
The Obama administration's guidance was based on its determination that Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education, also applies to gender identity.
While not legally binding, the guidance sent a warning that schools could lose funding if they did not comply.
Republicans have pushed back, arguing that the federal effort was an example of Obama administration meddling in state and local matters. Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick equated it to blackmail and said his state was ready to forfeit federal education money rather than comply.
The Trump administration's decision to revoke the guidelines was first reported by The Washington Post.
Legal experts said the change in position could impact pending court cases involving the federal sex discrimination law, including a case to be heard by the Supreme Court in March, involving a Gavin Grimm, a transgender teen who was denied bathroom access in Virginia.
The justices could decide not to hear the case and direct lower courts to decide that issue.
In a phone interview with the AP, Grimm said of the Trump action: "It's not positive. It has the possibility of hurting transgender students and transgender people. We're going to keep fighting like we have been and keep fighting for the right thing."
Fifteen states have explicit protections for transgender students in their state laws, and many individual school districts in other states have adopted policies that cover such students on the basis of their gender identity, said Sarah Warbelow, legal director of the Human Rights Campaign. Just one state, North Carolina, has enacted a law restricting access to bathrooms in government-owned buildings to the sex that appears on a person's birth certificate. Lawmakers in more than 10 states are considering similar legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
OXON HILL, Md. (AP) For the past eight years, thousands of conservative activists have descended on Washington each spring with dreams of putting a Republican in the White House.
They finally have one, but they are not sure he's really conservative.
With Donald Trump's presidential victory, the future of the conservative movement has become entwined with an unconventional New York businessman better known for his deal-making than any ideological principles.
It's an uneasy marriage of political convenience at best. Some conservatives worry whether they can trust their new president to follow decades of orthodoxy on issues like international affairs, small government, abortion and opposition to expanded legal protections for LGBT Americans and what it means for their movement if he doesn't.
"Donald Trump may have come to the Republican Party in an unconventional and circuitous route, but the fact is that we now need him to succeed lest the larger conservative project fails," said evangelical leader Ralph Reed, who mobilized his organization to campaign for Trump during the campaign. "Our success is inextricably tied to his success."
Trump is to address the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday morning. Vice President Mike Pence is to speak Thursday, as are White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and senior adviser Steve Bannon. Speaking Thursday morning, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway thanked the conservatives for helping elect Trump.
As conservatives met for their first big sessions Thursday at the gathering in Oxon Hill, Maryland, a Washington suburb, they heard a stream of familiar conservative rhetoric.
A panel of GOP governors urged Washington Republicans, who control the levers of power for the first time in a decade, to deliver the results that Republican governors have brought to their states.
"The victory is not on Nov. 8. That is an assignment for change and real reform," said Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, urging Trump and his allies in Congress to make good on promises to repeal "Obamacare," enact tax reform, and cut the federal budget. "As governors, as activists, engaged citizens, we need to hold all elected leaders accountable for results in this cycle right now. We may not get this same opportunity again. We can't squander it."
Social conservatives were thrilled by a Wednesday night decision to reverse an Obama-era directive that said transgender students should be allowed to use public school bathrooms and locker rooms matching their chosen gender identity.
Trump has a somewhat tortured history with CPAC, an annual convention that's part ideological pep talk, part political boot camp for activists. Over the past six years, he's been both booed and cheered. He's rejected speaking slots and galvanized attendees with big promises of economic growth and electoral victory.
At times, he has seemed to delight in taunting them.
"I'm a conservative, but don't forget: This is called the Republican Party, not the Conservative Party," he said in a May interview on ABC's "This Week."
The tensions between Trump's brand of populist politics and conservative ideology will be on full display at the three-day conference, which features panels like "Conservatives: Where we come from, where we are and where we are going" and "The Alt-Right Ain't Right At All."
Along with Trump come his supporters, including the populists, party newcomers and nationalists that have long existed on the fringes of conservativism and have gotten new voice during the early days of his administration.
Pro-Brexit British politician Nigel Farage will speak a few hours after Trump.
Organizers invited provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos after protesters at the University of California at Berkeley succeeded in stopping his appearance on campus. But the former editor at Breitbart News, the website previously run by Bannon, was disinvited this week after video clips surfaced in which he appeared to defend sexual relationships between men and boys as young as 13.
Trump "is giving rise to a conservative voice that for the first time in a long time unabashedly, unapologetically puts America first," said Republican strategist Hogan Gidley. "That 'America First' moniker can very well shape this country, but also the electorate and the Republican Party and conservative movement for decades."
Trump's early moves including a flurry of executive orders and his nomination of federal Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court have cheered conservatives. They've also applauded his Cabinet picks, which include some of the most conservative members of Congress. The ACU awarded his team a 91.52 percent conservative rating 28 points higher than Ronald Reagan and well above George H.W. Bush who received a 78.15 rating.
But key items on the conservative wish list remain shrouded in uncertainty. The effort to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law is not moving as quickly as many hoped, and Republicans also have yet to coalesce around revamping the nation's tax code.
No proposals have surfaced to pursue Trump's campaign promises to build a border wall with Mexico that could cost $15 billion or more or to buttress the nation's infrastructure with a $1 trillion plan. Conservatives fear that those plans could result in massive amounts of new spending and that Trump's penchant for deal-making could leave them on the wrong side of the transaction.
"There is wariness," said Tim Phillips, president of Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity.
But with a Republican-controlled Congress, others believe there's no way to lose.
"He sits in a room with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan. Is there a bad a deal to be made with those three in the room?" asked veteran anti-tax activist Grover Norquist. "A deal between those three will, I think, always make me happy."
DACHAU, Germany (AP) The wrought iron gate to the Nazis' Dachau concentration camp, which prompted an international outcry when it was stolen more than two years ago, has been returned to the German memorial site.
The gate, bearing the slogan "Arbeit macht frei," ("Work sets you free"), was located in Norway's western Bergen area after authorities received an anonymous tip late last year.
"We had almost given up hope and a replica had been made and installed at the original place," Gabriele Hammermann, the head of the memorial site, said as the gate was returned Wednesday.
The theft of the gate "was one of the worst attacks on the Dachau camp memorial," she said, adding that it remains very important to survivors that authorities continue the investigation into who stole the gate.
The theft in November 2014 was viewed by many as a desecration, as the cynical inscription has become a central symbol for the ordeal of the Nazi prisoners who had to walk past the gate every day on their way to slave labor work.
Israel's Yad Vashem memorial labeled the theft as "an offensive attack on the memory of the Holocaust."
The gate was found under a tarpaulin at a parking lot in Ytre Arna, a settlement north of Bergen, Norway's second-largest city.
The gate will not be returned to its original position, where the replica now stands, but will become part of the permanent exhibition, where it will be kept inside an air-conditioned glass cabinet equipped with an alarm system.
Measuring 190 by 95 centimeters (75 by 37 inches), the gate originally was set into a larger gate at the camp's entrance. It will first be shown to the public on April 30, the anniversary of the liberation 72 years ago by American forces.
The concentration camp near Munich was established by the Nazis in 1933. More than 200,000 people from across Europe were held at Dachau, and more than 40,000 prisoners died there.
It was the second time in recent years that a Nazi camp gate was targeted by thieves.
In December 2009, the "Arbeit macht frei" sign that spanned the main gate of the Auschwitz death camp, built by the Nazis in occupied Poland, was stolen. Police found it three days later cut into pieces in a forest on the other side of Poland.
A Swedish man with a neo-Nazi past was found guilty of instigating that theft and was jailed in his homeland. Five Poles also were convicted of involvement and imprisoned.
Just after one of the most unusual presidential elections in our history, we learned of opposition to the candidacy papers of our local officials in Moline. Mayoral candidate Stephanie Acri was one candidate who failed to number signature pages on her petition.
Fortunately, Ms. Acri and other contenders continued their fight and launched a write-in campaign, assuring a primary election.
Stephanie Acri was determined! She changed direction, solved the problem, and remained determined to fight for whats right. Thats the kind of mayor we need to lead Moline.
Acri has exhibited strong leadership as alderman-at-large, maintained a successful business and serves on multiple boards and committees throughout the Quad Cities. She wants the best for Moline and has exhibited her knowledge and support of local businesses and residents of Moline. She watched over our finances as alderman-at large for the last six years and helped turn around unfavorable budget practices.
I appointed Stephanie Acri to a vacant aldermanic seat in 2011. She didnt disappoint! She won citywide election in 2013. Excellent research and problem solving skills, and a willingness to listen to constituents has served us all well.
Times are tough, and decisions hard. Thats why I support Stephanie Acri for Mayor of Moline.
Acri has the skills, experience and leadership to lead Moline to a prosperous future.
I fully endorse Stephanie Acri for mayor and I hope you will join me in writing in Stephanie Acri in Tuesday's primary election.
Don Welvaert,
former mayor
of Moline
Go To The Polls And Pull The Lever
We hope everyone turns out to pull the lever next Tuesday (Nov. 8). Actually, new voters wont know what we are talking about, as the...
Letters To The Editor
Street Closure Dangers Neighbors, Friends, Citizens of NYC/QUEENS: Many may not know that NYC has decided to close off miles of streets to cars in...
Christine Schaefer Bio Operations Still Improving (and Dancing) Despite Budget Cuts The effect of the Baldrige Award 15 years later
Rss
Send Article (Must Login
Author Archive Last month, 2001 Baldrige Award-winning University of Wisconsin-Stout hosted a lively campus engagement session. (See for yourself via this video of the live-streamed event, which kicked off with dancing.) The university holds the You Said... We Did sessions each January to demonstrate its responsiveness to the input of its employees and students. The same week, UW-Stout released news highlighting the ongoing impact of the Baldrige Award and excellence framework on its values and practices. Like what you're reading? Log in or create FREE account to continue Enter your Quality Digest username OR email address. Enter your Quality Digest password. By logging in you agree to receive communication from Quality Digest. Privacy Policy Remember me Create a FREE account Forgot My Password Quality Digest does not charge readers for its content. We believe that industry news is important for you to do your job, and Quality Digest supports businesses of all types. However, someone has to pay for this content. And thats where advertising comes in. Most people consider ads a nuisance, but they do serve a useful function besides allowing media companies to stay afloat. They keep you aware of new products and services relevant to your industry. All ads in Quality Digest apply directly to products and services that most of our readers need. You wont see automobile or health supplement ads.
Our PROMISE: Quality Digest only displays static ads that never overlay or cover up content. They never get in your way. They are there for you to read, or not. So please consider turning off your ad blocker for our site. Thanks,
Quality Digest Discuss About The Author Christine Schaefer Christine Schaefer joined the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program in 2005, after nearly 15 years in nonprofit publishing, largely editing education-related periodicals and books. As an education team member, Schaefer writes, edits, and serves in other capacities at Baldrige including public outreach, the Baldrige Award process, and volunteer training. She has served as the editing team leader and a work group member on the Baldrige staff. Schaefer has a bachelors degree in interdisciplinary political and social thought from the University of Virginia and a masters degree from Georgetown University.
G'day! It's Murray here. I've put together a little quiz to test your musical knowledge. Think you can score top marks in Murray's Magic Music Quiz? Give it a go now!
The ABC is failing to meet its charter obligations, according to Hands Off RN Music, members of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) and ABC Friends.
In a statement issued to Radio Today this morning, they also said senior management are not listening to staff or the stations audience.
A joint protest outside ABC in Ultimo is expected to get underway shortly after midday today. It will call on the ABC Board to ensure Radio National is managed by people who are genuinely committed to public broadcasting.
ABC senior management has failed to acknowledge the devastating blow they have delivered to Australias music culture and diversity as a result of these cuts, made without industry or artist consultation, said Ruth Hazelton, spokesperson for community group Hands Off RN Music.
ABC have been contacted but declined to comment.
Musicians including Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins, Archie Roach, philanthropist and patron of the arts in Australia Janet Holmes a Court, Music Australia and APRA AMCOS are included among 23,000 petition signatures collected by the Save RN Music group.
Managing Director of the ABC, Michelle Guthrie did not brief board members before announcing in November that ABC would ditch the magazine-style science program Catalyst, along with all but one of Radio Nationals music programs and end shortwave transmission in the NT.
Last November, ABC radio broadcaster Robyn Williams famously called ABC management morally and spiritually bankrupt.
Senior Management has failed to acknowledge the impact this decision has had on rural and regional audiences with its premature reliance on digital formats, said Hazelton in a statement released today. We believe management is using the digital strategy as a smokescreen for crude cost-cutting. It has drastically underestimated community outrage.
Protesters today will also call for the ABC Board to not sign off on Guthries restructure plans, which were set to be announced this month. According to The Guardian, an early version of the restructure noted the demotion for the heads of news (Gaven Morris), radio (Michael Mason) and television (Richard Finlayson).
CPSUs ABC Section Secretary Sinddy Ealy said, Hardworking ABC staff have raised concerns with their bosses about the impact of cuts and illogical changes, but they seem to have fallen on deaf ears. The ABC Executive needs to start listening to staff and the community about whats needed for the ABC.
The protesters have said they will lobby the cuts until the ABC Executive starts listening to the people they are there to serve.
Updates to follow.
Following a spate of derailments and other accidents, Indias railways minister Mr Suresh Prabhu announced plans last month to seek the assistance of overseas railways as part of IRs drive to improve operational safety through technological upgrades.
Earlier this month, IR signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Italian State Railways (FS) and a similar agreement with Korean national train operator Korail is also being negotiated.
The pact with Japan includes a cooperation programme in the areas of rail welding, rail inspection, track circuits and automatic inspection technology.
A paucity of funding has led to the deferral of safety-critical works, including maintenance of track and structures. A 2015 IR white paper concedes the backlog in the track renewal programme had reached 4500km.
In his budget speech this year, finance minister Mr Arun Jaitley announced the formation of the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (Rail Safety Fund) with a budget of Rs 1 trillion ($US 16.1bn) over a five-year period.
The Delhi - Mumbai and the Delhi - Howrah lines - the busiest sections on the Grand Trunk routes will be taken up first under the technology upgrade plan, a Railway Board official said. Global tenders for such programmes will be floated this year and it is being proposed that these should be awarded under the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) model.
Telefonica has reached an agreement with KKR Group for the sale of 40% of its global telecoms infrastructure company Telxius Telecom for 1,275 million.
Under the agreement, subject to regulatory approvals, Telefonica and the US investment firm will partner to develop and grow Telxius.The Telefonica unit owns and operates a portfolio of nearly 16,000 telecoms towers in five countries and manages an international network with approximately 65,000km of submarine fibre optic cables, of which around 31,000km are owned by Telxius.Following the deal, the Spanish telco will remain the anchor client for Telxius tower and cable businesses and will keep a majority stake and operational control of Telxius which it will continue to include into its accounts.The sale is part of Telefonicas strategy to optimise its asset portfolio and allocation of capital, and complements its plan for debt reduction.Our vision for Telxius is to capitalise on the exponential increase in data traffic forecast for the coming years by offering a first-class network in Europe and the Americas, said Guillermo Ansaldo, chairman of Telxius, adding: We believe KRKRs solid track record on the infrastructure business will help us achieving our common goals.We are confident that the exploding demand for mobile data, driven by the rise in 4K and virtual reality content, together with the need for reliable internet infrastructure, will help drive strong growth in the business," added Jesus Olmos, global co-head of infrastructure and head of Spain at KKR.Telefonica attempted to carry out the IPO of Telxius in 2016 , but backed out just before the company was to go public.
Russian Supreme Court vacates sentence of opposition activist Dadin, orders his release
MOSCOW, February 22 (RAPSI) The Russian Supreme Courts Presidium on Wednesday overturned a 2.5-year prison sentence given to activist Ildar Dadin for numerous violations of protest laws and ruled to release him, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.
The court held that criminal proceedings against Dadin should be dismissed because of the absence of elements of a crime in his actions. The activist has a right to rehabilitation, according to the courts ruling.
Earlier, Deputy Prosecutor General Leonid Korzhinek asked the court to reverse guilty verdict, drop criminal proceedings against Dadin and recognize his right to rehabilitation.
Dadin is the first person convicted under the Criminal Codes Article on repeated violations committed during rallies.
On February 10, Russias Constitutional Court held that Dadins case must be reviewed. However, the contested Article of Russias Criminal Code was declared not contradictory to the Constitution.
Dadin was convicted and sentenced on December 7, 2015. Initially he received a 3-year prison term. The Moscow City Court later reduced the sentence to 2.5 years.
According to case papers, Dadin was arrested five times during rallies held between August 2014 and January 2015. Administrative proceedings were instituted against Dadin in all cases and he was fined. A criminal case was opened against him for participating in four meetings.
Dadins wife Anastasia Zotova wrote on Facebook in early November that her husband had been beaten and received murder threats when transferred to a penal colony in Karelia. The Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) launched a probe into the allegations. Later, the FSIN announced that independent medical commission from a local hospital had not found injuries on Dadins body.
On November 24, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) during a plenary session expressed concern over the welfare of Dadin and called on Russia to immediately release him. MEPs insisted on a thorough and transparent independent investigation into the situation with Dadin who had complained on a number of occasions of prison conditions and torture.
In early January, Zotova wrote on Facebook that Dadin was transferred from a prison in Karelia to Altai.
Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks, said on Twitter that he welcomes the ruling of Russia's Supreme Court.
Spokesman of Russian President Dmitry Peskov told journalists that "this is a decision by the Supreme Court and it is necessary to respect any court rulings, all the more so, judgements by the Supreme Court."
President Putin introduces fines for failure to block sites with banned information
MOSCOW, February 22 (RAPSI) Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law introducing fines of up to 100,000 rubles (about $1,700) for Internet providers failed to restrict access to websites which distribute prohibited information, according to the official website of legal information.
The blacklist of websites was launched in Russia on November 1, 2012. The respective law envisages that websites may be blacklisted by the Federal Service for Drug Control, the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Protection and Welfare (suicide-related content) and the Federal Agency for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (child pornography). Starting February 1, 2014, the register also includes websites promoting extremism and mass riots.
In 2016, the State Duma passed an initiative allowing to restrict access to websites containing information about potentially dangerous psychoactive substances potentially dangerous psychoactive substances. According to the legislation, providers must block web pages containing prohibited content within 24 hours after their blacklisting. However, the law did not fix penalties for failure to restrict access to prohibited information spread online.
Under the signed legislation, adjusting the Code of Administrative Offences, such violations would result in fines ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 rubles ($50-83) for officials, from 10,000 to 30,000 rubles ($167-500) for businessmen and from 50,000 to 100,000 rubles ($834-1,700) for companies.
Moscow Court to review appeal against sentence for Russian nationalist Potkin
MOSCOW, February 22 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) The Moscow City Court will review an appeal filed by Russian nationalist Alexander Potkin, who was found guilty of embezzlement and organization of an extremist movement, against his sentence, RAPSI learnt from the courts press-service on Wednesday.
In August 2106, the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow sentenced Potkin to 7.5 years in prison and fined him 600,000 rubles ($9,700). Moreover, the court granted a 4.9 billion-ruble lawsuit ($79.3 million) filed by the injured party against Potkin.
According to the indictment, Mukhtar Ablyazov, former chairman of the bank, who allegedly wanted to destabilize the constitutional order in Kazakhstan, asked Potkin to help him with organizing an extremist group. Potkin allegedly agreed and used funds embezzled from BTA Bank to spread the nationalist ideology in Kazakhstan. Potkin has pleaded not guilty.
Potkin (also known as Belov) was arrested on October 15, 2014 at the Hotel Intourist Kolomenskoe in Moscow on charges related to the embezzlement of $5 billion from BTA Bank. At the time of the arrest, Potkin allegedly had documents on him that effectively tied him to the embezzlement.
On December 20, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) awarded 2,500 in compensation to Potkin for withdrawal of his complaint over long stay in detention from the court.
Excerpted from "On Wave and Wing: The 100 Year Quest to Perfect the Aircraft Carrier".
In December 1941, the aircraft carrier burst upon the world stage in a twentieth century version of Shock and Awe. Literally overnight the flattop leapt into the global spotlight with the stunning Pearl Harbor attack. Thus, the carrier resembled the proverbial country-western musician who worked twenty years to become an overnight sensation.
The U.S. and Japanese navies had commissioned their first carriers in 1922, beginning two decades of perfecting ships, aircraft, and operating doctrine. But the global leader was the British Royal Navy, which initiated the carrier to combat in World War I. In 1917 the battle cruiser HMS Furious was converted to operate Sopwith biplanes, and the next year she launched what a future generation would call a power projection mission against a German Zeppelin base.
Actually, the aircraft carriers origins predated the Great War. In November 1910, pioneer flyer Eugene Ely of the Glenn Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor company demonstrated the potential of ship-based aircraft by taking off from a platform rigged on a U.S. Navy cruiser. Two months later he plunked his pusher down on the improvised deck of another warship, dragged to a stop by hooks that snagged ropes stretched across the platform. The captain of USS Birmingham declared Elys feat the most important landing since the dove returned to Noahs ark.
Both ships were anchored, and neither stunt was repeated. But the seed had been planted; it germinated, sprouted, and cropped.
During the 1920s and 1930s ships and aircraft evolved, forming an increasingly potent binary. Fabric-covered biplanes gave way to all-metal monoplanes with greater speed, range, and ordnance capability.
When World War II erupted in 1939 the Royal Navy was confronted with enemies in the Atlantic and the Mediterraneanand potentially in the Pacific. Though possessing the worlds most powerful fleet, Britain had to allocate its ships according to geo-strategic need. Thus, in November 1940 HMS Illustrious launched 21 obsolescent Swordfish biplanes to attack the powerful Italian fleet in Taranto Harbor. The nocturnal attack was a spectacular success, sinking or sidelining three enemy battleships. The naval balance in the Middle Sea had shiftedovernight.
Historians still argue the influence of Taranto on Japanese plans for Hawaii, but the similarities are obvious. Carriers defined the Pacific War: in fact, only flattops could have launched the attack against Hawaii in December 1941.
The Imperial Navy showed the world the way to naval supremacy by grouping six carriers into a unified striking forcesomething that no one else had remotely approached. When the smoke cleared on December 8, the worlds greatest ocean became a giant chessboard with squares defined by degrees of latitude and longitude. With Americas naval kingsbattleshipssidelined, the mobile, long-range queens carried the fight.
Over the next four years aircraft carriers were essential to both navies. Four major carrier battles were fought in 1942, providing America essential victories at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal. Midway in June proved decisive: U.S. carrier planes sank all four Japanese carriers engaged with one American flattop lost. Following that, Japan never regained the strategic initiative.
A new generation of U.S. carriers spearheaded the Central Pacific offensive of 1943-45. With new aircraft on their decks, Essex and Independence class ships enabled nearly every amphibious operation of the Pacific War. Their victory off the Mariana Islands in June 1944 ended the Imperial Navy as an offensive arm and provided roosts for General Curtis LeMays firebirds as B-29s began searing Japanese urban-industrial areas.
Meanwhile, carriers proved vital in the Atlantic. U.S. and British escort carrierssmall, slow ships operating specially-trained antisubmarine squadrons, helped defeat Admiral Karl Doenitzs U-boats. The mission largely was accomplished by May 1943, clearing the transatlantic convoy routes that enabled the D-Day landings thirteen months later.
Since then, the carrier has never lost its prominence on the worlds oceans.
But new threats arose in unchartered realms. Only five years after V-J Day, when America possessed 99 carriers of all types, a mere fifteen were in commission. When General Quarters sounded in Korea, just five were assigned to the Pacific Fleet.
For the next three years U.S. and British carriers launched an endless succession of strike and interdiction sorties against Communist forces. During the critical weeks of summer 1950, tailhook aircraft were essential to staving off total defeat for the South Korean and American armies. Compressed into the shrinking Pusan pocket, with almost no Air Force units remaining on the peninsula, allied ground forces could not have survived without naval aviation. Subsequently blue airplanes helped offset the enormous disparity of ground forces when Chinas quilted masses spilled south of the Yalu.
Long story short: aircraft carriers helped save the Republic of Korea.
Throughout the Cold War, carriers stood sentry on the periphery of the Soviet empire, a capability that Russia still cannot match. Naval aviators logged more than half the sorties over North Vietnam, and however misdirected Mr. Johnsons War, tailhookers were always there, always ready on arrival.
Since then, carriers have launched jets in an immense variety of seas and missions, including Britains Sea Harriers that enabled retaking the Falklands in 1982. Subsequently, sea-based airpower has been felt repeatedly in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Syria.
War at sea is nearly extinct, and there can never be another Midway, let alone a Leyte Gulf. But for territorial independence and oceanic power projection, the carrier remains unrivaled as Americas world-spanning ace card.
In a recent article in The Daily Beast, Joel Kotkin argues that millennials battered by capitalism could be the future red generation. Unfortunately for those yearning for the United States to look like Venezuela, the reality couldn't be further from the truth millennials will be among the most radical, free market capitalists the world has ever seen.
The evidence supporting this claim is exceedingly obvious millennials, every day, vote against Big Government with their money. And why wouldn't they? Does anyone really believe that a generation demanding services which are fast, cheap, and convenient will have any tolerance for the slow ineptitude synonymous with government programs? Not a chance.
China exports more to the US than the US exports to China, and that makes Donald Trump furious. But with the Communist Party's 19th Congress set to take place in Beijing this year, Chinese leaders are unlikely to yield to US pressure.
As if on cue, riots broke out in a heavily immigrant suburb of Stockholm as soon as the media mocked President Donald Trump for a vague warning about immigration-related problems in Sweden.At a campaign rally over the weekend, Trump issued forth with a mystifyingly ominous statement. You look, he declared, at what's happening last night in Sweden. What? Had the president invented a nonexistent terror attack? As it turned out, the reference was to a segment on Sweden he had watched on the Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight the previous night, rather than to any specific event in the Nordic country.The ensuing discussion quickly took on the character of much of the debate in the early Trump years a blunderbuss president matched against a snotty and hyperventilating press, with a legitimate issue lurking underneath.By welcoming a historic number of asylum-seekers proportionate to its population, Sweden has indeed embarked on a vast social experiment that wasn't well thought out and isn't going very well. The unrest in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby after police made an arrest the other night underscored the problems inherent in Sweden's immigration surge.Sweden's admirable humanitarianism is outstripping its capacity to absorb newcomers. Nothing if not an earnest and well-meaning society, Sweden has always accepted more than its share of refugees. Immigration was already at elevated levels before the latest influx into Europe from the Middle East, which prompted Sweden to try to see and raise the reckless open-borders policy of German chancellor Angela Merkel.Sweden welcomed more than 160,000 asylum-seekers in 2015, including nearly 40,000 in October of that year alone. For a country of fewer than 10 million, this was almost equal to 2 percent of the population in one year. The flow doubled the number of asylum-seekers at the height of the Balkans crisis in 1992.The foreign-born proportion of the Swedish population was 18 percent in 2016, double that of 1990. As of 2015, the most common county of origin for the foreign-born was Finland, which makes sense as it is a neighboring Scandinavian country. Next are Iraq and Syria.Predictably, it isn't easy to integrate people who don't know the language, aren't highly skilled, and come from a foreign culture. Sweden's economic policies don't help. As a report of the Migration Policy Institute put it politely, Sweden is an interesting case because the state is committed to fostering large-scale immigration despite huge integration challenges in the labor market.There is a stark gap in the labor-force-participation rate between the native born (82 percent) and the foreign born (57 percent). As the Migration Policy Institute points out, Sweden is an advanced economy with relatively few low-skills jobs to begin with. On top of this, high minimum wages and stringent labor protections make it harder for marginal workers to find employment, while social assistance discourages the unemployed from getting work. None of this is a formula for assimilation or social tranquility. In a piece for The Spectator, Swedish journalist Tove Lifvendahl writes, A parallel society is emerging where the state's monopoly on law and order is being challenged.And the fiscal cost is high. According to Swedish economist Tino Sanandaji, the country spends 1.5 percent of its GDP on the asylum-seekers, more than on its defense budget. Sweden is spending twice the entire budget of the United Nations High Commissioner responsible for refugees worldwide. Pressed for housing, Sweden has spent as much on sheltering 3,000 people in tents as it would cost to care for 100,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan.It is little wonder that Sweden, where so recently it was forbidden to question the open-handed orthodoxy on immigration, has now clamped down on its borders. Sweden is a unique case, but clearly one of the lessons of its recent experience is, Don't try this at home. Rich Lowry is the editor of National Review. He can be reached via e-mail: comments.lowry@nationalreview.com. 2017 King Features Syndicate
Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale
Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada.
Search Real Estate
Property details:
Please note that iVacay LLC is not affiliated with nor does it represent the resort described in this item ad. Please read entire ad! If you have any questions, please e-mail us before placing a bid. (Due to West Virginia guidelines on purchasing Real Estate; West Virginia Residents will not be able to participate in this Auction) HOLIDAY INN LAS VEGAS DESERT CLUB Las Vegas, Nevada Lush desert palm trees adorn the entrance to Desert Club Resort, inviting you to surrender to the luxurious charms ...
Price: $ 1 Seller State of Residence: Texas State/Province: Nevada City: Las Vegas Number of Bedrooms: 1 Location: , Las Vegas, Nevada
You will be redirected to eBay
Nearby 1
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 02/21/2017
ADVERTISEMENT
FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS!
Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source!
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.
star Christina El Moussa is shedding some light on why her marriage to Tarek El Moussa crumbled and ended in divorce."We went through a lot in a short amount of time," Christina told People in an interview almost one year after separating from Tarek, although the pair didn't publicly announce their split until December 2016.The last several years have been tough for Christina and Tarek since launched in 2013 on HGTV. Tarek underwent radiation treatment for thyroid cancer that year, while Christina reportedly began a grueling struggle to get pregnant via in vitro fertilization and suffered a miscarriage in 2014.Once the couple welcomed their son Brayden, now 18 months, Christina went back to work four weeks after giving birth due to business pressures."It was too soon for me," Christina told People. "I was overwhelmed. The tension between me and Tarek was high."The relationship went downhill from there, as Christina revealed, "We weren't able to properly communicate anymore. It got to the point where we weren't even driving to set together."In a statement Christina and Tarek released late last year when announcing their decision to call it quits, they cited an "unfortunate misunderstanding " from May 2016 as one of the reasons.At that time, police were called to the family's home because Tarek allegedly fled the house in a fit of rage with a gun. Police were warned about "a possibly suicidal male," but Tarek insisted he was just blowing off some steam and took a gun with him as a form of protection against rattlesnakes and other dangers. No charges were filed and both individuals have insisted there was no violence that day."Like any couple, we had our share of issues," Christina admitted, clarifying however that their marital problems sparked long before that incident.Due to the buildup of years of a strained romance, Christina confessed to People she felt relief once they confirmed their split in December."I think the separation process begins long before people actually separate," Christina said. "So by the time we officially did, I felt like a weight was lifted off me."Tarek officially filed for divorce on January 9 amid rumors of infidelity and drama on the set of , but the couple has maintained a desire to continue working together and raise their children amicably in a healthy environment."Tarek and I don't discuss each other's personal lives," said Christina, who was recently photographed with her rumored boyfriend Gary Anderson, a contractor who once worked for her family."It is what it is and we are going through a divorce and eventually we will be dating other people. I'm happy for him and whatever steps he takes in his life and I just hope he's happy."Christina, in fact, insisted it's "invigorating" to know she's "starting over" and creating her "own destiny" right now with solo projects in addition to her show with Tarek, .Brayden and their daughter Taylor, 6, also remain the couple's focus."We're just normal, nice people who, you know, want to be the best parents and coworkers that we can be," Christina said during a Tuesday appearance on Good Morning America."Our kids are amazing... and transitioning well. Tarek and I are friends and we have a lot of support from our family. The kids are doing great."
,
We're sorry, this article is not currently available
Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source!
Accused securities scammer Martin Shkreli's co-defendant said Shkreli is a serial liar who "is guilty of committing fraud" and is creating a media "circus" to distract jurors from the evidence against him.
In scathing new court filings seeking to be tried separately from Shkreli, the former corporate lawyer for Shkreli's company claims the pharma bro's chronic lies included misleading his own business lawyers and also said he used them as unwitting "pawns" in his "fraudulent schemes."
In addition, Shkreli, 33, has a long-term pattern and practice of blaming others for his own misconduct, according to criminal defense lawyers for his co-defendant, Evan Greebel.
Those lawyers go on to say that the "bizarre, one-of-a-kind spectacle" that Shkreli has created since his arrest which includes trolling Hillary Clinton, journalists, women, celebrities and government officials is an intentional effort to "become more polarizing" among the public and potential jurors for his trial so that he will win acquittal.
"Nothing has been able to stop and nothing will be able to stop Mr. Shkreli from trying to turn this trial into a circus as part of a deliberate strategy to obtain jury nullification rather than have the jury focus on and carefully consider the evidence," said the filing by Greebel's lawyers.
The term jury nullification refers to when jurors acquit a defendant even when they believe he is guilty of charged crimes.
The sensational allegations are contained in documents filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
The two men face an upcoming trial in that court on charges they conspired to loot a drug company that Shkreli founded, Retrophin (RTRX), out of millions of dollars, in part to pay off investors that Shkreli was accused of defrauding at hedge funds that he ran.
Shkreli's lawyer Benjamin Brafman also has filed a new motion to sever the trials, citing the dueling versions of reality offered by the two men.
In that new motion, Brafman wrote that "Martin Shkreli maintains his complete innocence."
Story continues
"The evidence will show that he did not defraud, steal, lie, or cheat anyone out of money, and that he devoted his best efforts to bringing value to his investors," Brafman wrote.
Brafman said that Greebel's argument about being misled by Shkreli is "patently unfounded and flatly contradicted by the written communications between Shkreli and Greebel as well as other evidence."
Greebel's defense, according to Brafman, is "unfortunate, disingenuous and unfounded."
Brafman told CNBC in a statement, "We believe that it would be quite impossible for either Defendant to get a fair trial if tried together."
"As for Greebel's efforts to try and distance himself from Martin's legal issues, the fact is that Greebel and his firm billed Martin almost $10 million for legal advice during the very period in question," Brafman said in an email. "If not giving him counsel, he should return the money!"
The accusations in the pending criminal case are unrelated to the controversy that first brought Shkreli national notoriety: his having hiked the price of an antiparasite drug by more than 5,000 percent after acquiring it for his other company, Turing Pharmaceuticals.
Greebel is accused of two criminal counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Shkreli is accused of those counts, as well as six others.
Shkreli has pleaded not guilty to the charges, as has Greebel. Greebel's filing notes that the two men disagree about whether Greebel was Shkreli's lawyer as Shkreli claims or solely counsel for Retrophin, as Greebel says.
Shkreli's criminal defense lawyers said they will, at trial, mount a so-called reliance on counsel defense. That means Shkreli will claim he is innocent because his alleged criminal actions were committed after his own civil lawyers told them they were legal.
In his filing for Shkreli, Brafman noted the large legal fees paid Evan Greebel and his law firm, and also says that Shkreli spoke and emailed with Greebel and other lawyers "virtually every day, often dozens of times per day," on every topic facing Shkreli's business. The filing cited "tens of thousands of emails" between Shkreli and Greebel.
"Greebel provided legal advice and insight to Shkreli, which Shkreli followed faithfully," Brafman wrote. "Because Shkreli relied closely on his experienced legal counsel and other attorneys at the firm, Shkreli has a valid 'reliance on counsel' defense."
In their own new legal filing, Greebel's lawyers argue that having him tried with Shkreli would seriously compromise his right to a fair trial, particularly since the two men "have mutually antagonistic and irreconcilable defenses."
The filing said that because of those dueling defenses, "there will be no realistic way for a jury to find both defendants not guilty."
"We will be arguing to the jury that, among other things, Mr. Shkreli is guilty of committing fraud and that Mr. Greebel is not guilty of the charges against him," wrote Greebel's lawyer Reed Brodsky.
In a related document, Brodsky wrote, "United States v. Martin Shkreli and Evan Greebel is the quintessential case that requires severance."
"We will present strong evidence that Mr. Shkreli repeatedly lied to, misled, and omitted material information from Mr. Greebel and other attorneys at Katten Muchin Rosenman," Brodsky wrote, reffering to Greebel's former law firm.
"Indeed, we will demonstrate that Mr. Greebel was an unknowing pawn in a fraud about which Mr. Greebel was unaware," Brodsky wrote.
"We will also demonstrate ... that Mr. Shkreli is seeking to have Mr. Greebel found responsible for his own misconduct in the same way that, over the years, he has repeatedly shifted the blame for himself to anyone and everyone around him."
The filing said that Greebel's lawyers will also argue that Shkreli told third-parties that he had obtained legal advice from Greebel and other lawyers at Katten Muchin when he actually had not received any such counsel.
The filing lists several examples of Shkreli allegedly lying, including one instance in which Shkreli told Greebel that a former Retrophin director was making an "equity investment" in the company, when in fact that man was making a loan to Retrophin.
Brodsky also wrote that, "If asked whether during the period from 2011 through 2014, how Mr. Greebel has come to learn that Mr. Shkreli lied to him, I anticipate that Mr. Greebel would answer that he discovered these lies from his review of documents produced in discovery in this case that he had never seen before prior to the charges filed against him."
The filing for Greebel's motion for severance notes that he comes "from a long line of attorneys going back at least three generations, including his father and grandfather."
"He is a family man, husband, and father of three young children," the filing said.
"The dichotomy between the charged codefendants is stark."
The filing said that Shkreli has a "plan of creating chaos to distract the jury's attention away from the evidence and obtain jury nullification."
"Unlike any other case that we have been able to identify in history, Mr. Shkreli has a stated plan corroborated by his repeated post-arrest actions to disrupt the criminal trial, instill confusion, taint the jury, and apparently seek jury nullification," court documents argue.
Greebel's lawyers argue that because of Shkreli's notoriety, as well as his post-arrest actions and statements, "Mr. Greebel will be deprived of his right to a fair trial."
Their filing argues that while Shkreli has an "extraordinary amount of negative notoriety," Greebel "has absolutely no notoriety."
The filing notes that Shkreli, in a Financial Times interview last November, admitted to having a plan "to make the case 'more polarizing and popular' by creating a circus-like atmosphere and encouraging hostile publicity."
"And he admitted that his goal is to create the same kind of chaos that surrounded the OJ Simpson, Casey Anthony and Sean 'P Diddy' [C]ombs trials to obtain an acquittal as the defendants did in those cases," the filing said.
The Financial Times quoted Shkreli as saying, "I have this fringe theory that I've sort of stress-tested a little bit the more polarizing and popular a case is, the more likely an acquittal," the filing noted.
After citing the Simpson, Anthony, and Combs' acquittals, Shkreli said, "What's fascinating for all these cases? They were all widely seen to be guilty," the filing noted.
Greebel's lawyers argued in their filing that "as part of his calculated effort to become 'more polarizing,' Mr. Shkreli has engaged and continues to engage an almost-daily, if not hourly, basis in deeply offensive attacks on women, the media, public figures and government officials."
An attached exhibit, the filing noted, identifies about "75 examples of news articles, social media reports and video and audio recordings" that reflect "Shkreli's ongoing and deliberate efforts since his arrest to spread hate and hostility."
The filing said that Shkreli's attacks "on women have been extreme, hostile, and unrelenting."
Among them, the filing noted, is Shkreli saying on an online live-stream two days after his arrests that "he would let pop star Taylor Swift listen to an unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album he owns 'in exchange for sexual favors.' "
Shkreli also tweeted on Election Day last fall that he was the "new right-wing boyfriend" of pop star Katy Perry after she tweeted that she was going to cry about the presidential election results.
"Most recently, Mr. Shkreli sexually harassed a married Teen Vogue writer, inviting her to attend the presidential inauguration with him and flooding his Twitter feed with engineered photographs of them together on which he emblazoned ' 'Till Death Do Us Part,' " the filing said.
Shkreli has also "taunted Stephen Colbert with a homophobic slur," and taunted and heckled Hillary Clinton outside her daughter's home after she became ill at a Sept. 11 memorial event last year.
In his own filings, Shkreli's lawyer Brafman painted a picture of Shkreli as a child of "working-class Albanian parents," who was "raised in a modest Brooklyn apartment."
While attending Hunter College High School, "his brilliance and ambition were obvious," the filing said.
The filing goes on to say that while working in a mail room of a hedge fund founded by CNBC's Jim Cramer "[Shkreli] showed a knack for understanding biotech stocks," and had earlier "taught himself the complex chemistry and biology necessary to learn why certain drugs are effective and why others fail."
We recently received an announcement describing the newly released BNTI Arms Battle Rifle. Chambered in .308, the new long gun is being built specifically for export to Nigerian and other African military, law enforcement and security forces units. BNTI is partnered with Armalite Inc. and several other companies and maintains a headquarters in Florida, but they are apparently a jointly US-Nigerian owned company based in Abuja. BNTI builds a number of weapon platforms in addition to their battle rifle; among semi-auto and select-fire rifles ranging from 9mm to 7.62 x 39mm.
Nigeria's relationship with the United States has grown much closer in the last two years, after a change in regime tentatively promised an end to human rights violations. Since the election of President Muhammadu Buhari the United States has been providing assistance to Nigeria in several ways via the U.S.-Nigeria Binational Commission. Significant among those is security, as Nigerian security forces become more involved in operations against the extremist group Boko Haram (previously AFRICOM preferred to work with the militaries of neighboring Chad, Cameroon, and Niger).
The development of BNTI weapons for export, and the intention to eventually begin manufacturing in African facilities, is likely a part of the goal to develop local infrastructure and manufacturing. In fact, not too long ago Nigerian Senate President Bukola Saraki initiated a program called the Made in Nigeria challenge.
Anyway, here's what we know about it.
BNTI ARMS LLC, in Jacksonville, Florida, is the U.S. headquarters for the manufacture of small arms intended for export to vetted African Armed Forces, Police and Para-Military units. BNTI is pleased to unveil its new .308 BNTI ARMS Battle Rifle. Our USA made firearms are of the highest quality and we build each firearm with the knowledge that it needs to be reliable, durable, and accurate as it will be saving lives and defending the freedom and way of life of the countries and people who depend on it, said Jim Pledger, President of BNTI ARMS. The new BNTI ARMS .308 Battle Rifle's performance-driven design is engineered for extreme durability and reliability. From the precision-machined MIL-Spec forged lower and upper to the MIL-Spec lower parts kit, the rifle is filled with premium features not found in comparable rifles. BNTI ARMS rifles will deliver the accuracy, reliability and durability expected by militaries and American gun owners. BNTI ARMS .308 BATTLE RIFLE Specifications: * Precision machined MIL-Spec forged 7075-T6 matched upper/lower receiver set with integral QD's
* Receiver MIL-A-8625, Type III, Class 2 hard coat anodized (Cerakote colors optional)
* 16.5 Match Grade 416R stainless steel barrel with 1:10 twist
* VX308 Flash Hider BCP or Odin Works
* 13.5 KMod Rail by Battle Arms Development
* 90ambidextrous safety selector
* CMC flatbow
* 4.5 lb. trigger
* Magpul ACS stock
* Multiple Cerakote options available Broadcast Journalist, Joy Osiagwu interviewed the BNTI Arms staff at the 2017 SHOT Show. See the video here.
About BNTI ARMS LLC in their own words.
With its U.S. office in Jacksonville, Florida, and sales office in Abuja Nigeria, BNTI ARMS is dedicated to developing state-of-the-art technology and providing quality performance firearms for the Nigerian and other vetted African Military, Police and Para-military units, as well as for its U.S. markets.
You can find them online right here.
Industry News. What are you seeing here? Just as the tagline reads industry news. This is a product (or service) announcement. It is not an endorsement. It is not a review. It is not an advertisement.
Posts on RECOILweb.com labeled as Industry News are advisory notifications only. Information contained therein is likely provided by the individual manufacturer (or service provider), provided to RW and passed along to our readers as a notification only. Such articles do not represent our tacit approval, nor (unless labeled SPONSORED) were they paid for. RECOIL publishes not just for a fraction of the gun-owning community, but all of it. Individual editorial staff member opinions are not the sole arbiter of what news we present. What one person derides, another will extol. One of RECOIL's responsibilities is to inform readers of new products or services from manufacturers, training organizations, and the like. RECOIL readers have made it very clear this is something they want to see, and frequently. Some of those products will be chosen for further coverage or evaluation. Some will not. Some may have great promise or potential. Others will do nothing but prove the old adage, A fool and his money are soon parted. Readers should form their own conclusions, if appropriate. Rest assured if a member of the RECOIL staff is providing an opinion, you will know about it.
If you are aware of a new technology, product, or service you think is worth us passing along, reach out to [email protected] with details.
The Athens-Clarke County Police Department was one of multiple entities involved in the arrest of nine individuals involved in a child sex investigation. All nine were arrested in Clarke County. (File/Staff)
TCS, Infosys and others are banking on automation to protect their turf in the US, but building a successful revenue model around it may prove difficult
President Donald Trumps proposed Bill on raising the minimum salaries of H1-B visa holders, if it goes through, is likely to raise the cost of Indian IT companies, which have so far built their business by focusing on the cost end of the spectrum.
The US accounts for nearly 60 per cent of the software export business for Indian players and the changes in the offing could make a big dent in their revenues.
Although Indian software firms have onsite presence, their business model is skewed towards pushing work offshore where they can leverage the cost advantage to deliver value to clients.
However, as Indian companies work out a strategy to deal with these changes, some believe more than the visa norms, it is the tardiness in automating their IT processes that could accelerate the demise of their business model.
The countrys two largest IT firms, TCS and Infosys, have said they plan to tackle the growing move towards protectionism with a combination of more local hiring and virtual technologies, which may be difficult to legislate against.
This plan, however, may fail to bear fruit if IT companies are not able to make substantial headway in achieving automation quickly before the contracts go for rebid.
Over the next two years, the IT industry is expected to see a reduction in orders for traditional services.
A lot of the traditional service work orders will be replaced by automation. In fact, automation of technology services may potentially take out 30-40 per cent of the traditional pie from Indian companies. This clearly says that they have to catch up fast with global peers in increasing digital technology footprint, says Pareekh Jain of HfS Research India, a technology researcher.
There is a sense of urgency among Indian companies. Infosys Chief Executive Vishal Sikka reiterated the need for faster shift to digital during a call with investors on Monday. Even though Infosys is among the earliest advocates of embracing automation and artificial intelligence, traditional services continue to earn four out of five dollars for the company.
It (automation) may not be now, but in two, four or ten years. We have to eliminate our own work, improve productivity, deploy the improved productivity to innovation, said Sikka, while quoting a report from HFS Research which says India will see the biggest impact on jobs due to automation.
Stepping up investment
Global companies are investing billions of dollars in digital transformation. BNP Paribas, among Europes largest banking firms, says it would invest Euro 3 billion over three years in digital technologies as it looks to engage with young and technology-savvy customers.
While higher demand for automation from businesses across major markets is throwing up newer opportunities, Indian companies are still not geared towards it, say analysts.
One of the things that may pose a challenge over the next couple of years is the slow progress made by Indian companies in digital technology compared with their global peers like Accenture and IBM, says Jain.
The protectionist headwinds blowing globally could set them back further. In India, as is the case globally, there is a shortage of trained engineers to work on large digital projects.
Such projects typically need engineers and analysts to work with customers on-site. Such projects start small but the engagement with customers is deeper and strategic with involvement of top leaders of the client. However, as the US tightens its visa norms, companies wont be able to build their capabilities swiftly by shifting resources abroad.
Some, though, also doubt the sustainability of a business model built around automation.
The very antithesis of the traditional global IT services model is to counter with offering design to reduce the reliance on manual labour... The challenge here is the whole revenue model is tied to savings through headcount elimination and the generation of licence fees for bots.
While automation would be very hard for the likes of Trump to legislate against, it is also very hard for service providers to construct revenue models around it, says Phil Fersht, chief executive at HfS Research, in his blog post titled Four golden rules to save Indian IT industry from Trump.
According to Fersht, the revenue upside in automation is tied to consulting and helping clients figure out what is possible - which is why the likes of Accenture, EY and Deloitte are leading this space.
In a wait-and-watch mode
While Indian firms are optimistic of growth returning, the numbers say otherwise. Industry body Nasscom expects exports to grow 8-10 per cent this year. But even this could be difficult to achieve as TCS, Wipro and Infosys, the top three players, are expected to report single digit growth for the year.
They are facing pricing pressure on traditional services, while growth rate in new businesses is not offsetting the decline.
The overall macroeconomic environment does not seem to have turned completely in favour of Indian IT service providers since the slowdown in spending after Brexit and the US elections. Two major sectors, oil & gas and telecom, have still not renewed investments in technology.
Mayuresh Joshi of Angel Broking suggests having a longish view on IT stocks, and advises fresh investors to either wait for a better entry point or let clarity emerge on the ongoing issues before taking a plunge into IT stocks.
The valuations of large-cap IT companies look attractive, but the uncertainty over Brexit issue in the UK and H1B visa issue in the US will be the two headwinds in the short-term. The IT companies are looking at mitigating the risk but the real impact will be visible when the US Bill actually turns into a law, Joshi says.
Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters
'Right time, right place, right business and I could see I was the right person. It was a now or never moment in a sense. If I didnt do it then, then when? There is little point in entering a business as an entrepreneur when someone else has proven the concept.'
BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's son started ReNew Power during the UPA II government to focus on clean energy.
Big business in India suffers from a perception problem. Few believe that you can achieve success and create huge wealth in India if you do things the ethical and correct way.
Sumant Sinha, son of former finance minister Yashwant Sinha, is out to prove the contrary.
As he goes about trying to build the largest renewable energy company in the country -- ReNew Power -- what drives him most is his desire to prove he can do it cleanly.
But clean energy is not his only goal. Hes aiming to be the biggest solar power generator in India.
When Sinha started his company, the UPA II government was focused on clean energy. But the NDA-led government has set unimaginable targets for renewable energy. And Sinhas plunge into renewable power has moved into a much higher trajectory than hed imagined.
The commissioned assets of the company in the past six years are 1,400 MW (wind 1,050 MW and solar 350 MW). Sinha says hed like to keep his market share in solar energy at 8-10 per cent.
A powerful magnet
After a career spanning industries and continents for 11 years, in April 2002, Sinha came back to India and joined Kumar Mangalam Birla as his chief financial officer in Mumbai, and worked with the Birlas for close to six years. His spearheading the groups retail business was his first experience of running a business hands on.
In 2008 he was approached by Suzlon to join as CFO. He did, and a month after he joined, the 2008 financial crisis struck, destroying Suzlons business model.
I found myself moving from the frying pan to the fire, says Sinha, who after a very intense work life at the Birla group had hoped for a slightly easier assignment.
He had no time to breathe for 15 months. Tulsi Tanti decided to come back full on and Sinha decided it was time for him to call it a day.
Sinha noticed there was a change in the renewable energy sector, which had been primarily wind-driven till then, thanks to tax breaks given by government.
Jewellers, film actors and all manner of entities had entered the wind turbine space ... But the government had introduced a policy to attract IPPs in the Indian space too and more serious players were entering this sector.
Politics is no less certain
When he quit Suzlon, Sinha found himself at the crossroads. He had achieved financial stability and could consider entering politics, like his father had done in the 1980s and his brother was considering the same thing at around the same juncture.
But he could also see the huge opportunity in the energy sector. With things easing up after the financial crisis, he also noticed that a lot of private equity capital was available.
Right time, right place, right business and I could see I was the right person. It was a now or never moment in a sense. If I didnt do it then, then when? There is little point in entering a business as an entrepreneur when someone else has proven the concept, says he.
He also felt he could perhaps make a bigger contribution to the country by getting into the clean energy space than by being in politics.
A ReNewed birth
In 2010-11, he invested his own money and started building a pipeline of projects before he raised funds. Goldman Sachs was looking at the renewable energy sector in India after it had successfully funded, scaled up and exited a wind platform in the US a few years earlier. They committed $200 million to Sinhas business during June-September 2011.
If Goldman at the time had invested in someone else or come back and said no, maybe I would have been in politics! says Sinha.
With 640 employees, his company has raised $650 million (including Goldman increasing its own commitment from $200 million to $370 million). $1.7 billion has been raised as debt.
He says new possibilities constantly emerge and the goalposts keep moving -- when his firm had 500 MW, 1,000 MW looked impossible. Now he is looking at three times that.
Hes also looking at which countries he could expand into and perhaps other clean businesses. Let me say I feel much more in control.
Images: Courtesy, ReNew Power.
Now that an elected chief minister is at the helm, it is high time the Centre initiate discussions to appoint a full-time governor at the earliest, given that the state is set to face some challenging times, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Image: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami being presenting a floral bouquet by Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao after the the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Chennai on February 16, 2017. Photograph: R Senthil Kumar/PTI Photo.
With acting Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao returning to his gubernatorial base in Mumbai after last weeks high drama, both inside and outside the state assembly in Chennai, the question arises as to when -- and not if -- Tamil Nadu would get a full-time gubernatorial assignee.
This is because almost since the hospitalisation of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in September last year, and more so after the sudden exit and subsequent retraction of her party-chosen successor O Panneerselvam, or OPS, the role of the governor became more crucial than ever in the past, and an acting governor, operating mostly out of the state, was seen as a part of the problem(s), and not as the constitutionally-mandated provider of timely solution(s).
Suffice to recall that on the afternoon when OPS quit and proposed ruling AIADMK general secretary, V K Sasikala, as his successor, Rao was flying out of Coimbatore to New Delhi, for attending a private function.
From there, he moved on to Mumbai, where he either stayed in the Raj Bhavan or attended to some prior engagements, none of which, it would seem, was as critical and serious as the evolving political situation in Tamil Nadu.
The question thus arises that if only Rao had flown in to Chennai, instead of Delhi on that crucial Sunday afternoon, would outgoing chief minister OPS have confided in the acting governor that his resignation and hence subsequent proposal of Sasikalas name in his place were not of his own volition, as implied in the relevant provisions of the Constitution?
The Constitution mandates that ministerial resignations have to be in ones own hand, implying that even if only a finger-print and not a signature, the governor would have to assure himself that it was not done under coercion or duress.
As subsequent events proved, OPSs resignation, and its not-so-delayed acceptance, caused the subsequent developments, starting with his claims to forced resignation nearly 48 hours later.
Before returning to Mumbai, Rao received delegations of ruling AIADMK under the new CM, Edappadi K Palaniswami, a DMK team of Rajya Sabha members, and a third one led by AIADMK rebels (for want of a better phrase) and outgoing CM Panneer.
In their meetings with the governor, the three delegations gave him an account of their perceptions of the trust vote that the governor had ordered in order for Palaniswami to prove his majority on the floor of the House, as ordained by the Supreme Court in the S R Bommai case verdict in 1994.
Fair enough, the Bommai verdict also stated that the speaker was the boss inside the assembly, but given the circumstances the court had not considered possible in 1994, could Rao have directed Speaker P Dhanapal to consider a secret vote as a real possibility?
Likewise, could Rao have directed the speaker to permit an independent observer or observers, nominated by the Raj Bhavan to report back to him after the vote?
If these issues were flagged before the court, and if the nations highest judiciary did not approve of his ways, then he would still be seen by the Tamil Nadu voter as having erred on the right side.
Governor Rao is a knowledgeable politician, from undivided Andhra Pradesh. A BJP parliamentarian and an RSS pracharak in his earlier avatar, he had served as minister of state at the Centre in the Vajpayee-led NDA government.
A part of his innings as MoS was spent in the Union home ministry, which is concerned with the role, activities and reports of state governors, especially on occasions such as this.
This, and Raos knowledge of the Constitution as a lawyer, should have prepared him well for his present job. So should the long hospitalisation of then chief minister Jayalalithaa have alerted him to the possibilities of the kind.
In recent times, he would have also followed the gubernatorial career of one-time party colleague, Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa, who would not quit as Arunachal Pradesh governor even after the Supreme Court had castigated him for his conduct over defection-induced change of government in the sensitive north-eastern state.
Today, in the absence of an independent observer report, the governor would still have to rely, technically, on the speakers verdict and communication.
The Centre and the President, if they were to act on his report, if its adverse to the speakers communication and the Palaniswami government, all three would have to explain their conduct even more to the Supreme Court.
After all, the Bommai verdict clearly mandates that any dissolution of the assembly and/or dismissal of a state government would suo motu be taken up for early hearing and disposal by the Supreme Court.
The court verdict would be final and binding on all parties concerned, the SC had declared in the Bommai judgment.
All this does not mean that Governor Rao did not do his part well. But a full-time governor would have glued his ears to the ground, full-time, and not be distracted by gubernatorial commitments in his parent state, or otherwise, too.
Today, there are more problems for the Palaniswami government and the Sasikala faction of the ruling AIADMK than is acknowledged. The government has to present the Budget for 2017-18 soon and get it passed by March 31 in the assembly.
There are also other issues, bills and resolutions that would come up before the assembly for debate and vote, almost on a daily basis.
The controversy surrounding the trust vote has brought all non-Sasikala faction parties and groups on the same side. This means, with the DMKs 89 MLAs, and those of the Congress allys eight and IUMLs one, the OPS factions 11 legislators may vote against the government, whatever the issue, whatever the occasion.
The bonhomie that the DMK-led Opposition had displayed since the May 2016 elections, despite being spurned repeatedly by the Jayalalithaa government but was acknowledged with grace by the OPS leadership, cannot be expected any more.
In effect, all of it would mean that the anti-government parties would together have a total of 109 MLAs in a House with an effective strength of 233 (following the vacancy created by Jayas death).
That would mean that the opposition would require only 117 votes, to send the Palaniswami team packing, even with the Speakers casting vote.
They would thus have to look at eight more MLAs to cross over, even as the OPS faction should be guarding its own flock against poaching before the official faction gets down to the business of seeking the disqualification of select rebels.
Indications are that the DMK, if offered the mandatory chance of forming a government, should the Panaliswami team lose a floor test of any kind, might opt out, and seek fresh elections to the assembly. It could happen as early as a year, if not less.
Even otherwise, with periodic polls due in the next five years -- local government elections in 2017, Lok Sabha polls in 2019 and that for the state assembly in 2021 -- neither of them can hope to face any of them without the MGR-Jaya Two Leaves symbol.
The two AIADMK factions may thus have to consider re-unification as a possibility.
As the OPS camp has started pointing out belatedly and not when their leader Panneer was proposing Sasikalas name for the party general secretarys post after Jayas exit, the position can be filled only through a vote by all 1.5-crore registered members.
Its another matter that neither MGR, nor Jaya in their time, was elected to the post this way.
Nor were MGRs nominated replacements in V R Nedunchezhiyan, or V Ragavanandam, whenever.
However, possibly anticipating trouble of the kind on a future date, the Sasi camp is believed to have obtained the signatures of many, if not a majority, of registered members of the party with proof of identification at the local levels, after the party general council had unanimously elected her as the party boss, on the resolution moved by OPS, already CM.
The question would thus arise if a person who had been CM could claim to have been forced into proposing Sasis name for two different positions, one of them mandated by the nations Constitution, with such casualness unbecoming of an incumbent chief minister of a fairly large and mainstream state.
If perceptions, especially in the social media, were to prove right, and the OPS camp, possibly with some assistance now from Jayas niece J Deepa, were to prove right, then the Sasi faction, as is identified at least as of now, may have a tough time retaining the Two Leaves symbol.
That could be among the clinching issues in the coming days, weeks and months, for a long drawn-out legal battle before the Election Commission first and possibly in the Supreme Court later on could cause further tremors in the party, at times within the state assembly, too.
Independent of all this could be the upcoming presidential polls in July, where the split AIADMK in the two Houses of Parliament with the second highest total of 49 MPs, and their counterparts in the state assembly with the pre-split total of 135 would matter the most -- and not just for the factions or the state alone, but for the national parties and their strategists, from multiple directions.
A clearer picture on that score could emerge after the results of the ongoing five-state assembly polls are known on March 11.
All of it could well demand that Tamil Nadu gets a new governor at the earliest, and he too has enough time to study the ground situation and is seized of the possibilities and probabilities, without getting caught, as if unawares.
Whats more, unlike when Rao had to take additional charge when incumbent K Rosaiah retired, today the State has a CM with whom the Centre could hold the conventional consultations before naming a new governor.
Of course, a lot on this score again would depend on what Rao has to report to the Centre and the President, if at all he has any, after the trust vote, where CM Palaniswami won the vote, though not necessarily the trust of the state.
Independent of what acting governor Rao can and would do, the Centre may have to actively consider the appointment of a full-time gubernatorial tenant for the sprawling Raj Bhavan in Chennai.
Though there was/is no constitutional bar on the Centre/President appointing a governor only in consultation with the state government, represented by the chief minister, successive PMs have followed the convention, though with rare exceptions.
In the case of TN, CM Jaya was hospitalised for long, yes, but that did not deter acting governor Rao to direct senior-most minister OPS to chair cabinet meetings and look after the portfolios under her care.
Even after Jayas death and OPS had been sworn in CM in a midnight function in the Raj Bhavan, the Centre was not known to have taken any initiative for the appointment of a full-time governor for the state, through mutual consultations or whatever.
N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and political analyst, is Director, Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter.
'We provided more electricity during Diwali vis-a-vis Eid because there is no load on electricity during Diwali.'
IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election rally in Fatehpur, UP, February 19, 2017. Photograph: PTI Photo
'Gaon mein agar kabristan banta hai, to gaon mein shamshaan bhi banana chahiye. Agar Ramzan mein bijli milti hai, toh Diwali mein bhi milni chahiye. Agar Holi mein bijli milti hai, to Eid par bhi bijli milni chahiye. Bhedbhav nahin hona chahiye (If a village gets a graveyard, it should get a cremation ground too. If there is electricity during Ramzan, there should be electricity during Diwali too. If there is electricity during Holi, there should be electricity during Eid too. There should not be any discrimination).'
--Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, February 19.
Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf spoke to Shailendra Dubey, chairman, All India Power Engineers Federation, to ascertain the truth about electricity supply in UP.
Can you tell us about the criteria when distributing electricity during festivals in Uttar Pradesh?
The effort during every festival in Uttar Pradesh is to provide maximum electricity.
This is not new, but is being followed for the last 20 years.
Now the festival of Diwali is held during the last week of October or the first week of November, when the demand for electricity is less.
There is no load of air-conditioning or heaters because the weather is pleasant. We have surplus electricity during Diwali.
Also, during Diwali, factories are shut for three days and so are most offices.
Therefore, there is no problem to give electricity to people during Diwali.
What about electricity distribution during Eid vis-a-vis Diwali in 2016?
On July 6, 2016, people were celebrating Eid.
On that day, we supplied 13,500 MW electricity and during the Diwali week -- from October 28 to November 1 -- we supplied electricity for 24 hours to all urban and rural areas to the tune of 15,600 MW.
So, it is but natural that we provided more electricity during Diwali vis-a-vis Eid because there is no load on electricity during Diwali.
However, I must add that politics should be kept away from this subject because electricity must not become a victim of votes and money.
This is a highly technical field and it should be left to the technicians.
18,000 mw The electricity demand in UP during the summer.
What is the daily demand for electricity in the state and how much of it is met?
During the summers in Uttar Pradesh, the demand for electricity is about 16,000 MW and in winters, the demand is around 13,000 MW.
During Eid, the demand was for 15,000 MW, but we could not fulfill that and we could only give 13,000 MW of electricity.
In the coming summer, we feel the demand would be around 18,000 MW.
How does your department decide and prioritise the distribution of electricity during festivals?
Diwali is the festival of lights and therefore we give maximum electricity on this day.
After that we have Navratri when Durga Puja is held and then the month of Ramzan.
During other festivals like Bakri Eid or Holi, we try to give maximum electricity.
We also highlight in newspapers that electricity will be given to full capacity on festive days.
Does your department take these decisions independently or does the state government weigh in on it?
We are an independent authority, but during festivals, the central government too plays a role.
There are central government power plants and every state has a quota of electricity from which they can withdraw electricity.
When we need more electricity it is the central government that can distribute it according to its discretion.
But I will reiterate again, Diwali is at a time when the demand for electricity in northern India is low.
People do not use their rotating fans because the weather is pleasant and we do not face that much electricity load too.
IMAGE: In India, 80 million homes and 300 million people do not have electricity. Photograph: Kamal Kishore KK/CP/Reuters
Do you mean to say that if Eid occurred in the months of October and November, you wojld be able to supply more electricity?
Yes. We will be able to give more power for Eid too if that were the case.
The distribution of electricity has got nothing to do with politics, but with the weather.
If the weather is pleasant, then automatically there will be less consumption of electricity.
And it is just that Diwali comes at a time when the weather is pleasant in northern India.
If a festival occurs during December, then the demand for power is more.
But three festivals -- Holi, Dusherra and Diwali -- occur at a time when it is neither hot nor cold.
When you heard the prime minister's remark, did you feel it was a political statement?
It was 100 per cent a political statement.
Therefore, I have come out in the open and given the actual data.
We have got 20 years of data and you will find that always there is more power supply during Diwali than Eid because Diwali comes at a time when there is no demand for electricity.
What is the demand for electricity in Uttar Pradesh and how much is the shortfall?
There is less shortage of electricity in Uttar Pradesh now.
On many days we have more electricity and less demand.
We have 24 hours power supply in places like Lucknow and Noida.
In residential areas, too, if there is a power cut, then that is due to some local fault.
So are we producing more electricity?
Today in India the generation capacity of electricity is 3 lakh MW and the demand is 1.5 lakh MW. So demand itself is less.
Like in Uttar Pradesh, in peak summer, the demand is 18,000 MW. Uttar Pradesh generates 5,000 MW.
From the Centre, we get 6,000 MW and another 5,000 MW we get from the private sector in UP.
So the total is 16,000 MW.
And to fill the gap of 2,000 MW we buy power from other private companies.
We have got 20 years of data and you will find that there is more power supply during Diwali than Eid because it comes at a time when there is no demand for electricity
What is the reason of the shortage of electricity in summers then?
The shortage is because of bad inter-state relations.
The inter-state electricity grid is not working to its full capacity.
Like, there is sufficient electricity in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, but we cannot draw that electricity into Uttar Pradesh.
The formation corridor is overloaded.
The Power Grid Corporation of the central government is working on it and also the state power companies are working on it, but it will take few years to solve this problem.
Many villages in India don't have electricity.
There is a difference here. There is electricity in the villages, but there is no electricity in the homes of villagers.
The definition of the central government is that if there is an electricity pole in the village, then that village has electricity.
But the question is, how many homes in that village have electricity?
This is a worrisome situation.
In India today, there are 8 crore homes which have no electricity and that population comes to around 30 crore people.
Why has electricity not reached these people?
We have been raising these questions time and again to the state governments and central governments, that we have the generating capacity, but still cannot distribute electricity.
It is an unfortunate situation.
In many states, power stations are shutting down because there is no demand for electricity.
In Uttar Pradesh, we shut down a 2,500 MW power plant.
In Gujarat, a 5,000 MW power plant was shut down and the same is the case of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab because there is no demand.
300 million Indians Number of Indians who have no electricity
How can there be no demand when people don't have electricity in their homes?
The answer is simple. People don't have electricity connections in their home.
So when they have no electricity connections, then how can we have demand?
So who is responsible for bringing electricity to people's homes?
It is the government's job.
Therefore, I said earlier, there should not be any electricity politics, it should not be played and politicians should steer clear of this issue.
These are technical issues and should be solved technically.
Does it mean that while India produces enough electricity, the cable lines to people's homes have not been laid by the government?
The answer is that is not the priority of the government.
Could it be that the people may not be able to pay the electricity bill which is why they don't want it, so it is not just a distribution problem?
Till the time we do not strengthen the distribution network of electricity, 30 crore people will live without electricity in India.
Don't your raise these issues with the ministers?
We do raise these issues when we meet them.
We feel the answer to this is that there should be no politics on electricity.
Only then can this problem be solved.
THE RACE IN UP
Don't miss the features in the Related Links below...
'Parents have to -- whether they like it or not -- save up Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 60 lakhs per daughter for her wedding.'
'If someone is earning up to Rs 10,000 a month and has three daughters, how will he manage?'
'Somehow, somewhere, there has to be a cap on this kind of expenditure.'
*IMAGE: NRI businessman Ravi Pillai spent Rs 55 crore on his daughter Dr Arathi Ravi Pillai's wedding to Kochi doctor Adithya Vishnu.
The bride accessorised her look with diamonds, a whole lot of them! Photograph: Kind courtesy Facebook
Her wedding, 23 years ago, was a grand affair that involved a chartered flight and a guest list estimated somewhere between 250,000 to 300,000 people.
So when Ranjeet Ranjan, the Congress MP from Supaul in Bihar, introduced a bill in Parliament aiming to curtail the lavishness of Indian weddings, she obviously ran into a storm.
The private member's bill, which was submitted in Parliament last July, is once again the focus of attention because it was approved by President Pranab Mukherjee and now returns to Parliament for discussion.
Among other things, the bill aims to"
Curtail wasteful expenditure by limiting expenses to Rs 5 lakhs each for the bride's and groom's families.
Set up a welfare fund to which families will have to contribute 10 per cent of the wedding expenses if it crosses the Rs 5 lakh limit. This fund will be used to facilitate the wedding of girls from poor families.
Make wastage of food at weddings a criminal offence.
Limit the number of invitees and the number of dishes served at a wedding.
Ensure the registration of the wedding within 60 days.
The penalties include imprisonment and fines.
You can read the bill in English here and in Hindi here.
Ranjan counters the criticism saying that a wedding -- especially getting a girl married -- is unnecessarily back-breaking for a family and such financial catastrophes -- brought on by societal pressures -- urgently need to be curtailed.
The MP tells Rediff.com's Savera R Someshwar that, at 43, she should be allowed to correct the mistakes of the past.
*IMAGE: Politician, producer and philanthropist Dr T Subbarami Reddy's grandson Keshav -- GVK group CEO G V Sanjay Reddy and Pinky Reddy's only son -- wed Veena, a chemical engineering graduate, in a grand wedding ceremony recemtly.
Here the newly weds are greeted by movie superstars Rajinikanth and Amitabh Bachchan and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan.
Could you explain the thought process behind The Marriages (Compulsory Registration and Prevention of Wasteful Expenditure) Bill, 2016, which has now received the President's approval?
If you look at Bihar or Uttar Pradesh, getting your daughter married to a peon means you have to give cash of Rs 30 lakhs to Rs 35 lakhs.
If you want to get your daughter married to an IAS officer, you have to give Rs 1 crore.
If you go to Punjab, where I hail from, cash mein tilak nahi hota hai (the money that is given by the bride's family to the groom's family during the tilak ceremony, which can be considered as an engagement), but there is a lot of sho-sha. Dikhawa hai (ostentaiousness).
A wedding puts a lot of pressure on the middle class. You may have educated your daughter; she may be a very talented child, but there is no getting away from the fact that you will have to spend a certain amount of money on her wedding.
Parents have to -- whether they like it or not -- save up Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 60 lakhs per daughter for her wedding.
If someone is earning up to Rs 10,000 a month and has three daughters, how will he manage?
Somehow, somewhere, there has to be a cap on this kind of expenditure.
Isn't this because of the mindset we have and the social pressure we face in India?
Of course.
Nowadays, people are willing to spend Rs 2,500 to Rs 10,000 on a wedding invitation card just to impress society.
In a country where there are so many poor people who cannot afford two square meals a day, you are willing to spend Rs 20 lakhs to Rs 30 lakhs on one meal for the baraatis (guests from the groom's side).
There are so many dishes served; can people each so much?
So much food is wasted at these functions; I have seen it myself in many weddings that I have attended.
The desire for one-upmanship only makes matters worse; your wedding has to be better, your menu have more food, your location must be glitzier, your jewellery must be more expensive... It just goes on and on.
I've also noticed parents want their girls to marry into a family that is financially better than their own; aur sukhi rahen (let her be happier).
So they take on the huge pressure of financing a wedding they can't afford.
Sometimes, the boy's family will say if you cannot afford it, we will spend for the wedding.
Don't you think in such cases the girl's mother will regret the fact that they could not get their daughter married off in the style that was expected?
They feel that their daughter will have to compromise, muhje jukhna pad raha hai (we have to bow our head).
We give a lot of importance to Western culture and follow it in many ways, so why don't we follow it when it comes to marriages?
One of my sisters lives in London. One of her daughters is an engineer and she wants to get married.
The boy and the girl will pool their finances together, consider what they can afford and plan their wedding.
In India, by the time we reach the age of 50 or 60, we have educated our children and helped them stand on their own feet.
The money remaining with the parents should be used for their retirement so that they can live comfortably.
Instead, they are willing to sacrifice everything for two days of sho-sha that will soon disappear from everyone's memory.
A lot of people sell their land, mortgage their house, take a loan, just for do din ka status (to be able to show off their status for two days)...
If you have that kind of money, empower your daughter and son-in-law financially instead of indulging in food wastage or noise pollution.
It is my opinion that these changes should be made, there has to be some kind of level playing field.
I have got a good response for my bill.
At least, because of my bill, a discussion has started on this matter.
How will the bill help?
I have mentioned three specific things under my bill:
Food wastage Wasteful expenditure Compulsory registration of the wedding
You must have seen many such cases in Punjab where the boys get married here and go abroad, where they get married again.
The marriage here has not been registered, so the girl's life is shattered.
*IMAGE: At her wedding, Brahmani Reddy, controversial mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy's daughter, was dressed in a red Kanjeevaram sari that reportedly cost Rs 17 crore.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Babu Reddy M/Facebook
Don't you think the biggest expense in a marriage is dowry? Should that be rooted out of the system first?
Yes. But that is a different matter and we are going to come up with a plan for that as well.
Here, my main focus was wastage of food, wasteful expenditure and registration of the marriage.
There has been a lot of criticism because you too had a lavish wedding.
Yahan aati hai politics (this is where politics enters the picture).
I was 19 years old when I got married (February 6, 1994); 23 years have passed since then.
If I no longer want to do what I had done so many years ago, is it a crime? Is it wrong to change?
My parents are middle class people. At the very most, we must have spent Rs 1 lakh at my wedding.
I was only person in the chartered plane that went from Patna to Purnea (one of the charges against her is that a plane ferried guests to the wedding location).
Yes, I have said that 2 to 3 lakh people attended our wedding reception.
You have to understand that rural area mein shaadi hui thi (My wedding took place in a rural area).
We were married in the Purnea gurudwara, which is a very small gurdwara. There was no special lunch-wunch.
From my side, a maximum of 50 people must have attended the wedding.
We ate in the hall itself and then, in the night, there was a bhoj (a low cost communal meal) instead of the typical wedding feast.
Someone brought yoghurt, someone brought rice.
The bhoj may have cost Rs 5 lakhs to Rs 8 lakhs.
My husband (controversial three-time MP Pappu Yadav) was the MP of Purnea. Ours was an inter-caste marriage -- I belonged to Punjab, he was from Bihar.
This increased the curiosity level in his constituency. Gaaon mein bada attraction tha ke kisko leke aaye (There was a great amount of interest in the bride). People from all the nearby villages had come for the wedding.
There is a great difference between a royal wedding and people coming to see the bride because the groom is popular.
In fact, I still tease my husband that 'Aapne shaadi kahan ki thi? (When did you marry me?). Our wedding was like a rally. And people don't come to a rally to eat... dekhne aate hain (they come to see).
If people want to stretch that, they are most welcome to do so. I don't care.
How old are your children? What if they or their in-laws/partners want a lavish wedding?
Let me tell you a story. Four years ago, we had gone to Punjab for a family wedding.
There is a lot of dhikawa (showing off) in Punjabi weddings.
My son, a 17 year old then, told me, 'Mamma, itni taam-jaam mere mein mat karma (Mom, keep my wedding simple). Instead put the money the bank. We can use it to travel.
If you see typical politicians' weddings, the newly weds are sidelined as all the attention is focused on the VIP guests.
My children do not like this. As young as they are -- (her daughter is 13) -- they say please do not invite any VIP.
This inspires me.
Last week, someone asked me how I could ride such an expensive bike I replied that I could probably afford it because I don't have to worry about buying gold or saving money for my children's weddings.
Touch wood, I am raising my children to be independent, to stand on their own feet.
*IMAGE: A scene from the film Band Baaja Baaraat. "There is a lot of dikhawa in Punjabi weddings," says Ranjeet Ranjan, who is looking to rein in wedding expenditure.
Why have the same budget for rural and urban areas? Things are much more expensive in urban areas.
Of course.
But a wedding in the rural area does not cost Rs 10 lakhs.
The idea behind a cap on expenses is that people begin to fear the law -- kanoon ka yeh dar baithe -- that we should not spend so much money unnecessarily.
In the village, you can have a feast for Rs 2 lakhs -- you'll be able to feed 1,000 people with dal, rice, vegetables, a sweet dish and people will be satisfied.
But even in the village, if you are getting your daughter married to a teacher, you have to give dowry. My complaint is against that. I want that capped.
We should have stringent laws so that people are frightened and think twice before following the dowry system or having a grand wedding because of societal pressures.
I want youngsters to come forward and refuse to follow this system because it is against the law.
I could be wrong. But should such things not be discussed? We need to find a solution to this problem.
What about limit on the number of guests?
People are questioning how a wedding can be financed in Rs 5 lakhs.
Well, if you invite a limited number of guests, if you keep a limited variety of food, your expenses are definitely bound to reduce.
If you are looking at the nitty-gritty to such an extent -- you not only decide the budget of a wedding but also the number of guests that can be invited and the number of dishes -- will you also decide how much can be spent on the bridal outfits and the jewellery?
If there is a discussion on the bill, all these issues will be raised.
If you read my bill, you will see that jewellery, decoration, cars, clothes, horse drawn carts, helicopters, planes... I have raised every point.
If this becomes a law, then you'll have to restrict your expenses in every direction.
Businessmen, politicians and film stars have the most ostentatious weddings. How will you stop that?
And the middle class wants to imitate what they do.
I have seen it happen and seen parents who have not been able to recover from the financial strain.
The crorepati may say he has the money so he is doing it. One of the clauses in my bill is that they must not publicise such weddings because the impact is not very good.
We get starry eyed about Bollywood very easily. So when such extravagant dreams settle in their eyes, children forget about the difficulties the parents have encountered in order to tackle the daily necessities.
Parents, after all, are parents. They would like to fulfil their children's dreams.
We Indian parents spend our earnings on fulfilling our children's dreams.
These people are wealthy, have the right connections and wield a lot of influence. How will you make them obey the law?
It is a problem.
Even if Parliament increases the amount that can be spent on a wedding to Rs 20 lakhs, the people who are spending Rs 100 crores on a wedding will have to donate Rs 10 crores to the fund that will be created for the marriage of poor girls.
At the same time, they will not want their lavish weddings highlighted by the media. Since there is a cap, they will worry that they will be faced with an inquiry.
Two things will get sorted here.
One, they will spend less because they will have to give a percentage to the BPL fund.
Secondly, if the media does not hype their weddings so much, those who dream of unnecessarily having similarly lavish weddings will not feel inspired to do so.
Destination weddings won't be advertised so much.
Kullam-khulla saaj-sajawat mein rukawat lagni chahiye, lagegi (Ostentatiousness needs to be controlled and it will be).
*IMAGE: Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover included all the traditional ceremonies, including the mehendi and the sangeet in their wedding celebrations. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar
It may a good idea to avoid ostentatious weddings, but don't you think that is a matter of personal choice? Should the government try to control a private citizen's life to such an extent?
No doubt, lekin yaar jab pani sar se oopar chala jaaye na (but when the situation crosses a certain limit)...
Take child marriage, for example; it is a family matter, isn't it? But it is also a huge social problem.
Similarly, weddings -- I am including the dowry problem here as well -- are a huge burden for more than 70 per cent of India.
Girls are burnt to death because of this, countless marriages are broken...
Why are uniforms compulsory in school? Because you don't want the rich-poor divide there.
This is the same kind of thought process that we need to see in our marriages as well.
Why are people like the Reddy brothers spending Rs 500 crores on a wedding?
The invitations sent to VIPs by the late Jayalalithaa are said to have cost Rs 10,000 each.
I feel that some kind of limitations need to be set.
Even if this is successfully implemented, how will you ensure that the 10 per cent contributed to the marriages of girls from poor families actually reaches them and is not siphoned off elsewhere?
We would like a fund to be created for poor children.
In order to ensure the money actually reaches then, the administration should be involved through the DM (district magistrate) and the money directly given for wedding expenses.
That way, I feel there will be 95 per cent transparency in this issue.
The process should be similar to what happens when a patient from our constituency needs to go to a big government hospital like AIIMS and the expenses are taken are of by the government.
There are documents to be submitted before the approval happens and the payment is made directly to the hospital.
Will there be changes to the bill?
This is a private member's bill and, when it comes forward for discussion, there will be a lot of changes.
For example, I felt that the parents of the boy and the girl should not spend more than Rs 5 lakhs each.
If they spend more than that, the income tax department should be given the order to ensure that 10 per cent of the excess amount should be deposited in a fund that will be used to finance the weddings of girls from poor families.
That amount may be increased by Parliament.
*IMAGE: Neil Nitin Mukesh, the latest movie star to get hitched, had a wedding in Rajasthan and a reception in Mumbai, attended by many Bollywood stars. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar
Apparently, six bills to curb wedding expenses have been introduced over the years, but none of them have been passed -- four have lapsed and two are pending.
See, many private members' bills have been presented but, in the last three years, only two have been approved by the President -- one transgender bill and this one.
It is a positive sign. It shows that the government also wants to discuss this bill.
How much of a success rate do private members' bills have?
It is totally dependent on the government.
If the bill appeals to the government, it can amend and approve it.
If the government is not interested in the bill, it will not be taken up.
Is it not true that very few private members' bills become the law?
Yes, it is very rare. Very rare.
How hopeful are you that your bill will become the law?
Look, my main aim is to ensure this matter is discussed. It should happen in the media, it should happen in Parliament.
Secondly, if the government says it is waging a war against black money, then it should pass this bill.
Then it will be clear how fair this government is. So much black money is used in weddings.
The media keeps says politicians do not work; they just indulge in politics.
There are many such bills that an MP feels should come before the people and should be worked upon.
So if someone is ignoring politics and bringing about such a bill, the government should ask its MPs to freely discuss this bill.
If that happens, I am 100 per cent sure this bill will be passed because, even in Parliament, 80 per cent of the people are middle class.
They understand the kind of problems a family faces.
It is unfortunate that we get mired in politics -- whether this bill is passed or not unfortunately becomes a matter of politics.
I feel positive about this bill because not every bill gets this kind of response from the electronic and print media, nor does it get this kind of response from the people.
It is clear this is a problem that affects everyone and people want a solution.
I feel the government is looking into this as well, so let's see what happens.
Is it true that your bill is a replica of the bill introduced by Mr Akhilesh Das Gupta in the Rajya Sabha in 2011?
I have no idea about Akhileshji.
As an MP, you think about various issues. You make your personal assistant write it down so that you are reminded that this is an issue you want to do something about.
We are not experts on this; so we call in experts and discuss the issue with them.
We tell them we want to present a bill on this subject and find out how we can go about it.
When did you start work on the bill and when was it presented?
I submitted the bill in Parliament in the July session.
When did it receive Presidential approval?
Just a few days ago. I was in my constituency when it happened.
When do you expect it to be taken up in Parliament and when do you expect it to become a law?
It has been approved by the President, so it should be taken up in this (the Budget) session.
If a private member's bill is taken up, the first one will be mine.
It has already been listed.
We don't know when it will be called for discussion.
If approved, it depends on the government as to how long it will take to become a law.
It could be six months; it could be a year.
Pakistan is the only country in the world which banned lavish weddings. Is this the pattern you would like to follow?
Yes, they can have four pakwan (dishes) and limited number of guests.
We can do more than that.
*All images published only for representational purposes.
Do take a look at the INTERESTING FEATURES in the RELATED LINKS below.
A man who had gone to withdraw money at an ATM in Sangam Vihar in New Delhi allegedly ended up getting four notes of Rs 2,000 with Children Bank of India written on them, police said on Wednesday.
Rohit Kumar, who works as a customer care executive at a call centre in Chhatarpur, had gone to withdraw cash from the State Bank of India ATM in Sangam Vihar on February 6.
He got four notes of Rs 2,000 which had Churan label written on them in place of the official watermark.
Meanwhile, SBI issued a statement saying that they have a robust system in place for monitoring the quality of notes, adding that the investigation in the matter is underway.
Police said all the notes were found as children playing notes, which are available at toy shops.
A case under sections 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust), 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) and 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Sangam Vihar police station, they said.
Mohammed Isha, custodian of the Brinks India Pvt Ltd, who works for the SBI ATM has been zeroed in and his liability has been fixed by the bank as he was the custodian at the time of the incident, said a senior police officer.
Although Isha has denied his involvement in the incident, he is being questioned, police said.
The notes also had PK written on them in place of the RBI stamp and the top left corner had Bharatiya Manoranjan Bank written instead of Reserve Bank of India.
Kumar told police that he had Rs 8,425.85 in his account and wanted to withdraw Rs 8,000, but the notes dispensed by the ATM bore the words, I give 2,000 coupons to the holder.
He also brought the matter to the notice of a security guard posted at the ATM and later approached the police.
A sub-inspector was sent to the ATM to withdraw money. He also received a note that had Children Bank of India written on it. The official also questioned others who were present near the ATM, but they expressed ignorance about the fact that the ATM was dispensing such kind of notes.
Till now, there have been no other complaints. Probably, only a few notes were changed. We have to identify at which point the real notes were exchanged, the officer added.
The Lahore High Court will on Wednesday hear the petitions filed by Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed and four others challenging their house arrest.
Hafiz Saeed, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid, Qazi Kashif Hussain and Abdullah Ubaid challenged their detention through senior advocate A K Dogar.
Earlier, the LHC had dismissed a petition filed by a senior advocate Erum Sajjad Gull on 'technical' ground observing the petitioner had not furnished the impugned notification of Saeed's detention.
The government on January 30 had put Saeed and four other leaders of JuD and Falah-e-Insaniat under house arrest in Lahore under the country's anti-terrorism act.
In their petition, Saeed and four others said the government in light of Interior Ministry's order detained them for a period of 90 days (with effect from January 30) in exercise of powers under section 11-EEE(1) of Anti Terrorism Act 1997.
They said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had claimed that the government was fulfilling its obligations under United Nations Security Council's resolutions.
"The government has proved that the Pakistan is a servile and a dependent nation. We have been serving the country like iconic social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi for the last many years," they said.
The petitioners said the US had clearly told Islamabad that in case of not following the advice to take action against JuD it (Pakistan) may face sanctions.
Previously, the petitioners said the government had used the same UNSC resolution for detain Hafiz Saeed and a full bench of LHC had set him free.
"The government has no evidence that we are a 'risk' to security of Pakistan and merely on the basis of the UNSC resolutions our liberty cannot be curtailed," the petitioners said and prayed to the court to declare the government order being mala fides without jurisdiction and void the fundamental right to their life and liberty and ordered for their liberty.
Saeed, who is carrying a $10 million bounty on his head, was also put under house arrest after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack but he was freed by Lahore High Court in
2009.
'Initially, most people willingly stood for hours in queues to withdraw cash because they believed that after 50 days, black money would come out, some big men would be punished and perhaps jailed. Again, nothing happened.'
'Now the talk is that small people have been punished while the rich and the powerful have got away.'
'The RSS is not going out of its way to counter the view. Let the BJP explain.'
Radhika Ramaseshan reports from UP.
What is uniformly noticeable among Bharatiya Janata Party voters and supporters was their defensiveness each time the notebandi issue cropped up.
The BJP's local offices, which in 2014 brimmed with people prematurely celebrating Narendra Modi's victory before counting, were muted.
A young party official of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh provenance in Rampur, who had his nose to the grindstone when the Lok Sabha polls were underway, admitted he "lost interest" this time.
"I have nothing to say to our voters when they pose uncomfortable questions on demonetisation. I am packing my bags and taking a vacation in my village."
The RSS official's main worry was demonetisation had begun to "chip away" at Prime Minister Modi's image.
"Modiji has invested much personal and political capital in it, but people ask me, 'Does he not understand our hardships? Why did he make us suffer?'"
In Moradabad, a senior RSS functionary stressed the Centre did not seize the opportunities to mediate and mitigate people's "distress."
"On December 31, we eagerly awaited the PM's televised speech, believing he would announce or hint at certain remedies. Nothing came. Then the Budget arrived. Farmers expected a loan waiver, small traders looked forward to some relief. There was nothing."
"Initially, most people willingly stood for hours in queues to withdraw cash because they believed that after 50 days, black money would come out, some big men would be punished and perhaps jailed. Again, nothing happened."
"Now the talk is that small people have been punished while the rich and the powerful have got away. The RSS is not going out of its way to counter the view. Let the BJP explain," he said.
The RSS functionary said he tried to tell the BJP's central leaders to stop the income tax department from sending "indiscriminate" notices, seeking explanations for the bank deposits made after November 8 within a stipulated time.
"I said this is outright harassment. If the PM wanted to do it, he should have waited till the elections were over."
Some BJP votaries held the bureaucracy and not the political executive culpable for the fallout of the note ban.
Rasik Deep Singh, in the construction business in Saharanpur, said, "The masses are not educated enough to appreciate the long-term benefits of Modiji's move. Each time I listen to him, I get back my moral strength."
Compounding the BJP's problems were two other factors: Delhi's 'interference' at the cost of sidelining Uttar Pradesh leaders and complaints against Lok Sabha members.
In Rampur, for instance, the recall value of incumbent MP Naipal Singh was abysmally low.
People remembered Rajendra Sharma, who won on a BJP ticket in 1991 and thought he was their representative.
In Moradabad, the BJP and the RSS sounded furious with the MP, Sarvesh Kumar Singh, for 'lobbying' and getting a ticket for his son, Sushant Singh, for the Barhapur assembly seat.
"Genuine claims were overlooked to accommodate the MP's son. The state BJP is working to get him defeated," a local functionary said.
In Bijnor, the opinion about the MP, Kunwar Bhartendra Singh, was he "preferred to live in his bungalow in Mussoorie" and surface during an election, "holding a peepal sapling in one hand and patting a calf with the other to win Hindu votes."
The only MP who was commended was Kanwar Singh Tanwar of Amroha. He reportedly spends his weekends in the town, supervising health services and organising mass marriages for the poor.
IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Vijay Shankhnad rally in support of Bharatiya Janata Party candidates in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, February 16, 2017. Photograph: Sandeep Pal
At 24, she had lost her purpose in life. What was missing in my life was purpose, so, I bought a wall map and 8 entrepreneurial books to start the flow of curiosity and perception. One of the books, she bought was the The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau.
Fast forward three years later, this girl has entered the history books by becoming the fastest person to visit every country in the world. She is also the first woman to visit every sovereign nation.
Meet Cassie de Pecol, a 27-year-old traveller from Connecticut, United States, who visited 196 countries in 18-and-a-half months.
Here is her journey in images.
All photographs courtesy: @expedition_196/Cassie de Pecol/Instagram
IMAGE: To say that Cassie de Pecol is an avid traveller, would be an understatement. She started 'Expedition 196' on her 25th birthday. Photograph: @unmaderhyme/Instagram
Cassie left for her world tour in July 2015, and on February 2, 2016 she visited Yemen, the 196th and final country on her list. Her entire journey around the world took 18 months and 26 days, smashing the previous record of three years and three months.
She began her epic journey -- dubbed Expedition 196 -- on her 25th birthday and charted her entire journey on social media.
IMAGE: Planning to visit 196 countries in record time would need a lot of planning.
Cassie, who has visited places such as Taiwan, Kosovo and Palestine, describes herself as a world traveller, explorer, environmental activist, womens rights and peace activist, educator, triathlete, and entrepreneur.
IMAGE: Cassie went through 5 passports while undertaking this one-of-a-kind journey. Talk about #braggingrights!
Previously working in the corporate world, Cassie said she couldnt travel the world without a purpose. So, she acted as peace ambassador for the International Institute of Peace Through Tourism and Skal International during her journey.
IMAGE: If you think that Cassie's trip around the world was about picturesque landscapes and living the high life, think again. In Vanuatu, one of the countries, on her list, in an attempt to raise awareness about the environment, she helped in rescuing turtles.
"I hope that this trip will have made a significant difference in our world, enough to provide me with the opportunity to speak at universities and for the documentary to be used as an educational tool in high school and university classes. I also hope that I can help young girls to see their full potential and not limit themselves to what society says they should do."
IMAGE: Can you guess the location? That's Samuel's Fortress, Ohrid in Macedonia.
Her work involved meeting with university tourism students to discuss responsible tourism and economics.
In addition, she worked with Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation to collect water samples to test for the presence of micro plastics.
She also met with students, local government representatives, and tourism ministers. She gave presentations on sustainable tourism, urging hospitality thats energy-efficient, relies on local food production, and respects local culture and heritage.
IMAGE: Take in this splendid view of Bryce Canyon, in Utah, America. She travelled the breadth of America mostly by road.
Asked about how she was received by other countries, Cassie said it wasnt a walk in the park. In fact, while speaking to CNN about her trip, she said that she was in tears when a North Korean soldier gripped her hand in the hardest handshake shed ever felt. Were going to destroy you, America, he said.
She recalled telling the North Korean guard about her mission: She was there to show that, even if their governments couldnt be friends, the two of them didnt have to be enemies. I just like to show that we can be friends and we can kind of coexist, De Pecol said.
IMAGE: This waterfall was just too breathtaking to resist, wrote Cassie on her Instagram page while travelling through Croatia.
FUN FACT
Before Cassie, the record holder for the fastest man to travel the world was held by Michigan native Yili Liu for travelling the world in three years and three months.
IMAGE: Genuine freedom! Her journey will make everyone's bucket list.
Another difficult aspect of the expedition was trying to secure visas.
There have been cases when I post on my Facebook, Hi I need help getting into Libya or I need help getting into Syria, and at that point its kind of trusting in the unknown, trusting in people, she said.
IMAGE: Along her journey, Cassie also witnessed strange and unusual architecture, which she spoke of on her Instagram page. Here is an example of the unusual sights she saw: An outdoor museum of folk architecture in a village on the outskirts of Kiev called Pyrohiv, that showcased real houses and thatched huts dating back to the early to mid 19th century. Wouldn't we like such a history lesson.
But, shes a tough cookie. Since turning 16, the blue-eyed blonde has been participating in triathlons and also knows the Israeli form of self defence known as Krav Maga.
IMAGE: 50 shades of blue! Cassie in Palau. For those who don't know where that is, Palau is a part of the Micronesia region in the western Pacific Ocean. If you love clear waters, this should be your next travel destination. Palau is also the place where Cassie took to the road.
And this wasnt Cassies first tour either. She visited 25 counties by herself, stretching $2,000 as far as it could go, and even slept in train stations.
Multiple times during the expedition, De Pecol was detained by authorities who suspected she was a journalist, spy or drug smuggler. In Peru, her taxi was robbed at knife-point.
IMAGE: With views like these, we are surprised that Cassie only spent two to five days in each country. For those who want to know, this is New Zealand.
When asked why she set out on this one-of-a-excursion, she said, Since school, Ive had this desire to visit every country in the world, intrigued to learn more about every culture, natural habitat, and religion.
In America, we are lucky to have such a vast melting pot of cultures and people from all over the world who make the country what it is today.
I wanted to learn about where these people came from, more specifically, where I came from, with my ancestors originating from Europe.
IMAGE: Cassie at the Benagil Sea Cave in Portugal. Through her trip, Cassie also got to tick off several destinations from her bucket list.
I wondered what existed outside of North America and what it was like.
Going to every country was for me a personal quest to learn as much as I could about our world, stepping outside my comfort zone and becoming comfortable in the unknown, while also aiming to leave a legacy behind.
In order to fund her journey, Cassie saved $10,000 (Rs 6 lakh) in babysitting money. She acquired the rest of her $198,000 (Rs 1.3 crore) budget through sponsors. De Pecol also exchanged promotional coverage for stays at eco-hotels around the world.
IMAGE: Making friends, meeting new people is one of the reasons she travelled extensively. Here's Cassie with a cow (oh so cute) in Liechtenstein
Once she set out on her journey, Cassie spent two to five days in each country.
According to her, she experienced the lows when she was at airports, or in countries she felt unsafe to run (you can guess shes a runner from this statement alone).
IMAGE: Lake Bled is picture perfection. With its emerald-green lake, Lake Bled is a marvel in Slovenia.
Throughout her journey, De Pecol boarded over 255 flights, planted trees in over 50 countries and went through five passports.
IMAGE: Cassie doesn't go anywhere without her camera. High up on the roofs of buildings in Bosnia to waters in Indonesia, her camera is her one permanent companion.
And what about the criticism she faced about her travel. Some critics say she spent too short a time in each place to have meaningful experiences.
IMAGE: Cassie documented her journey on Instagram, which quickly notched up followers in the thousands. In St Petersburg, Russia, she came across the candy cane church and she couldn't help but take a snap for history's sake.
Others accuse her of only being in it to chase the record -- and money.
This is what she wrote on Instagram, responding to her critics.
IMAGE: She travelled alone for 567 days, but Cassie wasn't lonely. She made friends, such as this cutie patootie in Greece, who she named Mykonos.
Its not okay to let others opinions (good + bad) shape who you are and who you aim to become, but I encourage you to let their words fuel you to pursue a life for yourself that you could have never in your wildest dreams have imagined.
IMAGE: Cassie in Uzbekistan!
Its always been a desire of mine to inspire others that would in turn, inspire myself to create and grow positively in the right direction. My motto has always been, I want to live an iconic lifestyle where I do what I want, when I want, and inspire those along the way.
IMAGE: Cassie in UAE having some fun with falcons in the desert.
The negativity I get from this expedition is vast, and while Ill never know why Ive been criticised for my hard work and dedication to make even just a small, positive change in our world or how I travel for that matter, this negativity contradictory, only fuels me to do bigger things and reach higher in order to craft something more vast and impactful to positively enhance our world, while leaving a great legacy behind.
IMAGE: Cassie at Petra in Jordan. Petra is a famous archaeological site in Jordan's southwestern desert. Accessed via a narrow canyon called Al Siq, it contains tombs and temples carved into pink sandstone cliffs, earning its nickname, the "Rose City."
Thankfully, the judgements that Ive read have really fueled me to start several major projects that Ive recently started working on. I often wonder that if I never received this criticism from others, Id never be driven enough to change our world for the better... and hopefully one day I wont rely on these judgements to make these great forward movements in life, but for now, its worked well enough. Never define your value as a person based off what people tell you about who you are or what you do. Own your life, own your values, own your morals and never let anyone dictate your decisions or frame who you are or who they think you should be. It is your life and no one has a surefire solution to a successful and winning outcome, but you.
IMAGE: When Cassie travelled to Ethiopia, she met this beautiful, young woman who was making true and authentic Ethiopian coffee. She says on Instagram, "I sat with her for awhile and despite our language barrier, we managed to connect on many things. The world is magical if you practice patience and understanding."
So, I encourage you to use not only fear but negativity and criticism from others as embers to your flame. It is only then, once you let all those opinions go, and watch those embers burn to flame, your truth and your story will flourish and youll be boasting with confidence as to where youre headed. Choose your hard.
Next up, De Pecol plans to visit Antarctica. But before that, she will race in an Olympic Triathlon in San Diego next month, and in June she will teach a course in how to secure funding to travel the world.
IMAGE: "After a 1 hour and 15 minute fast paced uphill trek, I arrived at Paro Taktsang, Bhutan. The pilgrimage was like something out of Avatar, a dream to trek, through low hanging clouds with a harrowing drop at any given moment on either side. Prayer flags swayed through the pines, prayer wheels spinning in the breeze, and tsa-tsas (ashes of the dead) wedged between crevices of stone. Passing over a bridge and waterfall and up the last flight of stairs, I entered one of the chambers where I was completely alone. Tip-toeing past the glowing butter candles and sacred relics, I kneeled on a rug, cracked open an aged window and rested my head on the windowsill to reflect and admire the massive 2,000ft plunge into the vast Himalayan valley below, as clouds swiftly passed. Without my phone or camera equipment, I was able to consciously enjoy this moment in peace."
IMAGE: Cassie also travelled to Pakistan. It's interesting that she wrote about her journey to this country extensively. This is what she said, "The way I prefer to travel is to leave all preconceptions at the door and walk in with a completely open mind.
A great example of this practice surfaced during my stay in Pakistan. People were scared for me when I told them I was going, although I personally looked at the opportunity as both a privilege and unique adventure. Having been to places such as Afghanistan, Somalia and North Korea, alone for example, I had zero worries about entering Pakistan and just knew it would exceed my expectations in the best way possible.
What we hear in the media can be so degrading and devastating, but this shouldn't deter us from experiencing that country first hand.
By using tourism as a means for peace, we have the ability to open our eyes to the truth when we experience these places through our own perceptions while learning directly from the local people.
Once we realize the common denominator of humanity, we'll judge less, and accept more. We will be more open to the kindness of people around the world and that most people just want peace, too."
IMAGE: Cassie's final country on her list was Yemen and it didn't disappoint! She took in the local culture and the yummy food.
IMAGE: With images like these (this one in Bali) on her Instagram feed, it's no wonder that they soon became viral.
Shurhozelie Liezietsu on Wednesday took oath as the new chief minister of Nagaland heading a 12-member Democratic Alliance of Nagaland ministry.
Liezietsu, who succeeded T R Zeliang, was administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor P B Acharya at a function in Raj Bhavan in Kohima.
Eleven other ministers also took oath with 81-year-old Liezietsu. They were Kiyanilie Peseyie, Yanthungo Patton, P Longon, C Kipili Sangtam, C L John, Yitachu, Paiwang Konyak, Vikheho Swu, Chotisuh Sazo, Imkong L Imchen and G Kaito Aye.
Imkong L Imchen and G Kaito Aye are the new faces in the ministry.
Liezietsu is not a member of the Nagaland Legislative assembly and he will have to get elected within six months from taking office.
Earlier, Liezietsu was unanimously elected as the leader of Democratic Alliance of Nagaland legislature party at its meeting on Monday which was attended by 59 legislators.
Nagaland has a 60-member assembly.
Liezietsu, also the NPF President, succeeds T R Zeliang who stepped down on Sunday amidst protests by various tribal organisations against the state governments decision to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in urban local body elections.
Liezietsu had been member of the Nagaland Legislative assembly for eight terms and had not contested the 2013 assembly elections.
He is also chairman of the ruling DAN alliance.
In an interview with PTI, the Bharatiya Janata Party president backs Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his 'shamshaan' and 'kabristaan' comments with numbers.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Wednesday ruled out any post-poll alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party or any other party in the event of a hung assembly in Uttar Pradesh, confident that the party will get a "full majority".
As UP gears up for the fourth phase of the seven-phase assembly elections on Thursday, Shah, 52 , also said that the BJP not naming a chief ministerial candidate was part of the party's poll "strategy".
"Kisi se bhi haath milane ka dur-dur tak koi swaal nahin uthatha (there is no question by far of joining hands with any party)," he said when asked during a wide-ranging interview to PTI if the BJP would be willing to ally with the BSP or any other party to form a government in the politically crucial state if it fell short of a majority.
The comments by Shah come against the backdrop of some poll surveys and political experts projecting a hung assembly in UP given that all the three players -- the Samajwadi Party-Congress, the BSP and the BJP -- have a robust set-up and a loyal social base in the state.
Shah, who has campaigned extensively in UP, acknowledges the importance of the poll outcome in the state to 2019 Lok Sabha polls but at the same time he feels that the results would be even more crucial for the country's development.
There is 'trikoniay muqablaa (triangular contest) in Punjab, so it is difficult to make a guess who will win
Working hard to recreate the magic of 2014 that gave BJP 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the face of stiff competition from the SP-Congress alliance and Mayawati's BSP, the BJP strongman answered a wide range of questions on the elections in UP and four other states and their importance to the party as well as to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has also campaigned intensely in the country's biggest state.
Shah expressed confidence that his party will form the next government in UP, Uttarakhand and Goa with "full majority" but is unwilling to make a prediction about Punjab, noting that it was a triangular contest there involving the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party.
"In Goa, Uttarakhand and UP, we will form governments with full majority. There is 'trikoniay muqablaa (triangular contest) in Punjab, so it is difficult to make a guess who will win," he added.
Shah replied in the negative when asked whether the BJP saw a disadvantage in not naming a chief ministerial face in UP when the last-minute SP-Congress alliance had named the incumbent Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav while Mayawati was the BSP's clear choice.
He said that not naming a CM candidate was party's "strategy".
He refused to get into specifics of whether a central leader like Home Minister Rajnath Singh or any of the state leaders would be chosen to be the chief minister if the party wins. He restricted himself to stating that the choice would be made by the elected MLAs and the high-powered BJP parliamentary board.
Shah rejected the Congress charge that the prime minister had sought to inject communal colour into the campaign a few days ago by talking about allocation of state land for 'shamshaan' (cremation ground) and 'kabristaan' (graveyard).
"Critics and media both should see the data", he said, claiming that Rs 1,200 crore had been spent in UP on graveyards while only half that amount had been given for cremation grounds despite a population ratio of 80-20 (between Hindus and Muslims).
The BJP chief also accused the party's political opponents of indulging in "politics of appeasement" and said that the BJP was called communal for raising such issues.
"They (the SP) are communal by indulging in politics of appeasement. Why this issue is not raised in Gujarat (where there is no such discrimination). Absolutely, they have a communal attitude in their policies," he said and added that when the BJP raises the issue then the party is called communal.
In UP, elections are being held for as many as 403 constituencies in seven phases. The last phase is on March 8.
The counting in UP as well as in other four states -- Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur -- will take place on March 11.
Asked if the outcome of the current elections was a referendum on demonetisation, which has caused hardship to the people, Shah said, "If media or the opposition wants to treat UP outcome as a referendum on demonetisation decision, then the BJP has no objection, we will welcome that.
"There are many issues in UP. Demonetisation was not a decision of UP government. It is the central government's decision."
Talking about funding of political parties, he indicated that the BJP was working on a "roadmap" to accept financial contributions only by cheque and digitally by June.
Regarding demands that political parties be subject to Right to Information, Shah said that only the financial funding of any political party should come under the ambit of RTI and not other details like number of cars etc.
On who is BJPs main opponent -- BSP or SP?, Shah said, "In first two phases, we had competition with the BSP and in third, it was with the SP. These parties may put up competition in selected seats but the BJP has strong presence in all the constituencies.
Shah also exuded confidence that the party will clinch 130 seats out of 209 constituencies which went to polls in the first three phases in Uttar Pradesh.
"On March 11 at 1 pm in UP you will see a (BJP) government (in UP).. After the three phases, I am looking at more than 130 seats," he said when asked about the feedback he has received on the polling pattern so far.
Photographs: PTI Photo
China and India on Wednesday held their upgraded strategic dialogue to shore up bilateral ties amid hectic parleys to resolve differences over Beijing's reluctance to support India's bid for Nuclear Suppliers Group membership as well as a United Nations ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar.
Just before the dialogue, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Welcoming Jaishankar, co-chair of the dialogue, Wang said China and India are two major developing countries and emerging markets besides important nations in the world.
"We have to have frequent meetings," he said, referring to high-level talks held by officials from both sides on critical issues before Wednesday's dialogue.
The official-level meetings made very good foundation for the "successful strategic dialogue", he said, adding that the Chinese side attaches importance to "this reconstituted dialogue".
"I am certain by raising the level of this strategic dialogue the two sides will be able to enhance their strategic communication, reduce misunderstanding and build more trust and deepen our strategic cooperation," Wang said.
"This way we can better tap into the potential of our bilateral relations and live up to our responsibilities" for the regional stability.
In his response, Jaishankar said, "This is the first time that the restructured strategic dialogue is taking place".
"This shows that our relationship today has gone well beyond bilateral manifestations," he said.
Stating that the two countries are members of G20, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), BRICS and the East Asia Summit, he said this will "allow us to find more common ground on more issues".
Later, Jaishankar along with China's Executive Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui held the strategic dialogue.
In his opening remarks at the dialogue, Jaishankar said, "We have truly transcended the bilateral dimension of our relations. What happens between India and China has both great global and regional significance.
"Our assessment coming in is that our bilateral relations have really acquired a very steady momentum over many years. Our leadership-level meetings have been taking place regularly and our economic engagement is growing. We are seeing cooperation on many international issues and our border areas have maintained peace and tranquility," he said.
"Overall the closer development partnership has been unfolding," he said.
Apparently referring to differences, Jaishankar said, "there are natural issues which neighbours have" and it is the responsibility of both the countries to address them.
Zhang said "I expect that we discuss the full range of issues that are important to our countries".
Several top officials from both sides, including those in-charge of nuclear disarmament issues, were present at the talks.
The talks were being held in the backdrop of vocal differences between the two countries on a host of issues including India's concern over the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Beijing's reluctance to back India's application to join the NSG and the UN ban on Azhar.
The strategic dialogue was upgraded during Chinese Foreign Minister Yi's visit to New Delhi last year. China has deputed Zhang, also the head of the influential Communist Party of China committee of the Chinese Foreign Ministry to co-chair the talks.
Ahead of Wednesday's talks Jaishankar, who formerly worked as Indias Ambassador to China, met China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi on Tuesday and held talks with him on the critical issues bedevilling the bilateral ties.
Photographs: Indian Embassy in China/Twitter
By Tim Hepher and Cyril Altmeyer PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus called on Wednesday for new talks with European governments to ease "heavy penalties" for delays to its A400M military aircraft, after taking a fresh 1.2 billion euro (1 billion) charge for Europe's largest defence project. The appeal comes seven years after Airbus won what at the time was regarded as a definitive 3.5 billion euro bailout for the delayed project, plagued from the start by political wrangling over the choice of new European engines. Airbus said recent problems with engine gearboxes and delays in supplying defensive aids had led to severe penalties, bureaucratic arguments and cash being held back by governments. "We cannot go on like that. This is unacceptable and puts a huge burden on Airbus and we need to do something about it," Chief Executive Tom Enders said. The A400M was ordered in 2003 by seven NATO nations -- Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Britain and Turkey -- to grant Europe an independent military transport capability. An unusual fixed-price contract worth 20 billion euros reflected efforts by Airbus at the time to win a major military contract to add to its growing jetliner business. But it foundered over problems with the West's largest turboprop engines, which were to be supplied by a European consortium instead of Airbus's preference for a Canadian supplier, as well as tight deadlines for military hardware. Speaking after reporting lower 2016 profits, Enders argued Airbus was still paying for the "original sin" of striking an unrealistic deal 14 years ago, despite having reset the programme with the 2010 bailout deal. The pan-European agency representing the buyers was not available for comment. But Germany, the largest A400M buyer which has been most critical of the project, expressed little immediate appetite to help Airbus cope with the latest issues. "It is important that the manufacturer resolves the current problems in the programme," a defence ministry spokesman said. Tobias Lindner, a Green lawmaker and member of the German parliament's budget committee, urged the government to press for "a new and resilient" agreement without reducing penalties. CALL FOR REASSURANCE Enders, who is said to privately regret not cancelling the project before the bailout in 2010, declined to say if Airbus would threaten to stop building the plane. Airbus shares fell about 1 percent on news of the 1.2 billion euro charge, which brings the total amount it has written off on the A400M towards 7 billion euros. Raymond James analyst Harry Breach wrote that Airbus needed to reassure investors the stream of charges was nearing an end. Several others questioned how easily Airbus would be able to strike a new A400M deal in the midst of budget austerity, French and German elections and political distractions in a group of nations dealing with Brexit and conflict in Syria. "I am not sure that the states will agree to put their hands in their pockets once again," said Chloe Lemarie, director of aerospace and defence research at Mainfirst Bank in Paris. The A400M overshadowed a narrower-than-expected drop in 2016 core earnings as Airbus delivered a record 688 jetliners. Core operating income fell 4 percent to 3.955 billion euros on revenues up 3 percent. Analysts had expected a 7 percent drop in core profit due to weaker pricing of old models. Airbus said bottlenecks in the supply chain for its A350 jet had improved, but called for a "huge effort" from engine maker Pratt & Whitney to ease delays in A320neo output. It predicted more than 700 jetliner deliveries in 2017. It did not give a formal target for orders but executives say they will lag deliveries for the first time since 2009 as the aircraft market slows. (Additional erporting by Andrea Shalal and Sabine Siebold in Berlin; editing by Keith Weir)
Trial of Gaddafi regime a 'missed opportunity for justice' UN human rights chief
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 21 February 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Trial of Gaddafi regime a 'missed opportunity for justice' UN human rights chief, 21 February 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58ad53d8d.html [accessed 6 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
21 February 2017 - Pointing out that the recent trial in Libya of members of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime fell short of international fair-trial standards, the United Nations human rights wing and the UN mission in the North African country called on authorities to address flaws identified in a new report.
In the report issued today, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) also recognized the challenge of trying former members of the regime, especially amid armed conflict and political polarization, but noted that the trial raised concerns such as serious violations of due process, including prolonged periods of incommunicado detention for the defendants amid allegations of torture which were not properly investigated.
Holding perpetrators responsible for violations is vitally important but accountability should be the result of due process and a fair trial, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein in a news release detailing the report's findings on the trial proceedings that examined violations of human rights during the 2011 civil uprising that toppled the long-time Libyan leader's regime.
This trial was a missed opportunity for justice and for the Libyan people to have the chance to confront and reflect on the conduct of the former regime.
Of the 37 members of the former regime under trial including Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, and former Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmudi six defendants were sentenced to death; eight given life sentences; 15 others jail terms of five to 12 years; four were acquitted on all charges; and one was referred to a mental health institution.
UNSMIL and OHCHR closely monitored the case from the pre-trial phase through the court proceedings, which began in March 2014, to the verdict in July 2015. They also interviewed many of the defendants and their relatives and lawyers, reviewed the case dossier and judgement, and had extensive discussions with Libyan officials and Libyan and international experts.
A joint UN report on the trial of 37 former members of the Gaddafi regime says was unfair and fell short of international standards. The report cites flaws in the judicial process of the 37 suspects accused of committing crimes during the 2011 uprising and armed conflict.
They noted that the public prosecutor's office, in particular, provided documentation and was available for discussion of the trial throughout the process. However, they also said that the defendants' lawyers complained repeatedly of difficulties in meeting defendants in private and accessing documentation.
The right to defence was also undermined by the fact that no prosecution witnesses were called to testify in court the prosecution's case was only briefly presented during the court sessions and the court restricted each defendant to two witnesses, noted the news release.
In addition, the Libyan judicial system does not allow for a full appeal but only cassation a review focused on points of law only.
[We urge] the Court of Cassation to take into full account the due process violations identified in the report and provide effective remedies, pending the adoption of reforms needed to bring Libyan trials into full compliance with international standards, the two UN entities noted.
Among other specific recommendations, the report also called for a review of the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure to ensure all crimes are clearly defined, access to lawyers during interrogation is guaranteed and other fair trial safeguards are strengthened.
The report also said the Libyan authorities should also ensure the surrender of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court (ICC), in compliance with Libya's international obligations.
UN refugee agency focuses on sheltering displaced as Iraqi offensive moves to west Mosul
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 22 February 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN refugee agency focuses on sheltering displaced as Iraqi offensive moves to west Mosul, 22 February 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58ad548a4.html [accessed 6 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
21 February 2017 - The United Nations refugee agency is focusing efforts on camp construction in and around the Iraqi city of Mosul, where renewed fighting could displace up to 250,000 people.
With the predicted exodus of up to a quarter of a million people, it will be impossible to accommodate such large numbers on existing land, said Matthew Saltmarsh, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at the regular press briefing in Geneva.
Almost 217,000 people have fled from the eastern sections of Mosul since the military offensive to oust Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh) terrorists began on 17 October 2016. About 160,000 remain displaced while others have returned to their homes in the now Government-controlled areas.
The spokesperson said UNHCR has eight camps open or completed at present, and one under construction. We are planning for the start of work at another site in Hamam Al Alil, south of Mosul, he said.
The Iraqi Government has decided, initially, to transport people displaced from western Mosul to camps in the east while new capacity is being added in the south.
UNHCR has been asked to support a new site at Hamam Al-Alil, 20 km south of Mosul. It is expected that many of those fleeing western Mosul will reach there on foot. This site will provide shelter for up to 60,000 people.
According to reports and testimonies, conditions in the densely-populated west of the city are worsening, and hence concerns are mounting for the well-being of civilians. There are shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine. Half of all food shops have closed and most people can only access untreated water.
Food prices are skyrocketing and there are reports of families burning furniture, clothing and plastic to stay warm.
Mr. Saltmarsh said that during the battle for eastern Mosul, the protection of civilians was prioritized in military planning and activities, and UNHCR hopes this principle will continue to be upheld.
However, he added, the new battle will be different as the city's west is densely populated, with many narrow streets, and fighting will be street by street. Armed groups have built a network of tunnels.
Insecurity and recent suicide attacks in eastern Mosul have resulted in some families who had opted to return to their homes coming back to the camps in search of safety, he said.
'Time running out' for 1.4 million children in 'man-made' crises in Africa, Yemen UNICEF
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 21 February 2017 Cite as UN News Service, 'Time running out' for 1.4 million children in 'man-made' crises in Africa, Yemen UNICEF, 21 February 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58ad54c74.html [accessed 6 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Almost 1.4 million children are at imminent risk of death due to severe acute malnutrition this year, as famine threatens in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, warned the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), urging prompt action to save them.
We can still save many lives. The severe malnutrition and looming famine are largely man-made, said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake in a news release issued by the UN agency today.
Our common humanity demands faster action, he underscored.
According to UNICEF, as many as 462,000 children in Yemen where a conflict has been raging for the past two years are currently suffering from severe acute malnutrition. This figure has risen nearly 200 per cent since 2014.
Similarly, in conflict affected parts of northeast Nigeria, including Adamawa, Borno and Yobi, the number of children with severe acute malnutrition is expected to reach 450,000. According to a famine early warning system, the famine likely occurred in some previously inaccessible areas of Borno, and it is likely ongoing, and will continue, in other areas which remain beyond humanitarian reach.
Furthermore, in Somalia, droughts threaten an already fragile population battered by decades of conflict: almost half the population (6.2 million people) faces acute food insecurity and is in need of urgent relief, 185,000 among them children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. There are fears that the number could rise to 270,000 in the next few months.
In South Sudan, a famine was recently declared in parts of the country, adding to a humanitarian situation already complicated due to poverty and insecurity. Over 270,000 children are severely malnourished in the country and the total number of food insecure people across the country is expected to rise once the lean season sets in.
In its response, UNICEF, working with partners, has been providing therapeutic treatment to 220,000 severely malnourished children in Nigeria, over 200,000 in both South Sudan and Somalia, and 320,000 children in Yemen.
However, more action is urgently needed.
Time is running out, said Mr. Lake. We must not repeat the tragedy of the 2011 famine in the Horn of Africa.
Yemen's brutal two-year conflict forcing displaced to return home amid persisting risks UN
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 21 February 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Yemen's brutal two-year conflict forcing displaced to return home amid persisting risks UN, 21 February 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58ad55504.html [accessed 6 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
The complex crisis in Yemen continues to deepen, with United Nations agencies reporting today that perhaps one million people who had fled for safety are returning to their homes mainly due to a lack of access to income and basic services in the areas of displacement, warning that returnees often find the situation just as bad.
It's testament to how catastrophic the situation in Yemen has become, that those displaced by the conflict are now returning home because life in the areas to which they had fled for safety is just as abysmal as in the areas from which they fled, said Ayman Gharaibeh, the Representative for Yemen of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in a joint press release issued with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
These returns cannot be viewed as sustainable, Mr. Gharaibeh added, explaining that people often return to homes that have been damaged and to areas lacking essential services, and are often forced to flee again.
A multi-sectoral location assessment report released today, and a periodically updated population movement tracking report published last month, show that there are currently two million internally displaced people (IDPs) across Yemen and one million IDP returnees.
As conditions across the country further deteriorate, many more IDPs are contemplating a return home, where challenging security and socio-economic conditions persist. About 40 per cent of key informants indicate that IDPs now intend to return home within the next three months. The reports highlight a lack of access to income and basic services in areas of displacement as the main reasons for pushing IDPs to return to the areas of their origin.
All but of Yemen's governorates now affected by devastating conflict
Mr. Gharaibeh noted that all of Yemen's governorates, with the exception of the island of Socotra, have been affected by conflict.
The overwhelming majority of Yemen's one million IDP returnees have returned to Aden, Amanat Al Asimah, Taizz, Lahj and Shabwah, which have been particularly impacted by hostilities and insecurity, he explained.
Yemen's local communities are also under intense strain with alarming scarcities of food and insufficient access to water and sanitation services. Some 84 per cent of Yemen's two million IDPs have been displaced for more than a year and scarce resources are increasingly overstretched.
IOM and all partners must scale up their response to support those newly displaced as well as those whose displacement is becoming increasingly protracted with shifting needs, said IOM Yemen's Chief of Mission, Laurent De Boeck.
Weapons must fall silent to avert famine
In a separate statement, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, warned against the impact of increased fighting along Yemen's west coast on the food crisis.
I urgently call on all parties to the conflict and on those that have influence over the parties to facilitate the rapid entry of critical life-saving food staples into all Yemeni ports, he said, noting that over 17 million people are frequently forced to skip meals and seven million Yeminis do not know where their next meal will come from and are ever closer to starvation.
Moreover, the availability of food in markets and the food pipeline are at imminent risk. Food shortages are widespread, food and fuel prices are rising, there are disruptions to agricultural production, and purchasing power is plummeting, especially brought about by the lack of salary payments in the public sector for over six months.
And given that the country is 80-90 per cent dependent on imported food staples, he said he is compelled to raise the alarm, as such factors, if left unabated, could combine to accelerate the onset of famine.
The best means to prevent famine in Yemen is for weapons to fall silent across the country and for the parties to the conflict to return to the negotiating table, he said.
UN agencies support nationwide polio immunization campaign
Meanwhile, a nationwide polio immunization campaign was launched yesterday in Yemen by national health authorities with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), aiming to immunize about five million children under the age of five.
More than 40,000 health workers are taking part in the three-day campaign.
WHO is working closely with UNICEF and health authorities to keep Yemen polio-free. The threat of virus importation is serious and this campaign aims to curb any possible return of the virus to Yemen, said WHO Acting Representative in Yemen, Nevio Zagaria.
This is the first polio immunization campaign since April 2016. The security situation in Yemen has limited accessibility of many parts of the country, leaving many children at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases.
The Humanitarian Fallout from Cameroon's Struggle Against Boko Haram
Publisher International Crisis Group (ICG) Publication Date 21 February 2017 Cite as International Crisis Group (ICG), The Humanitarian Fallout from Cameroon's Struggle Against Boko Haram, 21 February 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58ad56694.html [accessed 6 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Cameroon has been fighting the Boko Haram jihadist group in its Far North region for the last three years. The conflict has killed nearly 1,600 people in Cameroon alone and has led to a humanitarian crisis in what was already one of the country's most impoverished and least-educated regions. As donors and experts convene on 24 February at the Oslo Humanitarian Conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad basin, the international community must find ways to improve overcrowded refugee camps and mitigate growing problems for the local population.
The Far North now hosts 87,000 of Cameroon's over 360,000 refugees, 191,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) and 36,000 Cameroonian returnees. Overall, including local Cameroonians, an estimated 1.6 million people in the Far North now need urgent humanitarian assistance, more than half of 2.9 million people who share the same plight throughout the country.
The government, preoccupied with its military campaign against Boko Haram, has done little to support affected civilians. International agencies and NGOs have taken welcome steps to meet the needs of refugees, and to a lesser extent IDPs, even if these efforts have been underfunded and sometimes insufficiently coordinated. Earlier and much better-funded attention to the wider problems of displacement will make that response more effective, more sustainable and better able to prevent conflict recurring.
Minawao camp: the visible tip of the humanitarian crisis
Opened in July 2013 in the Far North's Mayo Tsanga department, Minawao camp hosts Nigerians fleeing Boko Haram atrocities. Initially it hosted 18,000 refugees. Now 60,000 people live there, three times its official capacity. Each week 150 more people arrive and 60 babies are born. It now covers a sprawling 623 hectares, as the authorities decided to expand the camp rather than set up a second site in the Mayo Danay department, as proposed by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2015. When Crisis Group conducted research in Minawao in January, assistance was being given by ten NGOs and UN agencies.
In 2013, the refugees' situation was dire, due to a lack of government experience with refugees and an absence of international attention and funding. Since then, things have gradually improved, especially in education. Some 68 per cent of children go to school in the camp, far above the Far North's 46 per cent education rate average, but still below the 84 per cent national average. Germany has helped some who finish high school in the camp to attend universities in Buea or Yaounde. In last year's First School Leaving Certificate Examination (a Cameroonian test taken between the ages of eleven and thirteen), Minawao camp students, taught by Anglophone Cameroonian teachers, ranked first in the entire Mayo Tsanaga department.
However, because of funding shortfalls, humanitarian assistance still covers only about one third of the urgent needs in the Far North. As a result, key problems remain, including shortages of food, water, healthcare assistance, school equipment and social activities.
The work of NGOs and religious leaders has also reduced initial communal and religious tensions caused by the crisis. But problems have emerged recently between established and newly arrived refugees. The former often suspect the latter of being Boko Haram sympathisers. "How did they manage to stay in Boko Haram-controlled areas for more than a year if they were not sympathisers? Why do they only leave their place and seek asylum now, when Boko Haram is weakened?", one refugee asked us. These suspicions explain why the earlier refugees are reluctant to allow new ones to join their 184 strong camp security group, or the camp's nine committees dealing with issues like the environment, water, youth and women's needs.
Such suspicions take little account of the complex route many new arrivals have taken to get to the camp. Most of those who arrived recently were already in Cameroon, living either in the border towns or with Cameroonian families. Very few have come directly from Nigeria, and many among them were previously in Nigerian IDP camps. "We were told by our friends and families that refugees are better looked after here than in IDP camps in our country", one refugee said. Other newly arrived refugees told Crisis Group they moved to Minawao due to scarcity of resources in other parts of Cameroon. "My in-laws' family in Mozogo (in Mayo Tsanaga) was no longer able to feed us and our four children. We had no access to land and no NGO support, so we decided to move in Minawao", says recent arrival Yacoubou, a Nigerian from Balavrasa in the Gwoza local government area. The prefect, or head civilian administrator, of Mayo Tsanaga noted: "most new refugees have already been living in Cameroon for a year or more".
Tensions are also surfacing between new arrivals and local people. Between 2015 and 2016, Cameroonians from the town of Zamai near Minawao camp accused refugees of destroying their trees for firewood. The spokesman and elected president of the Central Committee of refugees told Crisis Group: "We need that for cooking and build[ing] our shelters". After the UNHCR and Plan International mediated between the refugees and the Zamai traditional chief, the cutting of trees now appears to have been solved with compensation given to the local community, including through the replanting of 30,000 trees.
The displacement crisis beyond the camps
Despite needing far greater resources as ever more people arrive seeking refuge, Minawao offers the best humanitarian assistance in the region. It benefits from international aid, partly as a result of concern generated by visits from the former UNHCR head Antonio Guterres, in March 2016, quickly followed by then U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power in April.
But not only refugees need help. More than 1.6 million are in urgent need of food aid in Cameroon's Far North, where even before the crisis three of the region's four million inhabitants lived under the poverty line. Some of the 30,000 unregistered refugees and most IDPs live in host communities, not in camps. Those host communities have to share what they have with them and lack the funds and support to do so. Few of the 191,000 IDPs receive help from the government, which relies on the international community to deal with the humanitarian aspects of the conflict while it focuses on the military response. In Gassama, Labado and several other villages, the army has pushed inhabitants out of their homes to secure areas round their bases, but without giving any support or making plans for their return.
International NGOs and UN agencies see IDPs primarily as a national problem and would prefer to follow and support a policy led by the government. In Logone et Chari department, the northern tip of the region that hosts half of Cameroon's IDPs, security is a major problem for the provision of aid, according to several international NGO and INGO heads of delegation. The result is that very few INGOs work in Logone et Chari, and it has received less assistance than the two other affected departments. Lacking food, shelter and revenues, IDPs struggle to send their children to school, as, unlike refugees, they have to pay school fees. In Tourou, Hile Alifa, Makary and Kousseri, several families told Crisis Group they cannot pay and their children are working in markets. Djene Abouga, the president of a women's association in Kousseri, said some girls have turned to prostitution or begun relationships with much older local men.
Since 2014, the government has urged public school directors to be lenient toward those who could not immediately pay fees. Now more IDP children are going to school, but they still face problems. According to Abbo Mahamat, a primary school head in Kousseri, "the IDP's children are still traumatised, they are sometimes violent, fighting with other children, they have the lowest results of the school, and it is difficult for them to integrate with other children". Assiata, a teacher in the same school, confirms: "I have 80 children in my classroom, including seven IDP children, none of the IDP children have got over eight out of 20 average marks, while the other children get between eleven and seventeen". On this point, the regional education ministry delegate in Maroua told Crisis Group: "This is a general situation in the region. UNICEF has organised trainings for some school directors on how to deal with traumatised children, they have also distributed books to some of them. We hope things will change".
The story of Maimouna, a 32-year-old Kanuri woman from Fotokol on the Nigerian border, illustrates the desperate plight of IDPs, but also how things have improved for some. She fled with her five children in August 2014 after Boko Haram killed her husband and burned her house. Pregnant, she walked 40km over two days with her children, without eating, until a government truck picked them up. When they arrived in Kousseri, they were accused by locals of supporting Boko Haram and had no family support. Her first son, Issa, now fifteen, remembers not even thinking about their father, but about how to eat and sleep. A local woman then offered them work, for food, some livestock and 5,000 CFA (9 euros) per month. The situation improved again when WFP arrived in Kousseri and gave Maimouna material for a shelter and then some food each month. The family was full of praise for the WFP.
Maimouna's first two boys have gone back to school, and are doing exceptionally well for a displaced family. They are helped by Maimouna's good education, which was cut short when she married aged sixteen. But the other children, Aminatou, Nafissatou, Ali, and the last one Boukar are not going to school as she cannot afford school fees and books for all six. Asked what she expected from the government and the NGOs, Maimouna replied she wanted her children to go to school up to the end of high school, and that she needed a sewing machine, costing 70,000 CFA (110 euros).
Families hosting IDPs, already suffering from poverty, have opened their doors to extended family or friends. But the conflict and the closure of the border with Nigeria have made things worse. Tensions between IDPs and locals have spread everywhere, especially over access to land and water. In 2015, the WFP started giving rice to some host families. While this has eased some tensions, local communities often still resent IDPs and consider that they get favourable treatment.
For a wider, more sustainable and more locally rooted response
These stories of displacement, local tensions and missed education are part of the devastation wrought by the Boko Haram conflict, impacting on health, the economy, social relations, local politics and the role of women. The government has done little to support those affected. President Biya allocated $10 million to an emergency fund in 2014, mainly for rehabilitation of schools, and he has set aside some discretionary funds for vigilante committees and gifts of foods and cooking oil for the IDPs. Even though most IDPs want to return home, they have had very little help to rebuild their livelihoods. Much more needs to be done, with a special focus on helping IDPs return to areas that are now safer, but where the local economy has been devastated. National and international responses need to shift from a humanitarian-centred approach to longer-term development that can make people more resilient and help ensure a more sustainable peace.
The improvement in the international response in 2016 now needs to move on to focus on sustainability and local ownership. Local researchers, civil society leaders and traditional chiefs worry that NGOs have done little to incorporate qualified people from the north into their response teams, preferring instead southern Cameroonians or mainly African expatriates. This risks creating resentment among locals who already feel disempowered as two largely external forces (Boko Haram and the national army) fight it out on their soil.
Accelerating sustainable recovery and development is all the more vital as humanitarian funds are limited and Cameroon, like other central African countries, faces numerous challenges. The East region is host to 276,000 refugees, mainly from Central African Republic, and is at risk of being neglected. At the same time as opening offices in the Far North, several NGOs have closed their offices in the East, while some UN agencies like the WFP have reduced their staff and funding.
Improved international coordination is also needed. Between July 2015 and March 2016, citing security reasons, the Cameroonian government expelled more than 40,000 Nigerian refugees, to the consternation of Nigeria and the UNHCR. In December 2016, it restarted such repatriations of Nigerians. Nigeria, Cameroon, and UNHCR have drawn up a tripartite agreement for a peaceful repatriation of Nigerian refugees from outside Minawao camp. But Nigeria has not yet signed, claiming it does not have the funds to deal with returnees.
Nationally or internationally, the response to the chaos caused in Cameroon by Boko Haram needs to be stronger and more joined-up, not only to alleviate suffering, but to start to forge a more secure future for all in the region.
Russia: Government vs. Rights Groups
Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 21 February 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Russia: Government vs. Rights Groups, 21 February 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58ad595d4.html [accessed 6 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
For the past four years, the Kremlin has sought to stigmatize criticism or alternative views of government policy as disloyal, foreign-sponsored, or even traitorous. It is part of a sweeping crackdown to silence critical voices that has included new legal restrictions on the internet, on freedom of expression, on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, and on other fundamental freedoms.
Association of NGOs in Defense of Voters' Rights "Golos" (Moscow) June 5, 2014 Regional Public Association in Defense of Democratic Rights and Freedoms "Golos" (Moscow) June 5, 2014 Center for Social Policy and Gender Studies (Saratov) June 5, 2014 (the organization was shut down May 22, 2015) Women of Don (Rostov region) June 5, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended February 29, 2016) Kostroma Center for Support of Public Initiatives (Kostroma) June 5, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended June 19, 2015) Interregional Human Rights Association "Agora" (Kazan) July 21, 2014 (the organization was shut down December 29, 2016) Regional public organization "Ecozaschita! Womens' Council" (Kaliningrad) July 21, 2014 Public Verdict Foundation (Moscow) July 21, 2014 Human Rights Center "Memorial" (Moscow) July 21, 2014 Lawyers for Constitutional Rights and Freedoms / JURIX (Moscow) July 21, 2014 (the organization was shut down May 26, 2015) Soldiers' Mothers (Saint Petersburg) August 28, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended October 23, 2015) Freedom of Information Foundation / Institute for Information Freedom Development August 28, 2014 PIR Center September 3, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended February 24, 2016) Association "Partnership for Development" (Saratov) October 2, 2014 (the organization was shut down November 6, 2015) "News Agency MEMO.RU" (Moscow) November 20, 2014 Regional Press Institute (St. Petersburg) November 20, 2014 Moscow School of Civic Education December 9, 2014 Rakurs, Arkhangelsk regional non-governmental LGBT organization December 15, 2014 All-Russian movement "For Human Rights" December 22, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended December 30, 2015) Human Rights Center (Kaliningrad) December 25, 2014 Krasnodar Regional Social Organization of University Alumni December 25, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended April 22, 2016) Regional social organization "Public Commission for Academic Sakharov's Heritage Preservation" December 25, 2014 Resource Human Rights Center (St. Petersburg) December 30, 2014 (the organization was shut down November 3, 2015) Regional Public Organization "Man and the Law" (Republic of Mari El) December 30, 2014 Center for Social Development "Vozrozhdeniye" (Pskov) December 30, 2014 (the organization was shut down January 31, 2017) Public Human Rights Organization "Civil Control" (St. Petersburg) December 30, 2014 The League of Women Voters (St. Petersburg) December 30, 2014 (the organization was shut down May 22, 2015) Free Press Support Foundation December 30, 2014 Interregional Non-Governmental Organization "The Committee Against Torture" January 16, 2015 (the organization was shut down September 13, 2016) Educational Center "Memorial" (Sverdlov region) January 16, 2015 Autonomous non-profit human rights organization "Youth Center for Consulting and Training" January 20, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended July 22, 2015) "Information Bureau of the Nordic Council of Ministers in St. Petersburg" January 20, 2015 Jewish regional branch of the Russian public organization "Municipal Academy" January 26, 2015 (the organization was shut down May 22, 2015) The noncommercial partnership "Press Development Institute - Siberia" January 30, 2015 Center for social, psychological and legal help to victims of discrimination and homophobia "Maximum" (Murmansk) February 4, 2015 (the organization was shut down October 28, 2015) Interregional public fund for civil society development "Golos-Povolzhye" (Samara) February 6, 2015 Interregional charity organization "Siberian Environmental Center" (Novosibirsk) February 12, 2015 Center for Civic Analysis and Independent Research / GRANI (Perm) February 13, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended June 19, 2015) Municipal public organization "Samara Center for Gender Studies" (Samara) February 16, 2015 Regional Fund "Center for Defense of Mass Media Rights" (Voronezh) February 26, 2015 Regional Charitable Social Foundation "For nature" (Chelyabinsk) March 6, 2015 Regional Ecological Social Movement "For nature" (Chelyabinsk) March 6, 2015 Humanist Youth Movement (Murmansk) March 13, 2015 (the organization was shut down August 25, 2015) Regional Social Organization for Contribution to Harmonization of Interethnic Relations "Azerbaijan" March 13, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended July 22, 2016) Regional Social Environmental Organization "Bellona-Murmansk" March 19, 2015 (the organization was shut down October 16, 2015) "Educational Center for Environment and Security" (Samara) March 20, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended October 8, 2015) Foundation "Migration XXI Century" March 27, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended November 25, 2016) Eco-logika (Rostov) April 3, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended March 30, 2016) Transparency International Russia - April 7, 2015 Social Environmental Organization "Planeta Nadezhd" April 15, 2015 Foundation for Consumers' Rights Defense (Novosibirsk) April 17, 2015 (the organization was shut down May 12, 2016) Civic Assistance Committee April 20, 2015 Foundation 19/29 - Foundation for Support of Investigative Journalism April 24, 2015 Commemorative Centre of History of Political Repressions "Perm - 36" April 29, 2015 (the organization was shut down August 18, 2016) Women's League (Kaliningrad ) April 29, 2015 (the organization was shut down December 16, 2015) Legal Expert Partnership "Soyuz " May 7, 2015 (the organization was shut down 25 August 2015) Center for Development of Non-Commerical Organizations May 13, 2015 Club of Accountants and Auditors of Non-Commercial Organizations May 13, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended March 30, 2016) Informational Bureau of the Council of Ministers of Northern Countries (Kaliningrad) May 13, 2015 Sutyajnik (Yekaterinburg) May 15, 2015 Human Rights Academy (Yekaterinburg) May 15, 2015 Ecological Center "Dront" (Nizhny Novgorod) May 22, 2015 The non-profit organization "Liberal Mission" Scientific Foundation of Theoretical and Applied Research May 25, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended September 11, 2015) The non-profit Dynasty Foundation May 25, 2015 Union of Employers (Tula region) May 28, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended December 13, 2016) Youth organization "Nuori Karjala/Young Karelia" June 19, 2015 (the organization was shut down March 25, 2016) Siberian Center for Support of Social Initiatives June 19, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended September 21, 2016) Interregional Social Foundation for Peace in the South and in the Northern Caucasus June 19, 2015 Informational Center "Free Inform" June 22, 2015 (the organization was shut down June 21, 2016) Center for Independent Sociological Studies (St. Petersburg) June 22, 2015 Regional Organization for Population and Development June 23, 2015 Geblerov Ecological Societ (Barnaul) June 23, 2015 Association "Legal Basis" (Yekaterinburg) July 3, 2015 Interregional Non-governmental Organization "Northern Environmental Coalition" (Petrozavodsk) July 8, 2015 (the organization was shut down December 1, 2015) Komi Human Rights Commission "Memorial" (Syktyvkar) July 21, 2015 Altai Regional Public Fund for 21st Century Altai (Barnaul) July 22, 2015 (the organization was shut down March 28, 2016) Interregional Public Foundation for Civil Society Development "GOLOS-Ural" (Chelyabinsk region) July 22, 2015 SREDA Foundation July 28, 2015 Non-governmental environmental organization "Green World" (Nizhny Novgorod) July 29, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended October 28, 2016) Civic Action Foundation (Perm) August 5, 2015 Alliance of Funds of Local Communities of the Perm territory August 11, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended October 26, 2016) Kabardino-Balkaria Human Rights Center regional branch of the "For Human Rights" All-Russian movement (Nalchik) August 18, 2015 (the organization was shut down November 6, 2015) The Human Rights Center of the Chechen Republic (Grozny) August 21, 2015 Interregional Social Ecological Foundation "ISAR-Siberia" (Novosibirsk) August 26, 2015 Perm Regional Human Rights Center (Perm) September 3, 2015 Siberia's lifeline (Novosibirsk) September 3, 2015 Golos Foundation in Support of Democracy September 4, 2015 (the organization was shut down June 21, 2016) Jewish Cultural Center "Hesed-Teshuva" (Ryazan) September 11, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended December 13, 2016) Sakhalin Environment Watch (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) September 18, 2015 Yasavey Manzara Information and Research Center (Naryan-Mar) September 23, 2015 (the organization was shut down June 15, 2016) Consumer Rights and Environment Protection Association "Princip" (Moscow region) October 5, 2015 Far East Center for the Development of Civil Initiatives and Social Partnership (Vladivostok) October 13, 2015 Russian Research Center for Human Rights October 20, 2015 Women of the Don (Rostov region) October 27, 2015 Friends of the Siberian Forests (Krasnoyarsk) October 28, 2015 (the organization was shut down December 6, 2016) Photography Club "Sobytiye" (Omsk) October 28, 2015 (the organization was shut down December 16, 2015) Research and Information Center "Memorial" (St. Petersburg) November 6, 2015 Baikal Environmental Wave (Irkutsk) November 10, 2015 (the organization was shut down August 1, 2016) Glasnost Defense Foundation November 19, 2015 Human Rights Institute November 20, 2015 Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North November 27, 2015 Green World (Leningrad region) December 2, 2015 Mashr (Republic of Ingushetia) December 8, 2015 Woman's World (Kaliningrad) December 11, 2015 Panorama Information and Research Center (Moscow) December 18, 2015 Dauria Ecological Center (Chita) December 30, 2015 (the organization was shut down September 1, 2016) Yekaterinburg Memorial Society (Yekaterinburg) December 30, 2015 Bureau of Public Investigations (Nizhny Novgorod) January 14, 2016 Committee for the Prevention of Torture (Orenburg) January 14, 2016 Institute of Forecasting and Resolving of Political Conflicts (Nizhny Novgorod) January 22, 2016 Ryazan Historical, Educational and Human Rights Center "Memorial" (Ryazan) February 1, 2016 Society of Assistance to Social Protection of Citizens "Peterburgskaya EGIDA" (Saint Petersburg) February 2, 2016 (the organization was shut down April 26, 2016) Center for Health and Social Support "SIBALT" (Omsk) February 15, 2016 Chelyabinsk Regional Organ of Public Independent Action "Ural Human Rights Group" (Chelyabinsk) February 15, 2016 Women of Eurasia (Chelyabinsk) February 15, 2016 Ural Democratic Foundation (Chelyabinsk) February 15, 2016 Legal and Social Support Charitable Foundation "Sphere" (Saint Petersburg) March 1, 2016 Centre for Civic Education and Human Rights (Perm) March 3, 2016 The International Development Fund for Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation "Batani" (Moscow) March 11, 2016 Center for Social and Labor Rights (Moscow) March 21, 2016 Arkhar (Gorno-Altaysk) April 5, 2016 (the organization was shut down October 6, 2016) Publishing House "Valentin Manuylov" April 15, 2016 Tengri School of Soul ecology (Altay) - May 17, 2016 Hanse Buero / Information Bureau of Schleswig-Holstein in Kaliningrad (Kaliningrad) - May 24, 2016 (the organization was shut down December 30, 2016) Krasnoyarsk Regional Public Organization Agency of public initiatives (Krasnoyarsk) - May 27, 2016 ("foreign agent" status was suspended September 21, 2016) Saratov Regional Public Organization "Socium" (Engels) - May 30, 2016 Perm regional non-governmental organization "Perm Civil Chamber" (Perm) - June 9, 2016 ("foreign agent" status was suspended September 21, 2016) Regional non-governmental organization Integration center "Migration and Law" (Moscow) - June 16, 2016 Non-Profit Partnership "ESVERO" (Moscow) - June 22, 2016 Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice (Moscow) - June 29, 2016 Altai regional sport and patriotic youth public organization "Arctica" (Biysk) - July 6, 2016 ("foreign agent" status was suspended February 8, 2017) Autonomous non-governmental organization "Free Word" (Pskov) - July 13, 2016 The Institute of Economic Analysis (Moscow) - July 22, 2016 Penza regional youth civic organization for prevention of negative phenomena among youth "Panacea" (Kuznetsk) - August 15, 2016 (the organization was shut down December 8, 2016) Samara regional, civic organization "American alumni club" (Samara) - August 26, 2016 Autonomous non-for-profit organization "Publishing house 'Park Gagarina'" (Samara) - August 31, 2016 Levada Analytical Center (Moscow) - September 5, 2016 Environmental Watch on North Caucasus (Maikop) - September 13, 2016 Autonomous non-for-profit human rights organization "Draftee's school" (Chelyabinsk) - September 21, 2016 Foundation for support of civil freedoms "Legal mission" (Chelyabinsk) - September 21, 2016 International Historical, Educational, Human Rights And Charitable Society Memorial (Moscow) - October 4, 2016 Sverdlovsk regional non-profit foundation "Health Era" (Ekaterinburg) - October 11, 2016 Chapaevsk non-profit organization "Chapaevsk city medical personnel association" (Chapaevsk) - October 21, 2016 Regional charity foundation "Samarskaya gubernia" (Samara) - November 2, 2016 Non-profit partnership "Internet Community" (Samara) - December 13, 2016 Autonomous non-profit organization for social support "Project April" (Tolyatti) - December 19, 2016 ANNA Centre for the prevention of violence (Moscow) - December 26, 2016 Southern Human Rights Centre (Sochi) - December 26, 2016 Sverdlovsk branch of the International Historical, Educational, Human Rights And Charitable Society Memorial (Ekaterinburg) - December 29, 2016 SOVA Center for Information and Analysis (Moscow) - December 30, 2016 Sverdlovsk civic organization for assistance to legal migration "Nelegalov.Net [No Illegals]" (Ekaterinburg) - January 10, 2017 Environmental human rights center Bellona (Saint Petersburg) - January 16, 2017 Youth civic organization "Pro-movement" (Altay region) - January 25, 2017 Kaliningrad regional civic organization "Society for German culture and Russian Germans Eintracht - Soglasie" (Kaliningrad) - January 31, 2017 Foundation for development assistance to mass communication and legal education "Tak-Tak-Tak" (Novosibirsk) - February 20, 2017
And the four NGOs which registered voluntarily:
Non-commercial Partnership "Supporting Competition in the CIS Countries" June 27, 2013 "The Union of Young Political Scientists", KarachayCherkess Republican Youth Social Organization December 15, 2014 Regional Social Movement "Novgorod Women's Parliament" (Veliky Novgorod) March 6, 2015 Center of Independent Researchers of the Altai Republic June 10, 2015
Leader of at least 1 NGO faces criminal charges personally:
Women of Don (Rostov region) - criminal proceeding is in process. Chair Valentina Cherevatenko faces up to two years in prison for "malicious evasion of the duty to file the documents required for inclusion in the register of nonprofit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent."
Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Syria: Make Human Rights Priority of Geneva Talks
Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 21 February 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Syria: Make Human Rights Priority of Geneva Talks, 21 February 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58ad599f4.html [accessed 6 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Achieving respect and promotion for human rights during any transition and post-conflict will require key legislative and constitutional amendments to enshrine rights protection in law, the groups said. This should include a constitutional amendment that states that all ratified international treaties and law are binding in Syria. The transformation of Syria into a state that respects human rights and upholds the rule of law should be a Syrian-led process, with transparent reform following local consultations.
"One of the main goals of the Geneva talks should be putting an end to the violations against Syrians who have faced bombing, chemical attacks, starvation, illegal detention, and more horrors," said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "To be meaningful, any peace plan should bolster a ceasefire agreement with the respect for human rights."
Other countries attending the UN-led meetings in Geneva should use their influence over the warring Syrian factions to ensure that the basic human rights of Syrians are on the agenda.
The UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has explained that the agenda at the talks will mirror the objectives outlined in UN Security Council Resolution 2254 from December 2015. In the resolution, the Security Council expressed its support for establishing inclusive and non-sectarian governance, the drafting of a new constitution, and free and fair elections. It emphasized the need for "a ceasefire monitoring, verification and reporting mechanism"; called on the parties to facilitate the unhindered delivery of aid and the release of anyone held arbitrarily; and demanded an end to attacks on civilians and civilian objects and the indiscriminate use of weapons.
End to Unlawful Attacks
While the parties to the negotiations are striving to negotiate peace, any transition agreement should make explicit that the parties to the conflict will adhere to the laws of war in any ongoing fighting. Any agreement should include a commitment by Syrian government and Russian forces to immediately stop using indiscriminate weapons such as cluster munitions and incendiary weapons and to end indiscriminate attacks on populated civilian areas and other unlawful attacks.
Opposition forces should also agree to end indiscriminate and other unlawful attacks, including with car bombs and mortar strikes on civilian areas under government control. The US-led coalition should take necessary precautions to minimize harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure and should ensure that credible reports of civilian casualties are effectively and impartially investigated and publicly reported on.
Despite a ceasefire in late December 2016, unlawful attacks continue, including in Wadi Barada in the Damascus countryside, Idlib, and other parts of the country. In the early morning hours of February 1, an airstrike hit the Syrian Arab Red Crescent building in Idlib, injuring the center's director and badly damaging the building. On February 10, UNICEF reported that at least 20 children had been killed in violence in Idlib, al-Zahraa, and al-Waer neighborhoods in Homs, and in Eastern Ghouta, in the Damascus countryside.
In light of the Syrian government's repeated war crimes and widespread and systematic human rights violations, including the unlawful use of weapons, all states, including those involved in the negotiations, should make a commitment to stop transferring all arms, related equipment, and logistical support to the Syrian government until the abuses stop and responsible parties are held to account. States should also stop providing such support to armed opposition groups that have been found responsible for widespread or systematic human rights abuses or war crimes.
The US-led coalition should take fully into account that the Russia-Syria coalition has repeatedly committed war crimes under the guise of fighting terrorism, and that any cooperation with Russia in the fight against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) in Syria should ensure that it is not complicit in such crimes.
Humanitarian Access and Safe Evacuation of Civilians
Under international humanitarian law, all parties to an armed conflict are obligated to facilitate rapid and unimpeded aid to all civilians in need and allow civilians to freely leave an area under siege. Starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare is prohibited. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian (OCHA), 4.9 million people live in besieged or hard-to-reach areas in Syria. These areas suffer from bombing and inadequate aid, nutrition, water, and medical care.
The siege of civilian areas by government and pro-government forces and by armed opposition groups and blocking of aid delivery has continued despite the ceasefire. Conditions in areas besieged by government and pro-government forces have rapidly deteriorated, forcing civilians to leave these areas.
According to OCHA, 4 million people in Damascus and its environs were cut off from drinking water from then-opposition-controlled Wadi Barada and Ain-el-Fijah "due to deliberate targeting resulting in the damaged infrastructure." Bellingcat, a citizen investigative journalist group that investigated the damage to the water supply found that "the most likely scenario is that the regime was responsible for the damage to the spring structure." The civilian population in Damascus was without clean water for weeks while the parties exchanged accusations and negotiated a deal for repairing the supply line.
In February 2014, the UN Security Council passed resolution 2139 to guarantee the delivery of aid, calling on all sides in the Syrian war to facilitate humanitarian access to all parts of Syria. In light of the Syrian government's failure to comply, the council passed resolution 2165 on July 14, 2014, authorizing UN agencies and their implementing partners to deliver aid across four borders not controlled by Syria's government in addition to those already in use. Resolution 2165 was renewed in December 2016 until January 10, 2018.
Despite the Syrian government's persistent non-compliance with the UN Security Council's resolutions on immediate aid delivery, the council has not taken any further measures, despite affirming that it would in resolution 2165. On December 5, Russia once again used its veto to block UN Security Council action on Syria. The draft resolution would have called for a seven-day pause in hostilities in Aleppo and demanded safe access to provide aid.
Concerned governments should push both the Syrian government and opposition delegations to make an immediate commitment to allow all civilians who wish to leave besieged areas to do so and to allow immediate access for aid to come in across border and conflict lines, without impediment.
All parties to the conflict should commit to ensuring that any evacuations of civilians are conducted in accordance with international humanitarian law. UN and other institutions should be given access to monitor and report on evacuations. Evacuations of civilians should be voluntary and to places of their choosing, and both those that choose to remain or to flee should be protected.
Justice
On December 21, 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing a unit to assist in the investigation of serious crimes committed in Syria since 2011, which will help pave the way to justice after years of unchecked atrocities. Countries that voted for this unprecedented resolution should support the investigative unit, including by contributing financial resources to its work. This and other documentation efforts, including by the UN Commission of Inquiry, will be vital to future domestic and international accountability processes. These initiatives may help build some momentum for justice as well as send a strong message to Syrian victims that serious crimes committed against them won't go unanswered.
The parties to the conflict, including the Syrian government, should make a commitment to cooperate with the investigative unit and the UN Commission of Inquiry.
The international community should continue to work to lay the groundwork for a concrete and credible justice process for the long-term. Governments that supported efforts to give the International Criminal Court (ICC) a mandate in Syria should remain committed to seeking justice for victims, whether in the UN Security Council, UN General Assembly, UN Human Rights Council, or through other avenues, including the use of universal jurisdiction. Other countries should make clear that justice is an essential component of any future peace including at any negotiations in Geneva.
Proposals to grant immunity to anyone implicated in serious crimes should be rejected. The parties should also make a commitment to review and amend any provision in Syrian law that grants immunity to security forces and to carry out broader reforms to equip the country's justice system to address serious crimes alongside other tribunals, including potentially the ICC.
Broader truth-seeking mechanisms and programs for ensuring reparation for victims and families, and vetting to bar perpetrators from official positions will also be needed. Any agreement should include a commitment by the negotiating parties to a national commission with a mandate to reveal the fate of the disappeared and to investigate torture, extrajudicial executions, and other serious human rights violations.
Security Sector Reform and Release of Detainees
Since the beginning of the uprising in Syria, security forces have arbitrarily arrested, unlawfully detained, forcibly disappeared, and ill-treated, tortured, and killed thousands of people, using an extensive network of detention facilities throughout the country. Those arrested include peaceful protesters, human rights defenders, and activists involved in organizing, filming, and reporting on protests as well as journalists, aid providers, lawyers, and doctors.
Any transitional plan needs to include a commitment to establish an independent vetting mechanism for current and potential senior security officials. Any against whom there is evidence suggesting their involvement in crimes under international law and other serious human rights abuses should be suspended from their positions or prevented from taking up new security positions pending a full investigation. Wherever there is sufficient admissible evidence of responsibility for international crimes, suspects should be prosecuted in fair trials.
Syria's multiple security agencies should also be required to report to and be accountable to any transitional government. The parties should agree to institutional reforms aimed at ensuring that the human rights violations of the past will not be repeated.
A large number of peaceful protesters, and political and humanitarian activists remain in incommunicado detention while others have faced trial, some of them before military and counterterrorism courts, for exercising their rights. Armed opposition groups, mainly in opposition-held territory in northern Syria, have also arbitrarily detained people, including journalists, aid workers, and activists who have criticized them.
Any agreement should include a commitment to release political detainees, journalists, aid workers, and human rights activists in their custody and to grant independent monitors access to detention facilities and to all those deprived of their liberty. One effective way to ensure these steps would be to create an independent commission to review cases of those detained, monitor their treatment in detention, and ensure their release. To properly pursue its mission, the commission should be granted access to all detention facilities.
The parties should also make a commitment to repeal or reform laws that criminalize the exercise of the rights to peaceful expression, assembly, and association, including the July 2012 counterterrorism law, which criminalizes nonviolent activism and opposition to the government. An explicit commitment should be made to not detain or prosecute aid workers who were operating in opposition-held territory, including those who provided medical assistance to the sick, injured, or wounded whether civilians or fighters in accordance with the laws of war.
The parties should also commit to enshrining in Syrian law all the basic protections and safeguards for detainees guaranteed by international law, including the prohibition of arbitrary detention, the obligation to inform a person who is arrested of the reasons, and the obligation to provide detainees with an opportunity to challenge the lawfulness of detention by a court. Those deprived of their liberty, regardless of where they are held, should have regular access to lawyers, family members, and medics.
Signatory Organizations
11.11.11
Al Kawakibi Organization for Human Rights
Amnesty International
Association for Peace, Justice and Documentation
Assyrian Human Rights Network
Bridge of Peace Syria
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Christian Aid
Democratic Republic Studies Center
EuroMed Rights
FIDH - International Federation for Human Rights
Fraternity Foundation For Human Rights
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Helen Bamber Foundation
Human Appeal
Human Rights Guardian
Human Rights Watch
IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation
Justice for Life Organization
Middle East and North Africa Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict
Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
Non-Violence Network in the Arab Countries
Permanent Peace Movement
Physicians for Human Rights
Refugees International
Souria Houria
Syria Charity
Syrian Center For Legal Studies and Researches
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression
Syrian Center for Statistics and Research
Syrian Institute for Justice
Syrian League for Citizenship
Syrian Network for Human Rights
Syrians for Truth and Justice
The Day After
The Violations Documentation Center in Syria (VDC)
Trocaire
UOSSM International
URNAMMU
Vision GRAM-International
Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Journalists threatened for covering violence in Kasai-Central province
Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 21 February 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Journalists threatened for covering violence in Kasai-Central province, 21 February 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58ad5a2c60.html [accessed 6 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is concerned about death threats against journalists covering massacres by the Kamuina Nsapu rebel militia and by the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) in the southern province of Kasai-Central.
A shocking video of FARDC soldiers massacring a group of people armed with no more than sticks and slingshots is the latest evidence of the violence by soldiers and local self-defence groups that has been under way in this region for the past several months.
Apparently filmed by a soldier, the video began circulating on social networks a few days ago and has made it impossible to continue denying that massacres are taking place. Referring to the violence was previously almost impossible for journalists and even now continues to lead to immediate threats.
At least four journalists in or near Kananga, the provincial capital, were threatened last week and two of them had to flee the region. At the same time, the government has joined in the attempts to discourage coverage of the violence. Information minister Lambert Mende questioned the video's authenticity and suggested that the FARDC had been guilty of no more than "excesses."
"We ask all parties to the conflict to respect the right of journalist to investigate and inform the Congolese public and the world about the atrocities in Kasai-Central," RSF's Clea Kahn-Sriber said. "Journalists are key witnesses and must be able to work freely. They must be free to cover and condemn the massacres that are taking place with complete impunity."
Journalist in Danger, RSF's local partner organization, issued a press release on 13 February condemning threats against two journalists in the region. One was Sosthene Kambidi of Kananga-based Radio Television Chretienne (RTC), who was followed and threatened by soldiers for referring in his reporting to a massacre of around 30 people by members of the Kamuina Nsapu militia.
The other was Fabrice Mfwamba of Radio Communautaire Moyo, a community radio station based in Tshimbulu, a town 160 km south of Kananga that is the epicentre of the violence. After covering an FARDC operation against the militia, he was threatened by some of its members, who accused him of collaborating with the FARDC.
There have been more threats since that press release. Andre Kambala of Radio Okapi, a UN radio station, was verbally attacked by the head of the provincial office of the General Directorate for Migration (DGM) for referring to the violence. Berry Mulanda of Dibaya Tabala, a Tshimbulu-based community radio station, was threatened with beheading by local militiamen.
The militia is named after Kamuina Nsapu, the traditional chief in the Tshimbulu region, who disputed the authority of President Joseph Kabila's government and was killed in a clash with police officers on 12 August 2016. Since then, his followers have taken up arms against the security forces with renewed enthusiasm and reports of massacres have been growing.
Several countries including the Vatican have condemned the Kasai-Central violence and have urged the Congolese government to investigate it. Although two more videos have emerged in the past few days, the government continues to dispute the authenticity of the evidence and use its sovereignty as a pretext for rejecting the outside world's calls for justice.
The media are coming under growing pressure as the opposition, civil society and international observers criticize the government for its lack of goodwill in the ongoing negotiations for the creation of a transitional government.
Local FM retransmission of Radio France Internationale's broadcasts has meanwhile been suspended in Kinshasa for more than four months.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is ranked 152nd out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index.
Islamists assail woman journalist over column on public health
Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 22 February 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Islamists assail woman journalist over column on public health, 22 February 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58ad5aa84.html [accessed 6 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is alarmed to learn that radical Islamists have been threatening and attacking the journalist Shamael Al-Nur in the media ever since she denounced the government's public health policies in a column in the independent newspaper El Tayar on 2 February.
Her Islamist critics have even accused her of apostasy, which is punishable by death under the Sharia law in force in Sudan since 1983.
Headlined "The Virtue Mania" and alluding to the fact that less than 3% of Sudan's budget is allocated to health and education, Al-Nur's column said: "Islamic regimes are preoccupied with matters of virtue, women's dress, appearance, more than health and education issues."
"It is easy to cut spending on health in the state budget, but it is very difficult for the Ministry of Health to distribute condoms," the article concluded.
Those leading the verbal offensive against Al-Nur include Mustafa Al-Tayeb, the editor of the newspaper El-Sina and uncle of President Omar Al-Bashir. He likened her to a "worm" and said she had to be prevented from corrupting the country's values.
A radical imam who supports Al-Qaeda, Mohamed Ali al-Gazouli, attacked her in the same newspaper on 16 February and urged his followers the next day to "get up to protect your religion." He also threatened to bring a judicial complaint against her accusing her of apostasy.
"The publication of this kind of threat in the newspapers is unacceptable and clearly shows the arbitrary to which media freedom is submitted in Sudan," said Clea Kahn-Sriber, the head of RSF's Africa desk.
"After the media were banned from discussing economic reforms and the conflict in Darfur, will it now be impossible for women to talk about their health? And yet publicly threatening a journalist seems to pose no problem! We urge the authorities to do what is necessary to protect Al-Nur and the rest of Al-Tayar's personnel and to condemn these calls for hate and violence."
Al-Nur has filed a complaint against Al-Tayeb, accusing him of inciting hatred and extremism. El Tayar has stood by Al-Nur, requesting police protection for her. But, to RSF's knowledge, no protective measures have so far been taken.
Faisal ElBagir, the coordinator of the Journalists Association for Human Rights (JAHR), attributed the virulence of the response to Al-Nur's column to her sex. "If a man had written this column, he would not have gotten such a fierce reaction," he said.
Al Tayar has paid a high price of being outspoken. The authorities have often confiscated entire issues as they came off the press and its editor, Osman Mirghani, was beaten unconscious in July 2014 after referring to the normalization of relations with Israel during a radio debate.
Al Tayar has paid a high price of being outspoken. The authorities have often confiscated entire issues as they came off the press and its editor, Osman Mirghani, was beaten unconscious in July 2014 after referring to the normalization of relations with Israel during a radio debate.
The security services closed the newspaper in December 2015 after it criticized the finance ministry in an editorial. In May 2014, it was suspended again for four months without any grounds being given.
Sudan is ranked near the bottom of RSF's2016 World Press Freedom Index (174th out of 180 countries) and President Al-Bashir is on RSF's 2016 list of press freedom predators.
Disclaimer
This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
The Regional Risks to Somalia's Moment of Hope
Publisher International Crisis Group (ICG) Publication Date 22 February 2017 Cite as International Crisis Group (ICG), The Regional Risks to Somalia's Moment of Hope, 22 February 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58ad7e734.html [accessed 6 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
The election of Somalia's new President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo offers the country's international partners a new opportunity to step up efforts in advancing peace and stability in Somalia as well as the wider Horn of Africa. Yet the hopes of a stable future for war-torn Somalia may be short lived if the fraught regional dynamic, in particular the mistrust felt by regional powers Ethiopia and Kenya, are not effectively addressed.
Farmajo's near-landslide election victory on 8 February is without parallel. Although the eruptions of joy across the Somali-speaking Horn and the shared jubilation of citizens and soldiers in Mogadishu is rightly giving way to more sober assessments, the view that a seismic shift has occurred will be difficult to ignore.
Ensuring that this election ushers in a new dawn, and that Farmajo's new-found political capital is well invested, a renewed diplomatic engagement by partners on numerous fronts will be required to support national-level reform and ease regional anxieties. The upcoming London Conference on Somalia, now expected in early May, represents an opportunity to do just that.
A Popular Mandate
Many hope that Farmajo's credibility and popular support can be channelled productively. The national reconciliation talks, aimed at healing deep wounds from the civil war that broke out in 1991, have stalled and Farmajo's strong mandate may be what is necessary to resuscitate them.
Although the entire indirect election process was extremely corrupt, Somalis have completed a relatively credible presidential election that has resulted in a peaceful transfer of power. Farmajo's cross-clan support - the strongest platform for any Somali president - is a rare demonstration of unity in the ethnically homogenous but clan-fractured country. The mandate is indispensable for making critical progress on multiple fronts, particularly on reconciliation, addressing corruption and finalising the constitution.
A number of factors worked in Farmajo's favour and helped seal his remarkable victory. First, Farmajo tapped into a growing antipathy to the dominance of the Abgal, a Hawiye sub-clan that gave the country its last two presidents. Frustration among other clans was also directed at the implicit agreement between the Abgal/Hawiye and Majerteen/Darod clans that allowed them to control and share both the presidential and prime ministerial seats.
Farmajo's victory was also helped by former President Hassan Sheikh's decision to support the re-election of Mohamed Osman Jawari of the Digil/Mirifle clan as parliamentary speaker cost him the Digil/Mirifle vote. This tactical support was intended to scupper Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan's presidential campaign, since it is an unwritten rule that the president and speaker cannot hail from the same clan. This fuelled Digil/Mirifle resentment, who ended up coming together during the presidential election rounds to vote against Hassan Sheikh.
Second, Farmajo is also well liked among diaspora and youth. More than 125 of Somalia's 283 MPs and senators are from the diaspora and 165 MPs and senators are under 35 years of age. In addition, approximately 30 per cent of the newly elected MPs are also affiliated with Islamist-leaning groups, including Salafi movements and the Muslim Brotherhood (excluding Hasan Sheikh's Damal Jadid). These have been, for some time, against the previous president's perceived closeness with Ethiopia and its meddling in Somali political affairs.
Third, Farmajo benefitted from a huge wave of nationalistic fervour and a widely-shared perception he could be the right person to build a robust Somali National Army (SNA), speed up the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)'s exit, stabilise security, curb interventions by neighbouring countries, and protect Somalia's dignity and sovereignty.
High Expectations
Farmajo's immediate task will be to manage the inordinately high expectations. Unless he takes some early steps toward fulfilling his pledges of rebuilding security forces and state institutions, tackling corruption and unifying the country, dissatisfaction could trigger a serious public backlash.
A further immediate impediment to Farmajo's proposed domestic agenda stems from the entrenched elites. Clan leaderships comprise a form of a very corrupt "deep state" that often operate against the interests of the people. Some believe this network cut short Farmajo's tenure as prime minister in 2011. Meaningful progress will be unlikely unless these factions are controlled through a mixture of co-option and coercion.
The elections also highlighted the extent to which covert foreign funding of politicians fuelled allegations of clientalism and has impeded Somalia's democratic transformation. Regional countries, and the Arab states of the Gulf in particular, were widely alleged to be giving cash to the top five presidential candidates. Managing competing foreign interests in future presidential elections and reducing the corrupting influence of illicit foreign funding must be a priority for the Farmajo government. One potential institutional solution would be to formalise the Integrity Commission, set up just days before the presidential elections with the aim of curbing bribery.
Regional Mistrust
On a regional and international level, Farmajo's stated intent to reshape his country's foreign policy could prove a daunting challenge, not least because his victory stemmed in part from his campaign image as a staunch nationalist opposed to foreign meddling - especially by Ethiopia and Kenya. As head of state, he will need to move with extra caution to navigate regional politics and ease the anxieties of these powerful neighbours who are suspicious of his brand of politics.
Growing tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia (over Nile waters, the Grand Renaissance Dam and South Sudan) could potentially spill over into Somalia and complicate matters for Farmajo. The speed with which Cairo has moved to embrace the new Somali president is bound to increase Ethiopia's anxieties at the growing Arab influence in the country.
The resurgent Somali nationalism that Farmajo is said to embody is causing particular concern in Ethiopia, which could become an equal, if not greater, challenge to the new president. Ethiopia and Somalia are historical rivals and Addis Ababa has intervened repeatedly in its eastern neighbour since the central government collapsed in the early 1990s. In 2006, Ethiopia moved swiftly to dislodge the popular Union of Islamic Court (UIC) Islamist government that had managed to restore peace in Somalia during its brief six-month reign. Addis saw the UIC's anti-Ethiopian posturing and Somali nationalist rhetoric in support of a "greater Somalia" that incorporates Somali inhabited areas in neighbouring countries as a threat and acted accordingly.
If Farmajo adopts a similarly antagonistic posture - as his popular "nationalist" constituency demands - then Addis will quickly act to undermine the new regime in Mogadishu, regardless of the progress made in Somalia's domestic struggles. He will need to move slowly in relation to Ethiopia and Kenya - which shares many of Ethiopia's concerns about Somali nationalism, given the large Somali population there - and reaching out to emphasise the shared interest between the new president and these countries in stabilising Somalia.
The new president seems to be sensitive to these concerns and has sent emissaries to Nairobi and Addis Ababa with messages of goodwill and reassurances. This is hugely positive and ought to be sustained and supported by the international community.
Still, there are signs that regional tensions may worsen. Pro-Farmajo social media activists posted a picture of an Ethiopian senior official at the election venue captioned "Ethiopia shattered by the poll outcome". Such taunts were disseminated widely across the Somali-speaking Horn and diaspora. Farmajo's broad domestic popularity is unlikely to protect him from Somalia's fragile relationships with its neighbours, and an Ethiopia that senses its interests and influence to be in jeopardy will almost certainly be a spoiler for Farmajo's agenda of reform.
The African Union's Role
Somalia's recent election marks another important milestone in the country: the tenth anniversary of the regional peacekeeping force AMISOM. In this time, the internationally supported mission has helped state forces in their fight against Al-Shabaab militants, provided and delivered humanitarian aid, and trained the Somali security forces.
Yet the mission's resource and management challenges remain unaddressed, which hamper AMISOM's peacekeeping capabilities. The African Union (AU) must tackle the dysfunction, national rivalries and frictions among the troop-contributing countries: Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Such tensions hinder AMISOM's military effectiveness in fighting Al-Shabaab and add to the incoherence surrounding the planned exit from Somalia envisioned to begin in 2018. A hasty pullout would be catastrophic for Somalia and the region.
Since AMISOM's deployment, Al-Shabaab has been significantly degraded but remains a lethal force with the capacity to continue destabilising the country for years to come. While Farmajo served as prime minister, Al-Shabaab lost significant territory and was ultimately forced to withdraw from the capital. With a stable government in place and Farmajo at the helm, greater effort can be made to coordinate between regional peacekeepers and national security forces to step up the campaign against Al-Shabaab and other militants, especially since a local group declaring affiliation to Islamic State briefly seized a patch of Somalia's coastland late last year.
Since the election, there has been cause for cautious optimism as reports were circulated by several Somali news sources this week that a significant dissident faction of Al-Shabaab led by Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur was considering surrendering to the new Somali government, in recognition of Farmajo's huge popularity. This would be a great boost for the new administration, and all efforts must be made to help the new government peel away elements of the militants amenable to a peaceful settlement. No less important, the AU and other international partners must encourage the new government to focus on national reconciliation.
Malaysia: Convicted for Showing a Film
Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 21 February 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Malaysia: Convicted for Showing a Film, 21 February 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58adb10b4.html [accessed 6 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
A Malaysian court's conviction of rights activist Lena Hendry for her role in showing a documentary film violates her right to freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said today. On February 21, 2017, a Kuala Lumpur court found Hendry guilty of organizing a private screening of the award-winning human rights documentary, "No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka," without censorship board approval nearly four years ago. She will be sentenced on March 22, and faces fines and up to three years in prison.
"It's an outrageous assault on basic free expression that Lena Hendry could go to prison for helping to show a documentary film," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. "This prosecution is part of the Malaysian government's disturbing pattern of harassment and intimidation of those seeking to raise public awareness of human rights issues."
Hendry, a former staff member of the human rights group Pusat KOMAS, was convicted under section 6 of Malaysia's Film Censorship Act, which prohibits the "circulation, distribution, display, production, sale, hire" or "possession" of any film, whether imported or domestically produced, without first obtaining approval from the government-appointed Board of Censors. Malaysia's highest court rejected a constitutional challenge to the law in September 2015. A magistrate acquitted her of the charge in March 2016, finding that the government had failed to make a basic case showing her guilt. On September 21, 2016, the High Court reversed Hendry's acquittal and ordered a resumption of the case after the government appealed.
Bringing criminal penalties for possessing or privately showing a film without government approval violates freedom of expression by imposing a disproportionate burden on a fundamental right.
The Film Censorship Act is rarely invoked, and Pusat KOMAS regularly screens films on politics, human rights, culture, and other issues without censorship board approval, with admission by pre-registration only.
The prosecution in this case appears to have been motivated by the Malaysian government's desire to appease Sri Lankan embassy officials, who had publicly demanded that the film not be shown and visited the venue on the day of the film's showing to urge the venue's managers to cancel the event. "No Fire Zone" tells the story of war crimes committed in the last months of Sri Lanka's civil war in 2009, including Sri Lankan army shelling that indiscriminately killed thousands of civilians and the extrajudicial executions of captured fighters and supporters of the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
"The Film Censorship Act violates rights by giving the government the power to arbitrarily suppress films it doesn't want Malaysians to see, and to prosecute those who dare to show them," Robertson said. "Malaysia should scrap this draconian law's criminal penalties, revise it to comply with international rights standards, and allow Malaysian citizens to view films of their choosing."
Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Conviction of three peaceful protestors condemned
Publisher International Federation for Human Rights Publication Date 22 February 2017 Cite as International Federation for Human Rights, Conviction of three peaceful protestors condemned, 22 February 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58adb1be4.html [accessed 6 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Today's unfair conviction of three peaceful protestors marks the latest setback for the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of opinion and expression in Singapore, FIDH said today.
The Singapore Supreme Court upheld the conviction of activist and blogger Ms. Han Hui Hui (25) and fined her SGD3,100 (US$2,179) under Article 290 of the Criminal Code (causing a public nuisance) and Regulation 23(2)(b) of the Parks and Trees Regulations. The court also upheld the conviction of Mr. Koh Yew Beng (61) and Ms. Low Wai Choo (57) and fined them SGD450 (US$316) each. Ms. Han was immediately detained and faces 34 days in prison for her failure to pay her fine.
The charges against the three stemmed from their participation in a peaceful demonstration organized by Ms. Han at Hong Lim Park's Speakers' Corner on 27 September 2014. The demonstration called for transparency in the Singaporean government's management of its Central Provident Fund (CPF).
During today's proceedings, Ms. Han, Mr. Koh, and Ms. Low represented themselves in court as they were not provided with any form of legal representation or legal aid prior to the hearing.
On 27 June 2016, a Singapore court fined Ms. Han SGD3,100 (US$2,179) for organizing an 'illegal demonstration' and causing a public nuisance. The court also fined Mr. Koh and Ms. Low SGD450 (US$316) each for causing a public nuisance. According to Article 45(1)(e) of Singapore's constitution, any individual subject to a fine in excess of SGD2,000 (US$1,406) is barred from standing for election for five years. Three other participants involved in the demonstration pleaded guilty or had their charges dropped after making a public apology.
Ms. Han has been repeatedly denied permission by Singapore's National Parks Board (NParks) to hold events at Hong Lim Park's Speakers' Corner. In the latest denial of her right to peaceful assembly and her right to freedom of opinion and expression, on 16 November 2016, NParks rejected an application made by Ms. Han to organize and speak at an event for Human Rights Day on 10 December.
During Singapore's second Universal Periodic Review (UPR), held in Geneva, Switzerland, on 27 January 2016, Singapore received six recommendations that urged the government to ensure the realization of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. The government delegation responded by justifying the severe restrictions on the exercise of this right to ensure "society's need for order and stability." These criteria fall short of internationally accepted standards, which require that any restrictions to the right to freedom of peaceful assembly be necessary and proportionate. International standards also stress the principle that a peaceful assembly should be presumed lawful and not constituting a threat to public order.
Fact check: What's true, what's not in Indiana candidates' election ads
IndyStar fact checked claims in some of the latest TV ads so voters know which claims are based in truth ahead of election day
Scott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), speaks to employees of the agency in Washington, U.S., February 21, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trade association representing General Motors Co (GM.N), Toyota Motor Corp , Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) and nine other automakers on Tuesday asked new Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt to withdraw an Obama administration decision to lock in vehicle emission rules through 2025.
On Jan. 13, then-EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy finalized a determination that landmark fuel efficiency rules instituted by President Barack Obama should be finalized through 2025, a bid to maintain a key part of his administration's climate legacy.
Mitch Bainwol, president and chief executive of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in a letter to Pruitt the decision was "the product of egregious procedural and substantive defects" and is "riddled with indefensible assumptions, inadequate analysis and a failure to engage with contrary evidence."
Automakers have argued that the rules could result in the loss of up to 1 million jobs because consumers could be less willing to buy the more fuel efficient vehicles since their engineering will result in higher price tags.
The EPA had until April 2018 to decide whether the 2025 standards were feasible but in November moved up its decision to Jan. 13, just before Obama left office.
Separately, the Association of Global Automakers, a trade group representing Honda Motor Co , Nissan Motor Co Ltd , Hyundai Motor Co and others, said late Tuesday it had formally petitioned the EPA to withdraw the determination. The group argued in a separate letter to Pruitt Tuesday reviewed by Reuters that "EPA opted for political expediency" and "jammed through a final determination in the waning days of the lame-duck administration."
EPA spokeswoman Julia Valentine said the agency is reviewing the letter and declined to comment further. Pruitt told a Senate panel earlier he will review the Obama administration's decision.
The auto group requests follow a separate letter to President Donald Trump earlier this month from the chief executives of GM, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, along with the top North American executives at Toyota, VW, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan and others urging Trump to revisit the decision.
Story continues
Automakers say the rules impose significant costs and are out of step with consumer preferences. Environmentalists say the rules are working, saving drivers thousands in fuel costs and should not be changed.
In 2011, Obama announced an agreement with automakers to raise fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 miles per gallon. This, the administration said, would save motorists $1.7 trillion in fuel costs over the life of the vehicles but cost the auto industry about $200 billion over 13 years.
The EPA said in July that because Americans were buying fewer cars and more SUVs and trucks, it estimated the fleet will average 50.8 mpg to 52.6 mpg in 2025.
McCarthy could not be reached Tuesday but said in her determination in January the rules are "feasible, practical and appropriate" and in "the best interests of the auto industry."
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker)
Prime Minister Hun Sen ratcheted up his rhetoric against his opponents on Wednesday, hinting that he might deploy military force against any political party that attempts to wrest power away from the Cambodian strong man.
Some individuals dared to claim that in 2018 we would be crushed because we wouldnt recognize the election results, he said. They predicted that in 2018 they could win, and if we dont hand over power to them, they will crush us. How can this happen if the troops are in my hand?
Hun Sens remarks during Wednesdays commencement exercise at the National Institute of Education in Phnom Penh came as he and the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) are pushing new rules through parliament that would give the government vast power over political parties.
National elections in Cambodia are scheduled for 2018, while local commune elections will be held in June of this year.
Among the amendments to Cambodias law on political parties that Hun Sen and the CPP are seeking is one that would bar anyone convicted in Cambodian courts from holding a political partys top office.
The culprit law would also dissolve any party whose president is convicted of a crime and would enable the government to seize the partys property.
Cambodian courts are notorious for their lack of independence. Opposition politicians often find themselves before Hun Sens pliant courts on various charges.
If the changes are approved by the Cambodian Senate and signed by Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni, as expected, the amendments would also give the Cambodian Supreme Court the power to dissolve a party caught committing a list of vague offenses. The Interior Ministry would also be empowered to indefinitely suspend a party for similarly vague reasons.
Transition of power
During his remarks, Hun Sen also took a swipe at Sam Rainsy, who was president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) until he resigned in an effort to preserve the CNRP.
You declare the results now while the election has yet to be held, and then you keep talking about winning and change, he said. Yes, you can change. Change from staying freely outside to being in jail!
Sam Rainsy has been living in France since 2015 to avoid arrest in a defamation case brought by former Foreign Minister Hor Namhong in 2008. In October, Hun Sen ordered police, immigration, and aviation authorities to "use all ways and means" to prevent the opposition leader from returning to the country.
In December 2016, Sam Rainsy wrote on his Facebook page: In 2018, the CNRP will form a new and legitimate government, and what will remain from Hun Sens CPP will just be a bunch of rebels who will be crushed by the legitimate government commanding the national armed forces with the support of the international community on the basis of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements.
The agreements ended the Cambodia-Vietnam War and established modern Cambodia after years of rule by the bloody Khmer Rouge and an occupation by Vietnam.
CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann told RFA that the CNRP doesnt want a war, but a peaceful transition of power.
If we win the election it means that we have strong support from the people in the whole country, he said. That strong support is a foundation toward a peaceful power transfer, like what countries usually do.
Other countries weigh in
The latest salvo in the political battle comes as foreign governments, including those which helped war-torn Cambodia rebuild 20 years ago, decried the proposed party law changes.
The U.S. Embassy said it was "deeply concerned" that the amendments were 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," the American mission said.
It called on Hun Sens government to ensure that the elections this year and next "are free, open, and transparent, and that all political parties have the opportunity to compete on an equal basis."
Any government action to ban or restrict parties under the new amendments would constitute a significant setback for Cambodias political development and would seriously call into question the legitimacy of the upcoming elections, the U.S. embassy said.
Australia and the European Union also questioned the wisdom of the party law changes.
The Australian Government encourages the Cambodian Government to ensure credible and transparent elections by maintaining political space for all voices and views to be heard, the embassy told RFA's Khmer service.
The EU mission in Phnom Penh questioned how the changes would affect the long-term stability of the country, saying the changes would potentially allow for arbitrary restrictions of political party activities or for their dissolution.
It added: Such actions against opposition parties would call into question the legitimacy of the coming elections.
Other countries should stay out
Hun Sen chastised the foreign nations, particularly the United States, saying that Cambodian affairs should be left up to the Khmers.
All foreigners should understand that the Khmer story should be solved by Khmers, he said. It is true that I need your aid. It is true that I need to do business with you and need cooperation with you. However, I have never interfered in your internal affairs.
Hun Sen accused Washington of being hypocritical, noting the bombing campaign in Cambodia during the Vietnam War.
When you bombed my country and you killed my people, did you ever think about human rights? he said. This Cambodian law which has been passed by the National Assembly is not a law to kill the people like you used to kill Cambodian people.
Reported for RFA's Khmer Service by Moniroth Morm. Translated by Sovannarith Keo and Sarada Taing. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
Former Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang was jailed for 20 months by a court in the former British colony that found him guilty of failing to disclose significant conflicts of interest while in office.
The city's High Court jailed Tsang after it found him guilty of concealing a property deal with businessman Bill Wong from the Executive Council (ExCo), the chief executive's cabinet, as it deliberated whether or not to grant him a license to run a digital radio channel.
Tsang, 72, known for his debonair manner and trademark bow tie, was found guilty of misconduct in public office, and will be the most senior public servant to be jailed in the city's history.
"Never in my judicial career have I seen a man falling from such a height," High Court justice Andrew Chan told the court as he passed sentence.
The sentencing came after Tsang was found guilty by a nine-person jury on .
The court found that he had deliberately concealed private rental negotiations with property tycoon Bill Wong while ExCo discussed and approved a digital broadcasting license for Wong's now-defunct Wave Media shortly before his retirement in 2012.
Tsang, who was chief executive for seven years from 2005, still faces a retrial on a corruption charge linked to a free renovation of his Shenzhen penthouse apartment provided by Wong.
Justice Chan said the offense was particular serious owing to Tsang's high-ranking position in government, and his breach of public trust, as he had "deliberately concealed" his dealings with Wong.
But he reduced the sentence by 10 months in recognition of Tsang's dedication to public service spanning more than four decades.
After the sentencing, Tsang was escorted in handcuffs to the court from hospital where he'd been staying since night after experiencing breathing difficulties and chest pains.
'A very dark day'
His wife Selina Tsang told reporters: " is a very dark day. I and the family feel extremely disappointed and upset by the sentence passed by the court ."
"Donald and I have been under constant pressure in the past five years, and have been the targets of extreme harassment, so we are very sad about 's outcome," she said.
"But we will face it with strength and courage, and we will be appealing," she added.
Earlier, Tsang had written in a newspaper column ahead of the sentencing that he had been honored to have served Hong Kong.
"In life, a lot of things are out of our control. But serving Hong Kong was my choice," he wrote, adding: "No matter what the result of the trial is, I have no regrets."
Lawmaker Starry Lee, who chairs the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), said she hoped Tsang's jailing would act as a deterrent to other people in public office.
"I believe that this sentence with have a very large deterrent effect, and the whole affair has been a wake-up call and a learning process for public officials," Lee said.
"As for Donald Tsang ... he put a lot of effort into serving Hong Kong and brought in a lot of measures and policies to help local people, so we feel sad about this sentence," she said.
Tsang's conviction is the latest in a string of scandals surrounding powerful people in Hong Kong that have undermined the city's reputation as relatively graft-free.
Tsang's former second-in-command Rafael Hui was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in 2014 on bribery charges linked to his relationship with regional property giant Hung Kai.
Reported by Lam Kwok-lap for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Chen Pan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Disgruntled veterans of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) are shown in an earlier protest in Beijing, Feb. 22, 2017.
Thousands of People's Liberation Army (PLA) veterans protested outside the disciplinary arm of the ruling Chinese Communist Party in Beijing on Wednesday over pensions, healthcare and other demobilization benefits they said were promised but not delivered.
Wearing their uniforms from units and division across the PLA's three services, the veterans lined the streets outside the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), calling on President Xi Jinping to address their grievances.
"We have suffered injustice for our country for the past 20 or 30 years," a veteran protester in uniform addressed the protesters, who were drawn up in ranks as if on parade, according to video footage of the protests seen by RFA.
"Because of [an] illegal regulation, we have been left in poverty and hardship," he told the crowd. "We have no jobs, no income, no status and nowhere to live."
"We are non-people, and now we are being targeted for stability maintenance," he said.
"We are the tragedy of the People's Republic, and a shameful entry in its history," he said.
Outside the CCDI
The protesters also shouted slogans and sang military songs, watched by ranks of uniformed police officers who appeared not to be trying to disperse the crowd.
"Look at them," a protester filming the demonstration says on camera. "The place is packed with people, so many of them ... We are outside the CCDI."
The demonstration is the largest in the Chinese capital since a mass demonstration on Oct. 11 shocked the authorities, who ordered provincial chiefs to Beijing to begin escorting the disgruntled protesters home.
The October protests outside the party's military arm also highlighted a failure to deliver promised pension, medical and social security benefits to demobilized PLA soldiers, regarded by Beijing as one of the country's most politically sensitive groups.
While officials from the Central Military Commission (CMC) ordered provincial and city leaders to Beijing to address the crisis, the veterans say promises that changes would begin to be implemented from Jan. 1 had not been kept.
A veteran surnamed Jiang said that four months on, local officials, far from trying to help the veterans, have done everything in their power to prevent another protest in Beijing.
"Not one person in local government has approached us to resolve these issues," Jiang said. "The online petitioning system is set up to mess people around and fool them that something is happening."
"Our demands still haven't been met," he said.
Jiang said that repeated petitioning trips to Beijing had resulted in more detentions by police, in spite of there being a strong legal basis for their claims.
Clause 3 of the Military Pensions Priority Regulations requires governments to ensure that the standard of living and social situation of demobilized PLA soldiers doesn't fall below the average.
"The standard of living of veterans shouldn't dip below that of the locality where they live," Jiang said.
He said the veterans are protesting at the continuing failure to implement national policy at a local level.
PLA veterans protest outside provincial government offices in southwestern China's Sichuan province, Feb. 22, 2017. Photo courtesy of a protester Looking for a ringleader
Not all veterans made it as far as Beijing, however.
Officers manning a checkpoint at Liulihe on the outskirts of Beijing beat up four veterans from the eastern province of Shandong, one of whom received treatment in hospital for head injuries, after stopping them from entering the capital early on Wednesday morning, veterans told RFA.
The group was stopped by regular police and members of the People's Armed Police and prevented from going any further, sources said.
Another group of veterans from the northern mining city of Taiyuan, Shanxi province, were detained in the Aiminjie No. 39 military hospital, while veterans from Datong and Luliang were detained at a local police station.
Police were keen to find a "ringleader" for the protests, but veterans insisted that there was no top-down leadership, sources said.
On Tuesday, more than 150 veterans from the northeastern province of Heilongjiang were stopped by police en route to Beijing, and taken to the complaints office in the provincial capital Harbin, protesters said.
"They've brought us all here to the Harbin complaints office in three big buses," a protester said from the scene.
A veteran surnamed Zhou said he expects the Beijing protests to continue until China's annual parliamentary session in early March.
And a veteran from the southwestern province of Sichuan surnamed Huang said a group of veterans had also gathered outside government offices in the provincial capital Chengdu on Wednesday.
"At the Sichuan protests, a lot of the veterans were given jobs on demobilization in [state-owned] companies but lost them again when they were laid off," Huang said.
"Those given redundancy payments included platoon and company commanders and deputy commanders, battalion-ranking cadres," he said.
Massive cordon around Beijing
Authorities in Beijing have thrown a massive security cordon around the capital ahead of the annual meetings of the National People's Congress (NPC) and its advisory body starting on March 3, rights activists told RFA.
Hangzhou-based rights activist Zou Wei said police had called him and asked to take him on a forced 'vacation' out of town ahead of the meetings.
"This is definitely linked to the parliamentary sessions," Zou said. "They will let me come back again when they are over."
He said petitioner Liang Liwan is now incommunicado after she refused to sign a pledge not to lodge complaints or petitions during the parliamentary sessions.
"Petitioners and people lodging complaints are a big headache for the authorities," Zou said. "Now, the police have come up with these letters that are basically designed to stop you from petitioning."
Fellow petitioner Fan Yonggen said the letters are part of a nationwide "stability maintenance" system designed to limit or prevent public expressions of discontent.
Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wong Lok-to for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
By Fabian Cambero SANTIAGO (Reuters) - BHP Billiton's decision this week to give up its legal right to replace striking workers at the Escondida copper mine in Chile is a move aimed at sacrificing some output to undermine the union's position, analysts said Wednesday. The strike began on Feb 9, after workers voted overwhelmingly to reject a wage contract offer by BHP Billiton . That led BHP to say it would not be able to meet contractual commitments, driving the copper price up on supply concerns. BHP made a surprise announcement on Tuesday, saying it would not seek to exercise its right to replace the 2,500 striking workers after 15 days - which would have been this Friday. Instead, it said it would wait at least 30 days. The company said this was to assure the safety of its workers but industry experts say it was a strategic move that puts the ball in the union's court. After 30 days, workers can individually exit the strike and accept the company's offer, weakening the union's position. Juan Carlos Guajardo, an industry veteran and consultant at Plusmining, said the delay would ease tension after day 15 of the strike, when the company could have brought in temporary workers if it had sought to. "By delaying to day 30 it prevents the risk of days 15 to 30 being violent, something which could provoke the workers," said Guajardo. "On day 30 the invitation to leave the strike will therefore be better received." Previous strikes in Chile have seen clashes with striking miners trying to prevent temporary workers entering the mine. Camped out under burning daytime sunshine and cold nights in the Atacama Desert next to the mine, workers' enthusiasm for the strike may begin to crack, although the union insists its members remain united. "The guys are relaxed, they're okay, some are heading to town to rest and next week they will come back with more energy for however long it takes," said union spokesman Carlos Allendes. Escondida in northern Chile is by far the world's largest copper mine. At usual output rates, some 40,000 tonnes of copper has been taken out of supply during the strike to date - equivalent to the annual production of a mid-sized mine. A government-mediated attempt at restarting talks foundered on Monday, with the two sides far apart on issues such as benefits for new workers and shift changes. Both sides say they remain open to dialogue but firm in their positions. Despite Monday's failure, the government has said it will continue to push to get the two sides back at the negotiating table. Other miners - including those at Chile's no.2 mine, Anglo American and Glencore's Collahuasi, which has contract talks due later this year - will be watching carefully. (Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Writing by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Alistair Bell)
Diplomatic fallout from the alleged assassination in Malaysia of North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns half-brother is testing long-standing bilateral relations and raising questions about whether Kuala Lumpur will cut off ties with Pyongyang.
Some analysts speculate that Malaysia could expel North Korean diplomats in Kuala Lumpur if Pyongyang refuses to hand over a diplomat sought by police for questioning over the killing of Kim Jong Nam.
I dont expect the relationship to be severed, but a form of downgrade looks inevitable at this stage. I suspect the Malaysian authorities are looking into implementing international sanctions with greater vigor, Shahriman Lockman, a senior analyst at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia (ISIS), told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
Malaysia already has recalled its ambassador from Pyongyang after government sources in the United States and South Korea alleged North Korean agents were behind the assassination of Kim Jong Nam at a Kuala Lumpur area airport on Feb. 13.
At a news conference in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, Malaysian Police Chief Khalid Abu Bakar said he could not confirm whether Pyongyang had carried out the assassination, but he said, what is clear is that those involved are North Koreans.
He announced that authorities had asked the embassy on Wednesday to hand over Second Secretary Hyon Kwang Song and North Korean state-airline employee Kim Uk Il both of whom are believed to be in Malaysia and wanted in connection with the case.
Malaysia must take into account all the aspects before taking further action. The worst-case scenario is we can cut diplomatic ties with North Korea. However, it is too early to predict this, Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani, a professor of international relations at Universiti Utara Malaysia, told BenarNews last week before a bilateral row broke out.
Bilateral trade
The two Asian countries established diplomatic relations in 1973 and Malaysia remains one of North Koreas relatively few trading partners despite the communist states international isolation through sanctions over its illegal nuclear weapons program and ballistic missile tests.
The volume of bilateral trade in 2015 was relatively small totaling nearly 23 million ringgit (U.S. $5 million), according to The Star. Malaysia exports rubber, palm oil and petroleum to North Korea, which sends iron, steel and chemical products to the Southeast Asian nation, the newspaper reported.
North Koreans and Malaysians also are able to visit their respective countries without a visa.
Those ties have taken a hit since a war of words erupted in the past five days between the North Korean ambassador to Kuala Lumpur and Malaysias government over how local authorities have handled an investigation into the death of Kim Jong Nam.
Although North Korea has not yet matched Malaysia by recalling its ambassador to Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian government might be compelled to pressure Pyongyang into handing over the diplomat, according to Shahriman.
It could do this, he said, by invoking a provision of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2321 that allows member-states to reduce the number if staff at [North Korean] diplomatic missions and consular posts in other words, expel some of Pyongyangs embassy personnel.
If North Korea doesnt lift the diplomatic immunity of one of their diplomats whos being sought by Malaysian police in connection with Kim Jong Nams assassination, Malaysia would probably find it compelling to invoke such kinds of provisions, Shahriman said.
Angry words
Bilateral ties have been somewhat hurt within the past week, particularly following comments made by Pyongyang envoy Kang Chol, said Hoo Chiew Ping, a North Korea policy analyst at the National University of Malaysia.
Amid a refusal by Malaysian officials to hand over Kim Jong Nams remains to North Korea without a post-mortem and their insistence that his next-of-kin give the authorities DNA samples as part of their investigation, the ambassador publicly accused Malaysian authorities of conducting an unprofessional investigation and colluding with Seoul over Kim Jong Nams killing.
In his public comments, however, the ambassador never referred to the dead man as Kim Jong Nam, the estranged older sibling of North Koreas leader. The envoy identified the dead man as Kim Chol, a holder of a North Korean diplomatic passport.
But his reaction is understandable due to the need to express the North Korean regimes position on the issue: their need to secure a dead North Korean national, despite refusing to acknowledge [to whom] the body belongs or [whether the person is] related to the regimes leader, Kim Jong Un, Hoo told BenarNews.
If the North Korean ambassador does not say anything that is in line with the regimes expectations or even slightly recognizing Kim Chol as Kim Jong Nam, his life could be in danger, she told BenarNews.
Azmi Hassan, a Malaysian professor of geo-politics, said Kuala Lumpur so far had demonstrated that it was giving higher priority to solving the case, even if this meant pushing the limits of its 44-year-old bilateral ties with Pyongyang.
But when the inspector general of police named a suspect who is a diplomat of the embassy, it shows Malaysias determination to find out the culprit without any regard to diplomatic relations, Azmi told BenarNews.
When the sovereignty of a country is challenged, diplomatic interests becomes less important.
Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
Locals examine the front of a Chinese passenger bus that was shot by unidentified gunmen in northern Laos, March 23, 2016.
One Lao soldier was killed and another was injured during a shooting on a bus traveling on Highway 13 North in Vientiane provinces Nam Ken village last week, causing authorities to beef up security in the area.
What prompted the Feb. 16 shooting is unclear. Authorities first believed it was the work of bandits, but one official said the shooting was an alcohol-fueled accident.
One man was a little intoxicated, and played with his gun, a Luang Prabang public works and transportation official told RFAs Lao Service on condition of anonymity.
The others tried to stop him, but he would not listen, the official said. They fought for the gun which later accidentally fired.
According to local officials and social media posts, a man dressed in a military uniform boarded the bus bound for the capital of Vientiane from the north central city of Luang Prabang at an unscheduled stop Thursday evening.
The man sat near some other soldiers on the bus before shooting and killing one soldier, injuring the other and terrifying the passengers.
The bus stopped and the man disappeared into the forest that lines the highway, a critical transportation route in the mountainous, landlocked country.
After the shooting, Luang Prabang authorities banned buses from taking on passengers at unscheduled stops. Buses are now allowed to pick up passengers only at main points on the line.
While the Luang Prabang official described the shooting as an accident, a Kasi district official told RFA the authorities have reinforced the military garrison there, and have launched an investigation.
A history of shootings
A spate of shootings in Vientiane province, north-central Xaisomboun province, and Luang Prabang by unidentified armed groups in 2016 raised concerns for Lao officials and led to an increased military presence in the areas.
While most of the shootings occurred on public buses, a Lao soldier was killed in a shootout with unidentified armed forces along a new road between Vientiane and Luang Prabang provinces on May 6, 2016.
In March, a bus shooting by unknown assailants left one Chinese national dead and six others wounded on the stretch of road between Tham and Houasan villages in Kasy.
Another attack in on a public bus traveling along Route 13 North in Kasy in January 2016 injured one of about a dozen passengers, but caused no deaths.
Military and police officials in Vientiane province have arrested 30 people suspected of being involved in the Kasy bus shooting.
A shooting in Phoukhoun district of Luang Prabang province in early March killed a Chinese man and injured three other Chinese nationals, all of whom worked for a logging company clearing land for the Nam Ngum 3 hydropower dam project.
On the same day as the shooting near the dam, gunmen mounted two separate attacks on a public bus and a truck traveling along Route 13 North in Phoukhoun, injuring five people.
An exchange of gunfire between a Lao anti-government resistance group and local troops in Xaisomboun in November 2016 left three government soldiers dead, a retired Lao soldier close to a high-ranking officer in the Ministry of Defense told RFA at the time.
A month later, more than a dozen attackers shot two motorcyclists in the provinces Anouvong district, killing one and injuring the other, and two people were injured when their beer truck was fired upon.
Lao authorities blamed the shootings on bandits and deployed fast-moving, special armed units to patrol villages and towns to prevent unrest and crime in those provinces.
Economic harm
While the reports of shootings declined after the patrols were deployed and local authorities said the situation there improved after patrols, the attacks took their toll on the tourist trade.
According to the official government news agency, Khao San Pathet Lao (KPL), the number of tourists who arrived in Laos last year dropped by 10 percent over 2015.
Quoting government agencies, KPL reported that 4.2 million people visited Laos in 2016, down from the 4.68 million who visited last year.
The officials blamed the drop in visitors on the lack of security along the Route 13 North between the town of Vang Vieng and the popular tourist city of Luang Prabang.
Australia, Canada, the EU, and the U.S. have issued warnings this year to their citizens to avoid traveling on Highway 13 and the new road from the Kasi junction to the Road 4 junction between Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng/
Global Affairs Canada advises against all travel to Xaisomboun Province and portions of Road 13 and the new road between Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang due to the tense security situation and recent random shooting incidents, the Canadian government warned.
The U.S. embassy in Vientiane warned American citizens to avoid all non-essential travel on portions of Highway 13, the new road from the Kasi junction to the Road 4 junction between Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng, and all of Xaisomboun Province.
U.S. embassy personnel are restricted from traveling to these areas due to reports of violence, the embassy said.
Reported and translated by RFA's Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
Boxes of humanitarian aid from Malaysia are unloaded in Sittwe, capital of western Myanmar's Rakhine state, Feb. 21, 2017.
Humanitarian aid sent by Malaysia for refugees in Myanmars beleaguered Rakhine state arrived in the state capital on Tuesday and will be distributed to both ethnic Rakhine people and Rohingya Muslims in three townships.
Malaysia has delivered hundreds of tons of food and other necessities, including rice, instant noodles, clothing, shoes, and hygiene kits, via the ship Nautical Aliya which arrived in Thilawa Port in Yangon region last week.
The items were loaded onto military ships that delivered them to Sittwe, capital of western Myanmars Rakhine state. From there they will be given to people in Sittwe as well as in Pauktaw and Myebon townships, Myanmar officials said.
The boat also offloaded food, medicine and other supplies at the port of Chittagong in neighboring Bangladesh for Rohingya refugees now living in camps scattered across Coxs Bazar after they fled a violent crackdown in the northern part of Rakhine state.
Myanmar army soldiers and police locked down the area after a deadly attack on three border guard posts on Oct. 9, which authorities blamed on Rohingya militants.
The United Nations estimates that more than 1,000 people died and about 73,000 Rohingya fled to safety in Bangladesh during a security sweep of northern Rakhine. The U.N.s human rights office has said that killings, arbitrary arrests, and rapes carried out by security forces in the region indicated the very likely commission of crimes against humanity.
The Myanmar government initially tried to block the ship from entering the countrys waters, saying that the Muslim organization behind the effort had not obtained official permission to land in Myanmar.
The government later declined Malaysias application to deliver aid to Sittwe and surrounding areas where many Rohingya have settled and instead issued clearance only for the port in Yangon.
The government also required that the supplies be delivered to both ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya living in the region.
Amnesty issues annual report
In a related development, London-based Amnesty International said in its latest annual report issued Wednesday that the state of human rights in Myanmar has seen no improvements despite a new civilian-led government coming to power at the end of March 2016.
The report noted that this is especially the case in Rakhine state where the situation of the stateless minority Rohingya group deteriorated significantly during the security operation after the border guard post attacks.
The response collectively punished the entire Rohingya community in northern Rakhine state, and the conduct of the security forces may have amounted to crimes against humanity, the report said.
The government issued blanket denials that security forces had carried out human rights violations, it said. An investigation commission established by the government in December lacked credibility as it was headed by a former army general and its members included the chief of police.
The government led by Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has denied nearly all the abuse allegations.
A national-level commission investigating reports of abuse of the Rohingya detailed in the U.N.s Feb. 3 report has said that its findings differ from those of the U.N., and that people interviewed could not corroborate accounts of violence.
Meanwhile, Myanmars security forces are probing the deaths of eight Rohingya in custody who were among the nearly 600 arrested during the crackdown, Agence France-Presse reported.
Buddhists call the Rohingya Bengalis because they consider them illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh. The Myanmar government has denied them citizenship, though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.
Tens of thousands of Myanmars 1.1 million Rohingya have lived in internally displaced persons camps since being displaced by communal violence with majority Buddhists in 2012. The Rohingya are denied basic rights, freedom of movement, and access to social services and education.
Bangladesh meanwhile has refused to grant the Rohingya who live there in camps refugee status because it considers them citizens of Myanmar.
Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Montenegro's former prime minister accused Russia of seeking to destabilize the Balkans following a thwarted attempt to overthrow Podgorica's pro-Western government.
Milo Djukanovic, who stepped down after an alleged plot emerged on election day in October aimed at preventing the small Balkan country from joining NATO, said that pro-Moscow groups "harnessed a lot of destructive material toward Montenegro" in that coup attempt.
Montenegro is now "in the line" of Moscow's attempts to expand its influence in the Balkans, and pro-Russian opposition parties are ready to use "bloodshed and a coup" to install a pro-Kremlin government, Djukanovic said on February 21 in an address to Socialist Democratic Party youth in Niksic.
"A new, puppet government would only serve the interest of Moscow, which wants to send a message to Europe and NATO that they cannot expand in the Balkans without its consent," said Djukanovic, who engineered his country's bid to join NATO.
Russia has frequently criticized the enlargement of NATO -- which now includes the three Baltic states and several former Warsaw Pact nations -- and does not want any more countries to join the alliance. The former Yugoslav republics were never part of the Soviet bloc and all of them have sought to join the European Union.
Of that group, only Montenegro is seeking to join NATO, however. The Western military alliance has approved Montenegros membership application, and earlier this month, Germany and France became the latest of the 24 members to approve its entry into the 28-member bloc. Only approvals from Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States are still pending.
Although there was some doubt in the United States about the new administrations attitude on the issue, a key Senate committee voted to support Montenegros bid on January 11. Top U.S. senators Bob Corker and John McCain have predicted the full Senate would approve the bid soon.
Speaking in neighboring Kosovo, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, voiced his concern "about ways that Russia has influence in the region that is not as helpful at times, particularly in the media with disinformation and political influence."
"The stability of the western Balkans is of critical importance for NATO because security and stability in this region is important to the security and stability of Europe, a Europe that's whole, free and at peace," he said.
Montenegrin prosecutors have accused Russia and its secret service operatives of plotting the election-day coup attempt that included alleged plans to kill Djukanovic and take over parliament. Some 20 people -- including two Russians -- have been accused of taking part.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied involvement in the plot. But it has openly supported nationalist parties and groups opposed to Montenegro's NATO membership.
With reporting by AP and Kurir News Agency
Religious scholars say the fundamentalist Salafi movement of Islam, widely practiced in Saudi Arabia, is gaining ground in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz officials have responded by banning several groups they identify as Salafi extremists and prosecuting clerics accused of promoting radical ideas. But the size of the movement and its influence remain unclear, as does the exact government policy to address it. (Mametbek Myrzabaev and Alisher Mutalipov, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service)
Pakistan's border with Afghanistan remained closed at the Torkham crossing for a sixth consecutive day. On February 21, Pakistani officials temporarily opened the border to allow two corpses to be taken across for funerals. They also allowed a bride to cross for her wedding in Afghanistan, where the groom had been waiting for four days. (RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal)
Bodyguards of Afghan Vice President Rashid Dostum who are wanted over allegations of torture and abuse have been questioned by the authorities after weeks of refusing to cooperate, officials say.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on February 22 that seven bodyguards were being questioned by officials of the Attorney General's Office. It wasn't immediately clear if the seven bodyguards were willingly cooperating with the authorities.
Dostum, a powerful ethnic Uzbek warlord with decades of experience in Afghanistan's turbulent politics, faces accusations that he ordered members of his personal militia to seize and detain Ahmad Ishchi, a former ally. Dostum has denied the accusations.
Ishchi says he was severely beaten and sexually abused for days, prompting demands from Western allies of the government for an investigation and trial.
The case has caused embarrassment to President Ashraf Ghani, who has faced heavy pressure from Western allies to act against his unruly vice president.
Dostum's powerful position within Afghanistan's Uzbek community has made it difficult to replace him.
The bodyguards' questioning comes after days of rising tensions within Ghani's fragile national-unity government. Armed troops blocked the streets around Dostum's Kabul residence, apparently to try to force him to hand the men over.
However, Dostum's chief of staff Babur Farhamand said it was not clear why security forces had been stationed around the vice president's heavily fortified residence.
Based on reporting by Reuters and Tolonews.com
Amnesty International says human rights around the world are under threat because of politicians who are using "toxic, dehumanizing" rhetoric against ethnic or religious minorities in order to strengthen their political powers.
In the watchdog's annual report, titled The State Of The World's Human Rights, Amnesty International Secretary-General Salil Shetty on February 22 said "divisive fear-mongering has become a dangerous force in world affairs" -- creating a more divisive, more dangerous world.
"The global trend of angrier and more divisive politics was exemplified by [U.S. President] Donald Trump's poisonous campaign rhetoric, but political leaders in various parts of the world also wagered their future power on narratives of fear, blame, and division," Shetty said.
Shetty named Trump, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte among an increasing number of politicians who call themselves "anti-establishment" and wield "a toxic agenda that hounds, scapegoats, and dehumanizes entire groups of people."
Amnesty's report says "us versus them" political rhetoric in the United States and Europe has been fueled by the global refugee crisis.
It says that, internationally, "hate rhetoric" has reached its worst level in politics since the 1930s and is "fueling a global pushback against human rights" which leaves a "global response to mass atrocities perilously weak."
The report predicts that 2017 will see "ongoing crises exacerbated by a debilitating absence of human rights leadership on a chaotic world stage."
Shetty said "2017 needs human rights heroes" to combat hateful political rhetoric that has unleashed "the dark side of human nature" and increasingly impacts government policies.
"In 2016, governments turned a blind eye to war crimes, pushed through deals that undermine the right to claim asylum, passed laws that violate free expressionjustified torture and mass surveillance, and extended draconian police powers," he said.
Amnesty's report includes a survey of 159 countries and territories in an exercise to show how people have been suffering from conflict, displacement, discrimination, or repression.
Here is what the Amnesty International's latest report had to say about the human rights situation in RFE/RL broadcast countries.
Iran
Amnesty says Iranian authorities heavily suppressed the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and religious belief.
It says peaceful critics of the government were arrested and imprisoned after "grossly unfair trials before Revolutionary Courts."
It says torture and other ill-treatment of detainees was widespread and committed with impunity by Iranian authorities.
The death penalty was used extensively by authorities with hundreds of executions carried out -- some in public.
The rights group notes that "floggings, amputations, and other cruel punishments" continue to be used in Iran.
It says religious and ethnic minorities faced discrimination and persecution while women and girls faced "pervasive violence and discrimination."
Russia
Amnesty International says Russian President Vladimir Putin continued to "surf the wave of popularity generated by Russia's excursions in Ukraine" and its "resurgent" international influence.
Meanwhile, the rights group says, Putin continued to undermine civil society within Russia.
The Amnesty report says restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly increased in Russia during 2016.
Prosecutions of antigovernment protesters raised concerns about fair trial standards.
Individuals were charged under antiextremism legislation for criticizing state policy and publicly displaying or possessing alleged extremist materials.
Also noted was the initiation of the first criminal prosecution of a nongovernmental organization for failure to comply with Russia's "foreign agents" law.
NGOs can be declared "foreign agents" by Russia's Justice Ministry, after a court's approval, if they are deemed by the ministry to be engaged in "political activity" and have received some funding from abroad.
The report notes international criticism over allegations of war crimes by Russian forces in Syria -- including the alleged intentional bombing of hospitals by Russian warplanes.
It says serious human rights violations continued to be reported in connection with security operations in the North Caucasus.
That includes critics of authorities in Chechnya facing physical attacks by nonstate actors, as well as prosecution by authorities. A nonstate actor is an individual or organization that has significant political influence but is not allied to any particular country or state.
Human rights activists in the North Caucasus were harassed by non-state actors.
The International Criminal Court continued an investigation of crimes allegedly committed by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula.
Ukraine
Amnesty International notes that sporadic low-scale fighting continued in eastern Ukraine during 2016, and that both sides violated an internationally brokered cease-fire deal.
It says impunity continued for both Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russia separatist fighters who have violated international humanitarian law by committing war crimes like torture.
It says government forces and separatists unlawfully detained suspected supporters of the other side and used them in prisoner exchanges.
Independent media and activists were blocked from working freely in separatist controlled parts of eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Amnesty says media seen by authorities in Kyiv as pro-Russian faced harassment in government-controlled areas.
In Russian-annexed Crimea, the report says Russian-installed authorities continued their campaign to eliminate pro-Ukrainian dissent.
It said those authorities increasingly used Russian antiextremism and antiterrorism laws to prosecute dozens of people seen as being opposed to Moscow's annexation of the region.
Belarus
Amnesty says the Belarusian government kept severe restrictions in place against the rights to freedom of expression, of association, and peaceful assembly.
It notes that the government in Minsk continued to refuse to cooperation with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Belarus during 2016.
The report says at least four people were executed and four sentenced to death in Belarus.
Central Asia
Amnesty says that repression of dissent, critical opinions, and political opposition could be described as the norm across most Central Asian republics.
It says those problems remain serious in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and were "not noticeably worse" in 2016 than in previous years.
It says "torture in detention centers and prisons continued to be pervasive" in Uzbekistan, where forced labor was also widely used.
Although Turkmenistan launched a so-called National Human Rights Action Plan in April, 2016, Amnesty says there was no improvement in the rights situation, and the country remained closed to independent human rights monitors.
In Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, the rights group reported a "marked deterioration."
It notes that Kazakhstan used criminal laws against leaders of nongovernment groups for the first time in 2016.
The report also highlights the arrests of hundreds of people who took part in protests against a new land code.
Amnesty says Tajikistan's "crackdown in the wake of the targeting of the banned opposition Islamic Renaissance party of Tajikistan" was "significant."
The report also notes a five-year-decree that gives Tajikistan's government the right to "regulate and control" all television and radio broadcasts through the State Broadcasting Committee.
In Kyrgyzstan, Amnesty's report says "the perpetrators of torture and of violence against women enjoyed impunity" during 2016.
It also says Kyrgyz authorities "continued to make no genuine effort to effectively investigate the June 2010 violence in Osh and Jalal-Abad."
Moldova
Amnesty says police in Moldova occasionally used unnecessary or excessive force against street protesters during the past year.
It says high profile criminal cases have raised concerns about unfair trials, including selective justice.
The report notes that there was no progress on addressing structural causes of impunity for torture and other ill-treatment.
It also points to laws that allow forced detention and nonconsensual treatment to people with disabilities in psychiatric facilities -- including forced abortions.
Armenia
Amnesty says police used "excessive force" to suppress largely peaceful demonstrations in Yerevan in July -- with hundreds of people arbitrarily arrested.
It documented many cases where Armenians complained that they were injured, beaten, or ill-treated while in police custody.
Torture and other ill-treatment by police and in detention facilities continued to be widely reported.
Azerbaijan
Amnesty International described Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev as a "long-established" strongman who strengthened his grip on power through a constitutional amendment extending presidential terms.
The report says Azerbaijan continued to repress opposition activists, human rights groups, and independent media.
Although some political prisoners in Azerbaijan were released in 2016, Amnesty notes that at least 14 remained in prison at the end of 2016.
It says most human rights organizations in Azerbaijan that previously were shut down were unable to resume their work.
Amnesty notes that reprisals against independent journalists and activists continued -- and human rights monitors were blocked from entering the country.
Torture and other ill-treatment was widely reported along with arbitrary arrests of government critics.
Some released political prisoners and journalists were banned from traveling abroad and most were prevented from continuing their work.
Georgia
Amnesty says concerns remain about the lack of judicial independence and political interference in the courts after a series of rulings favored the Georgian government in high-profile cases.
New cases of torture and other ill-treatment by police were reported.
The economic and social rights of local residents were negatively impacted by continued border fencing along Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Afghanistan
According to Amnesty International, widespread human rights violations and abuses resulted from Afghanistan's intensifying conflict with the Taliban, so-called Islamic State (IS) fighters, and other extremists.
Thousands of civilians were killed, displaced or injured in the violence.
Armed militants were responsible for the majority of civilian casualties, but pro-government forces also killed and injured civilians.
Amnesty says insecurity restricted access to education, health care, and other services for many Afghans.
Violence continued against women and girls -- with a reported increase in armed groups publicly executing and lashing women.
The report says human rights defenders and journalists continued to be threatened by state and nonstate actors.
Pakistan
Amnesty says that. despite a new law in Punjab to protect women from violence, so-called "honor" killings continue in Pakistan.
Its latest rights report says militant extremists caused hundreds of casualties in 2016 by intentionally targeting civilians, including government employees.
Meanwhile, in Karachi, Amnesty says paramilitary Rangers violated human rights with almost total impunity.
It said executions that have continued in Pakistan often were carried out after "unfair trials."
It also says rights activists and journalists continued to face threats and abuse from both Pakistani security forces and militant groups.
The report charges that religious minorities faced discrimination from state and nonstate actors in Pakistan.
It says other minorities faced discriminatory violations of their economic and social rights.
For poor women and rural residents, Amnesty says access to quality health care remained limited.
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Despite the passage of new antidiscrimination laws, Amnesty's latest rights report says, vulnerable minorities faced widespread discrimination in Bosnia-Herzegovina during 2016.
Attacks and threats against journalists and media freedom also continued.
Access to justice and reparations for civilian victims of the 1992-1995 war remained limited.
Macedonia
Amnesty International says prosecutions after revelations in 2015 about high-level corruption were slowed by political infighting while witness protection was limited.
It says Roma faced discrimination that limited their basic rights and access to services.
Refugees and migrants faced detention in poor facilities within Macedonia or were routinely pushed back at the border with Greece, the report said.
BRUSSELS -- European Union ambassadors have agreed to endorse visa liberalization for Georgia, a key step toward visa-free travel for Georgians to the Schengen zone.
Meeting in Brussels on February 22, the ambassadors from EU member states also agreed to endorse a visa-suspension mechanism, which has been drafted as a condition for the implementation of visa-liberalization agreements for Georgia and Ukraine.
It is now expected that ministers from all 28 EU member states will rubber-stamp both items, most likely on February 27.
EU diplomats have told RFE/RL that they believe Georgians will be able to travel to Schengen Area countries by the end of March and that the suspension mechanism will enter into force at the same time.
The European Commission recommended visa-free travel for Georgian citizens in December 2015, but the proposal first met with skepticism among some EU members -- most notably Germany, which voiced concern over crimes allegedly committed there by Georgian criminal gangs.
The European Parliament overwhelmingly backed visa liberalization for Georgia in a vote earlier this month. Last week it endorsed the suspension mechanism, which is designed to ensure that visa-free arrangements can be suspended quickly in certain cases, such as an upsurge in baseless asylum applications or imminent security threats posed by third-country nationals.
Diplomats will meet in Brussels on February 28 to discuss visa liberalization for Ukraine. EU diplomats expect that visa liberalization for Ukraine will enter into force in June.
16 Following the May 2005 Andijon massacre, Isroiljon Kholdorov spoke to international media about mass graves in Andijon. Uzbek authorities later kidnapped him in 2005 from neighboring Kyrgyzstan, where he had fled for safety, brought him back to Uzbekistan and imprisoned him. He is serving a 10-year sentence, but his relatives fear his sentence could be further extended.
Odebrecht Peru protest Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Humala
A giant corruption scandal that started with Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht has now engulfed several Latin American governments. The total tally of known bribes totals in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Yet most Americans, distracted by constant rhetoric from their new president about bad hombres trying to cross the Mexican border, are woefully unaware the debacle is even taking place.
Unlike the Panama Papers, whose revelations got considerable media coverage in the United States, this scandal has fallen through the cracks even though these are the real bad hombres Trump should be worried about.
"This is corruption on a global scale, with Odebrecht being the hub of a wide-reaching network," says Monica de Bolle, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (where I previously worked) and a former economist at the International Monetary Fund.
So in the interest of public information, heres a breakdown of how a bribery probe uncovered a pit of corruption so deep it presents an ongoing threat to political stability in the region.
Earlier this month, Perus President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski asked US President Donald Trump during a phone call to deport the countrys fugitive ex-president Alejandro Toledo. A Peruvian judge has issued an international arrest warrant for Toledo, who denies he took $20 million in bribes from Odebrecht.
Now construction contracts all around Latin America are under scrutiny, and scores of other politicians turned out to have been complicit or are under suspicion.
The Odebrecht scandal comes on the heels of Brazils Car-Wash investigation of kickback schemes at the state-run oil firm Petrobras. That probe has led to charges against nearly 250 people and the arrest, trial and conviction of some of the Brazils most prominent businessmen and political figures.
Story continues
The firm struck a December agreement with the US Justice Department to pay a world record $3.5 billion fine after admitting it paid $788 million in bribes to score major construction contracts in 12 countries.
In Colombia, prosecutors have alleged Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos campaign received $1 million in potentially illegal contributions from Odebrecht. Argentinas top spy, an ally of President Mauricio Macri, is also under investigation.
"I think there could be a lot more damage -- it has already ensnared Colombia and Peru," said de Bolle. "Odebrecht is Brazil's largest construction company, but it also has a massive oil and gas operation, and is present in much of South America, as well as Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa."
A tangled web indeed. How it all unravels is anyone's guess.
NOW WATCH: People with these personality traits have more and better sex
More From Business Insider
Over the past five years, Iranian officials and state media have touted the "indigenous" ingenuity in the Islamic republic's mass-produced Mohajer-6 combat drone, which Russia has deployed in its war against Ukraine.
But a new investigation by Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, has found that electronic components underpinning Tehran's production of the Mohajer-6 are far from homegrown.
The Mohajer-6 drones contain components produced by companies from the United States and the European Union, both of which have sanctions restricting the export to Iran of such technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes dual-use technology.
The presence of these components in the Mohajer-6 does not mean their producers are in violation of U.S. or EU sanctions, and RFE/RL does not have evidence that this is the case.
The investigation also found Mohajer-6 components produced in China, including a real-time mini-camera made by a Hong Kong firm that said it was "very sorry" that its products were being used in war.
At least one major foreign-produced component of the Mohajer-6 has previously been identified by reporters in a Mohajer-6 recovered from the battlefield by the Ukrainian military: an engine made by the Austrian manufacturer BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Bombardier Recreational Products.
But Ukrainian intelligence assesses that the Iranian combat drone contains components from nearly three dozen different technology companies based in North America, the EU, Japan, and Taiwan, the Schemes investigation has found. A majority of these companies are based in the United States.
A Schemes reporter who personally inspected the foreign-made drone parts identified components produced by at least 15 of these manufacturers.
These include parts made by the U.S. technology firm Texas Instruments, which said in a statement that it does not sell into Russia or Iran and complies with applicable laws and regulations.
To identify these components, Schemes reporters examined parts of the Mohajer-6 drone that the Ukrainian military shot down over the Black Sea near the Mykolayiv region coastal town of Ochakiv. They also reviewed Ukrainian intelligence records on the sources of these components.
The drone also contains a microchip bearing the logo of a California technology company and a thermal-imaging camera that Ukrainian intelligence says may have been produced by a firm based in Oregon or China.
Both Western officials and experts on illicit technology transfers say Iran has built a broad, global procurement network using front companies and other proxies in third countries to obtain dual-use technology from the United States and the EU.
"Exporters will look at the request coming from the [United Arab Emirates] or another third country, and they'll think that they're selling to an end user based there, when really the end user is in Iran," Daniel Salisbury, a senior research fellow with the Department of War Studies at King's College London, told RFE/RL.
In September, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions specifically targeting Iranian companies that Washington links to the production and transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia for deployment in its war on Ukraine. Fighting rages with no sign of an end more than eight months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked invasion on February 24.
"Non-Iranian, non-Russian entities should also exercise great caution to avoid supporting either the development of Iranian UAVs or their transfer, or sale of any military equipment to Russia for use against Ukraine," U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement announcing the sanctions.
Chinese Cameras, California Chips
Development of the Mohajer-6, the latest model in a series of drones Tehran has used since the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, began in 2017, while mass production began the following year. During a ceremony commemorating the Islamic Revolution, then-Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said that the new tactical drone could perform surveillance, reconnaissance, as well as help destroy targets.
Hatami extolled what he described as the drones domestic design, a portrayal echoed in later reports by Iranian media.
"The homegrown drone was made through cooperation among the army, Defense Ministry, and Quds Aviation Industries," the English-language Tehran Times quoted an Iranian military official as saying in July 2019.
The dismantling of the Mohajer-6 drone recovered by the Ukrainian military shows that the UAV is packed with foreign components.
One of these parts is a bright-orange real-time mini-camera produced by the Hong Kong-based company RunCam Technology. Documents seen by Schemes show that Ukrainian intelligence has also identified RunCam as the producer of the camera, which likely assists in remote guidance of the drone.
Founded in 2013, RunCam is involved in the development and production of so-called "first-person-view" real-time cameras. "Our users are our friends," the company's website states. The site says that RunCam has two authorized Iranian dealers.
Reached by Schemes for comment about the use of its camera in the Iranian drone deployed by Russia in its war on Ukraine, RunCam said in an e-mailed response: "We are very sorry to know that RunCam's products were used in warfare. RunCam is specialized in producing products for model aircraft hobby. We never contact any customer related to military."
The provenance of the Mohajer-6 drone-s thermal-imaging camera is more difficult to determine. A Ukrainian intelligence assessment reviewed by Schemes indicates it could be the Ventus Hot model produced by Sierra-Olympic Technologies, based in the U.S. state of Oregon, but that it also resembles a cheaper analog available for sale by the Chinese company Qingdao Thundsea Marine Technology.
Qingdao Thundsea Marine Technology said in an e-mailed statement that the company did not "have any business with Iran," because "it will affect our business." The company said it specializes in marine services and is not involved in manufacturing. It also said that it did not have a single successful order for its online advertisement of the thermal-imaging camera resembling the one recovered from the Iranian drone.
Sierra-Olympic Technologies did not respond to a request for comment on the possible use of its thermal-imaging cameras in Iranian combat drones in time for publication.
Microchips recovered from the drone also featured the logos of the California-based company Linear Technology Corporation and its parent company, the Massachusetts-based semiconductor company Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI). ADI did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment on the possible use of its technology in the Iranian combat drone.
Schemes reporters also observed among the components of the Iranian drone a voltage step-down converter produced by Texas Instruments. The company said in an e-mailed statement that it "does not sell into Russia, Belarus, or Iran."
"TI complies with applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate, and does not support or condone the use of our products in applications they weren't designed for," Texas Instruments said.
Schemes reporters also saw several components produced by the California-based technology manufacturer Xilinx, whose parent company is the multinational semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), also based in California.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, one of these Xilinx components was integrated into a video data-link module located in the wing of the Mohajer-6 that helped carry out attack missions.
"This module transmits information from the board to the missile head. That is, guidance for the missile. With the help of this module, it was possible to guide the missile to the target," a Ukrainian military intelligence representative told Schemes.
AMD did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
'No Authorization'
Previous media reports about the components of the Mohajer-6 drone, including by CNN, have shown evidence that its engine was produced by the Austrian manufacturer BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG, whose parent company is the Quebec-based Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP).
The Canadian company responded to the reports on October 21, saying in a statement that it "has not authorized and has not given any authorization to its distributors to supply military UAV manufacturers in Iran or Russia."
"As soon as we were made aware of this situation, we started an investigation to determine the source of the engines," BRP said. .
But Schemes reporters found that the authorized Rotax distributor listed on the Austrian manufacturer's website advertised itself as a Rotax aircraft engines distributor for Iran as recently as December 2020.
The distributor, the Italian company Luciano Sorlini S.p.a., has posted multiple magazine advertisements on its websites in which it describes itself as a Rotax distributor for numerous countries. Prior to January 2021, Iran was listed among these countries.
The Rotax website also lists a Tehran-based company -- MahtaWing -- as an official service center for its engines. The company, known in Persian as Mahtabal, conducts repairs of Rotax engines, including the Rotax 912 iS, the engine that was found in the Mohajer-6 combat drone recovered in Ukraine.
BRP said in an e-mailed statement on November 4 that while Luciano Sorlini S.p.a. is the appointed distributor of Rotax aircraft engines in Iran, "since 2019, no Rotax engines have been sold in Iran, and we will not sell any engines to Iran moving forward."
The Canadian company said it had "internal controls" that "significantly" restrict the sale of its products for military purposes.
"For example, the sale of any BRP product to operators with any military activity in Iran, Turkey, and Russia is strictly prohibited," BRP said. "We conduct our business in compliance with all EU, Canadian, and U.S. applicable regulations."
BRP described the Iranian company MahtaWing as a "local service center" that "offers maintenance services for previously sold aircraft engines."
Shahriar Siami of RFE/RL's Radio Farda contributed to this report.
The spiritual leader of Iran's Sunnis has written to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to express concern over "rumors" of a secret order for the speedy execution of Sunni prisoners convicted of drug trafficking.
Molavi Abdolhamid, the Friday Prayers leader of the southeastern city of Zahedan in the restive Sistan-Baluchistan Province, calls in his letter to Khamenei for "wise and fatherly" intervention into the issue.
Abdolhamid, who's been outspoken about the rights of Sunnis and the discrimination they face in Iran, appears to be referring to a recent report by a news site close to the country's reformist politicians that is making the rounds on social media.
The report issued earlier this week by Amadnews.com claims that the head of Iran's hard-line judiciary has ordered Sunni prisoners convicted of drug smuggling to be executed as soon as possible so they won't be subject to a parliament bill that proposes the elimination of the death penalty for prisoners convicted of drug-related offenses.
The report said that at least 50 Sunni prisoners could be executed as a result of the alleged secret order.
Officials have not publicly commented on the report.
"Regardless of its accuracy, the rumor has resulted in worry and concern among Sunnis," says the letter, parts of which were published on Abdolhamid's website.
Sunnis -- who constitute between 4 and 8 percent of Iran's 83 million people -- make up a disproportionately larger proportion of the death-row population due to their presence in several rural border areas where drug routes are often located and communities are often impoverished.
The parliament's bill is an attempt to reduce the large number of executions in Iran one of the highest rates in the world -- where drug traffickers account for the majority of those hanged.
Iranian laws call for the death penalty for the trafficking or possession of as little as 30 grams of drugs such as heroin or cocaine.
Critics have said the extensive use of the death penalty has done little to stop drug use and trafficking in the country, which is on a major transit route for drugs smuggled from Afghanistan to Europe.
Iranian lawmaker Hassan Nowruzi said in November that 5,000 people between the ages of 20 and 30 were on death row in Iran for drug offenses. He said the majority of them were first-time offenders.
Lawmakers supporting the draft bill reducing death sentences for drug smugglers have said capital punishment should be abolished for those who become involved in drug trafficking out of desperation and poverty.
But hard-liners in the judiciary appear to be resistant to the bill that is currently being considered by parliamentary committees.
The head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, defended the body's "tough stance" on the proposed change to the law in comments published in September. "In some cases, including drug trafficking, we're forced to act quickly, openly, and decisively," he said, while adding that the judges should not delay the implementation of sentences.
He said that in some cases "alternative punishments" could replace the death penalty while respecting "some conditions," but added that "the death penalty cannot be ruled out."
At least 977 people were put to death in Iran in 2015, mainly for drug-related crimes, according to a report by London-based Amnesty International.
Many Sunnis are reportedly among those executed, though exact numbers are not available.
Iranian Vice President Shahindokht Molaverdi came under fire from officials in March when she said that all of the men in one village in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which is home to a large Sunni population, had been executed for drug-related offenses.
The man who carried out a suicide car-bombing at an Iraqi military post in the city of Mosul last week was a British citizen who had been released from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2004, Western security sources have said.
News agencies reported on February 22 that the Islamic State (IS) militant who carried out the attack was Abu-Zakariya al-Britani, a British citizen formerly known as Ronald Fiddler.
One Iraqi soldier was killed and four were wounded in the Mosul attack. IS sources released a photograph of Britani taken shortly before the attack, and Western security sources said it was "highly likely" that Britani was the attacker.
Originally from Manchester, Britani converted to Islam when he was in his 20s. He was detained by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2002 and sent to Guantanamo.
He was released in 2004 after lobbying by the government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The Daily Mail reported that Britani was awarded $1.25 million in compensation by the British government in 2010 for alleged mistreatment while he was in U.S. custody.
The British government has acknowledged that payments were made, but has not provided details because of confidentiality agreements.
Britani later travelled to Syria and fought with the IS extremist organization.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
Ukraine has called for reform of the United Nations Security Council's structure to prevent Russia from using its veto power on the council to obstruct actions involving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
"We need urgently to reform the Security Council in order to remove the veto power abuses," said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, who chaired a meeting of the council on unresolved conflicts in Europe on February 21.
A provision of the council's charter requires that "a party to a dispute shall abstain from voting" when the council acts, but it has been "blatantly ignored," he said.
Russia used its power, for example, to block an initiative to set up an international tribunal to prosecute those responsible for downing Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in 2015 over the war zone in eastern Ukraine, killing hundreds of people.
The council should be able to address "bloody conflicts" regardless of whether one of the parties involved is a permanent council member with veto power, Klimkin said.
"It is imperative that clear proceedings are introduced for the proper implementation" of the council's abstention requirement, he said.
Russia, which maintains that it has no troops in Ukraine despite evidence to the contrary, has previously rejected as unacceptable any curbs on its veto power.
Based on reporting by Union Information Agency and TASS
BISHKEK -- The last Kyrgyz "Hero of the Soviet Union" has died at the age of 88, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
Major General Dair Asanov was awarded his title on October 1943 for heroic acts during World War II, known in the former Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War.
From 1985 until 1996 Asanov headed a national military lyceum in Bishkek, which was named in his honor in 2005.
The Kyrgyz government press service told RFE/RL that a special commission will be formed to ensure an honorable funeral service for Asanov.
A total of 75 Kyrgyz citizens were awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union title for their exemplary service during World War II.
The Associated Press is reporting that medical examiners who performed an autopsy on Russia's ambassador to the United Nations say they need more tests to determine how and why he fell ill and later died.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia's UN envoy since 2006, died on February 20 at age 64. New York city medical examiners said they need further toxicology and other tests that can take weeks.
While the examiner investigates deaths that occur by criminal violence, accident, and suicide, most of the deaths they investigate are not suspicious in nature.
Churkin's case was referred to the medical examiner's office by the hospital.
Moscow has not given a date for Churkin's funeral.
U.S. President Donald Trump sent his condolences on February 21, calling Churkin "an accomplished diplomat."
"While American officials sometimes disagreed with their Russian counterparts, Ambassador Churkin played a crucial role in working with the United States on a number of key issues to advance global security," Trump said.
Based on reporting by AP
There are new steel threads on the old Silk Road.
RFE/RL's Tajik Service, known locally as Ozodi, just reported that Uzbekistan has completed construction of the Angren-Pap railway line. It's quite a feat for Uzbekistan, especially as it was built much faster than original estimates. But it is symbolically also a sad reminder of the direction in which the five Central Asian states are heading.
The Angren-Pap connects the Tashkent area with Uzbekistan's eastern Ferghana Valley region. The line is 123.1 kilometers long; some 2,100 meters of new bridges were constructed and two tunnels, one of which is 19.1 kilometers long, were built. The project cost some $1.9 billion, some of which came from loans from the World Bank and Islamic Bank of Reconstruction and Development.
The reason for building the line? So Uzbek trains no longer need to transit through Tajikistan.
The governments of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan -- or more specifically the presidents of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan -- are not on good terms and haven't been for about 20 years.
The borders established during Soviet times left a spur of Tajikistan jutting up into Uzbekistan, partially dividing Uzbekistan's section of the Ferghana Valley from the rest of the country. During the Soviet days, the train between Margilan, in eastern Uzbekistan, and Tashkent went by way of Khujand, Tajikistan.
This line continued running after the collapse of the Soviet Union. That is how I usually traveled between the Uzbek capital and Ferghana Valley in 1992. Gradually, passenger trains have been phased out.
RFE/RL's Tajik Service spoke with Tolibboy Ashurov, a representative of Tajikistan's Sughd region, where Khujand is located, who said that even cargo trains have reduced service. In the past, "up to 4 million tons [of cargo] a year" of Uzbek freight passed through Sughd region, Ashurov said. "The transit of Uzbek goods brought some $28 million annually to Tajikistan's state coffers, but in recent years the volume of transit has dropped sharply," he added.
The new railway clearly benefits Uzbekistan. But conversely, it puts Tajikistan in a horrible situation. For one thing, Angren-Pap removes one of the few aspects of Uzbek-Tajik relations that really required some level of cooperation between the two governments since Uzbekistan needed the old line through Tajikistan to ship goods. Without this small bargaining chip, Dushanbe has no leverage to convince Tashkent to allow trains to reach Tajikistan, and all trains to or from Tajikistan must pass through Uzbekistan's territory.
That's already been a problem, for instance when Tajikistan was having construction material shipped by rail for use in building hydropower plants (HPPs). Tashkent objects to Tajikistan building HPPs on rivers that flow into Uzbekistan. Uzbek customs officials stopped and searched trains bound for Tajikistan; those with construction materials were turned back. These delays in railway traffic through Uzbekistan also led to food and fuel shortages in Tajikistan.
Sign Of The Times
So one could view the Angren-Pap line as an example of a failure of the Uzbek and Tajik governments to reach some agreement that could have kept the old line working smoothly and saved Uzbekistan nearly $2 billion. It stings a little worse realizing Uzbekistan originally planned for the project to take five years to complete but Tashkent pressed for the railway line to be completed faster and in the end it took just a bit more than two years.
This situation cannot be blamed solely on Uzbekistan. It is a failure that other Central Asian governments share. Tajikistan started construction of its own railway to bypass Uzbekistan in 2008. Turkmenistan completed a new line in 2011 that was built to bypass Uzbek territory but that was after Uzbekistan constructed a new railway to avoid Turkmen territory in 2009.
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran just launched a railway (North-South Transport Corridor) linking the three countries in December 2014. But that is the only railway line built in post-Soviet Central Asia that actually connects two Central Asian countries. All the other railways built since late 1991 were built to other countries (Kazakhstan-China, Turkmenistan-Iran, and Uzbekistan-Afghanistan) or to avoid having to transit a neighbor's territory.
It says something about relations between the five Central Asian countries.
Ozodi's Abdullo Ashurov and Farruh Yusupov of RFE/RL's Uzbek Service contributed to this report
Turkmen journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khudayberdy Allashov and his mother, Kurbantach Arazmedova, have been released from custody after spending 2 1/2 months in detention.
Sources in Turkmenistan told RFE/RL on February 22 that Allashov and his mother were released on February 15 after a court convicted them of possessing chewing tobacco and handed each a three-year suspended prison sentence.
Both are currently at home in the northern city of Koneurgench and under police surveillance. They are not allowed to use any communication tools, the sources told RFE/RL.
Allashov and his mother were arrested in December. Although chewing tobacco is illegal in the Central Asian country, the practice of using it is extremely widespread.
The arrest came weeks after another RFE/RL correspondent, Soltan Achilova, was attacked. In November 2016, officials threatened to enforce a suspended jail sentence against a third RFE/RL correspondent, Rovshan Yazmukhamedov.
In 2105, another RFE/RL contributor, Saparmamed Nepeskuliev, was sentenced to three years in prison on drug charges.
RFE/RL President Thomas Kent said, "We are thrilled that Khudayberdy is out of prison, but remain deeply concerned about our colleague Saparmamed Nepeskuliev," an RFE/RL contributor who has been held virtually incommunicado since July 2015.
"Turkmenistan has taken an important step," Kent said. "Now the government has an opportunity to establish a new standard by releasing Saparmamed and ending its unjust campaign against independent journalism."
Turkmenistan is ranked 178th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) World Press Freedom Index.
"We urge the country's foreign partners to press Turkmenistan to deliver serious human rights reforms and to uphold the right to freedom of expression," the Paris-based RSF said in a February 10 statement.
The Presidium of Russia's Supreme Court has set aside the conviction of political activist Ildar Dadin on charges of participating in multiple unsanctioned protests and has ordered his release from custody.
The presidium on February 22 ordered the case against Dadin closed.
Dadin, who has been listed by Russian and international organizations as a political prisoner, was serving a 2 1/2-year prison sentence after being convicted under a controversial law that criminalizes participation in more than one unsanctioned protest in a 180-day period.
He participated in the presidium's hearing by video-link from prison.
Deputy Prosecutor-General Leonid Korzhinek told the hearing that Dadin's conviction should be voided because there was a lack of evidence that a crime had been committed.
Dadin's wife, Anastasia Zotova, told Dozhd TV that her husband would be released when the court's order was conveyed in writing to the prison where he is being held.
"If it is done by electronic mail, he could be released within the hour," she said. "If they send it by ordinary mail, it usually takes two weeks."
Open Letter
On February 10, the Constitutional Court upheld the law itself but ordered a review of Dadin's case, saying the application of the law should be determined by "the real scale of public danger" presented by the defendant's actions.
Dadin was convicted in December 2015 and served more than one year of his sentence. His lawyers said on February 22 that they have not yet decided whether they will seek compensation from the government.
Dadin, the only person in Russia who has been convicted under the law, last year wrote an open letter alleging that he and other prisoners had been beaten and tortured at a prison in the Karelia region. He was later transferred to a prison in the Altai region.
The decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court is final.
Opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, who has announced his candidacy for the 2018 presidential election, said on Twitter that "it is important to remember that [Dadin], an innocent man, was held for a year and a half in prison and tortured."
Zotova told Dozhd TV that she welcomed the court's decision but was worried her husband might be rearrested shortly after his release.
Zotova credited international attention concerning the case as playing a crucial role in the Russian courts' decisions, saying that a similar thing happened when the Russian government agreed to release Ukrainian military aviator Nadia Savchenko last May.
With reporting by TASS, RIA Novosti, Dozhd TV, and Snob.ru
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has expressed satisfaction with Moscow's military campaign in Syria and says it has been a good test of new weapons and special-forces units.
In a speech to the lower house of parliament on February 22, Shoigu said that 162 new Russian weapons systems had been tested in Syria and that "only 10" failed to perform up to expectations.
Shoigu told the State Duma that 1,760 combat missions had been flown in Syria since Russia launched a campaign of air strikes in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government in September 2015.
He said that "nearly 90 percent" of Russia's military pilots had gained combat experience in Syria.
Western governments have criticized the Russian air campaign, saying that it has largely targeted rebels rather than Islamic State (IS) militants and has caused substantial civilian casualties.
Russia has given Assad's government crucial military and diplomatic support throughout the six-year war in Syria, which has killed some 300,000 people and driven many more from their homes.
The Russian air campaign has helped turn the tide of the conflict in favor of Assad, whose forces were under severe pressure and losing ground at the time.
Shoigu also said the mission by Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, to the eastern Mediterranean was a success despite the loss of two fighter jets. He said the experience would help avoid "mistakes" in the future.
He said Russia's special forces "have demonstrated their considerable efficiency" in the conflict and "played a key role in liquidating terrorists, destroying important enemy facilities, and directing air strikes."
The exact number of Russian troops in Syria has not been made public, but experts put the figure at around 4,000.
Shoigu did not discuss casualties in Syria, which represents Moscow's biggest military campaign abroad since the Soviet war in Afghanistan in 1979-88.
Asked by lawmakers about "information warfare" and "counterpropaganda," Shoigu said that "information-operations troops have been set up."
"Propaganda should be smart, intelligent, and efficient," he told the Duma.
The Russian campaign in Syria, where the United States leads a coalition conducting air strikes targeting IS extremists, has added to tensions with the West following Moscow's seizure of Crimea in 2014 and support for separatists fighting Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine.
Western governments say Russia is also using propaganda, cyberattacks, and other methods to interfere in politics and increase its influence abroad.
U.S. intelligence agencies said in January that they have concluded that Russia used hacking, leaks, and other methods to interfere in the U.S. presidential election in November.
With reporting by Interfax, TASS, and AP
The Russian authorities in the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea have sentenced 10 Crimean Tatars to five days of administrative arrest after convicting them of holding an illegal public gathering.
The decision came late on February 21 after the defendants were arrested earlier the same day while taking photographs and videos of a search conducted by Russian police in the home of Crimean Tatar activist and lawyer Marlen Mustafayev.
Mustafayev was sentenced to 11 days of administrative arrest on the same charges as the 10 other detainees. Mustafayev's wife told RFE/RL that police confiscated her husband's computer and some books. No explanations were given, she says.
The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group reported that the defendants were not afforded legal representation.
Russia has been sharply criticized by international rights groups and Western governments for its treatment of Crimea's indigenous Turkic-speaking, mainly Muslim Crimean Tatar population since Moscow illegally annexed the Ukrainian region in March 2014.
Arrests, disappearances, and killings of Crimean Tatars have been reported, and Crimean Tatar self-government organizations have been declared illegal.
Lawmakers in Russia's North Caucasus region of Ingushetia have approved in the first reading a bill that bans the glorification of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's legacy.
Ingushetia's parliament speaker Zelimkhan Yevloyev said that the bill approved on February 22 bans the raising of monuments and busts of Stalin, as well as naming cities, towns, villages and streets after him.
The bill also bans justifying or glorifying Stalin's actions, as well as displaying his portraits in public places or official premises.
The bill was approved a day before the 73rd anniversary of the deportation of Ingush and Chechens from the North Caucasus.
From February 23 to March 9, 1944, Soviet authorities deported almost all Ingush and Chechens -- an estimated 650,000 people -- to Central Asia, claiming they were collaborating with Nazi Germany.
As many as half of the deportees died either on the journey or due to the harsh conditions in which they were forced to live.
In 1957, the survivors were allowed to return to the North Caucasus.
Polls conducted by the Levada Center independent national pollster in January showed that almost 50 percent of Russians view Stalin favorably -- the highest number in the last 16 years.
There are about 20 monuments honoring Stalin across Russia.
Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
A lawyer for Russian opposition political activist Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. has filed request to prosecutors asking them to open a criminal case on suspicion of attempted murder.
In the request, which he posted on Facebook on February 22, Lawyer Vadim Prokhorov asks prosecutors to look into the recent suspicious illness that Kara-Murza believes might have been caused by poisoning.
Kara-Murza, 35, fell ill in Moscow on February 2 and spent several days in a medically induced coma. He was released from the hospital on February 19 and is undergoing rehabilitation abroad.
Kara-Murza's symptoms were almost identical to those he suffered in a near-fatal illness in 2015 that he believes was deliberate poisoning in retaliation for his political activities.
Russian prosecutors rejected a request to open a criminal case in connection with the 2015 incident.
Kara-Murza is a veteran liberal political activist and was a friend of Boris Nemtsov, a prominent opposition politician who was shot dead near the Kremlin in February 2015.
Kara-Murza lobbied actively in the United States for the passage of the Magnitsky Act, which imposes targeted sanctions on Russian officials believed to have been involved in human rights abuses.
Russia has embraced the buzzword "fake news" to dismiss coverage it considers unfair or flat-out wrong -- even as Western governments accuse Moscow of exploiting false and misleading news for political gain.
Now it's launched a project aimed at refuting reports it deems "false."
The Foreign Ministry this week unveiled a new section on its official website highlighting what it calls "examples of publications spreading false information about Russia."
So far, only five media outlets have landed in the ministry's crosshairs: NBC News, The Telegraph, The New York Times, and Bloomberg. Even the significantly lower-profile Santa Monica Observer, a website in California, attracted the ministry's scolding.
The ministry has kept its debunking efforts to a minimum.
In each instance, it provides a brief description of the subject matter and a one-sentence rejection that reads, "This material is used to spread information that does not correspond to reality."
Each entry also features a screenshot of the article in question decorated with a red stamp reading, "Fake."
All but one of the articles targeted by the ministry are based on either unidentified government sources or on public statements by political figures. At times, however, the Russian initiative appears to be shooting the messenger.
For example, the Bloomberg article centers on accusations by the campaign chief of Emmanuel Macron, a pro-European candidate in France's presidential election, that Russian hackers are targeting the politician.
U.S. intelligence has concluded that Russia orchestrated a hack-and-leak campaign that aimed to help President Donald Trump win the White House election in November. It also assessed that the Kremlin deployed propaganda "to Russian and international audiences" as part of the campaign. Moscow denies the allegations.
The Bloomberg piece picked up the comments from France 2 Television, which has not been dinged by the ministry's "Fake News" page. The Bloomberg story also includes a denial from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The New York Times piece highlighted by the ministry alleges that "Russia has secretly deployed a new cruise missile that American officials say violates a landmark arms control meeting." The report cites a "senior official who did not provide further details and requested anonymity to discuss recent intelligence reports about the missile" and did not indicate that the paper sought comment from Russia.
Two days after that report, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it remained in compliance with the treaty and accusing Washington of violating the accord.
The most tendentious article featured in the ministry's "refutations" section is the February 22 piece published by the Santa Monica Observer. The article leans on theories by "conspiracists on Twitter" and posits that the death of Vitaly Churkin, Moscow's envoy to the United Nations, this week came amid "suspicious circumstances."
There has been no suggestion from U.S. authorities that foul play may have been involved in Churkin's death, reportedly due to a heart attack, in New York on February 20.
The Santa Monica site itself appears to have a history of publishing dubious, or patently false, news reports.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in Moscow on February 22 that Moscow was turning the tables on the West, where officials and media outlets have repeatedly accused Russia and Kremlin-loyal media of peddling falsehoods.
"Let's swap the roles for a change -- then you'll see for yourselves how tough it is to prove your case," Zakharova said.
The issue of "fake news" took on greater urgency during last year's U.S. presidential election campaign.
Spurious reports alleging ballot-box stuffing, underground child-sex-trafficking rings, the pope's endorsement of Trump, and other incredible stories dogged Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign, and led to an explosion of fact-checking news sites and other organizations trying to debunk rumors before they spread.
Some researchers have documented how social-media sites like Facebook allowed unverified news to circulate unchecked, with others concluding that it had a noticeable effect on voters' opinions of candidates.
Since his inauguration on January 20, Trump himself has repeatedly dismissed critical media reports -- including those about alleged ties between his associates and Russia -- as "fake news."
Russia's defense minister says a replica of the German Reichstag will be built at a military-theme park outside Moscow so that young cadets can emulate their Red Army forebears who seized the iconic building in the 1945 Soviet offensive on Nazi Berlin.
Sergei Shoigu said on February 22 that the ministry would build the scaled model at Patriot Park, which the Russian military opened west of Moscow in 2015 in order to "foster civic education, create an attractive image of the armed forces, and develop a feeling of love and respect for the Motherland."
"Not full-size. So that our young cadets can storm a specific building," he was quoted by the state-run TASS news agency as telling federal lawmakers in Moscow, referring to members of a military youth group founded in 2015 under his ministry.
Shoigu denied in September that the organization was aimed at "militarizing the country."
The Soviet Red Army's 756th regiment was the first to seize the Reichstag building in 1945 during the Battle of Berlin.
A staged photograph of Soviet soldiers raising the hammer-and-sickle flag above the building after it was seized remains one of the most iconic photographs to emerge from World War II, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War.
Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has prioritized military modernization and supported youth-cadet movements.
With reporting by TASS and Izvestia
The world is becoming ever more tumultuous. But amid the general storm one country can be relied upon to maintain a sanguine -- and sanguinary -- course: Vladimir Putin's Russia.
The Russian president has, with stolid determination, taken advantage of the world's focus on the political upheaval in Europe and the United States to quietly advance his foreign-policy agenda. On January 29, after months of (relative) quiet in Ukraine, separatist forces backed by Russia launched a large attack against the city of Avdiyivka, just north of Donetsk airport in the country's east. At least four Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a single day, and the entire Ukrainian military was put on alert across the front. Since then, increased fighting and heavy casualties has again shaken faith that a cease-fire, and a permanent peace, can be established.
Putin's main foreign-policy goal is clearly the destabilization of Ukraine -- and he continues to do so while barely provoking a squeak of protest from the international community. And it appears that foreign-policy goal No. 2, Russian interference in Syria, is escalating, too.
It was almost a year ago, following a series of defeats for Western-backed rebel groups in Syria, that Putin declared that "the objectives [that were] set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished" in Syria. He would, he further announced, be withdrawing the "main part" of the Russian expeditionary force that had been deployed to the country to prop up Moscow's client, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and to protect its naval facility at Tartus.
The vow to withdraw proved premature, as Russia actually increased its presence and ramped up its bombing of Syria's rebels and civilians alike with an almost gleeful abandonment. But, on December 29, 2016, coinciding with a Russian and Turkish-brokered cease-fire following the recapture of Aleppo, Putin again ordered Russian forces to leave the region. Again the time seemed ripe. Following the regime's recapture of the rebel stronghold of Aleppo and several other key victories it was clear that Assad would not be overthrown; the rebels would not win. For Moscow it was "Mission Accomplished."
The beginning of 2017 accordingly saw what appeared to be a genuine withdrawal from the Mediterranean of a naval group led by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, announced that "in accordance with the decision of the supreme commander of the Russian armed forces, Vladimir Putin, the Russian Defense Ministry is beginning the reduction of the armed deployment to Syria."
However, right away there were signs that once again Russia was not pulling back from Syria. Shortly after that, two U.S. officials told Fox News that Russia had deployed four new fighter jets, the Su-25 (similar to the U.S. Air Force's A-10), which is used for close air support and has reinforced armor to protect them from ground fire.
Russian air strikes, it seems, are not going to be stopping any time soon.
Permanent Stalemate
The escalation is not particularly large but it is significant. As Jonathan Spyer, director of the Rubin Center for Research on International Affairs who has reported extensively from Syria and Iraq, tells RFE/RL: "Russia is there to defend the Assad regime and ensure its continuation, and it can be expected to ensure sufficient forces to achieve this goal. Russia's presence ensures that rebel victory is no longer a possibility in the Syrian war. At the same time, Russia's end goal may well not be the forcible reunification of the entire country by Assad/Iran, but rather a semi-frozen conflict in which the regime survives."
A semi-frozen conflict -- words that echo in both Syria and Ukraine.
Any idea that Assad could regain all of Syria is absurd to the point of fantasy. But this bothers his backers Iran and Russia not one whit. Both would be happy to see a loose, truncated "Assadistan" that secures Iran's land bridge to Hizballah in Lebanon, through which it can better fight Israel by proxy for geopolitical mastery of the Middle East. Russia, meanwhile, will be satisfied with securing its naval facility and proving to the world and its own people that it can protect its client; that it is the only superpower capable of winning wars in the Middle East; and that it alone is "fighting terrorism," while positioning itself as the primary peace broker. The message will be heard, as unequivocal as it is loud: Moscow is a global player once more.
The narrative does not need to be true. Because of course Russia's stated aim -- that it entered the Syrian conflict to fight jihadism, notably in its most virulent manifestation, the Islamic State (IS) group, is largely a lie. The "global war" on jihadism is perhaps the great military trope of our age. And it is both a trope that withstands scrutiny and a war that needs fighting -- unyieldingly and relentlessly. It also, however, provides the perfect cloak for a state with imperial ambitions within which to envelope itself.
As Spyer further notes, Russia has done little to fight IS. Indeed, most of its efforts have been directed against more mainstream Syrian rebel groups fighting Assad. The primary ground partners of the Western coalition in the war against IS are the Syrian Defense Forces, which is essentially an offshoot of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), plus a few others. In truth, neither the Russians, nor Assad, nor the Iranians, nor their Sunni rebel enemies are majorly involved in the war on terror in Syria.
A 'Superpower' Returns
Nonetheless, Russia's strongman will brag about how he was able to bring disparate groups to the negotiating table to seek a permanent peace. A deal will be (or has already been) cut between Turkey, Iran, the Syrian government, and perhaps even the Trump administration in the United States. In Ukraine, Russia brags that it has pushed for a diplomatic solution to that crisis through the Minsk peace process. Even if Russia were to find permanent diplomatic solutions, either in eastern Ukraine or in the Middle East, it would be only finding solutions to problems it played a leading role in creating.
With a declining economy and a population in desperate need of placation, Russia's global ambitions will almost certainly grow unchecked for the foreseeable future. Yet as the geopolitical wheels turn it is highly likely that Russia may see improved relations with the United States and several major European powers, a reward for "fixing" these crises. This is bad news for global stability and for the liberal, Western system that has largely upheld the international order since World War II, as it only encourages Russia's crimes.
But most immediately it is bad news for the people of Syria, whose suffering seems set to continue. For them, the only foreseeable future is one of more misery -- and more death.
David Patrikarakos is a contributing editor at The Daily Beast and the author of Nuclear Iran: The Birth Of An Atomic State. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Guardian, Politico, Foreign Policy, The Spectator, The New Republic, The New Statesman, and many others.
The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.
Police in Tajikistan say security forces have closed in on a former defense official who is believed to be hiding in a mountainous area following deadly attacks in and around the capital, Dushanbe.
The Interior Ministry said on September 5 that an "operation to apprehend and neutralize" Abduhalim Nazarzoda and his supporters was under way in the Romit Gorge, some 150 kilometers east of Dushanbe.
Authorities accuse Nazarzoda of leading the September 4 gun attacks and clashes that killed nine police officers and wounded six others in Dushanbe and the Vahdat district.
Police say security forces have killed 13 members of the "terrorist group" and arrested 32 others.
More than 500 weapons as well as ammunition and several vehicles were seized from the group during the operation, a police statement said.
Nazarzoda's 43-year-old brother, Mirzohayot Nazarov, allegedly also a member of the group, had voluntarily surrendered himself to government forces in Romit, police said.
Police said they had given Nazarzoda and his remaining seven or eight supporters an ultimatum to surrender.
Earlier on September 5, police officials said 150 additional troops had been deployed to Romit.
RFE/RL correspondents at the scene said at least three military helicopters were flying over the area.
Hours after the September 4 attacks, President Emomali Rahmon dismissed Nazarzoda as deputy defense minister "for committing a crime."
Nazarzoda, 51, had served as deputy defense minister since January 2014.
He had joined the security forces in June 1997 when the government and the opposition signed a peace accord to end the five-year civil war.
Meanwhile, the recently banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan rejected claims that Nazarzoda was a member of the Islamic party.
The party said on September 5 that according to Tajik law, employees of law enforcement agencies and members of the armed forces are not allowed to join political parties.
The party expressed concern over the attacks and described them as "internal problems of the law enforcement agencies."
The Interior Ministry has also said the attack in Vahdat was not connected to the beating of Umar Bobojonov, the 23-year-old victim of an alleged police beating who died from his injuries in the Vahdat hospital late on September 4.
Relatives and friends of Bobojonov, a Vahdat native, say he was targeted by police on August 28 because of his beard.
Bobojonov's case sparked outrage in Vahdat, where dozens of people gathered outside the hospital on August 31 to demand the authorities arrest the culprits.
ON MY MIND
The more Finland and Sweden cooperate with NATO, the more the security equation in the Baltic region changes.
Specifically, the Baltic states become much more defensible in the face of potential Russian aggression.
And this, of course, hasn't escaped the Kremlin's notice.
Speaking at a joint press conference this week with Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the non-aligned status of the two Scandinavian countries was vital to the "stability of the Baltic region and Europe in general."
I guess that depends on what your definition of stability is.
Now, as usual, a bit of translation is required to understand exactly what Lavrov means.
Because in Moscow-speak, the "stability of the Baltic region" means Russia's continued ability to harass and threaten the Baltic states.
But from the vantage point of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, the stability of the Baltic region -- i.e. their security -- is only enhanced by Sweden and Finland collaborating more closely with NATO.
IN THE NEWS
The Presidium of Russia's Supreme Court has set aside the conviction of political activist Ildar Dadin on charges of participating in multiple unsanctioned protests and has ordered his release from custody.
Russia has reacted cautiously to U.S. President Donald Trump's appointment of Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster as his national security adviser.
Montenegro's former prime minister has accused Russia of seeking to destabilize the Balkans following a thwarted attempt to overthrow the country's pro-Western government.
The head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has said there are still "significant" violations of the cease-fire in Ukraine and "no evidence" that either side is withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line as agreed last week.
Ukraine's president has called for new sanctions against Russia over its decision to recognize passports issued by separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine has called for reform of the United Nations Security Council's structure to prevent Russia from using its veto power on the council to obstruct actions involving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has successfully launched an unmanned Soyuz cargo rocket on a mission to supply the International Space Station.
The Associated Press is reporting that medical examiners who performed an autopsy on Russia's ambassador to the United Nations say they need more tests to determine how and why he fell ill and later died.
Moscow and Kyiv are at odds over a statement issued by the UN Security Council mourning the February 20 death of Russia's long-time envoy to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin.
Ukraine's top prosecutor says his office is investigating a previously obscure lawmaker on suspicion of treason after he presented associates of President Donald Trump with a controversial peace plan for Ukraine and Russia.
The Russian authorities in the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea have sentenced 11 Crimean Tatars to administrative arrest after convicting them of holding an illegal public gathering.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said the military neutrality of Sweden and Finland is fundamental to the security of the Baltic region.
An Austrian court has approved the extradition of Ukrainian tycoon Dmytro Firtash to the United States to face bribery allegations, overturning an earlier ruling that had said the U.S. request was politically motivated.
WHAT I'M READING
The Incredible Shrinking Foreign Minister
In a piece for BNE Intellinews, Mark Galeotti, a senior research fellow at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, looks at the diminished role of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"Russian Foreign Minister [Sergei] Lavrov, long a fixture -- indeed, legend -- in global diplomacy, has been looking testy of late, and much less in command," Galeotti writes.
"Since Crimea, he has essentially been excluded from the inner circle setting foreign policy and is instead relegated to the role of articulating and defending an increasingly untenable and incredible official line. The sight of him being openly mocked by his peers at the 2015 Munich Conference was in many ways the beginning of the end."
Weaponizing Huntington
David Batashvili, a former member of Georgia's National Security Council, has a piece in The Hill on how Russia has "weaponized" the ideas of Samuel Huntington, author of the influential essay and book The Clash Of Civilizations.
"Russians usually dont make direct references to Huntington," Batashvili writes.
"But they use the notion of civilizational conflict extensively...The arguments employed by Russias information warriors today are the same that were used 15 years ago: Islam is the enemy; the decadent West is doomed and on its way to be replaced by the Muslims, just like the Roman civilization was replaced by the barbarians; modern democracy cannot deal with these challenges; the Western political elites have betrayed their populations, dooming them to be destroyed."
Why Ukraine Needs A Cultural Revolution
Writing in Republic.ru, Vladimir Pastukhov, a visiting fellow at Oxford University's St. Anthony's College, argues that Ukraine's political culture has survived the Euromaidan and the war -- and this needs to change.
Hearts And Minds
Writing in Foreign Policy, Samuel Greene, director of the Russia Institute at King's College London, argues that Europe needs a hearts and minds policy in Russia.
This Shouldn't Be So Difficult
Chatham House's John Lough argues that it shouldn't be so hard for the West to handle Russia.
Putin The Man, Putin The Myth
Keith Gessen has a piece in The Guardian on "the many myths of Vladimir Putin."
Lessons From The Past
Jeffrey Gedmin, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, has a piece, The KGB And Me, recalling his time in communist East Germany, the tactics the KGB and the Stasi used there to compromise foreigners, and why they are relevant today.
Trump, Russia, And The Republicans
In her column for Politico, Susan Glasser asks whether U.S. Republicans will break with Trump over Russia.
The Costs Of War
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement on the anniversary of Russian troops entering Ukraine summarizing the costs of three years of war.
Georgia's Options In Abkhazia
Lolita Brayman, an immigration attorney specializing in refugee and asylum law, and Jason Pack, a researcher of World History at Cambridge University, have a piece in New Eastern Europe on Georgia's options in the pro-Moscow separatist region of Abkhazia.
Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged heavy artillery fire in multiple locations, officials in both countries said, as Russian-appointed officials continued evacuating people from the west bank of the Dnieper River amid a mounting Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
Ukraine's national grid operator, meanwhile, said on November 5 that it would increase rolling blackouts in Kyiv and seven other regions as the countrys national grid remained severely damaged by weeks of Russian air strikes.
Electricity consumption is rising across Ukraine as the weather turns colder, and energy providers have raced to do repairs, ordering planned power cuts to avoid overloads.
Ukraines General Staff said that its troops thwarted Russian attacks a day earlier in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The military also claimed that Ukrainian air defenses shot down multiple Russian and Iranian drones and two Kalibr cruise missiles. The claim could not be immediately verified.
The head of the Vynnytsya region, Serhiy Borzov, said the central region was hit overnight by Russian kamikaze drones.
Russian troops have been actively using Iranian drones in recent weeks to attack critical civilian and infrastructure objectives.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the fiercest fighting over the last week had taken place around Bakhmut and Soledar in Donetsk and that Ukrainian forces are holding their positions there and elsewhere.
He also spoke of "good gains" in the south, praising infantry and artillery brigades for destroying enemy equipment, Russian manpower.
The claims of battlefield success could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian forces have been mounting a slow, incremental counteroffensive in the southern Kherson region for weeks now, moving closer to directly threatening the Dnieper River port of Kherson, which was captured early after Russias February invasion.
In response, Russian authorities have been evacuating civilians and military troops to the opposite bank of the Dnieper.
Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russia-installed administration in the Kherson region, announced a 24-hour curfew on November 4, saying it was necessary to defend it from an expected Ukrainian attack.
The Russian military said "more than 5,000 civilians" were being evacuated daily to the east bank of the river. And Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 4 called for civilians to be moved out from Kherson.
Those who live in Kherson must now be removed from the zone of the most dangerous hostilities, Putin said in remarks broadcast on state television. The civilian population should not suffer from shelling, from the offensive, counteroffensive, and other measures related to military operations.
Russias Defense Ministry said on November 5 that troops had repelled Ukrainian attacks in in the Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson regions. In the Kherson region, which the Kremlin last month declared had been annexed, authorities reported the heaviest artillery fire in days.
Ukrainian officials have likened the departures of Kherson residents to Soviet-style deportations, though its unclear to what extent the departures are forced or voluntary. Russian officials said people were being moved to safety from the path of the Ukrainian advance.
Ukraines counteroffensives in Kherson and the northern Kharkiv region have been powered in large part by powerful Western weaponry. On November 4, the U.S. Defense Department announced another $400 million shipment of weapons and other equipment, including refurbished tanks, surface-to-air missiles, new coastal defense boats, and other items.
The announcement came around the same time that the U.S. national-security adviser, Jake Sullivan, made an unannounced visit to Kyiv to meet with top Ukrainian officials.
At a news conference later, Sullivan sought again to calm Ukrainian jitters about whether U.S. weapons would continue after the upcoming midterm U.S. congressional elections.
Polls show that Republicans are poised to take control of one, or possibly both, chambers of Congress, and a small but vocal number of Republicans have voiced misgivings about the amount and duration of U.S. aid for Ukraine.
There will be no wavering, Sullivan said at a news conference. Im confident U.S. support for Ukraine will be unwavering and unflinching.
Asked about the prospect of peace talks with Russia, Sullivan repeated what U.S. officials have said in the past: "Nothing is discussed about Ukraine without Ukraine."
"For me, the main question about these negotiations is what a just peace looks like and how it can be achieved, Sullivan said. If you look at Russian accusations, Russian actions, in particular regarding the annexation of [Ukrainian] territories, it does not really encourage negotiations.
With reporting by RFE/RLs Ukrainian Service, Reuters, dpa, and AP
Kazakhstan says neighboring Turkmenistan has temporarily closed the two countries common border, citing security reasons.
Officials from Kazakhstan's western Manghystau region that borders Turkmenistan say the border has been closed since August 4.
The officials quoted Turkmen officials as saying the measure was to last five days.
Residents of the Manghystau region are allowed to visit Turkmenistan's Balkan region without a visa for a period of five days.
It is Ashgabat's second closure of the Turkmen-Kazakh border recently.
On July 20, Turkmenistan closed the border for five days, also citing security reasons.
It is unclear if border closures by Ashgabat are related to a pair of deadly attacks on police stations in Kazakhstan in June-July that officials have blamed on terrorists.
Based on reporting by KazTAG and Interfax
The head of Turkmenistans presidential administration, Shamukhammet Durdylyev, and officials at the Ashgabat mayors office are probably very nervous these days. Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov reprimanded them at a cabinet session on April 15. A presidential reprimand is the vocational equivalent of a death sentence in Turkmenistan in the best of times, and these are far from the best of times.
Turkmenistan, which mainly exports natural gas, is experiencing difficult economic times as are all the countries in Central Asia. Added to that are concerns about increased fighting just over the border in Afghanistan, something the Turkmen government has been very reluctant to address publicly.
Someone needs to take the blame for these mounting problems, but in Turkmenistan the president is not only all-powerful, he is infallible. It is never the fault of the top man. So its been open season on officials this year, more so than ever before.
The illustrious Dr. Luca Anceschi and I were going back and forth on Twitter about these dismissals not long ago and we agreed to keep track of who and how many officials were being sacked. So Dr. Anceschi, to use a poker term, Ill open.
Palvan Taganov had been the deputy prime minister in charge of the presidential apparatus and the cabinet of ministers since September 2013. Berdymukhammedov sacked Taganov on February 5 this year, telling the fallen official, Work discipline has weakened at the ministries and departments under your supervision. Cases of bribe-taking have been observed among top level officials, especially in the structures of the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations.
And since public humiliation has long been part of dismissals in Turkmenistan, Berdymukhammedov added, You can get out right now.
Taganov was reportedly arrested a few days later. His replacement was Durdylyev, the reprimanded official at the start of this article.
And those top level officials in the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Relations?
Deputy Minister of Trade and Foreign Relations Resulmyrat Meredov was fired on February 2, before Taganov. Minister of Trade and Foreign Relations Bayar Abaev was fired on April 8 along with Economy and Development Minister Yoldosh Sheripov, and the head of the tax agency Shatlyk Khummedov. Strangely, Berdymukhammedov then said the economy had done well in the first quarter of 2016.
On March 2, Minister of National Security Guychgeldi Khojaberdiev asked to be excused from his position for health reasons, though there were already rumors he was about to be dismissed after Berdymukhammedov criticized his work in early January. He had only been in the position since October 2015, after serving as head of Berdymukhammedov's personal security service. Berdymukhammedov agreed to Khojaberdievs request, then dismissed Border Guard Service chief General Myrat Islamov, and reprimanded deputy Interior Minister Yazdurdy Soyegov and chairman of the State Migration Service Meylis Nobatov.
In early January, Berdymukhammedov sacked Labor and Social Protection Minister Bekmyrat Shamyradov and relieved Minister of Industry Saparmurat Orazmyradov in connection with the latters transfer to another [unnamed] post. During that same round of dismissals, Oil and Gas Minister Muhammetnur Halylev was also relieved of his post and the governor of Lebap Province was fired.
Justice Minister Begmyrat Muhamedov was reprimanded in mid-January but has not been sacked yet.
Among other officials who have been fired this year are head of the state statistics agency Akmyrat Mammedov (March), Deputy Prime Minister for Cultural Affairs Maysa Yazmukhammedova (April), Ashgabat Deputy Mayor G. Garaev (April), the Ashgabat police chief (February), and 12 district heads (January).
Among those with the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads are Minister of Community Services Kakageldi Gurbanov, Ashgabat Mayor Myratniyaz Abilov, and the Ashgabat prosecutor-general -- all reprimanded in February -- and the head of the counternarcotics agency, the head of state TV, radio and cinematography, and the head of the state certification agency -- all reprimanded in January.
And those are only the higher-ranking officials. Hundreds of other employees, maybe more, of ministries and state agencies and services have been fired also.
And this all happened in the first 110 days of this year. There are more than 250 days left.
Muhammad Tahir and Toymyrat Bugaev of RFE/RL's Turkmen Service contributed to this report
KYIV -- Thousands of activists have marched in Kyiv to honor protesters who were killed during the pro-European Maidan demonstrations in 2013-14 and to challenge the government.
The so-called March of National Dignity was organized by three nationalist parties -- Svoboda (Freedom), the National Corps, and Right Sector.
Activists gathered on Kyiv's central Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) early on February 22 and began marching toward parliament, where they planned to announce their demands to lawmakers, the cabinet, and President Petro Poroshenko.
Organizers have said their demands include calls for full investigations of the deadly dispersal of demonstrators in Kyiv in February 2014 and the immediate cancellation of all trade with Russia, which demonstrators called "the aggressor country."
Hundreds of police officers were on the scene.
They also plan to demand a halt to all economic ties with the portions of eastern Ukraine that are currently controlled by Russia-backed separatists.
KYIV -- Two U.S. lawmakers say the time has come for the United States to supply Ukraine with lethal weapons to better defend itself against Moscow-backed separatists, saying that a "confrontational" Russian President Vladimir Putin shows no sign of easing the pressure on Kyiv.
In an interview in Kyiv on February 22, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (Democrat-Illinois) told RFE/RL that the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have been fighting the separatists for nearly three years, has "reached a point now where we have to be honest."
"What [the Russians] continue to do in eastern Ukraine, in Donetsk, gives no indication they're backing off," he said. "We have to give to Ukraine the tools and weapons they need to protect their own people."
Durbin -- who is the second-most-senior Democrat in the Senate and sits on the Senate Judiciary, Appropriations, and Rules Committees -- noted the reluctance of former President Barack Obama's administration to provide Kyiv with lethal aid for fear of escalating the conflict.
The United States has provided nonlethal assistance, including military training. But now, Durbin said, "We have to look at the reality."
"Putin continues to be confrontational," he added.
Among other things, Durbin cited Putin's recent order formally accepting "passports" and identity documents issued by the separatists who control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine.
"That says to me he has no plans of leaving [Ukraine] soon," he said.
Russia denies involvement in the war in eastern Ukraine, despite what Kyiv and Western countries say is overwhelming evidence that Moscow whipped up separatist sentiment in 2014 and has sent substantial numbers of troops and weapons across the border to support separatist forces.
U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (Democrat-Illinois), who spoke to RFE/RL along with Durbin, said that lethal arms were necessary "because it is a new world and there's new technology out there, and [the Ukrainians] are competing against an advanced force."
Durbin and Quigley, each of whom stopped in Ukraine while on separate tours through Eastern Europe and the Baltics to voice support for the regions, said they were not satisfied with President Donald Trump's position on Ukraine.
Quigley described Trump's stance on Ukraine as "somewhat schizophrenic," adding that the president's position "depends who you are listening to and what you are watching."
Senior U.S. officials including Vice President Mike Pence and Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, have both recently delivered strong statements of support for Ukraine and called out Russia for its aggression here.
Trump has spoken admiringly of Putin and said he hopes badly strained relations with Moscow will improve, and suggested during the campaign that he would consider lifting sanctions Obama imposed on Russia over its interference in Ukraine.
Since his inauguration on January 20, he has said little about Ukraine beyond a tweet saying: "Crimea was TAKEN by Russia during the Obama Administration. Was Obama too soft on Russia?"
Durbin said Trump's administration was delivering "two different messages."
"We have the tweets of the president in conflict with statements made by the secretary of defense, the vice president, the secretary of state, the ambassador to the United Nations," he said.
He added, "We have to have consistency of message so the world knows our values and what we're prepared to stand up for."
On February 21, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called for Western states to toughen sanctions against Russia in response to Putin's order recognizing separatist-issued documents, which the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said was "incompatible" with the goals of the tenuous peace deal known as the Minsk agreements.
Durbin and Quigley said they would appeal to Congress, where they said there was bipartisan support for helping Ukraine, to do so.
Durbin praised Ukraine's fighting forces for their "extraordinary courage on the lines resisting this Russian invasion" and lauded the government in Kyiv, which he said was making progress on crucial reforms.
"There is still much work to be done," he said. "We hope they have equal commitments to stop the Russians in the east and to stop corruption in the rest of their nation."
An Uzbek journalist widely seen as a political prisoner has walked free after nearly 18 years behind bars.
Journalist Muhammad Bekjon, 63, told RFE/RL by telephone that he had been released on February 22 upon completion of his sentence.
"It's been just a half an hour since I was released from the penal colony," Bekjon said. "I am fine. Just tired. My hair has become completely white in these 18 years."
His daughter, Inna Begzhanova, posted on Facebook that his family had not seen or spoken with him during the entire time he was in prison.
"Today we heard his voice for the first time," she wrote. "It definitely feels unreal."
The Reporters Without Borders nongovernmental organization had listed Bekjon as "one of the world's longest-held journalists."
Bekjon was editor in chief of the opposition Erk (Freedom) newspaper until he was forced to flee abroad in 1994.
The newspaper was published by the opposition Erk party led by Bekjon's brother, Muhammad Solih. Solih had to flee Uzbekistan for Azerbaijan in 1993 and later settled in Turkey.
In 1999, Bekjon was kidnapped in Kyiv, Ukraine, and brought to Tashkent, where he was convicted of being involved in an alleged terrorist attack targeting then-President Islam Karimov.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, a term that was later reduced by three years.
Bekjon denied the allegations and denounced them as politically motivated.
In 2011, just one month before his release, his prison term was prolonged by four years and eight months for alleged "violations of the penal colony's regulations."
Other Prominent Prisoner Releases
Uzbek strongman Karimov died in 2016. His successor, President Shavkat Mirziyaev, has been releasing political prisoners, which has been seen as part of a policy of gradually reducing authoritarian control in the county.
Pioneering Uzbek banker Rustam Usmonov, 69, who was widely viewed as a political prisoner, was released on February 15 after serving 19 years in prison.
The Kyrgyzstan-born Usmonov became the owner of Uzbekistan's first private bank, Rustambank, in the wake of the 1991 collapse of the communist Soviet Union. He was one of the leading tycoons in Uzbekistan at the time.
He was convicted of extortion and illegal currency-exchange operations and sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1998.
In 2012, his prison term was prolonged by five years for what the authorities said was "bad behavior while in custody."
Relatives and rights groups say Usmonov's imprisonment was politically motivated.
In November, former lawmaker Samandar Qoqonov, 72, was released after serving 23 years in prison.
Qoqonov, dubbed by his supporters "Uzbekistans longest-held political prisoner," was arrested in July 1993. His supporters say the embezzlement case against him was politically motivated.
In October, Qoqonov's prison term was prolonged by another three years and five days due to "violations of the penitentiarys internal regulations," but that ruling was revoked days later.
The release of the three men was a significant departure from the common Uzbek practice of extending prison terms in political cases.
Uzbekistan's Central Bank is expected to introduce a new 10,000-som banknote "in the nearest future" to make everyday cash payments easier.
A spokesperson for the bank told RFE/RL on February 21 that Uzbek lawmakers had approved the introduction of the new largest-denomination banknote the previous day.
It will be worth about $3, according to the official exchange rate, or $1.60 on the black market.
The parliamentary resolution, however, does not say exactly when the new bill will come into circulation.
Currently, the largest-denomination banknote in Uzbekistan is worth 5,000 soms and was introduced in July 2013.
Uzbek economist Tohir Sobirov told RFE/RL that it may be necessary to introduce 50,000- and 100,000-som banknotes to really address the cash-payments problem.
Zum Auftakt der Ausgabe informiert Simon Arch , Marketing Director AEG ID , in der Cover Story uber die Digitalisierung des Produktlebenszyklus mit passiver RFID Technologie.
die neueste Ausgabe von RFID im Blick ist gespickt mit Innovationen, Use Cases und Success Stories rund um die Themen Logistik, Supply Chain, Smart City und Wireless IoT Technologien.
Vorherige Ausgaben
RFID & Wireless IoT Technologien und Anwendungen
Das Fachmagazin RFID im Blick kombiniert Wireless IoT-Know-how von Branchen-Insidern, Forschern und Entwicklern in Technologieartikeln mit exklusiven Use-Case-Stories direkt berichtet von den Anwendern.
Der inhaltliche Fokus wechselt von in jeder Ausgabe und setzt technologische Entwicklungen und Use Cases aus den Sektoren Automotive-Industrie, industrielle Produktion, Logistik und Supply Chain, Handel, Medizinindustrie, Consumer IoT und weiteren umfassend in Szene.
Das betrachtetet Losungsspektrum deckt die wichtigsten Technologien im wireless IoT ab: RFID, NFC, BLE, LPWAN, IWLAN, Mobilfunk von GSM bis 5G, Sensornetzwerke... und vieles mehr! Ein Groteil der Beitrage wird von unserer technologisch und journalistisch versierten Redaktion uber exklusive Interviews und Vor-Ort-Gesprache erarbeitet.
By Lisandra Paraguassu
BRASILIA, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Brazil's Forjas Taurus SA , the largest weapons maker in Latin America, shipped guns to the son of a known arms trafficker in July 2015, three months after the United Nations imposed an arms embargo on his allies in Yemen's civil war, according to a U.N. report released last week.
The U.N. document cited and expanded upon a Reuters report in September that detailed the charges in Brazil against former executives at Taurus who allegedly shipped handguns in 2013 to Fares Mohammed Hassan Mana'a, a Yemeni arms smuggler sanctioned for dealings around the Horn of Africa for more than a decade.
U.N. experts on the conflict in Yemen said an investigation turned up several red flags in the sale of the handguns, which were registered for use in Djibouti but allegedly destined for black markets in the region.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia seized an arms shipment in November 2015 before it got to Djibouti, on suspicion the arms were bound for Houthi forces fighting a Saudi-backed coalition in Yemen, according to the report.
"Had Taurus ... exercised due diligence then they would have identified aspects of this arms purchase that were suspicious in relation to the targeted arms embargo on Yemen, and could have stopped the shipment," wrote the experts.
Responding to the U.N. report, the gun maker told Reuters in an email that the transaction followed all protocols required by Brazilian and international law, and the company halted any further shipments involving Djibouti after learning of concerns about the deal.
"Taurus had no grounds to distrust the buyers," it said.
The U.N. report questioned why an end-user certificate from Djibouti cleared the transfer of up to 80,000 pistols to the Ministry of Defense, when the country's armed forces consist of just 16,000 active personnel and 9,500 reservists.
Investigators also said the company listed as importer on the certificate appeared on none of the shipping, financial or legal documentation for the arms transfer. Instead, the report said, Taurus worked with Itkan Corporation for General Trading, a Yemeni firm owned by Adeeb Mana'a, son of the arms trafficker.
Story continues
The transfer was "designed to circumvent normal security and customs controls," the UN report concluded.
The U.N. experts said they could not find a valid address for Itkan in Djibouti, nor did the government there respond to a request for the company's registration and banking details.
Brazil's Defense Ministry and Djibouti's Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment about the U.N. report. The Mana'a family and Itkan Corp could not be reached for comment.
Taurus told Reuters it did not know why Itkan had been selected as an intermediary for the shipment in Djibouti and it was unaware at the time of restrictions against the company or its owner.
Taurus also said it had not taken part in any efforts to evade security controls and has since reinforced internal controls to avoid similar situations. Taurus noted that the April 2015 Yemen arms embargo was not implemented in Brazilian law until July 2016.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing and additional reporting by Brad Haynes; Editing by Toni Reinhold)
A United Kingdom-based equipment company that supplies Rolls-Royce North America is opening a facility in Hanover County that is expected to employ 10 people, with the potential for future growth.
Pryor Technology Inc. has leased a 5,000-square-foot production site at 303 Ashcake Road in the Hanover Business Center, the Greater Richmond Partnership announced on Wednesday.
The company makes equipment and software that its customers, such as aerospace and automotive companies, use to mark components that need to be traceable. A major customer is Rolls-Royce, a British company that opened an aircraft components manufacturing plant in Prince George County in 2011.
Pryor Technology has been exporting its equipment to the U.S. for more than 30 years and expects that the new facility in Hanover will improve its customer service, said Alastair Morris, the companys vice president, in a statement.
They will move either one or two people over from the U.K., and everybody else will be hired stateside, said Barry Matherly, president and CEO of the Greater Richmond Partnership, a regional economic development organization. The expectation is that Pryor will grow and add more jobs as Rolls-Royce does, he said.
Matherly first met with company representatives in February 2015 during a trip to the U.K. to promote the Richmond region to companies there. Company officials visited the Richmond region in April to look at real estate options. The company considered several other states for a location, according to the Greater Richmond Partnership.
Founded in 1849 in Sheffield, England, Pryor also has operations in France and India.
Hanover County Economic Development worked with John Carpin, Malcolm Randolph and Jimmy Martin with CBRE|Richmond to complete the deal for the lease with Baker Properties.
Richmonds Planning Commission unanimously advanced Bombolini Pastas request to open a distillery and tasting room in its Fan District storefront.
As planned, it would not be a large venture: Only a 512-square-foot portion of the building would be dedicated to distilling, along with another small retail area for tastings, according to the companys application for a special-use permit.
No one spoke at Tuesdays public hearing, but Bombolini submitted a petition of support signed by more than 200 people. Additionally, the Uptown Association, the neighborhoods civic group, provided a letter of support.
One person submitted a letter opposing the distillery, citing the possibility of explosions and fumes.
Jeff Geiger, a lawyer representing Bombolini, said the pasta company plans to operate a state-of-the-art steam distillery system monitored by a computer with safety features.
In other action, the commission declined to weigh in on a dispute over the unexpected removal of about a dozen trees in the ongoing renovation of Monroe Park. The panels chairman took a similar stance to the position voiced by the citys Urban Design Committee this month when it was faced with similar concerns: that enforcement issues are outside the commissions purview.
Richmond City Councilman Parker C. Agelasto and several residents of nearby Oregon Hill have asked the committees to take a stand against a new tree-removal plan that was put forward only after trees not slated for removal in the initial plan had already been cut down.
Architects working on the project have said the plan was changed because of the amount of time that elapsed between its 2009 approval and the beginning of construction last year.
The latest storms hitting California have caused flooding, levee breaks, sinkholes and concerns about the state's dam safety.
Rain continued in some areas Tuesday even as a new storm was forecast to bring more rain next weekend.
The storms were the result of what's known as atmospheric rivers, which produced floods up and down the state and heavy winds that led to several weather-related deaths. There also have been broken levees and other stresses to the state's aging flood-control systems.
"You've got some levee breaks here and there but you always have those when you get heavy flooding," said Doug Carlson, a spokesman for the California Department of Water Resources. "The infrastructure itself is not compromised in a significant way, except for the Oroville [Dam spillway] problem."
Even so, money that could have been used to modernize the state's water infrastructure and build more water storage has been held up due to red tape at the state level that requires a lengthy regulatory and bidding process.
In 2014, California voters approved a water bond (known as Proposition One) that authorized about $7.45 billion in spending, but as of this week $7.39 billion had not been issued, the state Treasurer's office told CNBC on Tuesday. (The state clarified late Tuesday it is relying on commercial paper notes to get cash for Proposition One projects until a decision is made to sell bonds to pay off the notes.)
The state is still finalizing regulations for the water storage portion of the Proposition One state water funds and there's no firm date for when the first projects will be completed since several additional hurdles remain.
"It is a long process to go through," concedes Joe Yun, interim manager of the California Water Commission's water storage investment program. "The regulations had to include a lot of different things."
The state water commission has control specifically over about $2.7 billion worth of Proposition One funds, or what's known as Chapter 8 money for water storage projects that improve the operation of the state water system. Regulations were adopted in December 2016 for the Chapter 8 money and currently those rules are going through a review process before the state solicits applications for water projects.
Story continues
Some lawmakers have been critical of the delays in putting the water bond money to work.
"Incredibly, the 2014 Water Bond was passed three years ago but there still isn't a single project listed on the state website to use the funds," said State Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach, California). "It has been over two months since Proposition One money could be spent and still not one project is shovel ready."
Allen added: "With Jerry Brown's constant calls for 'shower cops' and telling Californians to kill their lawns one would think that the state would have broken ground January 1st. Instead of our state fixing our water system and capturing more of this valuable rainfall from the recent historic storms, Californians are now watching our dams crumble and trillions of gallons of water go down the drain thanks to Jerry Brown's inexcusable record of inaction."
CNBC reached out to Gov. Jerry Brown's office for comment. The governor's office forwarded a request for comment to the California Natural Resources Agency.
Agency spokesperson Nancy Vogel said it's inaccurate to suggest the Proposition One water bond money authorized by voters isn't being spent. She said in an emailed response there are funds being spent on projects around the state to make California's "water systems more resilient and reliable and help restore important ecosystems."
Still, she confirms the Chapter 8 money hasn't been awarded for projects. "Through a competitive process, the [California Water] Commission intends to award early funding for permitting and environmental documentation in 2018."
Meantime, repairs at Oroville Dam could exceed $200 million and it's still unclear if the federal government will help with the bill. The state has been repairing the damaged emergency spillway at the Northern California reservoir and also has to address the erosion problem on the dam's primary spillway.
The Oroville reservoir fell to 50 feet below its elevation capacity early Monday after water outflows since last week helped lower the lake's levels. The reservoir, the state's second largest, is expected to rise due to the rains but officials say it remains at safe levels from a flood-control standpoint.
Precipitation levels in the state's Northern and the San Joaquin Valley regions are now more than 200 percent of normal for the water year to date.
San Francisco topped its average rainfall for a full season as of Tuesday morning, coming after the latest series of powerful winter storms. And lingering showers were forecast for the Bay area into the evening, according to the National Weather Service.
Also, many of the state's reservoirs are far and above their historical averages for this time of year.
Shasta Lake, the largest single reservoir in California, is at 127 percent of its average capacity, and three reservoirs in the state were at more than 100 percent of capacity as of noon Tuesday Antelope, Englebright and Pardee.
The Don Pedro Reservoir in Stanislaus County reached 830 feet elevation Monday, activating its spillway for the first time in 20 years. The reservoir remained at 828 feet Tuesday morning, with outflows continuing to go into the Tuolumne River and raising concerns of flooding in Modesto.
"They are trying to operate in a non-damaging stage to the town of Modesto," Mitch Russo, intelligence chief with the California Department of Water Resources' flood-operations center said Tuesday.
Lake Comanche, which is about 70 miles northwest of Don Pedro Reservoir, also was quickly filling up and could spill Wednesday, according to Russo.
Russo said no flooding was expected due to Comanche since the water outflows are not likely to exceed the current levels from the facility's hydropower facility. "They will back up off the powerhouse to zero and then let the spill occur," he said.
To the east, there were low-lying areas along the Coyote Creek in San Jose that were flooded and the city's fire and police were helping trapped residents with evacuations Tuesday. And further south, areas along the Carmel River in Monterey County experienced overflowing that led to evacuations.
In Central California, a levee breach in the town of Manteca in San Joaquin County forced the evacuation of several hundred people Monday night. It was still in effect Tuesday morning as crews worked to repair a levee on the San Joaquin River as rain continued to fall.
As for Southern California, Friday's intense storm dropped as much as 6 inches of rain in 24 hours in some areas and precipitation continued well into the holiday weekend. Tuesday also produced light rain in some areas of the region.
Major L.A.-area freeways and streets experienced flooding from Friday storm and crews over the weekend were still struggling to remove trees downed from the heavy winds. Fire crews also rescued motorists along flooded streets in several L.A. areas, including Sun Valley.
One death in the L.A. area was blamed on electric wires falling during heavy winds from the storm and another fatality occurred about 80 miles northeast in the Victorville area when a motorist became trapped during a flash flood.
A 30-foot sinkhole appeared in L.A. community of Studio City that swallowed two cars Friday night. Officials blamed it on a sewer line problem.
Finally, a mudslide in Santa Barbara caused Amtrak rail service to be suspended Saturday morning between San Luis Obispo and L.A.
Story updated to include response from California Natural Resources Agency, which commented on behalf of Gov. Jerry Brown's Office.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoneys office said late Tuesday that the mayor had accepted the resignation of an executive assistant with a criminal record after it became public that the man had been found guilty of a probation violation for sending threatening text messages.
On Monday, Stoney said he hired Steven Hammond Jr., who was convicted of embezzling $240,000 from the state in 2015, because he believes in redemption.
But Stoney said Tuesday that he was not aware Hammond was called back before U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. in February 2016 after telling the mother of his children in a series of text messages that he was headed to her house and, The next time I see you, Im going to punch you in your (expletive) face.
Federal court documents show that the woman obtained an emergency protection order against Hammond in January 2016 after Hammond sent the messages and called her 42 times over the course of about 40 minutes.
At a subsequent hearing last February, Hammond pleaded guilty to the violation.
In a statement released by Stoneys office, Hammond apologized to Stoney for not being more forthcoming:
I have made mistakes in my past that I am not proud of, and the words I used in the disagreement with the mother of my daughters are inexcusable, he said. Thats not who I am today.
Stoneys press secretary, Jim Nolan, said in a statement Tuesday that Stoney was disappointed by the revelation.
There is never an excuse, no matter the circumstances, for threatening violence, Nolan said.
The mayors office described the executive assistant position, which it said paid about $45,000 annually, as primarily clerical. Hammond often accompanied Stoney to public events in the role and took notes for the mayor.
Stoney had defended his decision to hire Hammond while he was still on probation for stealing money intended for substance abuse education. At the time, Hammond was working as a program coordinator at the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Stoney, who in his prior position as secretary of the commonwealth was a champion of felons rights restoration, worked throughout his public service career to advance the idea of restorative justice, Nolan said Monday. And Steves hiring demonstrates that he practices what he preaches.
The woman to whom he sent the threatening text messages, Kia Clarke, declined to speak to a reporter, but in an email said she has forgiven him and called him a great father.
As most relationships encounter challenging times, we have also had our own in the past, she said. We work well together as co-parents, and are working to have a better relationship for the sake of our girls. Steven has made his share of mistakes as we all have, but each day hes working toward being a better person.
According to a transcript of the probation violation hearing, Gibney expressed surprise at seeing Hammond back in court, though neither he nor the prosecutor handling the case seemed to consider Hammonds violation to be a serious transgression.
I have got to say, you know, you came in here for your sentencing, you had half the political leadership of Henrico County here for you, he said, referencing the high-profile support Hammond received from Henrico Board of Supervisors member Tyrone Nelson, Del. Lamont Bagby and University of Virginia Rector George K. Martin.
And I have got to say that I cut you an enormous break on this case. Absolutely enormous. I mean, you stole a couple hundred thousand dollars, wasnt it? So I did not expect to see you back.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas A. Garnett characterized the messages as mildly threatening and suggested Hammond get a suspended sentence.
Essentially, we would just ask the court to give Mr. Hammond a very stern talking to, Garnett said.
Gibney agreed, telling Hammond that sending threatening messages is really not a good idea to do in the short run or the long run.
Its not good in the short run because you wind up here doing things like this, he said. And it is not good in the long run because you and your former girlfriend, or whatever, have, you know, dozens of years that you are going to be together at baptisms and birthdays and all that kind of thing, and you need to bite your tongue.
At the same hearing, Hammond had the restitution he was sentenced to pay on the $240,000 he embezzled reduced from $150 per month to $50 because he was struggling to make ends meet working part time as a legislative aide for Bagby and part time in the stockroom of a shoe store.
Gibney told Hammond, who according to court records filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection this past November, that he needed to find a better job.
Why dont you see if Mr. Bagby can help you find a better job? Gibney said. Bagby said this week that he was among those who recommended Hammond to Stoney.
The Court of Appeals of Virginia has reversed a decision in the case of a Roanoke man who was ordered to serve six decades in prison, ruling that his right to a speedy trial was violated.
Just over two years ago, in October 2014, Raymond Louis Harvey Jr. was charged with shooting Jason Stockton outside a northwest Roanoke convenience store. Stockton was shot in the back and survived, but the slug splintered pieces from his spine. He suffered damage to the nerves in his lower body, and to his liver and colon.
At a trial the following summer, jurors found 38-year-old Harvey guilty of attempted murder, aggravated malicious wounding and two firearms offenses. He was sentenced to 63 years.
Earlier that year, the trial had been formally continued on two occasions from February until April by agreement from both sides, and then again from April to June 12 at the prosecution's request.
During the April hearing, defense attorney Sarah Timmers objected on the record to the continuance.
Yet later in the hearing Timmers also seemed to agree with Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney John McNeil's statements to the judge about the new trial date. She said "yes" as McNeil told the court they'd settled on a June 12 date and said "yes" again after he stated that day would fall within the five-month statutory limit for a speedy trial.
On June 5, 2015, however, a week before the trial, Timmers filed a motion to dismiss the indictments against Harvey, claiming he had been denied his right to a speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment. Judge Clifford Weckstein heard arguments about the timing, reviewed the recording of the April hearing and ultimately denied Timmers' motion.
In October 2016, Harvey's new attorney, Suzanne Moushegian, presented oral arguments regarding that motion before a three-judge panel of the appeals court.
This week, Judge Rossie Alston issued a 16-page opinion on the matter. He said he found Timmers' "yes" statements "vague and unstructured" and said their exact interpretation could not be verified. But citing Timmers' on-the-record objections, he also determined that Harvey "did not waive his right to a speedy trial."
"We hold that the trial court's denial of appellant's motion to dismiss the indictments was reversible error," Alston wrote in his Feb. 21 opinion. "We hold appellant's convictions violated the speedy trial statute and we reverse."
One of the three judges took an opposing position. Judge Robert Humphreys submitted a short dissenting opinion, allowing that a speedy trial is the responsibility of the Commonwealth and the circuit court and not the defendant or his counsel, but finding that Timmers' "'random yeses' were anything but random and, indeed, constituted affirmative acknowledgments that [she] concurred."
He later added: By agreeing with the Commonwealths factual assertion that the suggested trial date was within the statutory time limit, Harvey acquiesced in the error he now complains of and therefore has waived appellate consideration of that error on appeal.
The office of Virginia's attorney general has 14 days from the date of the opinion to request a re-hearing, or 30 days to appeal to the state supreme court. It was unclear Wednesday what course if any the state will take.
"Even though this is a phenomenal result, it's not really 'game over' for the attorney general," Moushegian said.
She said she currently does not intend to seek an appeal bond for Harvey, who is being held at Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn. She said she sent him a letter this week informing him of the change in his case.
(Corrects FEB 21 story sourced to media report after bank says is thinking of making Germany a hub for sales and trading in the EU, not its European headquarters for investment banking)
FRANKFURT, Feb 21 (Reuters) - U.S. bank Citigroup may choose Frankfurt to become its hub for sales and trading in the European Union, the lender said on Wednesday, adding it may move "a couple of hundred" jobs outside of London after Brexit.
The comments were in response to an article in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which said Citigroup was considering moving jobs outside of London, quoting James Cowles, Citi's Chief Executive Officer for Europe, the Middle East & Africa (EMEA).
The bank will be making a decision in the first half of this year, the paper said.
"Germany is among our favourites," Cowles was quoted as saying. He also said the professionalism of regulator Bafin and the availability of highly qualified staff added to Frankfurt's attractiveness.
Britain's decision to leave the European Union will likely make it harder to do pan-European business out of London, Cowles was quoted as telling the newspaper. In Frankfurt, Citi has around 370 employees, FAZ said.
(Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Jane Merriman)
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 22, 2017 / Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) will be the opening keynote March 6 at the Third Annual California Cannabis Business Expo, March 5-8 at the Sheraton Marina, San Diego. An opening night reception will be held March 5 for Rohrabacher, who has been a staunch supporter of legal cannabis.
On Feb. 8 Rohrabacher introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives designed to resolve the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws and would allow states to determine their own marijuana policies.
Known as the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act, it exempts individuals and entities from certain provisions of the Controlled Substances Act if they are acting in compliance with state marijuana laws. This is the third time that Rohrabacher has introduced the bill. Twenty of his colleagues in the House, including seven Republicans, co-sponsored the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2015, which was introduced in the 114th Congress.
"Congressman Rohrabacher has been a staunch supporter of legal cannabis and we're delighted to welcome him to our event," said Randy Shipley, MJIC Media President. "We look forward to hearing his thoughts on the future of the industry."
Rohrabacher will be introduced by NORML founder and cannabis activist Keith Stroup at the 1:00 PM session on March 6.
About MJIC
MJIC is a diversified cannabis holding company, leading the industry in defining legal cannabis operations by developing compliant products, systems and programs for licensing, design and construction, operational best practices and expert financial and regulatory consulting designed to position MJIC distribution businesses for lawful and efficient operations. MJIC then packages and markets these systems and services to the entire supply chain. The MJIC Distribution subsidiary is a municipally licensed distribution company, positioned for state licensure and state wide operations, including brand and product development selling for and to growers, manufacturers and dispensaries. MJIC media operations markets its partners and clients through MJIC media events, and deploys recognized industry leaders in trade shows, magazines and its online assets such as www.marijuanaindex.com for the total compliance experience. For more information, visit www.mjic.com.
Story continues
Media Contact:
Kristin Fox
kristin@mjic.com
708-267-2584
SOURCE: MJIC, Inc.
A Chevron gas station sign is seen in Del Mar, California, in this April 25, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
By Chen Aizhu and Ruma Paul
BEIJING/DHAKA (Reuters) - China's state-run Zhenhua Oil has signed a preliminary deal with Chevron (CVX.N) to buy the U.S. oil major's natural gas fields in Bangladesh that are worth about $2 billion, two Beijing-based Chinese oil executives said.
Zhenhua is a subsidiary of China's defense industry conglomerate NORINCO. A completed deal would mark China's first major energy investment in the South Asian country, where Beijing is competing with New Delhi and Tokyo for influence.
Bangladesh, though, holds the right of first refusal on the assets and could block the transaction. The country, via its national oil company Petrobangla, is keen to buy the gas fields and is talking to international banks to raise financing, according to a banking source familiar with the process.
Bangladesh is in the process of hiring global energy consultant Wood Mackenzie to assess the fields' reserves before placing a formal bid to buy the assets, two Bangladesh sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The Bangladesh sources said they were not aware of Zhenhua Oil's competing interest in the Chevron fields.
"As this project is in the process of commercial discussions, we can't comment based on our company policy," said Zhang Xiaodi, Zhenhua Oil's spokesman.
Zhenhua Oil is a small oil and gas explorer that despite its connections to China's defense industry is dwarfed in comparison to state energy giants PetroChina and Sinopec . It is trying to formalize its deal with Chevron by June, after the two companies signed a preliminary pact in January, the two senior oil executives told Reuters.
Zhenhua will partner with China Reform Holdings Corp Ltd, an investment vehicle under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). Zhenhua will hold 60 percent of the deal and China Reform 40 percent, the two executives said.
The executives declined to be named as these discussions were not public.
Chevron, in an e-mailed statement, confirmed that it was in commercial discussions on its Bangladesh assets, but would not comment further as a matter of policy.
Story continues
Chevron had said in October 2015 that it planned to sell about $10 billion worth of assets by 2017 including geothermal projects in Indonesia and the Philippines and gas fields in Bangladesh amid a prolonged slump in energy prices.
Bangladesh knows that Chevron is in talk with global companies, but has no specific knowledge about Zhenhua's interest, said Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources.
"This is Chevron's matter. We'll not interrupt but we are supposed to get the first priority," he said when asked if Bangladesh would try to block the China deal.
"We will place a formal bid only if the project is viable," Hamid said.
Chevron sells the entire output from its three gas fields - Bibiyana, Jalalabad and Moulavi Bazar, which account for more than half of Bangladesh's total gas output - to state energy firm Petrobangla under a production sharing contract.
ZHENHUA BEAT OUT CHINA RIVAL
With output and revenue slashed by low oil prices for the last nearly three years, China's state energy firms are under pressure to step up efforts to boost reserves and profits as Brent crude (LCOc1) stabilizes around $55 a barrel.
Zhenhua Oil appears to have outrivaled competing bidders by partnering with the state investment vehicle China Reform, the Chinese executives said.
Geo-Jade Petroleum Corp , an independent Chinese oil and gas explorer, was a close competitor with a bid at $2.3 billion, said one of the executives.
"Possibly because Zhenhua is a state-owned company and has the backing of China Reform, that's why it was picked by Chevron," said the executive.
Zhenhua Oil has oil and gas operations in Iraq, Kazakhstan, Syria, Myanmar and Egypt.
If the Bangladesh deal materializes, it would hand the Chinese firm 16 million tonnes a year of oil equivalent output, including natural gas and condensate, a scale that would make it China's fourth-largest oil and gas producer, the two Chinese executives said.
(Additional reporting by Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE)
In February, the International Grown Diamond Association (IGDA) has lived to be exactly one year old. However, there is no much fanfare audible - this modest jubilee has been slipped over by the industry media, regrettably. Because the birth of the IGDA has undoubtedly opened a new chapter in the history of the traditional diamond market. Maybe - the last chapter.
It is highly unlikely that today we can have doubts about the objectives set by this organization. The IGDAs website in its Education section tells the visitor - with disarming candor of an old soldier - that natural diamonds (as opposed to synthetic) mean destroyed environment, child and slave labor, blood diamonds, etc. Ah, you say the Kimberley Process? Please be so kind to view this link: The Kimberley Process is a 'perfect cover story' for blood diamonds...
So, it can be said that the IGDAs marketing experts have set themselves a well-defined task aimed at destroying the positive informational shell surrounding natural diamonds. We better be under no illusions - it is not about dividing the "spheres of influence and not about creating any special market niche for synthetic diamonds, but it is about imparting a negative consumption value to natural diamonds. The consumer must feel aversion to natural diamonds and prefer synthetics instead. This is it - nothing personal, just business.
Almost simultaneously with the IGDA creation, there occurred a mutiny in the ranks of the traditional diamond industry. The Civil Society Coalition (CSC) headed by Partnership Africa Canada decided to boycott the Kimberley Process because of its inefficiency, that is its inability to deal with conflict diamonds, child and slave labor, environmental destruction, etc. Wow, what an amusing coincidence!
This synced execution of extravaganza has unwittingly made the writer of this article turn his thoughts back to the already distant 2005, when a small real-life experiment was carried out over the eloquent representatives of the civil society in the diamond industry with the sole purpose of education.
In that year, Russia chaired the Kimberley Process and Moscow was eagerly visited by the representatives of Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada. The awareness level of these non-governmental co-founding fathers of the Kimberley Process regarding the most scrupulous aspects of the diamond business caused genuine admiration, because it was obviously not a product of analysis based on open sources or investigative journalism. And since preventive public and corporate agencies, while providing information to human rights activists, always expect reciprocity, it was extremely interesting to determine the footing of this reciprocity.
In May 2005, during our meeting with the staff of Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada we discussed the problem of rough diamond trafficking from several European countries to Armenia and further to the unrecognized "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic," where there were established diamond cutting factories. The facts of gross violation of the Kimberley Process spirit and letter were evident: rough diamonds were quite deliberately supplied to the zone of armed conflict and were involved in commercial operations, the proceeds from which were used by one of the conflicting parties.
The representatives of Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada displayed undeniable interest towards the subject under discussion (hitherto completely unknown to them). And in November 2005, a report was published under the title Making it Work: Why the Kimberley Process Must Do More to Stop Conflict Diamonds, where the data on the supply of rough diamonds into the zone of the Karabakh armed conflict were confirmed in the chapter, Weaknesses in the internal controls of diamond cutting and polishing centres. Armenia. However, the report on Armenia was fundamentally different from the African studies of Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada, as it was entirely based on open sources and had absolutely no consequences.
It was clear that the Armenian issues (unlike those African) were of no interest to the presumed influential informal partner of these human rights organizations. It remains only to add that Armenia is a consumer and not a producer of rough diamonds. And the assumption that the Kimberley Process, and especially its members represented by non-governmental organizations, were used as a tool of market regulation, can be considered as proven.
Of course, I am far from thinking that such organizations like Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada are someone's pocket NGOs created and funded purposefully for specific tasks. This process is much more flexible and versatile. But the manipulation of such organizations is possible, without any doubt.
In the meantime, it should be noted that the entire body of negative information about natural diamonds used today by the IGDA for direct promotion of synthetics is created by non-governmental organizations, which are currently functioning (or functioned in the past) within the Kimberley Process. Any expansion of the definition of "conflict diamonds," any accusation against the diamond industry of its inability to cope with humanitarian, environmental or anti-terrorism issues will be used for exactly the same purpose. Immediately and efficiently.
Sergey Goryainov, Rough&Polished
De Beers rough diamond production dropped 5 percent to 27.3 million carats in 2016 compared with 28.7 million carats in 2015, according to preliminary results for the year released by Anglo American.
However, its total revenue increased by 30 percent to $6.1 billion in 2016 from $4.7 billion in 2015, driven by higher rough diamond sales, which increased by 37 percent to $5.6 billion from $4.1 billion, a year earlier.
This, Anglo said, was attributable to a 50 percent increase in consolidated sales volumes to 30.0 million carats from 19.9 million carats in 2015, partly offset by a 10 percent decrease in the average realised rough diamond price to $187 per carat from $207 per carat in 2015.
The diversified mining group, which has an 85 percent stake in De Beers, said the drop in production was a reflection of a decision taken in 2015 to reduce production in response to prevailing trading conditions.
Debswana, a joint venture between De Beers and Botswana, was said to have maintained production at close to the previous years levels, with output of 20.5 million carats.
It produced 20.4 million carats in 2015.
Anglo said production at Namdeb Holdings eased 11 percent to 1.6 million carats from 1.8 million carats, a year earlier, with reduced output at Debmarine Namibia and lower grades at Namdebs land operations.
Output also decreased by 9 percent to 4.2 million carats in South Africa from 4.7 million carats in 2015 mainly due to the early completion of the sale of Kimberley Mines in January 2016, partly offset by an increase of 12 percent at Venetia.
It said construction of the Venetia Underground mine continued to progress, with the underground operation expected to become the mines principal source of ore from 2023.
De Beers diamond output also dropped 45 percent in Canada to 1.0 million carats in 2016 from 1.9 million carats in 2015 owing to Snap Lake being placed onto care and maintenance in December 2015.
Production at Victor fell 7 percent to 600 000 carats while development of the Gahcho Kue project was completed on schedule, with the ramp-up to commercial production expected to be reached during the first quarter of 2017, said Anglo.
Anglo also said that macro-economic conditions underpinning consumer demand for diamonds remained broadly stable in aggregate, with the US expected to continue to be the main driver of global growth in 2017.
The extent of global growth will, however, be dependent upon a number of macro-economic factors, including the new administration in the US, the strength of the US dollar impacting consumer demand, economic performance in China, the effects of Indian demonetisation, and sentiment following the main US and Chinese New Year retail season, it said.
With midstream stocks having returned to more typical levels in 2016, rough diamond demand is expected to normalise in 2017, reflecting underlying consumer and retail demand.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
Petra Diamonds said its first half revenue for the fiscal year 2017 leaped 48 percent to $228.5 million compared with $154.0 million, a year earlier.
The increase in revenue helped its half earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rise to $87.1 million from $48.5 million.
Petras adjusted net profit after tax was also up 348 percent to $28.2 million from $6.3 million during the same period last year.
It said production jumped 24 percent to 2,02 million carats during the period under review compared with 1,62 million carats, a year earlier.
Petra has achieved strong operational and financial results for H1 FY 2017, owing to the increased contribution of undiluted ore and continued stabilisation in market conditions, said company chief executive Johan Dippenaar.
the team is highly committed to maintaining momentum and continuing to achieve operating efficiencies throughout the ramp up of each project in order to accomplish our stated goal of (about) 5.3 million carats by FY 2019, whilst upholding safety as our number one priority.
Meanwhile, Petra said the execution of the groups underground expansion projects at Finsch and Cullinan continued as expected during the period under consideration.
It said both projects delivered initial production during the period, in line with earlier guidance, and both projects remained on track to deliver about 1 million tonnes each in fiscal year 2017.
The group was also on track to deliver full year production of between 4.4 and 4.6 million carats, but was mindful of the potential to be towards the bottom end of this range, due influencing factors associated with the new Cullinan plant.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
North Arrow Minerals Inc. announced it has closed the acquisition of remaining interests in the Qilalugaq and Pikoo diamond projects in Canada.
Stornoway Diamond Corporation has passed over the remaining interests in the projects to North Arrow, which now holds 100% interests in both projects.
Under terms of the property purchase agreement, North Arrow acquired Stornoway's approximate 18% interest in the Qilalugaq Project and approximate 15% interest in the Pikoo Project in exchange for 2,000,000 common shares of North Arrow. As additional consideration, Stornoway will retain 0.5% and 1.0% gross overriding royalties on diamonds and 0.5% and 1.0% net smelter returns royalties on base and precious metals mined from the Qilalugaq and Pikoo Projects.
Theodor Lisovoy, Rough&Polished, Moscow
(Rapaport) - President Trump's trade policy is based on his principles of America First and Reciprocity. The big idea is that U.S. purchasing power is valuable and the U.S. should get something for it. America must use its market power to ensure fair reciprocal benefits from trade partners. Those who do not reciprocate, should not be given free access to our markets.
Previous administrations sought to expand international trade by freely opening U.S. markets to groups of multinational trade partners. By exporting jobs and prosperity, America hoped to buy world peace and increase foreign demand for sophisticated American products. While this may have worked for many years, the current reality is that America is getting a bad deal.
Countries like China are not reciprocating and cooperating. They take us for granted. America exports jobs and prosperity to China. In return we get strategic military threats in the form of aircraft carriers, fake islands and claims to the South China Sea. Should we be supporting those who stand against us? Shouldnt we use our market power to demand reciprocal relationships that support strategic America First interests?
Trade policy gets more important as it interacts with domestic policy. Free trade is not free when it costs American jobs. While cheap imports may feel good, they destroy our ability to recycle U.S. prosperity through jobs that multiply demand. America First means American jobs must sometimes come before cheap imports even if it means higher prices.
So trade policy is not just about trade. Its about jobs, prosperity, prices, national security, and a host of other social, economic and political factors. Optimizing trade policy requires Presidential management with firm decisions about priority and balance. Trade policy must be centralized and coordinated in the face of powerful competing interests.
A successful outcome requires the establishment, communication and enforcement of President Trump's high principles of America First and Reciprocity.
Martin Rapaport
Chairman
RAPAPORT
Addendum:
Multinational Trade Agreements
President Trumps bilateral trade policies may conflict with existing multinational trade agreements. Such agreements require everybody to agree with everybody about everything. They destroy our ability to create effective bilateral trade agreements that optimize the value of our market power. Its time for the U.S, to review the benefit of multinational trade agreements and U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Office of Sen. Mike Crapo
Legislation has been introduced into the U.S. Senate that would make permanent a tax credit used to repair and upgrade shortline and regional railroads.
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) introduced the Building Rail Access for Customers and the Economy (BRACE) Act, S.407, on Feb. 16. The bills cosponsors include Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bob Casey (D-PA), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
The shortline railroad track maintenance credit, also known to as the 45G tax credit, provides shortline and regional railroads a 50-cent tax credit for every dollar spent on railroad track maintenance, up to $3,500 per mile of track owned or leased by the railroad.
The BRACE Acts introduction to the Senate follows a similar effort that began in the U.S. House of Representatives in January when H.R. 721 was introduced by Representatives Lynn Jenkins (R-KS), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Rodney Davis (R-IL) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL).
Sen. Crapo referenced the success of the tax credit in helping spur a rail expansion project in Idaho.
Last fall, I visited with Watco Companies in Burley and Boise and saw, in person, how important shortline railroads are to companies here in Idaho, added Crapo. Companies like Watco and its rail partners employ more than 150 Idahoans. Thanks to legislation like the BRACE Act, that number will increase as added shipments are utilized.
Sen. Stabenow noted the importance of shortline railroads in helping to grow Michigans economy.
I have met with farmers across the state about the problems with our rail system which they rely on to get their products to market, said Stabenow. This legislation will help make sure that Michigan has the railroad infrastructure in place to continue to grow our agriculture economy, export more products and create new jobs.
ASLRRA says the tax credit has enabled shortline railroads to increase their infrastructure investment by 180 percent from its inception in 2004 through 2015. The association notes the capital-intensive nature of the industry and says 45G has been instrumental in allowing shortlines to invest a large percentage of their earnings (24 to 35 percent) in track and bridge rehabilitation.
The tax credit has been active since 2004, going through a series of five short-term extensions-many times being extended retroactively. The most recent extension of the credit expired Dec. 31, 2016. In 2016, the BRACE Act was introduced to make the credit permanent and received a majority of sponsors in both the House and Senate during the 114th Congress.
Sens. Crapo and Stabenow recognize that the uncertainty of periodic extensions causes private investment to decline, limits investments in safety and customer service and provides uncertainty to businesses, farmers and employers that cannot be globally competitive without freight rail.
German conglomerate Bayer AG (BAYZF.PK,BAYRY.PK,BYR.L) reported that its fourth-quarter net income declined 26.1 percent to 453 million euros from 613 million euros in the year-ago period. Earnings per share decreased to 0.53 euros from 0.74 euros last year.
However, core earnings per share from continuing operations rose to 1.19 euros from 1.08 euros last year.
Group sales increased 4.7 percent in the quarter to 11.82 billion euros from 11.29 billion euros a year ago.
EBITDA before special items improved 13.7 percent to 2.18 billion euros. However, EBIT decreased 14.3 percent to 789 million euros.
Looking ahead, Bayer said it targets further growth in both sales and earnings in 2017.
The company intends to increase its fiscal 2017 core earnings per share from continuing operations by a mid-single-digit percentage, but noted that only 64 percent of Covestro will be reflected for the full year 2017.
Full-year sales of the Bayer Group including Covestro are projected to increase to more than 49 billion euros. This corresponds to a low- to mid-single-digit percentage increase on a currency- and portfolio-adjusted basis. EBITDA before special items is forecast to grow by a mid-single-digit percentage.
In 2017, Covestro is expecting an increase in sales and EBITDA before special items that is level with or higher than the previous year.
Bayer said it is also making good progress with refinancing the agreed acquisition of Monsanto Co (MON). The company has successfully implemented both the acquisition financing of $57 billion and the first equity measure in the amount of 4 billion euros.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News
Crude oil futures edged lower Wednesday morning ahead of U.S. inventories data that may show storage facilities are brimming.
The American Petroleum Institute releases industry figures today, while the EIA is out with official numbers tomorrow morning.
U.S inventories have soared to record highs over the past few weeks.
Still, oil prices have crept a bit higher as OPEC officials indicating progress toward full implementation of the cartel's supply quota plan.
"At the end of the day we are confident that all members with no exception will implement their obligation 100%," OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said Tuesday.
WTI light sweet crude oil for was down 30 cents at $53.95 a barrel, having finished at a yearly high in the previous session.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Market Analysis
US President Donald Trump has renounced escalating acts of anti-Semitism in the country, and stressed the need to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms.
After touring the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. Tuesday, the president said the anti-Semitic threats targeting the Jewish community and community centers in the US are horrible and are painful, and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.
He recalled a quote from Spottswood Rice, a runaway slave who joined the Union Army, that he believed that his fellow African Americans always looked to the United States as the promised land of universal freedom.
"Today and every day of my presidency, I pledge to do everything I can to continue that promise of freedom for African Americans and for every American," said Trump, who is the second sitting President to visit the museum.
Trump's condemnation of the anti-Semitic attacks came hours after Hillary Clinton called on the President to speak out against recent incidents.
"JCC threats, cemetery desecration & online attacks are so troubling & they need to be stopped. Everyone must speak out, starting w/ @POTUS," Clinton tweeted.
Monday, 11 Jewish community centers (JCCs) in the United States received bomb threats over telephone, all of which were turned out to be hoax.
It was the latest in a wave of bomb threats started in January. In all, 54 JCCs in 27 states and one Canadian province have received 69 bomb threats.
David Posner, director of strategic performance at JCC Association of North America, said the Jewish community in the US is concerned about the anti-Semitism behind these threats, which the FBI is investigating.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Political News
Canada based Maple Leaf Foods Inc. Wednesday said it has reached a definitive agreement with Brynwood Partner VI L.P. for the acquisition of Lightlife Foods Inc. The deal would be worth $140 million plus other costs. Light is a brand in U.S. for refrigerated plant based protein foods.
Maple Leaf said the acquisition will be accretive to its earnings in 2017.
On completion of the acquisition, Lightlife foods will become a subsidiary of Maple Leaf, a consumer protein company with several brands such as Maple Leaf Prime, Schneiders, Country Naturals, Mina, Davour. The Mississauga, Ontario based company has more than 11,000 staff members.
The acquisition, using Maple Leaf's cash on hand, will be completed in March.
Michael McCain, president and CEO of Maple Leaf said, "Consumers are increasingly looking to diversify their protein consumption, including plant-based options. The acquisition of Lightlife provides Maple Leaf with a leading market position and brand in the United States in a category that is outpacing growth in the broader packaged foods sector. We will expand our presence through investment in brand building, innovation and leveraging our respective capabilities."
In 2016, Lightlife had a market share of 38 percent in the U.S. plant protein market with total sales of around $40 million. They have facilities in Turners Falls, Massachusetts with around 100 people.
In the third quarter, Maple Leaf has recorded 70 percent growth in net earnings to C$31.8 million from C$18.7 million. Sales for the quarter improved 4.1 percent to C$852.1 million from C$818.8 million a year ago.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News
Naga People's Front (NPF) supremo Shurhozelie Liezietsu was on Wednesday sworn in as the 17th Chief Minister of Nagaland following the resignation of T.R. Zeliang.
Governor P.B. Acharya administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 81-year-old veteran leader and an 11-member council of ministers at the Raj Bhavan.
Paiwang Konyak, a BJP legislator and minister in the Zeliang ministry, was also inducted as cabinet minister.
Zeliang resigned on Sunday night, bowing to the demands of protesting tribal groups who were opposed to his move to hold civic polls with 33 per cent reservation for women.
The NPF is the major constituent of the opposition-less Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) coalition government with 48 legislators in the 60-member Nagaland assembly. Eight independents and four Bharatiya Janata Party legislators are part of the DAN government.
Shurhozelie is not a member of the 60-member Nagaland assembly. He was elected eight times to the assembly 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. Khriehu is likely to vacate his seat for his father to contest the by-election after six months.
Assembly Speaker Chotisuh Sazo has been elevated to the rank of a cabinet minister.
Besides Sazo, Shurhozelie inducted former Home Minister Imkong Imchen and G. Kaito Aye as cabinet ministers replacing Public Health Engineering Minister Tokheho Yepthomi, National Highways Minister Nuklutoshi and Forest, Environment & Climate Change Minister, Neikiesalie Nicky Kire.
Among those who have been retained as cabinet ministers from the previous Zeliang ministry are Y. Patton, Kiyanillie Peseyie, P. Longon, C. Kipili Sangtam, C.L. John, Yitachu, Paiwang Konyak, and Y. Vikheho Swu.
Initially, the NPF legislators had plans to elect Nagaland's lone Lok Sabha member, Neiphiu Rio, as their legislature party leader.
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.
On Tuesday, the NPF supremo revoked Imchen's suspension from the party after the latter tendered "unconditional apology for his misconduct and anti-party activities".
Shurhozelie has authored 42 books on poetry, novels, history, drama, translations. Several of his books are part of the syllabus in Nagaland University. He was conferred an honorary D. Litt. by the Nagaland University in 2003.
The CBI has arrested Chhattisgarh IAS officer B.L. Agrawal and two other private persons for helping him in paying Rs 1.5 crore bribe to settle a case being investigated by the agency against him, an official said on Tuesday.
The arrested persons were on Tuesday produced before Patiala House court in Delhi that sent them to five-day Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody.
The CBI on Monday arrested Agrawal, a 1988-batch IAS officer currently posted as the Principal Secretary (Higher Education) in Chhattisgarh government, his brother-in-law Anand Agrawal and a private person Bhagwan Singh, a resident of Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh.
The agency on February 18 registered an FIR against Agrawal, Singh, a Hyderabad-based private person Syed Burhanuddin and others under relevant sections of criminal conspiracy and Prevention of Corruption Act.
The CBI said that the IAS officer had agreed to pay Rs 1.5 crore to Burhanuddin as gratification for helping him in a case being investigated by the agency.
"B.L. Agrawal first approached Singh over the issue, who arranged his meeting with Burhanuddin on February 11 in Delhi. Burhanuddin told the Chhattisgarh officer that he works in the Prime Minister's Office and would easily settle the matter in his favour in lieu of Rs 1.5 crore gratification," a CBI officer said.
The officer said that Burhanuddin also assured Agrawal that he would get the case transferred from the CBI to the Chhattisgarh Economic Offences Wing.
"The public servant sent an amount of Rs 45 lakh on different dates between February 12 and 16 for its onward transmission through hawala. One Raipur-based hawala operator Sanjay Taparia and others were used as channels for the movement of the amount," said the officer.
The CBI earlier conducted searches on the premises of the accused and hawala operators at Raipur, Hyderabad, Delhi and Greater Noida and recovered Rs 20 lakh.
Opposition parties as well as some Ministers in Jharkhand have opposed the Raghubar Das government's move to sell liquor through its own outlets to generate revenue.
According to sources, three Ministers have opposed the government move to sell liquor when the issue came during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Jharkhand Urban Development Minister C.P. Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Saryu Rai and Water Resources Minister and alliance partner All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) legislator Chadra Prakash Chaudhary opposed the cabinet noting of selling of liquor by the state government.
"The state government's image will be dented after the cabinet approves the proposal," Saryu Rai reportedly said in the cabinet meeting.
Minister C.P. Singh is reported to have asked, "What is the guarantee that the state will generate more resources by running liquor shops."
The Jharkhand cabinet on Tuesday approved the proposal of the excise department that the state government would sell liquor in the state.
"The Jharkhand cabinet meeting on Tuesday gave its approval of selling liquor by the state government. Jharkhand State Beverages Corporation Ltd will sell the liquor from August 1," Avinash Kumar, state Excise Secretary, told reporters.
The Jharkhand government has taken the decision to generate more resources through selling liquor. The district administrations have been asked to find shops and make arrangements to sell the liquor.
However, liquor shop owners are protesting the state government move. In Jharkhand there are more than 1,400 liquor shops and after the state government decision more than 5,000 people will become jobless.
Opposition parties have also criticized the state government move.
"The Jharkhand government will buy land for industrialists and sell liquor. What kind of state government is this which is not bothered about the people of the state," Hemant Soren, former Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), executive president told reporters.
"(BJP President) Amit Shah during his campaign in Uttar Pradesh boasted of getting river of milk, and now in Jharkhand the BJP-led state government will sell liquor for money. The Prime Minister appreciated Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for banning liquor. Why is he silent at the Raghubar Das government's move to sell liquor," Alok Dubey, General Secretary of Jharkhand Congress, told .
At least seven people were killed and 12 wounded on Tuesday in a car bomb explosion at a crowded street in Iraqi capital Baghdad, a police source said.
The attack occurred in the evening when a booby-trapped car detonated at the Amal-Shaabi thoroughfare in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Ameriyah in western Baghdad, media quoted the source as saying on condition of anonymity.
The massive explosion destroyed several nearby shops and many stalls, along with damaging several nearby civilian cars and buildings, the source said.
The toll could rise as ambulances, police and civilian vehicles were evacuating the victims to the city's hospitals and medical centres, the source added.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, is responsible for such attacks targeting crowded areas, including markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.
Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 382 Iraqis and wounded 908 others in January across Iraq, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq said.
The attacks came as the Iraqi security forces backed by anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS militants from its last major stronghold in Iraq's northern city of Mosul.
The Malaysian police are seeking a senior official at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur in connection with the killing of Kim Jong-nam, media reported on Wednesday.
Three North Korean suspects were being sought, in addition to the previously announced suspects, and were believed still to be in the country, media quoted Malaysian Police Chief Khalid Abu Bakar as saying.
One is the second secretary in the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, whom he named as Hyon Kwang Song.
Kim, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, died last week in a possible poison attack at Kuala Lumpur airport.
North Korea has demanded that Kim's body be returned to them, and has angrily objected to Malaysia conducting an autopsy on the body, the report added.
Malaysia has cited the need to carry out an investigation as Kim died on its soil.
Both countries had enjoyed close relations, which have since become strained over the incident.
Salina working to make its parks fully accessible
As Salina looks to update and improve its parks, it's doing so with ADA in mind as it seeks to make the parks and recreation system more accessible.
Gender Stereotyping was explored in the Year 8 class of Vaiala Beach School this week following the Monday February 20th observance of U.N World Day of Social Justice.
Using classroom ideas printed in the Newspapers in Education section of the Samoa Observer, the students proved that gender stereotyping is still very common.
The students had to draw a picture of different professions and then include a symbol that went with that profession, for example Hairdresser = Scissors, Pilot = Plane.
They then had to quickly write a persons name that they thought went with that occupation. This was the interesting part.
When we shared the names, very clear patterns came out.
For example 100% of the students associated a Surgeon with being a male nearly all thought a Nurse would be female.
Again it was all of the students who thought pilots, scientist and plumbers would be jobs that men would do and jobs that were mostly associated with being female were the hairdresser and teacher.
The activity prompted an interesting discussion in the class about how these pre-conceived ideas we have can influence career opportunities in the future.
The U.N World Day of Social Justice was a great opportunity to talk about Social Justice in Samoa and in the world and what we want for the future.
LOS ANGELES (AP) A man who destroyed Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been sentenced to three years of probation for vandalism.
An attorney for James Otis says he pleaded no contest to the felony Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Attorney Mieke ter Poorten says Otis agreed to pay $4,400 for the damage and attorney's fees and perform 20 days of community labor.
Otis used a sledgehammer and pickax to deface the star about a week before Trump was elected president.
Otis said he originally planned to the steal the star, sell it and give money to the 11 women who had said Trump groped them.
The star was for Trump's work on the reality show "The Apprentice." It has since been repaired.
Dear Tai Peta,
Thank you for enlightening me about Samoas repayment of its debts. I now know. My bad.
I took a term of economics at a local institution which shall remain nameless and this is what I learnt - there is no such thing as free lunch in this world.
In applying this truism to Samoa, sooner or later Samoa will pay because we cant continue forever to ask for these loans to be written off.
Perhaps I was too literal when I said that Samoa would be repossessed.
I seem to recall the number of countries which kept defaulting on their loans and these countries went bankrupt and the international financial institutions stepped in and restructure these economies in order for the loans to be repaid. Greece is the most recent case in point. Do you want your beloved Samoa to go through that sort of pain and suffering with the Samoan tala devalued to basically nothing.
Repossession takes many different forms: for example, Samoa being strongly persuaded (coerced) to vote with the Chinese in international fora where we have a voice. Climate change negotiations is a case in point. China and Samoas views on climate change are miles apart but when it comes to voting Samoa would vote with China. Why? Work it out for yourself and then you know the meaning of the word repossessed.
Think of fishing rights in our territorial waters. It is not hard to imagine a situation where China might gently persuade (NOT) Samoa to offer fishing licences to fleets of fishing boats belonging to the friends of China. Can we say no to that? Work that out for yourself and then you start to know the meaning of repossession.
A letter from a palagi talked about land set aside for the Chinese. If that is not repossession then I dont know the meaning of that word.
The other thing I learnt from my term of economics is that everything has an opportunity cost.
Those loans coming to Samoa could have been spent by the Chinese on its own people or somewhere else where it can earn a return.
So, unless the Chinese have this feeling of great satisfaction in losing its taxpayers money to Samoa, then I humbly suggest that you reconsider the meaning of the word repossessed and re-read those ABC Australia articles.
Have a great day mate.
Vai Autu
Authorities in Samoa have taken a major step in the fight against financially -motivated crime and terrorist financing.
It follows the release of the National Policy on Anti-money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing (A.M.L./C.T.F.) together with the National Strategy on A.M.L./C.T.F.
According to a statement issued by the Central Bank of Samoa yesterday, the step is a milestone in the governments progress in this endeavor.
Money laundering is the process of making money, or assets, obtained illegally appear as though they came from a legitimate source.
It is a crucial process for criminals if they wish to enjoy the fruits of their crimes unbothered by the police or taxman, the statement reads.
The lifeblood of terrorism is money, and, while individual attacks often dont cost a great deal, the support networks that assist, facilitate and inspire such attacks require significant sums.
Disrupting the funding of terrorist networks has proven an effective method of reducing the incidence and impact of terrorism worldwide.
The statement continues:
As Samoa increasingly plays a role in the international trade and financial system, so the requirement to ensure that our banks, lawyers and financial systems are not misused by international criminals and terrorists also increases. Furthermore, as the sophistication of the financial system increases, so do the opportunities for local criminals to launder their ill-gotten gains, emboldening them to commit further crime.
The National A.M.L/C.T.F. Policy is the high-level document that enunciates the means by which these multiple threats will be addressed.
The National Strategy, in concert with the Policy, describes the concrete steps that will be taken over the next four years to both bring Samoa further into line with international A.M.L./C.T.F. requirements and to address unique local challenges.
For the people of Samoa, these documents describe the means by which the government and local authorities are addressing the everyday harm caused by fraud, corruption, drug offending, tax evasion and organised crime groups.
They also describe the steps being taken to ensure that the international community do not, in future, feel the need to sanction Samoa for perceived inadequacies in our A.M.L/C.T.F. systems.
The National AML/CTF Strategy and Policy are accessible on the Central Bank Website at:
http://www.cbs.gov.ws/index.php/banking-system/amlfiu/national-policy/
http://www.cbs.gov.ws/index.php/banking-system/amlfiu/national-strategy-2016/
A businessman has had enough of what he described as the Electric Power Corporations pathetic excuses.
Yesterday, a fed up Tauiliili Joseph Fruean, contacted the Samoa Observer to vent his frustrations after going without electricity for a few days.
On Monday, Tauiliili who runs an accommodation business at Lelata, had waited for E.P.C. to remove some tree branches from the electrical lines which had killed his power supply.
They never showed up.
Tauilili said it was only after they were told the Samoa Observer reporter was on her way they showed up.
When the Samoa Observer arrived, the E.P.C. team was already there.
But Tauiliili was beyond madness.
He was furious about how long it had taken to do what should have otherwise taken only a few minutes.
When the power was knocked out, Tauiliili said they had guests.
My power is off, he told the E.P.C. team.
I have fourteen guests at this accommodation. So if the food and everything in the fridge becomes bad, are you going to pay for it?
Tauiliili said he had warned the E.P.C. about the tree branches.
The first time E.P.C. came here, I told them to cut down those trees that are close to the power lines and they said not to worry about it.
Now look at what has happened.
The businessman is sad saying many people suffer because of this attitude.
If I wasnt doing any work right now, I wouldve gone and seen the Minister. Im a hard working person so I need things like these to be done right.
Tauiliili said his children contacted E.P.C. on Monday and no one bothered to turn up. He said if he didnt tell them that he was calling the Samoa Observer, they wouldnt have shown up yesterday.
They removed the tree branches before the Samoa Observer arrived for photos.
Your service is very bad, said Tauiliili.
Your corporation bought 25 new cars to do these services but youre still the worst.
For any work, common sense is required. Thats why Tofilau (Eti Alesana) said to use your common sense. This is where you use your common sense.
The businessman was even more frustrated with the excuses he was given.
Dont talk to me about how you had to do whoevers work first and writing reports about this, he said.
Just fix these power lines. Our power is off. If this were the Minister or any of your family members, you wouldve done it straight away.
And dont tell me that you wouldnt do it for the Minister because you know you will get fired if you dont do it.
When E.P.C. representatives who were there were asked for a comment, they said they are only responsible for clearing power lines.
They said a different team is responsible for cutting down trees that come in contact with power lines.
One more village has moved to ban the establishment of foreign-owned businesses on their customary lands in a bid to protect the business prospects of their future generations.
This time, the district of Siumu, which is made up of four sub-villages, has agreed to the ban. This was confirmed by the Tuua of the Village, Tuuu Faasee, in a telephone interview with the Samoa Observer yesterday.
The district had a meeting two weeks ago and we all agreed that no foreign-owned business will be allowed to be set up in Siumu, he said.
Its not just the Chinese businesses, this goes for all foreign-owned businesses.
Tuuu explained that the decision followed an incident where the village found out after the fact that a Chinese-owned shop was being set up.
The shop is at Saaga one of the sub-villages of Siumu, he said.
They are selling Chinese products in their shop so we have informed them about the decision of the district and they agreed that they will slowly remove it.
Asked if he the decision is not harsh given the rising cost of living, Tuuu said it is about protecting the future of the village.
Its okay for the time being but in the long run and the future of our children its not okay, he said.
Our children are growing up and they are being well educated. Some of them have scholarships overseas so in the future when they come back and want to build a business of their own, where will they go?
If we allow foreign businesses now to be set up, our children will not be able to have access to the lands when they grew up because the foreigners have taken them all.
Thats why the matai and faipule of the district decided that this is the best time to put a stop to it before it becomes a problem in the future.
Not only will our children not be able to get any space to set up their businesses, but foreign businesses will take all the money.
So what we want is for the people of not only in Siumu but the district to help each other by building their own businesses and helping each other out.
Tuuu went on to say that the local businesses of the district had a meeting on Wednesday with the family at Saaga with regards to the business there.
We had a final meeting and we signed an agreement to uphold the new law and the family has also agreed that they will be removing the Chinese stuff from their business, he said.
Nobody object to the issue because they all agreed that this is for the betterment of our children not for us. So everything is good now and thats what the district has agreed on.
Siumus decision followed the Salelologa Village Councils decision to ban any new Chinese-owned business being set up on the villages customary land.
The decision was confirmed by the Mayor of Sapulu, Tuilimu Manuele Paletasala.
The ban only covers customary land under the guidance of the Village Council of Salelologa.
But we are also mindful that a lot of the lands in Salelologa is under the government and the ban does not cover those lands.
But within the whole village of Salelologa (aai o Salelologa), no Chinese owned business is allowed to be set up any more. We want to encourage our own Samoan people to set their businesses up in Salelologa.
Students of the Samoa Shipping Corporations Maritime Academy celebrated sweet success on Tuesday.
At the E.F.K.S Hall, twenty students received certificates for onboard deck rating and onboard engine rating.
The graduates had completed a one-year-course, which looked at the theory and practical side of their work.
Penetekoso Lauano was named the Overall Top Deck student while Charles Faletutulu was the Overall Onboard Engine top student.
Mr. Lauano was a grateful young man. He said they have had to overcome a lot to be where they are today.
This is the beginning of another chapter for us, he said.
Were looking forward to working hard for a better Samoa especially for our families.
This is not the end; well continue to look for opportunities in the future to further our studies on maritime if any doors open for us.
But there was more at the graduation.
Seventy-two Samoa Shipping Corporation seafarers were awarded certificates on Able Bodied Seafarer (22), Able Bodied Engineering (5), Tanker Familiarisation (55) and International ship and Port Security (7).
General Manager of Samoa Shipping Corporation, Papalii Willie Nansen, congratulated all the students.
List of the graduates; Certificate Level III in Onboard Deck Rating
Penetekoso Lauano
Prince Mamaia
Eliezar Ioane
Laasia Sagapolutele
Molesi Talavou
Nifooti Atonio, Ierome Ah Siu
Vitoria Malotutoatasi
Samuel Neemia
Misikopa Asalele
Faaiva Seuteva
Iosefa Enari
Certificate Level III in On-board Engineering Rating
Charles Faletutulu
Ioane Seve
Iosefa Lauaki
Nikonia Lauaki
Junior Ma Chong
Neetia Maiava
Taimata Kaisa
Maselino Sauleone
WASHINGTON (AP) China's surprising suspension of North Korean coal imports puts pressure not only on Pyongyang, but also on President Donald Trump. The question for him: Should the U.S. respond with new North Korea negotiations?
Years of failed efforts to stem North Korea's nuclear and missile programs have followed a usual pattern. The United States seeks tougher action from China, the North's traditional ally. Beijing urges U.S. diplomatic engagement.
But China's move this weekend appears to change the dynamic, addressing the long-standing American demand, one Trump has vociferously repeated. If enforced, the loss of coal revenue could tighten the screws on leader Kim Jong Un after his government's acceleration of nuclear and missile tests this last year.
China rarely makes concessions for free, and will want Trump to respond in kind.
"If China is squeezing North Korea, it is for one purpose and one purpose only: to offer a cooperative gesture to the incoming Trump administration in return for an initiative on negotiations," said Stephan Haggard, a North Korea expert at the University of California, San Diego.
Beijing indicated such a strategy was in play.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the country wants parallel negotiations on nuclear matters and a formal peace treaty to replace the armistice ending the 1950-53 Korean War a longstanding North Korean request. Washington has said the North's nuclear weapons program must be settled first.
Meanwhile, the newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party, Global Times, published a pair of editorials Wednesday calling for aid-for-disarmament talks to restart. They've been on ice since 2009.
Any breakthrough would almost surely require U.S.-Chinese cooperation. Kim has shown little interest in relinquishing his nation's nuclear deterrent as he closes in on a weapon capable of targeting mainland America, and Sino-American disputes over the best approach to dealing with the confounding North Korean leader have hamstrung international diplomatic efforts.
Trump has vowed to "deal with" North Korea, without saying how. His administration is conducting a broad-ranging policy review, including how to make sanctions bite. Negotiations haven't been ruled out, said a U.S. official, who wasn't authorized to discuss internal deliberations and demanded anonymity.
China's decision on coal could change the U.S. calculus, even if the official said the U.S. was still gauging what the change might mean. Beijing has a mixed track record of policing its trade with North Korea.
North Korea's coal exports to China totaled $1.2 billion last year, according to Chinese customs, representing more than a third of the North's total export income.
Geng, the Chinese spokesman, explained China's decision by saying the coal imports this year already "approximated" a $400 million annual cap set by the U.N. Security Council.
But China has exploited loopholes in the past, raising questions about alternative motivations. These could include embarrassment over the apparent assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean leader's exiled, half-brother who was spending much of his time in China. Or, a pre-emptive effort to forestall a new U.S.-South Korean missile defense system.
Regardless of motive, "enforcement will be the key," said Joseph DeThomas, a former U.S. diplomat who advised the Obama administration on sanctions. DeThomas, now a professor at Pennsylvania State University, said China's suspension could cost Pyongyang hundreds of millions of dollars in much-needed hard currency.
But Troy Stangarone, senior director at the Washington-based Korea Economic Institute, questioned how significant the economic impact would be. Official Chinese figures don't account for services and illicit border trade between the countries, he said.
China has long resisted applying severe economic pressure on North Korea. While it opposes the North's pursuit of nuclear weapons, Beijing fears any policies that might lead to an influx of North Koreans into China or a U.S.-allied, unified Korea emerging on the Chinese border.
In any case, questions will now be asked of the Trump administration.
As a presidential candidate, Trump expressed a willingness to speak with Kim a politically risky move given North Korea's history of reneging on past agreements. President Barack Obama refused to re-engage without a commitment from the North to pursue denuclearization, cranking up sanctions while waiting. The approach failed to stop Pyongyang's rapid advances in weapons development.
Trump will need to come up with a strategy soon. A high-profile North Korean defector reported that Kim wants to finish an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland in the next year.
It's unclear what, if anything, Trump can offer Kim to bargain over a nuclear program he likely sees as essential to the survival of his totalitarian regime.
Stangarone said the question for Kim becomes this: "Can he weather whatever storm is coming and finish the program and make this fait accompli?"
GENOA, Italy (Reuters) - A Genoa court said on Wednesday it had sentenced Giovanni Berneschi, the 79-year-old former chairman of local bank Banca Carige (CRGI.MI), to eight years and two months in jail for fraud, criminal association and money laundering.
Berneschi was ousted from his job in September 2013 after 20 years as Carige's chairman in a management overhaul imposed by the Bank of Italy following audits that revealed poor lending practices, a large derivatives exposure and questionable accounting methods.
Carige, long seen as one of the weak links in Italy's battered banking system, is preparing a new business plan after European Central Bank supervisors told it to cut its problem loans.
In Italy, defendants are allowed two appeals and are considered innocent until the final court ruling is delivered, a process which can take years and is regularly cut short by the statute of limitations, which limits the amount of time a magistrate can pursue a case.
Pending the final ruling, the jail sentence is suspended. But the Genoa court said it had put Berneschi under probation.
"All that was left for them to do was to shoot me," he told reporters on his way out of the court.
Carige's shares have fallen sharply in the past couple of years because of uncertainty over whether the bank will need to seek more capital after raising a total of 1.6 billion euros($1.68 billion) in two successive share sales in 2014 and 2015.
Carige has said in the past it considered itself a damaged party and it is expected to seek damages from its former chairman. The bank had no comment on the ruling.
(Reporting by Paola Balsomini; writing by Valentina Za. Editing by Jane Merriman)
Donald Trump was out of bounds when he called the media the enemy of the people, former White House press secretary Ari Fleisher said Tuesday, but the former spokesman for George W. Bush said too many members of the news media have not given the new president a fair shake.
Hes been hostile to the press and the press returns the favor, said Fleisher in an interview with the Union-Tribune. Fleisher was in San Diego to deliver a speech at the National Ethanol Conference at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.
Writing on Twitter last week, Trump called the New York Times, NBC News, CBS News and CNN the FAKE NEWS media and called them the enemy of the American People.
Advertisement
Fleisher condemned the presidents tweet.
I can be a pretty tough media critic myself but the press is not the enemy of anybody, Fleisher said. They can be inaccurate, they can be biased, but I dont like that type of language. We have enough strife in this country. The press is not our enemy.
But at the same time, Fleisher said, I really do think the press is out of touch with the voters who elected Donald Trump, the kind of people who are open-minded about him, and I wish the press would open their eyes more and see theres another part of America.
During his speech Tuesday, Fleisher ran through a list of signals the media, pollsters and pundits missed during the 2016 campaign that ended up with Trump winning critical states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Fleisher cited figures showing that while Hillary Clinton won voters aged 18-29 by 19 points, Trump won voters aged 45-64 by 8 points. And while voters who are single voted for Clinton by an 18-point margin, Trump won married voters by 8 points.
Although Trump lost the popular vote, he edged out a victory in the Electoral College just as Fleishers former boss, George W. Bush, did in the 2000 election.
I think the press just doesnt get Donald Trump, Fleisher said. And Donald Trump doesnt care, which makes it even more hostile, back and forth.
Since taking the Oval Office, Trump has not cut back on using his Twitter account, even though some of the tweets have angered allies, infuriated opponents and sometimes veered into tangents, such as Nordstrom dropping his daughter Ivankas product line.
So should Trump ditch his Twitter feed?
No, said Fleisher.
I think Donald Trump has figured out how to communicate with voters. And his gut and intuition have worked very well for him, frankly Through Twitter he can successfully go around the press and theres nothing wrong with that.
Fleisher took to Twitter himself on Monday, saying the press too often plays into the hands of Trump and media critics. He cited a tweet from NBC News that said, President Trump reaches 32 days, wont be shortest U.S. president as far as tenure.
Did they tweet a similar thing about Barack Obamas 32nd day? Fleisher said. Or George W. Bush? This is part of the hostility the press has for Donald Trump.
Fleisher said he did not support Trump during the primaries but backed him when Trump won the Indiana primary, making him the inevitable GOP nominee.
But as the campaign wore on, he lost me. He just said too many things I thought were offensive and rude and harmful, so I ended up not voting for president, which really hurt because I dont believe in not voting.
Fleisher said he cast his ballot for every other race but left the presidential ballot blank.
Right after the November election, a spokesman for George W. and Laura Bush told the Wall Street Journal the couple did not vote for Trump or Clinton. The spokesman did not say whether they voted for a third-party or write-in candidate.
A spokesman for George H.W. Bush did not reveal which candidate the 41st president voted for but, in a Facebook post last September, former Maryland lieutenant governor and daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, posted a picture of the elder Bush, saying he was voting for Clinton.
Fleisher said that while Trump is battling the media, he is still talking to reporters, citing long interviews Trump had with the New York Times, 60 Minutes, the Today Show and the Wall Street Journal and his news conference last week, which ran one hour and 20 minutes.
My goodness, the press should be delighted to have a president who is as accessible as he is, Fleisher said. Donald Trump is making the press great again. Hes making the press profitable again.
Contrary to jabs from Trump about the New York Times failing, the newspaper says that in aftermath of Trumps election, subscriptions increased tenfold compared with the previous year.
Fleisher said the new administration has had their share of stumbles and I dont like some of (Trumps) rhetorical style but the former Republican press aide who now runs a media company based in New York said, I want him to be successful.
Fleishers speech came one day after Presidents Day, in which another series of anti-Trump protesters gathered in a number of cities for Not My President Day demonstrations.
Hes doing the things he said he was going to do, Fleisher said, Which makes his supporters happy and ticks off those who dont like him.
Business
rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com
(619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewski
The Grossmont Healthcare District has given a $10,000 grant to an nonprofit group based in El Cajon that assists Middle Eastern refugees and immigrants with cultural assimilation and health education.
The district that serves East County awarded the money earlier this month to License to Freedom to support its community outreach efforts, particularly in relation to the cultural adjustment to American healthcare norms.
License to Freedom promotes nonviolence through education, self-sufficiency and advocacy for refugee and immigrant survivors of domestic abuse and relationship abuse.
Advertisement
The groups outreach as outlined in the grant will include providing health education classes taught in Arabic by refugee healthcare workers, pastors and social workers.
Classes will be held at churches, parks and community centers.
The classes will cover basic information about the United States health care system, emphasizing services at nearby community clinics and urgent care centers instead of hospital emergency rooms.
Dilkhwaz Ahmed, executive director of License to Freedom, said classes will also teach hospital emergency room protocol, a necessary component.
If a family member goes to an emergency room, it is the custom of Middle Eastern community for the entire family to show up in support, Ahmed said. But this can put a strain on the facility because American privacy regulations do not accommodate this cultural practice.
Funds will also support advertisements in Arabic newspapers, radio programs and social media channels.
Ahmed said some of East Countys recent refugees are from Syria. According to data from the county Health and Human Services Agency, San Diego County saw a 64 percent increase in refugee arrivals in October and November of 2016 compared with the same months in 2015.
Ahmed, a Kurdish immigrant with a background in psychology, founded License to Freedom in 2002. It became a nonprofit in 2004. Ahmed, a womens rights activist in Iraq, has helped more than 3,000 adult survivors and child victims of domestic violence since coming to the United States in 2002.
The Grossmont Healthcare District is a public agency that supports various health-related community programs and services in East County. Its five-member board represents more than 500,000 people residing within the districts 750 square miles.
Santee resident Marcie Sale has conquered many of the hiking trails in San Diego County.
The 60-year-old recently completed the Five-Peak Challenge in Mission Trails Regional Park, and she has been looking for more hiking adventures in the region.
Several weeks ago, Sale came upon a county website promoting a new trail in Lakeside. Last Thursday, she joined a group of about three dozen people, including county Supervisor Dianne Jacob, near El Monte County Park for the grand opening of the Helix Flume Trail.
Advertisement
I dont like to go hiking by myself, so this was a great hike with other people on the trail, Sale said. I like the challenge of this one, and Ill be back out again.
The single-track, dog-friendly, 0.8-mile trail starts near the historic El Monte Pump Station along El Monte Road. It is steep with several switchbacks on the way up to sweeping views of Lake Jennings, El Cajon Mountain and El Monte Valley.
The Helix Flume Trail follows the route of a redwood flume completed in 1889 to deliver water 35 miles from the Cuyamaca Mountains to a reservoir in La Mesa. The El Monte Pump Station was built in 1898 to push groundwater from the El Monte Valley up the hill and into the flume for delivery to La Mesa.
Heavy with coastal sage scrub, the trail follows the path of the historic water flume east where it connects to existing trails around Lake Jennings Campground and other open space areas. The path ventures along land owned by the Helix Water District.
There are shady areas and a parking area at the base of the trail in the 14000 block of El Monte Road.
The trail does not connect to a separate flume path that climbs above El Monte County Park, which is about a mile away. Property between the two trails is privately owned.
Colorful flowers line the Helix Flume Trail (Karen Pearlman/San Diego Union-Tribune)
The Helix Flume Trail is part of the San Diego River Trail, a route that is planned to allow hikers, cyclists and equestrians to travel uninterrupted along trails near waterways from the mountains hear Julian to where the San Diego River ends in Ocean Beach.
The San Diego River Conservancy and other conservation groups continue to work to connect the 52-mile trail.
An easement made it possible for the Department of Parks and Recreation to construct the trail, with help from the departments trails crew, the California Conservation Corps and workers from Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility.
The trail will be managed by Park and Recreation staff, including Charles Gailband from nearby El Monte County Park.
A lot more people are hiking these days, Gailband said. Its becoming more and more popular. If you go along Highway 67, you can look and see how many people are going up Iron Mountain and Mount Woodson.
This is a beginner hike because it is a smaller area, he said. But it has a great payoff with beautiful views of the surrounding area.
La Mesa residents John Robbins, 72, and his son, Michael, 46, hiked the trail with the group. They agreed the steep climb was tough, but promised they would be back.
Ive been meaning to start hiking again, the elder Robbins said. This was a good workout, more vertical than I usually like, but Im glad I did it and got it under my 44-inch belt.
Trail hours are from 7 a.m. to sunset every day,
You can take a virtual hike of the Helix Flume Trail here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/-jVtqWlybSc
Trenching the railroad tracks through downtown Carlsbad could cost as much as $335 million but could also benefit the city by as much as $22 billion over the next century, a new study shows.
The economic benefits would include lives saved, jobs created, increased sales tax revenue and higher property values, according to the study, completed in January by San Diego-based consulting firm T.Y. Lin International at the request of city officials.
It is kind of an expensive plan, but it has so many positives, said Councilman Mark Packard, who represents Carlsbad on the North County Transit District board. There are economic benefits, social benefits, health benefits.
Advertisement
As much as 80 percent of the construction costs are expected to be covered by the state and federal government, Packard said Monday. Carlsbad and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) would share the remaining costs.
Lowering the tracks is one of the citys long-term goals, something unlikely to be accomplished for 10 years or more.
A lot of people say 20 years, Packard said, though hed like to see the project completed as soon as possible. My goal is the six-year plan.
The report looks at the costs and feasibility of placing the tracks below street level as part of the planned construction of a second set of railroad tracks through downtown Carlsbad.
The transit district and SANDAG are double-tracking the entire coastal rail route from San Diego to Orange County, and one of the next segments to be completed will go from Cassidy Street in Oceanside to Tamarack Avenue in Carlsbad.
To me the big thing is safety, Carlsbad Councilman Michael Schumacher said in an interview Monday. Roughly one person each year dies on the tracks in Carlsbad, he said, and train traffic is expected to double over the next 20 years.
The double tracks are coming one way or another, Schumacher said. Now is the time to do it.
The trench study examined two alternatives to leaving the tracks at street level. One, called the short trench alternative, would put the double-tracked railroad in a trench from the Carlsbad Boulevard/Highway 101 overpass south to the northern end of Tamarack Avenue. The other, the long trench alternative, would lower the tracks from the 101 overpass to the Agua Hedionda Lagoon railroad bridge. Both alternatives would increase the number of east-west crossings and make the beach area more accessible to residents of the Village and Barrio neighborhoods.
The long trench makes the most sense because it provides the most crossings and is best for the overall health of the community, Packard said.
Solana Beach is the only other city in San Diego County to have lowered its railroad tracks, and there have been no reports of fatalities or injuries there since the project was completed in 1999. Carlsbad has had 18 fatalities on the tracks since 1998, the report states.
Without lowering the tracks, fatalities are likely to increase, along with noise and traffic congestion at existing railroad crossings.
Below-grade crossings not only reduce train noise, they reduce or eliminate the need for the train to sound its horn. Also, theres no need for vehicles to stop at grade-separated crossings, and the city plans to build additional crossings for vehicles and pedestrians.
The study estimates the total construction costs at $62 million to double-track the at-grade crossing, $224 million for the short-trench alternative, and $335 million for the long-trench alternative.
A minimum vertical clearance of 26 feet above the tracks was included in the study. However, the Transit District recently indicated the minimum clearance of 24 feet would be acceptable, which would reduce costs by $8 million for the short trench, or $14 million for the long trench.
Construction of either trench would require a temporary shoofly track to be built so trains could continue to run during construction. The temporary track would go through the transit center parking lot east of the tracks and would require relocation of the historic Santa Fe Depot between Grand Avenue and Carlsbad Village Drive.
philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @phildiehl
Last year, the San Diego rock band Wavves made headlines by announcing it was dis-inviting supporters of then presidential candidate Donald J. Trump along with racists, homophobes, anyone who blames rape victims and anyone who has gone out of (their) way to defend police in America from attending shows on its upcoming summer tour.
While it remains unclear how many of the above groups are or were fans of Wavves, the noise-embracing slacker-punk band now hopes to making headlines anew. On Tuesday, Wavves leader Nathan Williams took to his Twitter page to announce that he and his band recently commissioned a Los Angeles artist to design several images for anti-Trump billboards.
In a series of tweets, Williams, 30, wrote Tuesday:
Advertisement
How is everyone today?
alright everyone its story time!!!!
We are looking to crowdsource a billboard anywhere in the USA to host these images. If you can help please write to info@ghostramp.com.
We are living in a time where our president is so narcissistic that he can be baited by the media like the child he is.
Recently as most of you know Trump and his cabinet have been cutting funding for many causes that are very important to us.
(For the record, President Trump has not yet cut funding to any government agencies, although he has vowed to do so in some instances.)
The Tuesday tweets by Williams continued:
So we commissioned Johnny Ryan to design a billboard in Los Angeles but no one weve found has been willing to run the images.
We want to use his ugliness to grab attention and use it for something good.
There may be a good reason no billboard company appears willing to run the images shown on Wavves proposed anti-Trump billboards.
As depicted on Wavves Twitter page, one of the images shows a baby-sized President Trump, dressed in a suit and tie, being breastfed by Trump senior adviser and Breitbart News executive chairman Steve Bannon. Another depicts a male character with a guitar who at least somewhat resembles Williams urinating over a border wall on to President Trump.
Williams promises that the billboards should they ever come to pass will raise money for five Wavves-endorsed organizations: the Southern Poverty Law Center; the American Civil Liberties Union; the National Immigration Law Center; 350.0rg; and Planned Parenthood.
He tweeted: We will put a URL on the billboard where donations can be made to important causes that need our funds.
We only represent ourselves and no other organizations but we do want to help raise money where it is most needed.
We want Trump to see this.
Go to https://ghostramp.com to donate to 5 different causes that matter to us. We also donating 20% of our Ghost Ramp sales for a month.
Headed by Williams, Ghost Ramp is the record label for which Wavves records and through which it sells such merchandise as T-shirts.
By coincidence, Wavves has a new album its sixth due out this spring on Ghost Ramp. Earlier this month, Williams and his marketing-savvy brother, Joel, released a Whack-A-Mole-styled video game called Kill the Alt-Reich. It allows players to bash white supremacists from the comfort of their phone or computer.
Williams became an Internet sensation in 2009, after having an on-stage meltdown at the Primavera music festival in Barcelona, Spain.
Apparently frustrated with the audio quality at the festival, he launched into a torrent of profanities, threw a shoe at the audience and poured beer on his soon-to-be-former drummer. Williams later blamed the incident on what he described as the interesting decision to take a combination of drugs, pills and alcohol prior to his Primavera performance.
Wavves is scheduled to begin a spring concert tour in Texas on April 21, the first in a series of its shows as the opening act for the Poway-bred pop-punk trio blink-182. That tour does not include a San Diego stop.
Twitter @georgevarga
george.varga@sduniontribune.com
The U.S. military remains a nimble and powerful deterrent against global dangers, but it must do more to retain its lethal edge. That was the predominate message during the first day of the West 2017 gathering of the nations top brass and security experts at the downtown San Diego Convention Center.
To ensure Americas beacon of light continues to shine, even into the farthest and darkest corners of the world, we must continue to evolve the innovative capabilities that allow the good to overcome evil, Navy Adm. Harry Harris Jr., the U.S. Pacific Command leader, said in a speech Tuesday afternoon.
Our country must retain credible combat power in concert with like-minded allies and partners, to preserve unimpeded access to all the shared domains sea, air, land, space and cyber. And the time to act is now, for I believe were approaching an inflection point in history, he added. Were certainly not approaching the end of history. Freedom, justice and a rules-based international order hang in the balance. And the scale wont tip of its own accord, or simply because good people wish it so.
Advertisement
Co-sponsored by the nonprofits U.S. Naval Institute and AFCEA International, the annual West confab kicked off with a morning speech by retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis. It then featured sessions throughout the afternoon that drew Naval Warfare commander Rear Adm. Timothy Szymanski and Pacific Fleet Submarine Force commander Rear Adm. Frederick Fritz Roegge, plus many of the highest-ranking officers of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
More than 300 of the nations top defense contractors, high-tech firms and universities joined them, making the event one of the largest collections of military and industrial minds on the planet. The conference is set to continue through Thursday.
Tuesdays discussions, both formal and those whispered in the convention centers corridors, took place as President Donald Trumps administration strives to get its sea legs, tensions rise in Europe following ongoing Russian-backed incursions in Ukraine and disputes simmer between China and Americas allies over territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Appearing by a videoconferencing link from Boston following a trip to the Munich Security Conference, Stavridis warned that Americas NATO allies fret about what appear to be inconsistencies in the Trump administrations foreign policy, including a denunciation of Russias meddling in Ukraine alongside a flirtation with (Russian President) Vladimir Putin out of the White House.
Stavridis, the former Supreme Commander Allied Forces Europe, said it was hard to accept at face value Trumps insistence that his administration is working like a well-oiled machine, but he urged the presidents critics to give him some space to tinker with his staff and maybe itll start running better.
Once reported to be on presidential candidate Hillary Clintons short list for vice president, Stavridis met with Trump in New York on Dec. 8, fueling rumors that he would join retired flag officers such as the Marine four-stars James Mattis and John Kelly in the Republicans administration. But that didnt happen.
Echoing key portions of Stavridis address Tuesday, Pacific Commands Harris said American forces must continue to train to fight wars overseas. He pointed to challenges such as ongoing atomic weapons and ballistic missile tests by North Korea strongman Kim Jung-Un.
Allied and partner nations will hear this message and hopefully be reassured that the U.S. commitment to the Naval region in the Pacific will be as strong as ever. And America is looking at new ways to maintain the rules-based security order, and theyd be right, Harris said. And potential adversaries, upon hearing this message, should recognize that their propagandized attempts to sell Americas decline is a bunch of hooey.
Military Videos On Now D-Day paratrooper from Coronado jumps again in France at age 96 On Now Remembering war's fallen, one name at a time On Now In Ramona, an airplane and an aviator provide living lessons on World War II 1:43 On Now Video: Navy's newest vessel sails into San Diego and a new future in surface warfare On Now Video: U.S. Navy files homicide charges over warship collisions On Now Stopping Marine hazing On Now Video: U.S. Navy Air Crew Grounded After Creating Vulgar Sky Drawing On Now Navy says Asia Pacific ship collisions were avoidable On Now Hundreds of recruits get sick at Marine boot camp On Now Cutler Dawson Talks Navy Federal
cprine@sduniontribune.com
The group gathered at Inglewood City Hall family members, activists and clergy to express frustration about a shooting still shrouded in mystery.
A year ago, Inglewood police officers shot and killed a couple they said appeared to be unconscious in their car in the early morning darkness. Twenty bullets pierced Kisha Michael and Marquintan Sandlin.
But since the Feb. 21, 2016, shooting, the Inglewood Police Department has not released a timeline of events that led to the controversial shooting of Michael, 31, and Sandlin, 32. It has not explained why five officers unleashed a barrage of bullets into the car, or whether Michael or Sandlin threatened the officers.
Advertisement
Michael, a mother of three boys, died at the scene. Sandlin, a father of four girls, died later in a hospital.
On Tuesday, a group that included the couples relatives gathered outside Inglewoods City Hall to express dissatisfaction with the investigation and what it calls the lack of transparency from the Police Department and city officials. The 50 people planned to voice their concerns at the council meeting, but it was canceled.
The dead cant fight, said Michaels twin sister, Trisha. So its the responsibility of the living to fight for them and thats what were doing.
Members of Michaels and Sandlins families tried to deliver a letter to Mayor James T. Butts, demanding that he provide a status report, release all recordings from the morning of the shooting, terminate the officers and recommend charges to the district attorney, and provide a fund for the seven surviving children.
Kema Decatur, the deputy to the city manager, told the family that Butts was attending a meeting off-site and that she would forward the letter to him.
They really just need closure. They need healing and they need justice, Priest Francisco Garcia of Holy Faith Episcopal Church in Inglewood told Decatur. And they need answers.
Family members, activists and clergy march to express their frustration about a shooting still shrouded in mystery.
The Los Angeles County district attorneys office said that Inglewood police forwarded the case for review in November. Greg Risling, the district attorneys office spokesman, said that the investigation remains under review.
In a statement issued Tuesday by Butts spokeswoman Jasmyne Cannick, the mayor said that Inglewood Police Department is also running a confidential internal investigation into the police shooting, which should be completed within 30 days. Any disciplinary action taken as a result of that internal investigation would remain confidential according to Californias public safety officers bill of rights, the statement said.
I have confidence in the Chief of Police to take whatever actions are warranted by the departments investigation in accordance with due process, Butts said in the statement. I continue to send my prayers and heartfelt condolences to the family members of Ms. Michael and Mr. Sandlin.
The five officers involved in the shooting Michael Jaen, Richard Parcella, Jason Cantrell, Sean Reidy and Andrew Cohen remain city employees, Butts said.
For now, the few details of what happened that night are gleaned from an Inglewood Police Department statement and the autopsy reports conducted by the L.A. County coroners office.
According to those accounts, police approached Michael and Sandlin in a car at Manchester Boulevard and Inglewood Avenue shortly after 3 a.m. The couple appeared unconscious and Michael, who sat in the passenger seat, had a gun on her lap, authorities said.
An autopsy report reviewed by The Times said only that there was an unknown exchange between police and the decedents before officers fired several rounds into the car.
Police have never said whether Michael or Sandlin pointed the handgun at them.
Days after the shooting, Butts told NBC4 in a televised interview that officers retreated, isolated the vehicle and spent about 45 minutes attempting to rouse the occupants and to de-escalate the situation.
Butts would not corroborate that account to a Times reporter.
Any timeline that has been given was based upon preliminary information in an attempt to provide basic information, he said in an email.
The autopsy report shows that Michaels blood alcohol content was 0.185%, more than twice the legal blood alcohol content limit for driving. She sat in the passenger seat. Traces of methamphetamine, which the coroners report said can be used to treat attention deficit disorder and obesity, were found in her blood.
Sandlins blood alcohol content was 0.13%, over the legal driving limit. No drugs were found in his system.
Attorney Milton Grimes, who filed a civil lawsuit on behalf Michaels family, said that he received a discovery file in December from the city that left more questions than answers.
Its the weirdest report Ive ever seen, he said. I have no information on what her actions or words were. Theres a big valley between the unspecified exchange and the shooting.
After group members delivered the letter to the mayor, they marched across Manchester Boulevard to Inglewood Avenue, where they chanted, grieved and prayed.
angel.jennings@latimes.com
Twitter: @AngelJennings
A Georgia Tech dean who is one of the nations most prominent African American engineers and has been lauded for recruiting more minorities into science and technical fields was selected Tuesday to become the next chancellor of UC Davis.
University of California President Janet Napolitano announced that she had chosen Gary May, a UC Berkeley alumnus who heads Georgia Techs College of Engineering, as the seventh chancellor of UC Davis. He would be the 10-campus UC systems only African American chancellor.
May would replace Linda Katehi, who resigned last year after a UC investigation into allegations of conflicts of interest found that she violated multiple university policies and misled her superiors, the public and the media.
Advertisement
In a statement, Napolitano praised May as a dynamic leader and an accomplished scholar and engineer with a passion for helping others succeed.
The UC Board of Regents will vote on the appointment during a special meeting Thursday at UCLA. If approved, May will take over Aug. 1 from interim Chancellor Ralph Hexter.
May said he was excited by UC Davis commitment to quality education and research, diversity, faculty support and public service. These values speak to my spirit, and I cannot wait to join the campus community, he said in a statement.
Ari Kelman, a UC Davis history professor who led the search committees faculty subcommittee, said May was both dynamic and humble, with a strong sense of public mission and breadth as both an effective administrator and a dedicated teacher and mentor. The committee vetted more than 500 potential candidates, and May offered the desired qualities of vision and leadership, extraordinary scholarship and integrity, a proven commitment to diversity and an ability to relate to students, faculty and staff, Kelman said.
Its a huge get for us, Kelman said in an interview. Its hard to convey what a giant he is.
Alex T. Lee, UC Davis student body president, said he was optimistic that May would work to rebuild trust with students disillusioned by Katehi and to protect those feeling vulnerable under President Trump particularly immigrants, Muslims and LGBT students.
May, 52, a native of St. Louis, has been at Georgia Tech for nearly three decades. As the engineering colleges chief academic officer, he leads more than 400 faculty members and 13,000 students. Georgia Techs College of Engineering graduates more engineers than any other college in the United States.
May received his bachelors in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1985 and his masters and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley in 1988 and 1991, respectively. In 2010 he was named Berkeleys outstanding electrical engineering alumnus.
His research specialty is computer-aided manufacturing of integrated circuits. He has written more than 200 technical publications, contributed to 15 books and holds a patent in the field.
At Georgia Tech, May landed a $3-million grant from the National Science Foundation to create an undergraduate research program in engineering and science to help more underrepresented minority students pursue a graduate degree. Three-fourths of undergraduates in that program went on to pursue graduate degrees.
He also launched a program that helped 433 underrepresented minorities earn doctorates in science or engineering at Georgia Tech the most in the nation. The efforts prompted President Obama to award May the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 2015.
In my classes and early in my career, it always concerned me how few people like me there were, May said in a statement. By that I dont mean smart or determined or curious people. I mean African Americans, and people of color in general, and also women. Thats when I became interested in finding ways to ensure equal access to education and opportunity. We need to nurture talent, for the good of the individual and for the benefit of us all.
Star Trek, Lego and Erector sets, comic books and science fiction sparked Mays early interest in the STEM fields, according to a UC statement.
May is married to LeShelle R. May, a senior manager of software development at CNN. They have two daughters, Simone and Jordan.
teresa.watanabe@latimes.com
Twitter: @teresawatanabe
UPDATES:
5:20 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with comments about the choice of Gary May as chancellor.
This article was originally published at 12:20 p.m.
The owner of two San Diego County Postal Annex businesses is accused of partnering with a Mexican drug trafficking organization to package and ship addictive prescription drugs to customers across the country, according to charges filed in federal court in San Diego.
Since his March arrest, Lakhwinder Victor Singh has fought the charges; his former employee, Alejandro Nava, recently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.
Navas guilty plea and motions filed in the case provide further details of the investigation.
Advertisement
Singhs attorney declined to discuss the case.
The investigation began in 2013, after federal agents identified a drug courier who was using a shipping facility in National City to move drugs, according to court documents.
The courier was arrested at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in December 2013 with several packages of prescription drugs and began to work with authorities in exchange for not being prosecuted. The courier told investigators about Singhs operation, which was being run out of a Postal Plus Annex in San Diego and a Postal Annex in Lemon Grove.
Singh bought his first Postal Annex in 2001, according to a motion filed by his attorney, Robert Boyce. Singh also bought a strip mall in 2014 for $1.6 million, paying the $707,000 down payment in cash, prosecutors said.
The source told investigators that the pills came from a drug trafficking group in Mexico run by Bernardo Garcia, who allegedly dealt in drugs such as oxycodone, Xanax, methadone, amphetamine and Ritalin. Authorities have not revealed any further information about Garcia, including his whereabouts or whether he is the target of an investigation.
Customers would place online orders, and the traffickers would prepackage the purchase and hire a courier to smuggle the drugs into the United States, according to court records. Meanwhile, Garcia would email the shipping information to Singh so pre-printed labels could be made.
The courier would deliver the drugs to one of the Postal Annexes, and Singh and Nava would package and ship the orders across the country, prosecutors said.
The source met with Singh and Nava on March 13, 2014, in a meeting that was monitored by authorities. According to prosecutors, Singh said the organization had brought 20 packages of drugs the day before and that shipments usually occurred two or three times a week. He also provided the source advice, such as packing the pills flat and not bulky to better avoid detection by law enforcement, prosecutors said.
In 2015, agents had another courier under watch. On one trip, she was observed crossing into the United States from Mexico and arriving at one of Singhs businesses. Fifteen minutes later, he left with two large mail bins and dropped them off at a post office. Investigators intercepted four flat rate parcel envelopes and found a variety of prescription drugs inside. The sender address was a bogus location.
The courier was arrested in August 2015 after a large number of pills were found on her as she crossed at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. She pleaded guilty to importing drugs and was sentenced to 10 months in prison.
On March 9, 2016, Nava was arrested at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, and Singh was arrested after investigators searched one postal annex and his home. Agents found a baggie of about 120 generic Xanax pills in a drawer under a cash register as well as pre-printed shipping labels, according to court records.
When interviewed by agents, Singh initially denied knowledge of pharmaceuticals but later admitted to knowing that he was shipping medicines, according to court documents.
Besides being charged with conspiracy to distribute drugs, Singh is also accused of structuring $3.9 million in bank deposits from 2011 to 2014 in amounts less than $10,000 to avoid bank reporting requirements.
kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com
Davis writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune
San Jose city officials declared a local emergency after streets became flooded as water levels rose along Coyote Creek. San Jose firefighters traversed flooded streets in rafts, rescuing residents trapped in their homes and in trees in the Rock Springs neighborhood. Those who walked through dirty floodwaters were hosed off and decontaminated, officials said.
Officials issued mandatory evacuations for 300 homes in the neighborhood, where water was waist-high in some streets, said city spokesman David Vossbrink. At least 40 people were evacuated to an overnight shelter.
We havent really had anything quite like this before, he said.
Advertisement
The last time San Jose experienced severe flooding was about 20 years ago, Vossbrink said.
The creek runs for 30 miles through San Jose, he said. Flooding varies from street to street because of the changing topography in each neighborhood, Vossbrink said.
Its really a complex hydrological issue, he said.
However, water levels should start receding by midnight, Vossbrink said. After the water retreats, officials will go door to door to assess damage to homes, city buildings and other facilities, he said.
The Anderson Dam in Santa Clara County reached capacity Saturday about 5 a.m., according to the California Department of Water Resources.
But it wasnt until a downpour Sunday night and Monday morning that water began flowing over its wall and into Coyote Creek.
The flow of water into the dam peaked Tuesday afternoon, department spokeswoman Maggie Macias said. Coyote Creek then flooded lanes on the 101 Freeway and triggered evacuations in low-lying areas.
The water started to seep in the driveway, and then it started to creep up into the front door. It kept getting worse and worse, Alex Hilario, who walked in knee-high water to get to his car and leave the area, told the Associated Press.
We didnt get a chance to get anything out, Hilario said.
Bobby Lee, 15, said he was rescued with his brother and parents, who took clothes, electronics and some photos from their home in a neighborhood that ended up littered with submerged cars.
This is like once in a lifetime, Lee told the AP.
Earlier Tuesday, firefighters rescued five people stranded by flooding at a homeless camp along the same creek in San Jose.
The San Jose Mercury News placed the total number of rescues at about 200.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
New details about President Trumps immigration crackdown have heightened fears among people in this country illegally, with some saying they are now preparing for the possibility of deportation.
The Trump administration swept aside nearly all restrictions Tuesday on targeting for removal the 11 million people in the U.S. illegally, a vast expansion of the federal governments deportation priorities as the president pursues his promised crackdown on illegal immigration.
In a pair of memos, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly instructed immigration officers to widen the net and set the stage for hiring thousands more enforcement agents as he moved to implement the executive order on illegal immigration that Trump signed during his first week in office.
Advertisement
The memos were reverberating on the streets of Southern California and beyond.
On a cool, breezy morning, Cristina Reyes, 33, of Lynwood, sat quietly under a small palm tree as she watched her 17-month-old daughter, Carolina, walking around a patch of green grass.
A mother of three, she told her daughter to come back and tried to trick her by telling her that the Lynwood Trolley was coming and she would miss it.
On any given day, Reyes said she would have been driving, but last year, someone stole her car.
It wasnt brand-new or anything like that. It was old and beat up, but it helped getting around, she said. My husband and I were looking at buying a new one, but then we started hearing about the immigration stuff and we realized that if we get deported, it would just be a waste of money.
Reyes had never thought of such things before. She never second-guessed walking out of her home to go to the store or even purchasing items like furniture they may end up losing at any given moment.
At first, I wasnt too concerned about it, to be honest, she said. But now, I worry. I told my husband, Lets be prepared. Lets just save our money in case they end up sending us back. We can at least have something to start with.
Reyes and her husband left their home in Puebla, Mexico, and entered the United States illegally in 2005.
Coming here was very difficult, but we did it for a better life, she said. I was pregnant with my first son, and we wanted something better for him.
She has had two children since then. The oldest is 10, and her other son is 3. She said if they get deported, she hopes they can bring their children.
All of this is very infuriating and stressful, she said. You cant even walk anywhere without fearing you may get caught and deported.
It bothers me I have to think about all of this, she said. Going back would be hard. It would be hard for the children because theyll have to adapt to changes.
Obdulia Duran, 59, of Paramount, sat quietly on a bench outside of St. Francis Medical Center. She had come to visit Aurelio Solis, 67, who is married to Durans husbands cousin. She said Solis has diabetes and his kidneys are starting to fail. Hes been in the hospital for eight days.
I was just thinking what would happen if I get deported, said Duran, who is in the country illegally. What would happen to him?
Duran said she pays half of the $630 monthly rent. If she were to be deported, Solis would end up homeless.
He joked hed sleep at the park or in his car, she said, starting to cry. Its not funny. Hed probably die. Hes not looking so good.
On top of the immigration problems and Solis health, she worries she wont be able to provide for her family back home. She came from Mexico to the United States in 2001.
She said she came to the country to pay for her daughters college education and to save money to build a house for her and her husband, who is in his early 60s and retired. She also provides money to the family to buy food and other items for her granddaughters.
Im not afraid if I actually get deported, she said. Sooner or later, Im going back home.
But I worry for everybody else, she added.
I think the immigration laws are unfair. I think its unfair immigration officers just grab people and dont let them at least get their things, she said. I want to at least be given three months so I can send stuff back home. I worked for it.
I find it unfair and sad for the children who were just born but whose parents are undocumented, for the children who go back with their parents who have been deported. They have to adapt and live in a country thats really not theirs.
She said she never thought immigration issues would get this bad in the United States. She also didnt think Trump would win the election.
I never saw any of this coming, she said. Its really just a sad thing.
Ana Ariola Mendez, 76, chatted with another woman about the new guidelines while selling cigarettes on a quiet stretch of South Alvarado Street in Westlake.
Trump is saying hes going to pick up everyone, whether theyre criminals or not, she said, clutching three packets of Camels in one hand.
Mendez said she used to sell diced fruit but got tired of getting tickets and having her food thrown away. Shes glad Los Angeles decriminalized street vendors but worries about the rest of the country.
Theyre going to be left with Americans, who dont like to work, she said, only half-joking.
Though Mendez, a legal resident, thinks no immigrant is safe anymore, she said she refuses to be scared.
Im not bothering anyone.
Ricardo Cortez, who is in the country without legal status, had an inkling of what may come after Trump won the presidency.
Cortez, who moved to the United States from Mexico City 30 years ago, said threats of deportation always existed especially under President Obama, who removed 2.5 million foreigners.
But this time is different, he said.
He watched pedestrian traffic on 4th Street in downtown Santa Ana the pulse of Orange Countys Mexican American community.
With what he signed, now were all vulnerable, Cortez said, looking around. The bad ones and the good ones who are here just trying to work.
Cortez said hes not fearful, but definitely is nervous, about what may come next. He said he carries around this low-simmering anxiety.
We all had this false notion that we would always be embraced by the United States, Cortez said. Most of us dont have a Plan B. We only thought of the American dream.
He owns a travel agency and clothing store on 4th Street in Santa Ana, but said he never had the opportunity to legalize his status, despite a desire to do so. Now, it would be very difficult to become a legal resident, he said, because he was caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization in 2006 during a visit to see family.
The 54-year-old said he doesnt know what hell do if he gets swept up by immigration officials and removed from a place hes called home for most of his life.
Hell fight to stay, he insists. If he loses, he may sell his businesses, buy a vehicle and eke out a living as a taxi driver in Mexico.
I would have to start from zero again, in Mexico, he said. At my age, itll be difficult. But what worries him most is being so far away from his 26-year-old son and 3-year-old grandson both U.S.-born citizens who live in Orange County. He has grown children in Mexico, too.
I left my children when they were very young in Mexico, he said. I cant imagine now leaving the U.S. and leaving my young child, again my young grandson. It would be very difficult.
Veronica Coban, 35, was walking with her son, 5-year-old Jaden, and carrying her 1-year-old daughter, Allison.
She had just paid the electricity and gas bills.
I havent been out in almost a week, she said. Ive been afraid to come out.
The other day, my friend said [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] came knocking at her door. She didnt open it, but that made me anxious.
Coban has been in the country for 11 years. She said her husband is also in the country illegally. She doesnt work. Her husband collects metal to recycle.
She said she immediately became upset after hearing about Tuesdays new immigration enforcement.
If [the president] wants us out of this country, fine, she said, describing Trump profanely. Deport me, but at least deport me and my family so were together.
I really wish I could find the right words to tell the president how I really feel, she said.
Sergio Aguilar, 48, of East L.A. played a snare drum and sang loudly in Spanish inside El Gallo Giro, a Mexican restaurant: No need to worry. Yesterdays gone and we made it through another day.
Aguilar came to the United States with the dream of becoming a successful musician. He came legally under a work visa, but it expired years ago and he stayed in the country illegally.
I have not documents, he said. Im not worried though. Im a musician. Ill find work wherever I go.
Aguilar said he wasnt surprised by Tuesdays immigration announcement.
Not one bit surprised, he said. " It was bound to happen, but again, Im not worried.
The worst thing is we all go back home to Mexico. Ill be going back with my fellow companions.
He said he has no beef with the government and has no criminal history.
He can do whatever he wants, he said of Trump.
He said a lot people in the area are afraid. He is constantly hearing about la migra, shorthand for immigration officials.
I hear la migra is here, la migra is there and la migra is over there, he said. Too many people are scared and anxious.
Not me. Ill tell you what, Ill call la migra myself and tell them to come, and Ill wait right here for them.
ruben.vives@latimes.com
andrea.castillo@latimes.com
cindy.carcamo@latimes.com
ALSO:
Day without immigrants: Some say they cant afford to walk out, but thousands do
Half the candidates in L.A.'s latest congressional race have their own immigrant story. With Trump, this contest is personal
White House denies report Trump is considering using National Guard troops for immigration roundups
UPDATES:
3 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Sergio Aguilar.
2 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Veronica Coban.
12:45 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from immigrants from Santa Ana.
This article was originally published at 12:35 p.m.
The gang member accused of killing a Whittier police officer Monday has cycled in and out of jail for repeatedly violating the terms of his release, records show.
L.A. County sheriffs homicide Capt. Steve Katz on Tuesday identified the suspect as Michael C. Mejia, 26, a career criminal with a history of drugs and violence. Mejia has a history of control problems, Katz said.
Mejia is suspected of killing Whittier Police Officer Keith Boyer and wounding another officer in a shootout following a crash involving a stolen vehicle.
Advertisement
Court records show that Mejia was sentenced in 2010 to four years in state prison for robbery and was convicted in July 2014 of grand theft auto and attempting to steal a vehicle. He was given another two-year sentence.
Mejia, who was shot by officers in the deadly gunfight that claimed Boyers life and left Officer Patrick Hazell wounded, has been arrested and jailed for short stints several times since July. State officials said he was on probation and under the supervision of the L.A. County Probation Department.
Mejia was sent to state prison in December 2010 after being sentenced to two years for the robbery with a special enhancement of an additional two years for being a gang member. That four-year sentence was reduced by up to 15% for good behavior a standard practice. The judge gave Mejia 302 days for time already served in jail.
Mejia was paroled on Jan. 26, 2014. He returned to prison on July 30, 2014, on new charges of grand theft auto and vehicle theft. He was sentenced to serve two two-year terms concurrently. He was discharged from Pelican Bay State Prison on April 19, 2016.
In July, he violated terms of his release and got 10 days in jail. He was arrested again in September after authorities moved to revoke his community supervision.
He was arrested in January for again violating the terms of his release and sentenced to a combined 40 days in jail. But he was out again after 10 days, records show. Then, Feb. 2 he was arrested by East L.A. sheriffs deputies for violating his release terms and flash incarcerated.
Mejia was sentenced to 10 days and released Feb. 11. On Monday, before his run-in with Whittier police, he allegedly went on a deadly rampage that began at an East L.A. home, where authorities suspect Mejia in the fatal shooting of a man believed to be his 46-year-old cousin, Roy Torres. Mejia then allegedly stole his car.
Mejia has not been formally booked in the murders and is being held on a probation violation.
Nicole Nishida, a sheriffs spokeswoman, said the probation violation is the murder of Boyer and attempted murder of Hazell. Nishida said Mejia can be held 10 days for such a violation without being formally booked.
The move is designed to allow detectives more time to investigate the killing. If he is officially booked with murder and attempted murder, prosecutors would have 48 hours to charge him.
Mejia remains hospitalized and is being treated for a gunshot wound, sheriffs officials said.
Whittier Police Chief Jeff Piper said Mejia is an example of how statewide efforts to reduce incarceration of certain criminals can have tragic consequences.
We need to wake up. Enough is enough, Piper said at an emotional news conference Monday, the day Boyer was killed. This is a senseless, senseless tragedy that did not need to be.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell pointed to three measures enacted in the last seven years Propositions 47 and 57 and Assembly Bill 109 that he said have led to the release of too many criminals without creating a proper safety net of mental health, drug rehabilitation and other services.
Were putting people back on the street that arent ready to be back on the street, McDonnell said. He said the county jail system he runs, the largest in the nation, has become a default state prison.
Sheriffs officials have long criticized Proposition 47, which was approved by voters in 2014 and downgraded some drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.
They say AB 109 which moved state prisoners to local lockups has pushed lower-level offenders out of custody and onto the streets, offering little deterrent against committing new crimes.
1 / 21 Los Angeles County firefighters salute as a hearse carrying slain Whittier Police Officer Keith Boyer arrives at Rose Hill Memorial Park in Whittier on Feb. 21, 2017. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 21 Whittier Police Officer Richard Jensen is comforted by other officers at Rose Hill Memorial Park. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 21 Toni Rodriguez offers prayers at a makeshift memorial for Officer Keith Boyer in front of the police station. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 21 People visit a make shift memorial for slain Whittier police officer, Keith Boyer, in front of police station to pay their respects. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 21 Abisai Espinales, with her dog, Mila, stops to pray at the make shift memorial for slain Whittier police officer Keith Boyer in front of police station. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 21 Vietnam veteran Frank Ventura salutes to pay his respects at the makeshift memorial for slain Whittier police officer Keith Boyer. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 21 Whittier Police Chief Jeff Piper, right, and other law enforcement personnel escort the body of a slain Whittier police officer from UC Irvine Medical Center. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 8 / 21 The body of a slain Whittier police officer is escorted from UC Irvine Medical Center to a van to be driven to the coroners. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 9 / 21 Brianna Michaud, left, and her mother Cherylynn Michaud pray at a vigil for slain Whittier police officer Keith Boyer. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 10 / 21 Whittier Chief of Police Jeff Piper tears up and is comforted by Whittier Mayor Joe Vinatieri while speaking at a vigil. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 11 / 21 Kim Williams, center, bows her head during a prayer at a vigil for slain Whittier police officer Keith Boyer. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 12 / 21 Joanne Carrel holds a black and white American flag by a picture of slain Whittier police officer Keith Boyer during a vigil at the Whittier police station. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 13 / 21 Marta Hernandez, who has a son who works at the Whittier Police Department, hugs Corporeal Jessi Pollnow after the press conference. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 21 Whittier Police Department officers standby during a press conference about the death of Officer Keith Boyer. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 21 Whittier Police Department Chief Jeff A. Piper pauses while speaking at a press conference about the death of Officer Keith Boyer. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 21 The Honor Guard stands at the memorial for fallen officers at the Whittier Police Department before a press conference. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 21 Flowers are left for Officer Keith Boyer at the Whittier Police Department. Boyer was killed and a second injured in a shootout with a gang member. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 21 Fire personnel salute as the body of a slain Whittier police officer is driven from UC Irvine Medical Center to the coroners. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 19 / 21 Fire personnel salute as the body of a slain Whittier police officer is driven from UC Irvine Medical Center to the coroners. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 20 / 21 Investigators comb the scene on Mar Vista Street in Whittier after one police officer was killed and another injured while responding to a traffic collision. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 21 / 21 Whittier Police investigate the scene of an officer-involved shooting in the area of Mar Vista Street and Colima Road. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)
Proposition 57, which passed last year, changed Californias three strikes rule and made sentencing more flexible, allowing some prisoners who wouldnt normally have been eligible for early parole to be considered for release.
In Los Angeles County, the jail population has decreased, from 18,500 inmates just before Proposition 47 passed to about 16,500 inmates in November. Narcotics arrests have dropped, with busy police officers deciding that the time needed to process a case is not worth it.
The result, some law enforcement officials say, is that more criminals are now on the streets instead of in jail and are not receiving the drug and mental health treatment the measure had promised. Without the threat of a felony prosecution, they say, defendants are less likely to choose treatment as an alternative to serving time.
But supporters of Proposition 47 dispute the theory that crime increases are connected to the measure. Misdemeanors can still result in sentences of up to a year in jail, and it is up to police officers and prosecutors to enforce those penalties, Michael Romano, a lecturer at Stanford Law School, told the Los Angeles Times in December.
The idea that Proposition 47 has been responsible for an increase in crime in California over the past year or two is fake news, as far as Im concerned, he said.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials, while extending their condolences, said that Mejia was never released early from state prison.
This individual served his full state prison terms as defined by law, said Jeffrey Callison, assistant secretary at the corrections department. None of the states recent criminal justice reforms including AB 109, Proposition 47 or Proposition 57 impacted when this individual was released from state prison. Proposition 57, for example, which was passed by voters in November, has not even been implemented yet.
Callison said AB 109 did not impact the time Mejia served, but did affect his post-release supervision in April 2016, which put monitoring in the hands of the Los Angeles County Probation Department.
The countys chief probation officer, Terri McDonald, confirmed that office was supervising Mejia, but declined to provide details.
He was under probation supervision pursuant to AB 109, McDonald said. We are reviewing the conditions of his supervision since being released from state prison in April 2016. However, as this is an active criminal and internal investigation, we cannot discuss any specifics but we will conduct a comprehensive post incident review. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families in this senseless homicide.
richard.winton@latimes.com
Twitter: @LAcrimes
Times staff writer Cindy Chang contributed to this report.
ALSO:
Slain Whittier officer, best of the best, was thinking about retiring, chief says
Gunman who killed Whittier officer had fatally shot cousin hours earlier, police say
A routine traffic stop ends with Whittier police in a gunfight for their lives, leaving one veteran officer dead
UPDATES:
5:25 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details from sheriffs officials about the status of Michael C. Mejia, information about his criminal record and and information from corrections and probation officials.
This article was originally published at 1:15 p.m.
A mental competency trial has been rescheduled in the case of a man accused of attacking several homeless men in San Diego last year, three of whom were killed, and an elderly woman who was fatally beaten.
The trial for Jon David Guerrero, 40, is now set for March 20, in San Diego Superior Court to determine whether he is capable of understanding the court proceedings and assisting in his own defense.
Guerrero has not yet been arraigned on murder and attempted murder charges. His court appearances up to this point have dealt with whether he is fit for trial.
Advertisement
Guerrero, a Coronado native with a history of mental illness, is accused of attacking five homeless men over a 12-day period in July. He was arrested last summer after officers in Golden Hill found the last victim screaming in pain.
Angelo DeNardo, 53, was the first victim. His body was found early July 3 under a freeway bridge in Bay Park. A railroad spike had been driven into his head and chest. He was then lit on fire, a prosecutor said.
Another man, Manuel Mason, 61, was found injured in the Midway District on July 4. He had a railroad spike driven into his sinus cavity. He survived his injuries but was blinded.
The body of Shawn Mitchell Longley, 41, was found in Ocean Beach on July 4. Dionicio Derek Vahidy, 23, was injured on July 6 but died days later.
Michael Papadelis, 55, was found screaming and bloodied on July 15. He survived.
Investigators revealed recently that Guerrero is also suspected of killing Molly Simons, 83, in a North Park alley off Arizona Street near University Avenue the morning of July 13 two days before he was arrested. Simons lived with her husband in San Diego.
Guerrero was last in court on Feb. 1, when a judge set a tentative date for the competency trial as requested by the defense.
Before that, he had been under treatment at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County, where he was to remain until his mental competency was restored and the criminal case could resume.
PREVIOUS
A man accused of killing three homeless men and injuring two others is mentally incompetent to stand trial, a San Diego judge ruled Friday. Jon David Guerrero, 39, is being sent to a state hospital in San Bernardino County until his doctors determin
dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @danalittlefield
The Department of Homeland Securitys blueprint for cracking down on unauthorized immigrants as ordered by President Donald Trump calls for more arrests and deportations and wider latitude for an increased number of immigration agents.
How that plays out in San Diego County is uncertain. But the release of two memos Tuesday detailing how Homeland Security will enact the changes rattled immigrant communities and activists on both sides of the border, heartened supporters of tougher immigration enforcement and left questions on how new resources will be deployed.
In a conference call with reporters in the afternoon, DHS officials tried to allay fears of a wave of mass deportations, cautioning the agencies dont have the personnel or resources for such an effort yet.
Advertisement
That didnt ease fears of immigration rights groups in San Diego. Christian Ramirez, human rights director for Alliance San Diego, said many of the policies had been in place under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
These are policies that were proven to be very disruptive, to be inefficient and are creating a whole lot of panic in communities, Ramirez said. What we expect to see is things like Border Patrol boarding public transportation, things like (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) conducting work site raids to go after unlawful employers and employees.
Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney for San Diego and chairman of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., said the Trump administration is reaffirming that this is the law thats on the books and were going to enforce it, which is contrary to whats been happening during the past eight years.
Nunez, whose group advocates for stronger immigration controls, said the new policies should send a strong message. I hope it tells illegal aliens everywhere that this is a whole new world, he said. No one gets a free pass.
The two DHS memos detail how the agency will enforce the aggressive approach to illegal immigration Trump outlined in two Jan. 25 executive orders.
The memos include a call to expand a federal program that allows local law enforcement to act as federal immigration officers investigating, arresting and detaining immigration violators. The program, known as the 287(g) program, after the section of immigration law that authorizes it, was dormant for years under Obamas policies.
One memo notes 32 law enforcement agencies in 16 states have formal 287(g) agreements, and it says the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection should engage immediately with all willing and qualified law enforcement jurisdictions to sign such agreements.
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said he would not take that step. Im not asking my deputies to do immigration enforcement. We will not enter into that, he said.
Gore said, as he has in the past, that his department already cooperates extensively with federal immigration authorities in the county jails, through task forces and in other ways. That kind of cooperation has worked and will continue, he said.
I dont want my patrol deputies perceived in the community as immigration officers, he said. If we do that, if we turn this whole community into a subculture that is afraid to report crimes, we make this whole community less safe.
San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman issued a statement noting her departments cooperation with federal authorities. While not specifically addressing if the city would enter into a 287(g) agreement, she reiterated long-standing department policy that immigration enforcement is a federal matter after someone is arrested and jailed.
The San Diego Police Department does not check the immigration status of victims and witnesses of crimes to encourage all people to come forward, confident in the knowledge their report will be investigated thoroughly and professionally, Zimmerman said.
1 / 30 This is the view looking west from the Andrade/Algodones port of entry area. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 30 A Border Patrol patrol boat heads north on the Colorado River where the fence ends between Arizona and California. The river is the border for a small part of the way. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 30 View looking west with existing fence slicing through the Imperial sand dunes. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 30 View looking southwest with existing fence slicing though Imperial Sand Dunes. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 30 Construction equipment just north of the existing border fence at the Imperial sand dunes between Andrade and Calexico. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 30 Existing border fence fighting the drifting sand at the Imperial sand dunes area. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 30 Agricultural fields on the Mexico side of the border almost touching existing fence just south of Gordons Well. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 30 Once out of the sand dunes the existing fence heads west towards Calexico. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 30 A Border Patrol unit on post just north of the border fence east of Calexico. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 30 The Mexicali-Calexico East border crossing. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 30 This is the main Mexicali/Calexico crossing for pedestrians and passenger vehicles with its landmark water tower high above it. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 30 West of Calexico the tall fence ends and drive through barriers are placed along the border depending on the topography. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 30 West of Calexico/Mexicali the border continues with barriers to prevent vehicle drive throughs up to the mountains. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 14 / 30 An international boundary marker west of Calexico/Mexicali. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 15 / 30 This is the most rugged part of the border between Arizona and the Pacific. It is roughly the section south of Montezuma grade on the U.S. Side and north of La Rumorosa on the south side, and Jacumba on the west and the mountains west of Calexico. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 16 / 30 This is where the existing border fence picks up again, east of Jacumba. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 17 / 30 Between Jacumba and Tecate terrain seems to dictate where the current border fence is located. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 18 / 30 An incomplete section of the existing fence south of Campo between Jacumba and Tecate. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 19 / 30 This is the Tecate border crossing with the inbound traffic to the U.S. on the left and southbound traffic in to Mexico on the right. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 20 / 30 The existing fence already built between Tecate and Jacumba. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 21 / 30 This is a very steep section of the fence built on the south side of Otay mountain between Tecate and Otay. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 22 / 30 This is a very steep section of the fence built on the south side of Otay mountain between Tecate and Otay. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 23 / 30 Border Patrol agents with observation equipment positioned on a hillside looking in to Mexico on the east side of Otay. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 24 / 30 Trucks from Mexico stream in to the U.S. through the Otay Mesa commercial port of entry. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 25 / 30 This is the Otay Mesa Port of Entry for passenger vehicles and pedestrians. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 26 / 30 This is the new privately funded Cross Border Express terminal that lets travelers park in the U.S and cross to Abelardo Rodriguez International Airport in Mexico. It has been a big success since its opening 14 months ago. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 27 / 30 This is the San Ysidro Port of Entry that connects Tijuana with San Diego. It is claimed to be the busiest land port in the world. The construction at the bottom is the new pedestrian crossing facility. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 28 / 30 The Tijuana river flows to the U.S. just past the curve on the bottom of the photo. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 29 / 30 The triple fence is visible in this section: two visible on the south side of the river and one on the north side, the bottom of the photo, along the roadway. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 30 / 30 This is where the fence ends, at the Pacific Ocean in the Las Playas section of Tijuana which is the northwestern most point in Mexico. The Bullring by the Sea is visible as is the working light house. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune)
The DHS memos also call for expeditiously hiring 10,000 ICE officers and 5,000 Border Patrol agents, giving them expanded powers to arrest and deport illegal immigrants.
Its unclear how many of those Border Patrol agents would end up in San Diego. Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council union that represent agents, said the total hiring will likely be close to 6,500 agents.
That is because the Border Patrol is down some 1,500 agents from a budgeted workforce of 21,730 agents, he said. Moran said the union is suggesting 1,500 agents newly hired be sent to the northern border with Canada, increasing staff there by 50 percent.
The balance would be spread across the Southwest border with Mexico. How soon that would happen is unclear. Last fall the inspector general for DHS issued a report that said the agencies in the massive department are slow to fill the ranks noting that it took nine months to hire a single Border Patrol agent.
The agency can move faster, Moran said, but the union does not want a repeat of errors from the last massive hiring spree under the George W. Bush administration. The agency nearly doubled in size, but it lowered hiring standards, cut training at the academy, and suffered through a wave of corruption arrests and convictions.
We dont want to be cutting corners, Moran said. We want to make sure we have good candidates, that we do a background check on them before they are put into the field and not after.
DHS also is calling for more detention facilities, both short-term and long-term. But doing so will require money and time. In a statement, ICE said it has already increased detention space nationwide by 1,000 beds, but far more will be needed to house what will likely be thousands more detainees.
The agency said a list of potential locations for detention facilities along the Southwest border is under review.
In San Diego, ICE has an immigration jail in Otay Mesa that has 1,204 beds. A second facility in Calexico in Imperial County has 782 beds.
In Tijuana, the fear for several months has been that the city will see a dramatic increase in deportees under Trumps policies.
What are we going to do when thousands of people start coming? Many of these people have been away for 25 or 30 years, said the Rev. Patrick Murphy, director of the Casa del Migrante in Tijuana, a 150-bed migrant shelter. I dont think the Mexican government is prepared at all. They keep saying, Were prepared. But we havent even had a meeting to say what would be the plan of action if large numbers of people start getting deported.
Twitter: @gregmoran
greg.moran@sduniontribune.com
Trustees in the San Diego Unified School District are trying to address an estimated $124 million budget deficit with the least amount of disruption, and learned this week it may be easier said than done.
Superintendent Cindy Marten has vowed that cuts to the districts $1.3 billion 2017-18 budget would come first from the top and wouldnt affect classroom size or vital programs.
Advertisement
In all, however, the district plans to eliminate 850 positions, including 137 elementary PE teachers.
On Tuesday, the board faced a packed auditorium of employees, parents, students and community members objecting to the planned cuts, which would include arts instructors, police, counselors, library clerks, food service workers, custodians and occupational therapy specialists and their assistants.
Cuts also would be made to licensed mental health clinicians and dozens of noon duty assistants, Head Start employees and library assistants, plus workers in many other positions.
Lindsay Burningham, president of the San Diego Education Association, was among the speakers against the plan.
As details of the districts proposed slash-and-burn cuts to our programs across the SDEA bargaining unit have emerged, I found myself in shock, she said. These layoffs are based on a hypothetical worst-case scenario budget that wont be revisited until May or June. We know there are better ways to resolve the budget challenges, such as retirement incentives, natural attrition, reducing administrative costs and full-fledged efforts to reduce declining enrollment.
Burningham also said the SDEA would file a complaint of unfair labor practices with the the Public Employee Relations Board if the district sends layoff notices to pre-time elementary teachers rather than waiting for when the bargaining unit returns to the negotiation table in April or May.
In closed session before the meeting, the board authorized layoff notices to 79 certificated administrations, including central office administrators, vice principals and principals who have been receiving support or are on special assignment. The board also voted to release all temporarily certificated employees at the end of the school year.
Besides those actions, Tuesdays meeting was not to vote on the bulk of the proposed position eliminations, but to present details about the budget solutions. A vote on the proposed cuts is scheduled for Feb. 28.
The board did unanimously vote to create an early retirement plan, cut Martens salary by 5.6 percent for a reduction of $15,400 from her current $275,000 salary and cut their own annual compensation of $18,000 by 5.4 percent.
With a number of employees already planning a retirement this year and more expected to take the early retirement incentive, its unclear how many layoff notices the district would have to issue to meet the reduction goal.
Under state law, the district must notify by March 15 all certificated employees who may lose their jobs this year. The layoffs may be rescinded later because the notification deadline is months before the adoption of the final state budget, which could have more money for education than predicted.
San Diego Schools Police Officers Association President Dana Ellis said the proposed cuts amounted to 25 percent of her departments budget and included all community services officers. The agenda item showing reductions in the department listed 10 officers, including one detective.
These eliminations are not in alignment with the districts philosophy of restorative practices, she said. These cuts will significantly impact school security and classroom safety.
Ellis said officers are needed to supervise students during lunch and at the end of school and for traffic issues.
It is a proven fact that if students dont feel safe, they dont attend school, she said.
Several certified occupational therapy assistants spokes at the meeting asking to save the 10 positions of their field that were being eliminated. COTAs provide federally mandated occupational therapy services to special educational students, some stressed to the board.
An arts teacher from Clairemont High said she had been two told weeks ago that her position was being eliminated, the same week the music department also was eliminated.
Ann Marie Haney, co-chair of the Community Council for Music in the Schools, also appealed to the board to save its music programs she has seen grown.
We need to work together and come up with a solution so we dont lose these teachers, and we have a lot to lose, she said. Youve done so well.
Trustees did not discuss the proposed budget solutions after public testimony concluded.
gary.warth@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @GaryWarthUT
760-529-4939
Hundreds of people gathered in downtown San Diego on Tuesday evening to call for a massive transition to clean power in the fight against climate change. The event was the most recent in a groundswell of local political demonstrations following the election of President Donald Trump.
Held outside the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building, the demonstration included speakers from organizations such as Sierra Club San Diego, SanDiego350, the Environmental Health Coalition and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 569.
Keynote speaker Wesley Clark Jr., who helped organize military veterans in support of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, repeatedly called on the crowd to go beyond attending rallies and join a broader political movement.
Advertisement
We have all the technology we need right now to solve this (climate change) problem. What we lack is the political will to do it, he said.
Id ask everybody here to get involved, he added. Donate your time. Donate your money.
Inspired by a national campaign called Climate Mobilization, a La Jolla couple coordinated the rally around an online pledge to vote only for candidates who support an overhaul of the countrys energy system on the scale of the American World War II home-front mobilization.
This needs to build so that theres an undeniable consensus that the government needs to take action, said Nancy Casady, 75, who put together the event with her husband. We want people to tell their friends and come to the next rally until we have 30,000 predictably in San Diego demanding the government respond.
The couple has been putting together demonstrations under the banner of the San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition for two years, drawing in dozens to nearly 350 people at a time. Similar efforts are going on in other cities nationwide, including in New York, Portland, Oregon and Sacramento.
After passing out fliers at the local Womens March in January which drew as many as 40,000 people to downtown San Diego the Casadys started to see an uptick in interest. Tuesdays event drew about 500 people, according to the San Diego Police Department.
Everybody in this town wants to have a march right now, said Derek Casady, 81. Were organizing people who want to get the word out.
Turnout may have also have received a boost because of Fridays Senate confirmation of Scott Pruitt to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As the Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt routinely sued the agency and called for its dismantling.
Further enraging green groups and their supporters, Trump is preparing executive orders aimed at nixing Obama-era environmental regulations. Trump has signaled a desire to do away with limits on greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants, as well as the Waters of the United States rules that restrict development along certain wetlands, rivers, streams and other bodies of water.
San Diego County has seen a string of protests over the past month from supporters of Planned Parenthood to the Indivisible movement, which has organized progressive voters around electoral politics much the same ways as the Tea Party did for conservatives.
On Saturday, more than 4,000 people attended an immigrants rights march in the rain. Similar events around the country started after Trump signed an executive order suspending immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries.
Environmentalists are attempting to seize on this energy. A March for Science has been scheduled for April 22, Earth Day, and the Peoples Climate March is set for April 29. Both will be held in Washington, D.C., with parallel events in San Diego and other cities coast to coast.
We cannot abandon the day-to-day, door-to-door organizing that we do in our communities, but we do need to raise the profile of these issues to the general public, said Diane Takvorian, executive director of the Environmental Health Coalition, who spoke at Tuesdays event. And I think these rallies give us the opportunity to do that.
Many people at the rally said they recently became more involved in politics.
Dana Goodrow said she has been attending more demonstrations and calling elected officials since Trump was elected. Climate change is real, and we have an administration thats denying it, she said, and I think its going to cause major problems for everybody.
Jack Hawroth said Tuesday was the first political rally hes ever attended. I think its very important that we make a stand because the politicians arent just going to do it on their own, he said.
Still, its unclear whether the climate activists will be able to overcome years of counter-efforts by the fossil fuel industry, conservative think tanks and Tea Party voters, said Carl Luna, director of the University of San Diegos Institute for Civil Civic Engagement.
What they need to fight is a 40-year narrative that government is the enemy of the people rather than the representative of the people, Luna said. And then they have to convince congressmen and elected officials that votes that they need to get are now at stake.
According to a recent survey conducted by Yale and George Mason universities, about 66 percent of all registered voters 79 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of Republicans said the U.S. should reduce its greenhouse emissions regardless of what action other countries take.
The survey also found that half of Trump voters said they thought transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy would improve economic growth or have no impact on it.
While theres a significant amount of support for policies aimed at curbing global warming even among conservatives, those voters are not well organized, said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of Yale Universitys program on climate change communication.
What we have yet to see is, do they coalesce and organize to the point where they have real political muscle where they can deliver votes to the point where politicians are afraid of them in the same way theyre afraid of the NRA, Leiserowitz said.
Twitter: @jemersmith
Phone: (619) 293-2234
Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com
Carlsbad will have more sand on its beaches next summer thanks to a dredging project set to begin next month at the Agua Hedionda Lagoon.
Every few years, the owners of the Encina Power Station have to dredge the lagoons outer basin to keep sand from blocking the flow of ocean water needed to cool the plants steam generators.
The project has several other benefits as well, said David Knox, a spokesman for plant owner NRG Energy Inc.
Advertisement
For instance, it helps shore up Carlsbad beaches, which if not replenished become narrower and covered with rocks.
The dredging puts sand back on the beach so that beachgoers have a nice, sandy spot to place their towels, said Kasia Trojanowska, Carlsbads parks planner.
About 500,000 cubic yards of sand will be pulled from the bottom of the lagoon. About half that sand will go to a stretch of the beach between the intake and outlet jetties just outside the lagoon. The remaining sand will be split between the beach at Tamarack and Oak avenues and the shoreline just south of the lagoon.
In addition to cooling the plant, the dredging is key to maintaining the tidal circulation within the lagoon, which is important for the recreational, commercial and biological uses of the lagoon, Knox said.
Though the outcome is a boon for visitors, the process isnt always pleasant.
During the months-long project, a dredge barge similar to a tug boat sucks sand from the bottom of the lagoon like a large vacuum cleaner. The sand, which looks like black ooze, is then carried to the beach through large, 20-inch-diameter black pipes.
The equipment leaves large mounds of the black goo an odorous concoction rich with nutrients and marine organisms that crews spread and level out along the shore using earth movers. After the seawater evaporates, it leaves behind a natural, platinum colored beach.
Routine dredging is done every two to four years dating back to 1954, when the plant was built, Knox said. It was last done in 2010.
This could be the last time NRG pays for the work; the company plans to replace its steam generators by 2017 with a dry-cooled plant. Poseidon Water, which is building a water desalination plant near the lagoon, will take over dredging responsibilities, Knox said.
The dredging usually takes place during the winter months to minimize disruption on wildlife and visitors.
NRG expects to start the work in December, though its still waiting on permits from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board and U.S. Corps of Engineers. The work already received approvals from the California Department of Parks and Recreation and the California State Lands Commission.
The project should be completed before the annual grunion run, which usually begins in mid-April.
Keeping ocean water flowing into the lagoon also helps two other operations on the waterway: the Carlsbad Aquafarm, which raises and sells oysters and mussels, and the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, which operates a hatchery for white sea bass.
Three times every day, now and for the foreseeable future, Brina Bujkovsky is placing calls to Washington D.C. one to her representative in Congress and one to each of her U.S. senators.
So do thousands of other members of Together We Will, one of a number of activist groups that sprouted up in recent weeks to target President Donald Trump and representatives who support him.
The phone calls, which have overwhelmed switchboard operators at the House of Representatives more than once, are one of the tools activists are using to try to regain a foothold in turbulent political times.
Advertisement
They are demanding town-hall meetings, they picket outside congressional offices and they write letters to editors. Their efforts bring to mind many of the same tactics used by the conservative tea party eight years ago.
In recent days, they bought a full-page newspaper ad to try to dragoon Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, to a town hall in his district Tuesday night even though it was likely to be packed with critics.
Instead, Issa made an impromptu appearance as protesters and supporters clashed outside his Vista office Tuesday morning, taking questions from both sides.
The call for town halls has also arisen in East County, where the group circulated a mock wanted poster of Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, accusing him of going AWOL on constituents.
Were trying to shed light on the fact that our Congress members are not making themselves available to speak with their constituents, said Bujkovsky, a San Marcos business owner who is coordinating Together We Wills activities in Hunters 50th Congressional District. A lot of people feel like its an emergency situation.
Hunter has said he will host a community meeting next month.
The wave of activism washing across San Diego County and elsewhere largely centers on the Trump campaign pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 legislation known as Obamacare.
The resistance movement also focuses on other initiatives pushed by the new president since he was sworn in last month, including immigration policy, climate change regulations and controversial Cabinet nominations.
Many of their strategies come from Indivisible, a playbook for political activism developed by former congressional staffers who watched the tea party movement take root soon after Barack Obama moved into the White House.
The current political landscape is similar to the atmosphere that ignited the tea party after the 2008 election. Eight years ago there was a Democrat in the White House and Democrats running the House and Senate. There is still one party rule, but Republicans are the ones in charge this time.
Like us, you probably deeply disagree with the principles and positions of the tea party, Indivisibles handbook for grassroots activism says. But we can all learn from their success in influencing the national debate and the behavior of national policymakers. To their credit, they thought thoroughly about advocacy tactics.
The handbook gives activists advice on where to sit at town hall meetings (spread out through the room to give the impression of broad support), how to hold a microphone when asking a hostile question (tightly, so that a staffer cant cut the interrogation short without appearing physically aggressive) and to how to get called on to ask a question (look neutral).
Both movements developed their own vernacular, with tea party members labeling Obama a socialist and Trump supporters being called fascists.
The Indivisible guide, which takes its name from a key word in the Pledge of Allegiance, has been downloaded more than 1.7 million times in recent weeks. Almost 5,000 community groups have been set up under its direction.
We want to take something thats really dark right now, with a lot of looming threats all over the place, and turn it into some positive progress, said Kathy Stadler of Indivisible San Diego, one of the local chapters that emerged from the nationwide model.
Iman Salehian is a graphic designer from San Diego who works with Swing Left, an organization focused on electing more progressive candidates to Congress in 2018 and beyond. She said she became involved with Indivisible after attending the Womens March in January.
I did read an Indivisible guide, Salehian said. I think that has formed a lot of peoples strategies going forward.
The various resistance efforts are generating a lot of attention locally and nationally, which may contribute to outcomes such as Issa coming out to hear the people outside his office Tuesday for more than an hour.
No matter what side of the political spectrum youre on, people are worried about what the future holds for their health care, Issa told the crowd.
The hubbub outside Issas office was part of a broader effort targeting members of Congress across the nation.
So-called Resist Trump Tuesday protests have been staged in scores of communities every week since the inauguration. Some meetings hosted by Republican members of Congress have showcased angry voters and pushed some lawmakers to cancel or leave early.
Longtime political strategist Bob Shrum said he has not seen the Democratic Party so energized since the Vietnam War. He said that if the momentum keeps up, turnout for the midterm election will soar.
People really care, and they are reacting to events, said Shrum, who teaches political science at the University of Southern California. Republican members of Congress, especially in districts that are reasonably competitive, ignore this at their own peril.
Shrum said the Trump resistance is similar to the tea party not only because participants employ many of the same strategies but because they each grew out of public concern over access to health care. But this latest movement, he said, is more organic.
This is spontaneous, he said. Its like the womens march. This is coming from grass roots. Its coming from the bottom up. The tea party was a mix. It was somewhat from the bottom up but there was a lot corporate money spent too.
Former tea party leader Mason Weaver does not see many similarities between the two efforts. He said the Trump resistance is fueled by an orchestrated drive to de-legitimize a change-agent president and noted the violence that has erupted at some recent protests.
We didnt get paid to demonstrate. We didnt break windows. We didnt start fires, said Weaver, who is an author and keynote speaker. I dont see a groundswell. I see liberal-trained people who are generally dissatisfied.
Weaver said the town-hall meetings his teams attended were always respectful.
Disallowing people to talk was never part of the tea party, he said. Many of these folks are just organized as a mob.
Hundreds of people are expected to attend upcoming events by Hunter and Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego.
And Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, held a town hall at constituents urging on Monday night. He said it used to be difficult to get people interested in attending such gatherings.
Unfortunately, it took the election of Donald Trump to remind people that we are fighting for democracy, Peters said.
At the town hall without Issa Tuesday night, Vista resident Minna Riber, 75, said she has not been political since the civil rights movement in the 1960s but she is now.
If I drop dead right now, I know I would have done something I had to do, she said standing outside the overflow event in Vista. We are a participatory democracy. This is what democracy looks like.
Staff writers Teri Figueroa and J. Harry Jones contributed to this report
jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
A two-day search for a boater in Mission Bay ended Wednesday night after a Hillcrest nurse saw news reports about the missing man and realized he was a patient.
San Diego lifeguards and the Coast Guard began looking for Garrett Ferguson, 36, Tuesday morning after an unoccupied dinghy was found half a mile or so west of the Mission Bay channel jetty. The 9-foot inflatable boat held swim fins, a diving buoy, clothes and Fergusons ID card.
Coast Guard crews were still searching for Ferguson, of Huntington Beach, when the Scripps Mercy Hospital nurse called San Diego police about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Petty Officer Robert Simpson, a spokesman for the Coast Guard. Police officers went to the hospital and helped the Coast Guard verify that the patient was Ferguson.
Advertisement
Soon after, the search was called off and Fergusons family was notified.
Simpson did not have details about Fergusons health, except that he was not in critical condition.
At this point dont know how he got there, or why, Simpson said.
San Diego lifeguard service Lt. John Sandmeyer said people on board a sailboat spotted the dinghy about 11 a.m. Tuesday. Lifeguards found the small vessel, with an outboard motor and fuel. It had no anchor, which would commonly be in use if someone were using the boat as a diving base, Sandmeyer said.
They spent hours trying to calculate the direction and distance it may have drifted, and enlisted a Coast Guard boat and helicopter and a San Diego Fire-Rescue Department helicopter to aid in a search.
They scouted the coast from La Jollas Calumet Park south to Sunset Cliffs. Radio broadcasts were made on an emergency channel for boaters to be on the lookout for the man, Sandmeyer said.
The search halted around sunset and resumed early Wednesday.
Lifeguards were going door-to-door to some residences in Sunset Cliffs in the morning and searched the surf line on personal watercraft. Sandmeyer said those detailed searches had to be curtailed to open life guard stations and towers by 9 a.m.
The Coast Guard later deployed a boat and helicopters.
Officials said the mans mother, also of Huntington Beach, had expected to hear from him on Monday.
Sandmeyer said lifeguard officials contacted Fergusons mother on Tuesday and she became more distraught over their discovery. She knew her son has free-diving experience but did not know where he would be earlier in the week.
She then filed a missing persons report with Huntington Beach police and lifeguards notified San Diego police, Sandmeyer said.
He said the man does not own a boat, and the dingy, which appeared to be fairly new, is not registered. It was not clear whether the dinghy belonged on some larger boat or had been acquired separately.
UPDATES:
10:40 p.m.: This article was updated with details about the boater being found. This article was originally published at 9:30 a.m.
A Las Vegas man has been arrested in the shooting of a 23-year-old San Marcos woman whose body was dumped in a ravine near Escondido last month.
Paul Castro, 27, a documented gang member, is suspected of killing Antonia Herrera, sheriffs homicide unit Lt. Kenn Nelson said Wednesday.
He said Castro, Herrera and another man were passengers in a car headed to San Marcos from Las Vegas on Jan. 11 when Castro turned in his front seat and shot Herrera several times.
Advertisement
The driver pulled off Interstate 15 at the next exit and the young womans body was dumped in a ravine off Champagne Boulevard sometime before sunrise.
Her body was discovered the next day by a resident across the canyon who noticed something odd and went over to check on it, Nelson said. That person called 911 about 2 p.m. on Jan. 12.
Nelson said it isnt clear what provoked the shooting. He said the other passenger and the driver didnt have time to try to stop it.
Herrera was friends with all three men who were in the car, including Castro, Nelson said. He said she had lived in Las Vegas for a time and made several trips there.
On her last trip, she rode to Las Vegas with friends, visited other people, then needed a ride home, Nelson said. The four men offered to take her.
After the shooting, the witnesses did not call police right away, but eventually offered information that helped lead to Castro, Nelson said. The two do not face charges in connection with the killing.
We have no evidence they aided or abetted, Nelson said of the two. All the evidence shows they are witnesses in this case.
Detectives spent three days in Las Vegas last week, serving warrants on three homes and talking to a number of people, Nelson said.
They let Las Vegas police know they were looking for Castro, and local officers saw him and made the traffic stop. He was booked on a local charge.
Investigators in Las Vegas also found the car in which Herrera was shot, and had it towed to San Diego as evidence, Nelson said. The car does not belong to Castro.
No gun has been recovered.
Nelson said his detectives returned Tuesday and took the case against Castro to the District Attorneys office, which issued a warrant for his arrest on a murder charge. Las Vegas authorities then re-booked him on that charge.
Castro is awaiting extradition to San Diego to face the murder charge here, Nelson said.
Two men suspected in a string of cellphone store robberies were arrested in Pacific Beach Tuesday, moments after the 10th holdup of a Metro PCS store in the past month.
Justin Wayne Caldwell, 30, was under surveillance by police and the FBI when a passenger in his vehicle got out and robbed the store on Grand Avenue near Bayard Street about 2:10 p.m., San Diego police Capt. Brian Ahearn said.
Investigators believe Caldwell and the unidentified man were involved in at least one other robbery in the spree that began Jan. 25.
Advertisement
People can rest easy tonight knowing that we feel very confident that these two suspects are responsible for several of these cases, Ahearn said.
The captain said there may be at least one other suspect, and investigators would continue to investigate.
Police and the FBI spent the past few weeks staking out Metro PCS stores across San Diego, Ahearn said. Detectives and agents had a store under surveillance when the ninth holdup occurred at a different Metro PCS store, in Serra Mesa, a week ago.
During the investigation, detectives got undisclosed information that led them to Caldwell, who had been considered a person of interest, Ahearn said.
On Tuesday, authorities kept watch over Caldwell. They followed a Mercedes he was in as he picked up a man and drove to several Metro PCS stores. Ahearn said there was no indication the two men were casing the stores.
Eventually, the Mercedes made its way to Pacific Beach. Ahearn said Caldwell parked on Thomas Avenue near Bayard Street, and his passenger got out and walked to the Metro PCS store a block away.
The man came out of the store about 30 seconds later, Ahearn said.
When officers tried to detain the man, he ran a few blocks south, dropping two bags outside a garage on Oliver Street. Inside the garage, he got rid of an airsoft handgun, a sweatshirt and sunglasses.
He then climbed a nearby fence into a backyard before he was arrested.
Caldwell was arrested while he was inside the Mercedes.
Ahearn said police confiscated nine cellphones and several hundred dollars in cash. Investigators believe the gun that was recovered was used during the holdup Tuesday.
Ahearn said detectives had not determined why Metro PCS stores were targeted during the robbery spree.
Police previously said two armed men were behind the robberies. The thieves used a machete at least once, a stun gun at least twice and a handgun in all but one holdup.
The robberies occurred:
Feb. 14 on Mission Village Drive in Serra Mesa
Feb. 10 on San Marcos Boulevard in San Marcos
Feb. 8 on El Cajon Boulevard in the College Area
Feb. 7 on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard in Clairemont
Feb. 6 on Poway Road in Poway
Feb. 1 on Coronado Avenue in Egger Highlands
Jan. 30 on Adams Avenue in Normal Heights
Jan. 27 on El Cajon Boulevard in Kensington
Jan. 25 on Jamacha Road in Spring Valley
Twitter: @LAWinkley
(619) 293-1546
lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com
An off-duty San Diego police officer was punched in the ear in a road rage incident that unfolded while he was on his way to work Tuesday night, police said.
It was unknown what led to the violence or where it began. The officer, who was en route to the police station in City Heights, was driving his personally owned vehicle, police Officer John Buttle said.
He said the suspect got out of his car on Fairmount Avenue near Interstate 8, walked over to the off-duty officer and punched him about 8:30 p.m. A brief scuffle broke out before the suspect got back into his car and drove away.
Advertisement
The off-duty officer suffered a cut to his ear and was not taken to a hospital, Buttle said.
The officer was able to take down the license plate number of the suspects car. Police discovered its registered owner lives in El Cajon, but no arrests had been made.
Breaking News
Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com
Phone: (619) 293-1876
Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
By Thomas Wilson and Emi Emoto TOKYO (Reuters) - Hard Rock Cafe International is looking to buy up to a 60 percent stake in a Japanese casino resort, its chairman said on Tuesday, seeking entry into what could become the world's second-biggest casino market. Hard Rock, famous for its music-themed restaurants, last month opened a Japan unit with a view to grabbing a slice of the action after the country's legalisation of casinos. Japan's regulation of the sector is expected to be laid out in law by December and Florida-based Hard Rock is among a crowded field -- including Las Vegas Sands , Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts International -- vying for potentially lucrative operating rights. Hard Rock, which has 11 casinos in North America, is seeking to partner Japanese companies in a consortium, Chairman James Allen told Reuters. "We are looking at 40-60 percent equity participation," he said. "It's important to make sure our local partners are involved in the relationship, not just as blind investors." The company, privately owned by Seminole Tribe of Florida, has identified 20 to 30 potential partners, including financial firms, manufacturers and landholders, Allen said. Its Japan arm will be run by Edward Tracy, a 30-year casino industry veteran who until 2015 was chief executive of Las Vegas Sands' China arm. Tracy and Allen first worked together at Donald Trump's conglomerate in Atlantic City in the late 1980s. Two "integrated resorts" -- large-scale complexes featuring casinos, hotels and retail outlets -- could generate $10 billion in annual revenue, potentially growing to $25 billion with more locations, said brokerage CLSA. Other analysts have said that Japan's wealthy population and tourist appeal could lift the figure to $40 billion, making Japan the second-biggest casino market behind the United States. Sands' chief executive Sheldon Adelson said separately on Tuesday that a resort could cost up to $10 billion to build. Though political sources have said that Japan is unlikely to decide on casino locations and operators until 2019, with the first casinos opening by 2023, the race among potential investors is well and truly on. "At some point it will be all hands on deck," Tracy said. "When you get definition around the legislation, you are on the bullet train, and hopefully you're not trying to catch up." (Editing by David Goodman)
Two men were arrested on suspicion of stabbing their sisters in two unrelated attacks in Normal Heights and City Heights Wednesday night, San Diego police said.
One pair of siblings got into an argument in an apartment on 34th Street near Monroe Avenue about 6:45 p.m. During the fight, a 20-year-old man grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed his sister in the neck, police Officer John Buttle said.
The suspect then ran away.
Advertisement
The victim, whose age was unknown, was taken to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening, Buttle said.
Officers found her brother a block away from the home, near Madison Avenue and 34th Street, and arrested him.
The second pair of siblings got into a fight over some cigarettes in a home on Oakcrest Drive, off Polk Avenue, about 9:10 p.m. At some point a man stabbed his sister in her thigh, Buttle said.
The victim, 28, was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
Her brother, in his 20s, was arrested near Euclid and University avenues a short time later.
Breaking News
Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com
Phone: (619) 293-1876
Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
Even before the White House announced stricter immigration policies Tuesday, there were signs of opposition. Addressing people of all faiths and no faith, San Diegos Roman Catholic bishop on Saturday urged Americans to be disruptors and rebuilders.
Donald Trump, Bishop Robert McElroy noted, had campaigned for the presidency as the disruptor.
Well now, McElroy told almost 700 community organizers and social justice advocates meeting in Modesto on the weekend that we must all become disruptors.
Advertisement
Originally reported by The National Catholic Reporter, the speech made waves. A Breitbart correspondent wrote that McElroy attacked Trump before an audience of social justice warriors. The editor of the Jesuit magazine America, on the other hand, tweeted a link to the powerful speech.
Toward the end of his 20-minute talk, McElroy issued a call to action.
We must disrupt those who would seek to send troops into our streets to deport the undocumented, to rip mothers and fathers from their families, he said.
We must disrupt those who portray refugees as enemies rather than our brothers and sisters in terrible need.
We must disrupt those who train us to see Muslim men, women and children as forces of fear rather than as children of God.
We must disrupt those who seek to rob our medical care, especially from the poor. We must disrupt those who would take even food stamps and nutrition assistance from the mouths of children.
A diocese spokeswoman said McElroy was not available on Tuesday to be interviewed about his comments. The diocese includes 99 parishes and serves more than 1 million Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties.
In his speech, the bishop argued that Americans cannot merely be disruptors, we also have to be rebuilders.
We have to rebuild this nation so that we place at its heart the service to the dignity of the human person and assert what that flag behind us asserts is our heritage: Every man, woman and child is equal in this nation and called to be equal, he said.
McElroy mentioned Trump by name only once, but his comments critiqued the new administration. Citing the need to see clearly the situation, the bishop decried alternate facts, echoing a phrase used by presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway.
And while Trump has called climate change a hoax, McElroy compared skeptics to the tobacco companies that obscured for decades the medical science pertaining to smoking.
The politics of the illegal immigration debate, for now, come down to two words: mass deportation.
Whether thats accurate or hyperbole is what we may be talking about for some time, given Tuesdays actions by the administration of President Trump.
Good morning from the state capital. Im Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers, and from California to the East Coast and beyond, the biggest story right now is what kind of immigration crackdown is on the horizon and the effect on as many as 11 million people.
Advertisement
TRUMP WANTS TO TAKE THE SHACKLES OFF ENFORCEMENT
The action taken certainly appeared to be bold. As Brian Bennett and Del Quentin Wilber report, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly issued two directives that are significant shifts in the approach to many of those living in the U.S. illegally.
As they write, Though Kelly emphasized that immigration officers should focus first on deporting convicted criminals or those charged with crimes, his directives nonetheless unleashed deportation officers to conduct more raids in immigrant communities, detain people who dont have criminal convictions and remove people for minor infractions such as driving without a license.
Sean Spicer, Trumps press secretary, disputed any notion that these policies would lead to mass deportations.
The president wanted to take the shackles off individuals in these agencies, he told reporters on Tuesday.
NO, SAYS CALIFORNIA LEADER, ITS MASS DEPORTATIONS
But theres a much different take from state Senate President pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles).
It has never been the custom and practice to go after mothers and fathers, hardworking, law-abiding, tax-paying residents, he said in a Tuesday night interview on CNN.
And in Los Angeles, theres anger over what immigrants rights attorneys allege to be unethical or illegal actions by federal agents portraying themselves as local police officers. Critics say the accusations often are lodged in cities with large immigrant populations like L.A. and San Francisco.
TRUMPS TALK ON IMMIGRATION IS PERSONAL IN LOS ANGELES CONGRESSIONAL RACE
Out of the 23 candidates running to replace Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra in the open congressional seat in central Los Angeles, two are immigrants and 11 more are the children of immigrants. That makes Trumps immigration actions a personal matter for many of the hopefuls, as well as the district they hope to represent.
A major push on deportations could be dramatic in the 34th Congressional District, which stretches from downtown Los Angeles to Boyle Heights and incorporates Highland Park, Eagle Rock and Koreatown. Two-thirds of residents there are Latino, and nearly half were born in other countries.
AND SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Those kinds of tensions may be felt this week when Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson head across the border to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Kate Linthicum has a look at five big topics the trip will likely cover, from economic issues to whether Tillerson can soothe frayed nerves over Trumps rhetoric.
Immigration issues also found their way to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, where the eight justices heard arguments in a case to determine whether the family of a Mexican shooting victim shot and killed on Mexican soil by a U.S. border agent can sue under the Constitution.
The justices, it seemed, were evenly split on the issue. And without a ninth vote given the pending nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch a lower court ruling against the family may stand.
PRAISE FOR THE NEW NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR
A new chapter begins this week for the presidents beleaguered national security efforts. And theres been praise for Trumps choice his second choice, that is.
The president named Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his new national security advisor Monday, replacing Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign last week.
McMaster, a career Army officer and strategist, is known as one of the militarys most prominent intellectuals.
He is highly respected by everyone in the military, and were very honored to have him, Trump said.
NOT SUCH A WARM WELCOME FOR PRUITT?
Nerves may not have been calmed, though, at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday as the new boss met his troops.
During his first agency-wide address, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt focused on the need for predictability among regulated industries and the dangers of agency overreach. He tried to reassure the staff by telling them how much he values their work.
Trouble was, he had suggested in a Wall Street Journal interview over the holiday weekend that the EPA, which has taken the lead in federal efforts to regulate greenhouse gases, may not even be equipped to play much of a role at all.
TODAYS ESSENTIALS
Ann Ravel, the Californian who has served for some four years on the Federal Election Commission, is headed back home with frustration.
Sen. Kamala Harris met Tuesday with two men who were barred from entering the country shortly after Trumps travel ban was put in place. After listening to their stories, Harris reacted to news of expanded deportation efforts, calling them outrageous.
The legalizing pot bandwagon continues to roll across the nation. And as we saw in California, its often as much about cash as it is an expression of lifestyle or freedom.
A new law that bars the use of state funds for travel to anti-LGBT states is hitting UC and Cal State student researchers and athletes.
Will Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders endorse in the crowded race for the 34th Congressional District, in which his former campaign aide is running? At an event Sunday, Sanders answer was, Well see.
Its time for an independent commission on Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election, says Bay Area Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell.
To the dismay of some California lawmakers, new state agency regulations will increase the number of jails that can prevent inmates from visiting with their families in person.
Should all of Californias power come from renewable energy? A goal of 100%, much higher than current standards, is being put on the table by the leader of the state Senate.
One state legislator says California should have its own estate tax if Republicans in Washington do away with the federal version.
The state Senate offered memories and tributes on Tuesday to one of their own, the late Tom Hayden. The activist and former legislator died last October.
LOGISTICS
You may have noticed weve shifted to a Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule. Its the same newsletter, just not every day. You can keep up with breaking news on our politics page throughout the day. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics?
Miss Mondays newsletter? Here you go. Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox.
Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.
john.myers@latimes.com
Follow me on Twitter at @johnmyers and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast
San Diego attorney Cory Briggs has turned his attention to a little-known business-improvement group downtown, filing a lawsuit earlier this month against the East Village Association for withholding documents he sought under the California Public Records Act.
According to the 4-page complaint, officials at the East Village Association declined to release at least one record responsive to his request an email that may show the board hired a new employee outside a city-required process.
On or about Jan. 24, 2017, a person whose initials are B.H. emailed members of EVAs board of directors to thank them for the opportunity to serve them and expressing excitement to begin working for them and appreciation for giving me a chance, the lawsuit states.
Advertisement
David Hazan, president of the East Village Association, declined to discuss the lawsuit in any detail on the advice of his lawyer. He did say the group is responding to the records request.
We are trying to work with Cory, he said. At this point thats all I can say. We cant discuss ongoing litigation.
The lawsuit states that the East Village Association board approved the employment of an interim executive director or interim board liaison during a closed-session meeting.
Hazan countered, We have no executive director at this point.
Briggs, who represents San Diegans for Open Government, said he filed the records request to find out if the association complied with hiring rules imposed by the city of San Diego.
This could be an innocent mistake on their part, but given they are sitting on a half million dollars, their last executive director quit unexpectedly and theyre trying to get this new hire in under the radar, I suspect theres something more going on, Briggs said. I just dont know what it is.
The association is a nonprofit group organized to promote businesses within the East Village neighborhood, funded by city parking revenue among other sources. According to its annual report for the year ending June 30, the association had assets of $525,000.
Watchdog Videos On Now Sexual misconduct accusers worry deputy is being protected 6:16 On Now City funded $2-million waterfront bathroom 1:26 On Now Public water district charges customer for legal work, response to records request On Now Video: Tiny homes won't be reused amid housing, homeless crisis On Now Attorney General seeks documentation for Miss Middle East On Now Rep. Hunter probe covers possible fraud On Now Video: SDG&E delaying solar credit for some low-income housing tenants On Now Video: Former San Diego Junior Theatre teacher sentenced for sex with teen girl 0:24 On Now Video: Shelter volunteers believe they were fired for finding a dog a home 0:49 On Now McKamey Manor is leaving San Diego 3:35
jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
Deporting workers does not help U.S. economy
Regarding Trump administration greatly expanding number of people targeted for deportation (Feb. 21): Why is the Trump administration deporting millions of workers, workers from the restaurant industry, the construction industry, the agriculture industry?
In doing this, the administration is hurting not only these industries but the American public. Prices of food, of homes, at restaurants will go up. Who will fill these jobs?
Advertisement
Instead of deporting millions of workers, why not offer them an option to pay a fine and apply for a foreign workers permit? If they fail to comply in 90 days, then deport them. When you are caught speeding, your car is not confiscated, but instead you are fined. So why not fine these workers, in which case the government will generate revenue instead of spending money to deport people who are fulfilling a need for our economy?
Michael Ross
Carlsbad
Letters and commentary policy
The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy.
E-mail letters@sduniontribune.com
Mail: Andrew Kleske, Reader Outreach Editor San Diego Union-Tribune P.O. Box 120191 San Diego, CA 92112-0191.
You can also leave a comment below
President is right to increase use of E-Verify
Your front-page story on the probability of President Trump finally enforcing E-Verify (Workplace immigration enforcement could come roaring back, Feb.20) to nab illegal immigrant employees missed the critical point it works.
While the article never cited it, the adjoining chart from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows 1,279 inspections led to 239 criminal arrests. A shockingly high percentage of inspections led to the arrest of criminals.
Lets hope increased inspections are high on the to do list of the Trump administration.
Craig A. Nelson
Solana Beach
Protesters are just looking for handouts
Regarding Thousands demonstrate (Feb. 19): Those who protest Trump are in fear of losing their gifts from us the U.S. citizens who pay taxes to support them. Its all so obvious.
Beverley K. Hansen
Oceanside
Some of us are done giving Trump a chance
Regarding Ruben Navarrettes column, Give Trump a chance (Feb. 20): To put it succinctly, Im with her!
Our so-called president is the topic of conversation whenever I get together with friends. Were scared and think Trump is nuts. And, yes, I agree with Navarrettes wife that this is a bad man.
Navarrette needs to give his wife a hug and a belated Valentines Day present. May I suggest a Nordstrom gift certificate?
Marjorie Anderson
Del Mar
We need to reconsider political term limits
Regarding Calexit vs. Calternative: Our state is devolving (Feb. 16): If there were no president term limits, Barack Obama would now be our president.
Term limits at any level, in my opinion, are unconstitutional. The majority of the voters have the right to elect whomever they want.
Michael Peariso
Allied Gardens
Thanks for shedding light on Pruitts past
Your front-page article, Pruitt wins confirmation to lead EPA (Feb. 18) was extremely informative.
Thank you for highlighting the contrast between the Environmental Protection Agencys mission to protect human health and the environment and Scott Pruitts history of challenging the EPA on its authority to regulate obvious health hazards like toxic mercury poisoning and smog.
Please continue to keep us informed.
Tracy Burstein
San Diego
Hunter has lost contact with his constituents
Regarding Californias Democrats are trying to harness a new wave of progressive energy (Feb. 19): Its time for Rep. Duncan Hunter to go.
Not only are his ethics suspect (using taxpayer dollars to buy plane tickets for rabbits, for example), he has refused to hold a town hall meeting despite facing growing pressure from constituents to answer questions and hear their concerns on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and just where he stands on the presidents most extreme policies, including immigration, etc.
According to his assistant, Mr. Hunter is required to pay for all expenses associated with hosting a town hall. We will let you know as soon as we schedule the next one. This is outrageous. He doesnt mind billing us for rabbit vacations, but he wont hold a town hall? It is high time the 50th District replace him with a representative who is passionate about serving all voters, not just those that vote for him blindly in each election.
Lori Scribner
Santee
Want to see more letters that appear only online? Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
In this April 1942 photo made available by the Library of Congress, children at the Weill public school in San Francisco recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Some of them are evacuees of Japanese ancestry who will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers. (Dorothea Lange/U.S. War Relocation Authority via AP)
Regarding Modern day echoes of Japanese internment (Feb. 19): While I doubt if we could find a handful of people today who would agree with President Roosevelts wartime order interning U.S. citizens of Japanese descent, I fail to see how anyone could believe it remotely rhymes with an order from President Trump to temporarily limit the admission to the United States of refugees and immigrants from failed states and those that actively sponsor terrorism.
Perhaps this article was intended to be a sample of John Wilkens work to be included with his resume for a position with The New York Times and it was mistakenly submitted to the U-T.
Advertisement
Jim Mallen
Lake San Marcos
Letters and commentary policy
The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy.
E-mail letters@sduniontribune.com
Mail: Andrew Kleske, Reader Outreach Editor San Diego Union-Tribune P.O. Box 120191 San Diego, CA 92112-0191.
You can also leave a comment below
Modern day echoes of Japanese internment. Really? Nothing is similar.
One is internment of mostly American citizens, the other putting a temporary ban on incoming refugees and immigrants from predominately Muslim countries tied to terrorism as the article states.
I fail to see anything familiar except for the concern of Americas safety. I agree that putting American citizens in internment camps was regrettable and unconstitutional. I understand the frustration and humiliation they must have felt.
But to compare this with todays immigration policy is absurd. American citizens are not the issue.
Rhonda Turvey
El Cajon
* * *
In John Wilkens excellent article he draws a parallel to President Trumps ban on refuges. I feel it is not fair to compare the two as there are major differences.
The radical Muslims are taught from an early age to hate those who do not accept the Koran and feel it is their religious obligation to destroy any who are unwilling to change. They believe in sharia law which means mutilation of young girls, fathers selecting their daughters older mates, killing children who have sex before marriage, killing homosexuals, etc. They must be properly vetted before entering U.S.
European nations regret taking in refuges as they suck up generous welfare, molest and beat up the hosts women, steal and will not assimilate and are now taking steps to get them out of their country. The problems with the refuges are diametrically different from the Japanese internment.
Mervyn Spahn
La Mesa
Want to see more letters that appear only online? Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
Electoral College did not reflect what voters wanted
Regarding Calexit vs. Calternative: Our state is devolving (Feb. 16): Just look at what the Electoral College gave us for a president, just to keep a woman out of office.
Although Barack Obama was a good president, he would have been better if he had had more cooperation from the mostly Republican Congress.
The one we have now does not look too promising.
Advertisement
Karen Price
Escondido
One person, one vote must be fully embraced
Regarding Lets be honest about what must be done by Robert Rosenblum (Jan. 25): Rosenblum is correct that we must follow the Supreme Courts decisions (Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims) that the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires one person, one vote.
Just as that same equal protection clause overturned the infamous three-fifths clause without explicitly mentioning it, so also it should be applied to overturn, if not the Electoral College itself, at least the unequal distribution of electors disproportionate to the population of each state.
African-Americans were not merely worth three fifths the value of European Americans, and voters in California are not worth merely one fourth the value of voters in Wyoming.
Douglas Dunn
Escondido
Letters and commentary policy
The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy.
E-mail letters@sduniontribune.com
Mail: Andrew Kleske, Reader Outreach Editor San Diego Union-Tribune P.O. Box 120191 San Diego, CA 92112-0191.
You can also leave a comment below
People gather to protest the election of Donald Trump at Lake Merritt in Oakland in November. California is shaping up to be for Donald Trump what Texas was for Barack Obama - a sea of defiance and potential source of unending legal and legislative challenges. (Jim Wilson/The New York Times)
Small states should not dictate who we elect
The discussion continues regarding Trumps election. In my opinion Trump did not win the election. He became president legally as a result of the Electoral College, but the voters overwhelmingly voted for Hillary Clinton.
I dont know if I understand the Electoral College system correctly, but I believe it was instituted in order to give the low-populated states an equal chance in the election decision instead of the few high-populated states having the upper hand.
Now this appears fair but in reality it seems to be just as unfair to the majority voters because those voters in the less-populated states are now dictating who wins via the Electoral College. How is this a democracy when your majority vote is trumped (pun intended) by the minority? Maybe someone who really understands the Electoral College can explain it to me.
Andy Pino
Escondido
Want to see more letters that appear only online? Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
Polarizing remarks on whether pineapple belongs on a pizza gave Icelands president a taste of global democracy as debates and feuds broke out on the internet over the weekend, putting the fruit-on-pizza question to the test.
On Tuesday, Iceland President Gudni Johannesson responded to what he calls the pizza controversy in a Facebook post meant to clarify comments he made last week during a visit at a high school in North Iceland in which he said that, if he could, he would ban pineapple on pizzas, according to the Icelandic news site Visir.
I like pineapples, just not on pizza. I do not have the power to make laws which forbid people to put pineapples on their pizza. I am glad that I do not hold such power. Presidents should not have unlimited power. I would not want to hold this position if I could pass laws forbidding that which I dont like. I would not want to live in such a country. For pizzas, I recommend seafood.
Advertisement
Over the weekend, the internet fumed over Johannessons suggestion to ban pineapple on pizza. Some found it too offensive to digest and others hailed him as the leader we need in these trying times.
President Johannesson, your ideas on a pineapple pizza ban are wrong, short sighted and ill advised. #pineappleonPizza #letmypizzafree Chris Schalk (@the_schalk) February 21, 2017
Iceland's President is the hero we all need right now... #pineappleonpizza lalammar (@Layla_AlAmmar) February 21, 2017
The pineapple-on-a-pizza debate is hardly a new one. Over the years, the question has generated endless discussion between purists and adventurists.
There are online forums that literally ask pineapple on pizza? and Reddit users have explored this question in their own forum as well. And the internet is full of references to the debate.
Most recently, the heated pineapple-pizza debate of 2017 was encapsulated on Twitter with the hasthag #pineappleonPizza.
There, some Twitter users parsed the merits of fruit on a pizza while others humorously compared it to Americas ban on refugees. Even pizza maker DiGiorno Pizza joined in to poke fun at the idea of a pineapple pizza ban.
Finally an almost-ban I can support. Fruit has no business mixed in with tomato sauce. #pineappleonPizza #iceland https://t.co/NhqRf9OCtK lilaeidi (@Lila_Eidi) February 21, 2017
Would you put strawberries, oranges or banana on pizza? #NotMyPizzaTopping #PineappleOnPizza blanco (@bchrhlldy) February 21, 2017
Calling for a total... shutdown of #pineappleonPizza until our country's reps can figure out what is going on. https://t.co/10vWfDdmSB Dave Nolan #FBPE (@spaceforonemore) February 21, 2017
I'll welcome all the Icelandic pineapple pizza refugees into my home. #pineappleonPizza Marielle (@marielle922) February 21, 2017
To clarify, pineapple on a pizza is often referred to as a Hawaiian style pizza so long as Canadian bacon or ham is included. And despite its name, the pizza style did not originate in Hawaii. It originated in Canada.
Lets settle this: Does pineapple belong in a pizza?
Have some thoughts to share?
Join me in a conversation: Shoot me a private email with your thoughts or ideas on a different approach to this story. As always, you can also send us a tweet.
Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @RunGomez
It took just three hours for an online fundraiser asking Muslim Americans to donate money to help rebuild a vandalized Jewish cemetery to exceed a $20,000 goal.
The project was in response to news that at least 170 headstones at a Jewish cemetery in Missouri were knocked over and damaged over the weekend. Police said theres nothing to indicate it was any type of hate crime but that they were keeping options open to the possibility it could be one.
Linda Sarsour, who describes herself on Twitter as a Palestinian-American-Muslim, racial justice and civil rights activist and media commentator, decided to respond by showing support on behalf Muslim Americans. The fundraiser on LaunchGood reached its goal but will continue collecting money.
Muslim Americans stand in solidarity with the Jewish-American community to condemn this horrific act of desecration against the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery, the page said. We also extend our deepest condolences to all those who have been affected and to the Jewish community at large.
Sarsour wrote that the project was also in response to threats against Jewish community centers across the United States and that any additional funds beyond the $20,000 goal would go to assisting other centers. The Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center in San Diego received a hoax bomb threat just Tuesday.
The project quickly spread on social media with many messages of support.
To see the fundraising page go here: Muslims Unite to Repair Jewish Cemetery
Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @abbyhamblin
A Hungarian manufacturer of medical radioactive substances was most probably the source of increased radiation levels measured in several European countries in the past weeks, the U.N. nuclear agency said Thursday.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement that it had received the information from Hungarian nuclear authorities, adding the measured levels of iodine-131 were extremely low.
There is no health concern to the population, the IAEA said.
Advertisement
Jozsef Kornyei, director of the Budapest-based Institute of Isotopes Co., said that the firm first noticed the heightened release of iodine-131, used in the treatment of thyroid disorders, during the first half of 2011.
Production restarted in September after new filters were installed, but the release of radioactive material stayed above normal levels, so the process was halted again this month.
Kornyei told the AP in a phone interview that new ventilators were being added at the plant in an effort to limit the excessive release of the radioactive material and that production of iodine-131 would not be restarted until next year.
Citing weather factors and the very low radioactivity of the iodine-131 released into the atmosphere, Kornyei said it was extremely unlikely that the leak at the Budapest plant was the cause of trace levels of iodine-131 measured in several European countries.
The IAEA was initially notified about the higher iodine-131 levels by the Czech Republic on Nov. 11. Similar reports came later from Austria, Slovakia, Germany, Sweden, France and Poland.
A letter sent Thursday to the IAEA by the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority said the cause of the higher radioactivity was under investigation, albeit hampered by administrative difficulties.
Unfortunately, in Hungary the licensing and surveillance of the nuclear facilities and the laboratories using high amounts of radioisotopes are in the hands of different authorities, the Hungarian nuclear watchdog said.
The communication problems we faced in the present situation call our governments attention for an improvement and simplification of our regulatory system, it said.
------
Correspondent George Jahn in Vienna contributed to this report.
Junior Buddy is the most famous jaguar in Belize for many reasons. He is an ambassador for Belizes big cats showing us how majestic, special and beautiful jaguars are and how important it is to keep them in our country. He is the only jaguar that was born and raised in the zoo. Hes incredibly gorgeous.
So yesterday, the zoo held a party for him to celebrate Junior Buddy turning 10 years old.
I have attended more than one party for my favorite jaguar and I can tell you that physically, he has not aged a day. BUT he was a bit cranky yesterday! Usually he is lazing in the sun
or lounging on his log
But yesterday, in people years, he turned 40! (Jaguars live up to 20 years in the zoohumans live about 80I did my own math) So one can blame him for being scared. Little does he know that the 40s are his best years yet!
But lets back up. I started my day in my bed on North Ambergris Caye. It was an EARLY wake-up. I left the house at 6:15am driving south (LOOKING FOR THE OCELOT!!!! ** more information on Ambergris Cayes ocelot at the bottom of this post) I picked up breakfast and was on the 7:30 San Pedro Belize Express boat to Belize City.
9am arrival Belize City short taxi to bus station. $7bzd and Local Bus to the Zoo, $4bzd. I arrived at about 10.15am. Just in time to walk around for a few minutes before the party started.
The toucans were the big show offs coming in close to pose. Such a gorgeous and strange birdthe beak almost as long as their bodies.
The much more reasonable looking mot-mot.
And the STINKY peccaries rooting around in the dirt. Eye sight is bad so they use STINK to recognize each other. Oythe life of a peccary.
Time to head out to the party area. The zoo is looking so lush and beautiful!
There were kids from St. Agnes School in the neighboring villages of La Democracia and Mahogany Heights. There were balloons and snacks. There was singing andA BOUNCY CASTLE!
Kids that live this close to the zoo find a bouncy castle more interesting than a JAGUAR!
Some of the cuties.
And thena surprise. The Belize Defense Force was doing a flyover. So super cute how the kids ran out and jumped up and down as the BDF swept low.
Maybe for JBs 15th birthday we can get the US Navys Blue Angels down here they are a terrifyingly awesome, heart stoppingly amazingi have no words kind of sight.
Though Im not sure that is the type of thing that zoo animals like.
The jaguars came out to surprise the kids.
(I begged out of it this year but will LOVE this picture forever. From JBs 8 year birthday)
Me 2 years ago.
Yesterday.
Into the zoo, to sing to Junior Buddy and to present him with his gift.
Juniors neighbor the croc was ready.
What? How RUDE! Brutus isnt pregnant! Brutus the crocodile is a boy and a bachelor.
Junior was pacing and not in the mood for tricks but he was more than happy to accept his gift.
We let him eat and headed over to visit his mother. Springfield was sick and hungry and killing sheep just over 10 years ago. She was captured, brought to the zoo with over 50 botfly maggots in her skin and, they soon found outPREGNANT!
She was very happy to get some chicken pieces.
What GORGEOUS animals. And the Belize Zoo is set up so beautifullyits almost walking, safely, through the jungle.
Happy Birthday Junior Buddy! I PROMISE 10 years old/40 in human years is not bad at all!
** Now back to the Ambergris Caye ocelot. We DO have cats on the caye but they want very little to do with humans. They are RARELY (and I mean rarely) seen and generally are thought to live only in the very far north.
This week, a wounded ocelot was spotted in the very early morning at around 5-6 miles north Ambergris Caye. A call went out from the SAGA Humane Society that they were looking for him to hopefully trap him so that he could get medical attention ASAP.
Here was the photo circulated on social media.
He was found and brought into SAGA check their facebook page for more photos and updates.
His back legs were not moving, perhaps paralyzed SAGA gave him a check up and he was transported, via Tropic Air, to the mainland and the Wildlife Clinic.
WHAT A GORGEOUS ANIMAL! And I hope he gets better. And if that is not possible, that he does not suffer.
GO SAGA HUMANE SOCIETY!
Country
United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
(Adds comment from ITC, background)
WASHINGTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Wednesday that subsidized bus and truck tires imported from China had not damaged the U.S. industry.
As a result, the ITC said in a statement that it would not issue anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on imports of these products.
The ruling followed negative votes by three of the five members of the commission who voted, the ITC said in its statement. It said one of the six commissioners did not participate.
The U.S. Commerce Department on Jan. 23 had determined final subsidy rates ranging from 38.61 percent to 65.46 percent and anti-dumping margins ranging from 9 percent to 22.57 percent on such imports.
In 2015, U.S. imports of more than 8.9 million truck and bus tires from China were worth $1.07 billion.
China's Ministry of Commerce said the January finding was extremely unfair and gravely harmed China's interests, according to an article on China's state radio website.
The probe was launched last year after a petition by the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union.
(Reporting by Tim Ahmann, Susan Heavey and Eric Walsh; Editing by David Alexander and Leslie Adler)
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/21/2017 -- 3D food printing is bringing 3 dimensional digital design into real world object which is edible. 3D food printing is healthy and good for environment as it converts proteins from algae, beet leaves or insects into tasty products. One of the most important benefit of 3D printing is that it provides door for food customization according to the preferences and needs of individual. 3D food printing gives rise to new flavors, textures and shapes to provide new and unique eating experiences. 3D food printing is done by machines called 3D printers. 3D printed foods have to please the eyes and mind both at the same time. Even NASA is now looking for ways to 3D print food in space.
The market of global 3D food printing is anticipated to be driven by increasing market need for mass customization, ability of 3D printers to prepare food which is convenient and time saving, customization of nutrients required by an individual in their food products, getting the benefit of alternative ingredients and others. Now a days all the microwave made pancakes which are available in Netherlands are printed. As the world is getting more self-centered they are going for more customization and so their food. Market need for mass customization is increasing and is going for different shapes, colors, flavors, nutrition and textures. This customization is done mainly on food products like coffee, hamburgers, ice cream, cake, biscuits, confectionary and others. Technology is also one of the driving force behind 3D food printing market. With the enhancement in technology came up micro oven in every home and now 3D food printing machine is coming up. The market of global 3D food printing is anticipated to have restraints too. Many of the ingredients which are used for 3D printing are converted to paste. There are limited food which can be made into paste. 3D food printing is also a slow process which requires cooling many a times before the food can be consumed. Necessity of 3D food printing is that it can overcome the trend of prevailing food customization techniques which is less effective and at the same time its manufacturing cost is high.
The global 3D food printing market is segmented on the basis of application, ingredients and region. 3D printed foods are applied and used to make modern food designs which gives pleasure to eyes before it can be consumed. Another application of 3D printed food is that it serves food for the elderly, for instance, 3D printed carrots are easy to chew and also easy to swallow. Few other applications are domestic cooking, catering services, personalized chocolates and homogeneous snacks. Product types where 3D printing is used are bakery products coffees, ice creams, confectionary and others. Among the product type confectionary segment is expected to grow at a faster CAGR over the forecast period. As chocolate, confectionary products are very popular among the children and it also attract elderly people. Edible ingredients can be segmented into dough, fruits & vegetable, proteins, sauce, dairy products, sugar, carbohydrates, yard, algae and others.
A sample of this report is available upon request @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11176
Geographically, the global 3D food printing market can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Middle East and Africa. Europe is the market leader in 3D food printing. In Netherlands all the microwave pancakes which are available in supermarkets are printed. In Spain, Natural Machines tried to bring the 3D food printing technology into the household. U.S. is also engaged in 3D food printing because there 3D printer maker 3D Systems along with Culinary Institute of America are setting many projects.
Request to view table of content @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11176
The major player identified across the value chain for global 3D food printing market are TNO (innovation for life), Philips, Electrolux, Barilla, Nestle, NASA, Hershey's, Modern Meadow, Choc Edge, 3D Systems, Natural Machines, ZMorph, Fab@Home.
Atlanta, GA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/22/2017 -- Stephen Hopkins was from Hampshire, England. He married his first wife, Mary, and resided in the parish of Hursley, Hampshire. They had three (3) children: Elizabeth, Constance, and Giles; all baptized there. It has long been claimed that the Hopkins family was from Wortley, Gloucester, but this was disproven in 1998 with the discovery of his true origins in Hursley.
http://mayflowerhistory.com/hopkins-stephen/
Stephen Hopkins went with the ship Sea Venture on a voyage to Jamestown, Virginia in 1609 as a minister's clerk, but the ship wrecked in the "Isle of Devils" (Bermuda). Stranded on an island for ten months, the passengers and crew survived on turtles, birds, and wild pigs. Six months into the castaway, Stephen Hopkins and several others organized a mutiny against the current governor. The mutiny was discovered and Stephen was sentenced to death. However, he pleaded with sorrow and tears. "So penitent he was, and made so much moan, alleging the ruin of his wife and children in this his trespass, as it wrought in the hearts of all the better sorts of the company." He managed to get his sentence commuted. Eventually the castaways built a small ship and sailed themselves to Jamestown. How long Stephen remained in Jamestown is not known. However, while he was gone, his wife Mary died. She was buried in Hursley on 9 May 1613, and left behind a probate estate which mentions her children Elizabeth, Constance and Giles.
Stephen was back in England by 1617, when he married Elizabeth Fisher, but apparently had every intention of bringing his family back to Virginia. Their first child, Damaris, was born about 1618. In 1620, Stephen Hopkins brought his wife and children Constance, Giles, and Damaris on the Mayflower (child Elizabeth apparently had died). Stephen was a fairly active member of the Pilgrim group shortly after arrival, perhaps a result of his being one of the few individuals who had been to Virginia previously. He was a part of all the early exploring missions, and was used as an "expert" on Native Americans for the first few contacts. While out exploring, Stephen recognized and identified an Indian deer trap. And when Samoset walked into Plymouth and welcomed the English, he was housed in Stephen Hopkins' house for the night. Stephen was also sent on several of the ambassadorial missions to meet with the various Indian groups in the region.
Stephen was an assistant to the governor through 1636, and volunteered for the Pequot War of 1637 but was never called to serve. By the late 1630s, however, Stephen began to occasionally run afoul of the Plymouth authorities, as he apparently opened up a shop and served alcohol. In 1636 he got into a fight with John Tisdale and seriously wounded him. In 1637, he was fined for allowing drinking and shuffleboard playing on Sunday. Early the next year he was fined for allowing people to drink excessively in his house: guest William Reynolds was fined, but the others were acquitted. In 1638 he was twice fined for selling beer at twice the actual value, and in 1639 he was fined for selling a looking glass for twice what it would cost if bought in the Bay Colony. Also in 1638, Stephen Hopkins' maidservant got pregnant from Arthur Peach, who was subsequently executed for murdering an Indian. The Plymouth Court ruled he was financially responsible for her and her child for the next two years (the amount remaining on her term of service). Stephen, in contempt of court, threw Dorothy out of his household and refused to provide for her, so the court committed him to custody. John Holmes stepped in and purchased Dorothy's remaining two years of service from him: agreeing to support her and child.
Stephen died in 1644, and made out a will, asking to be buried near his wife, and naming his surviving children.
BAPTISM: 30 April 1581 at Upper Clatford, Hampshire, England, son of John and Elizabeth (Williams) Hopkins.
FIRST MARRIAGE: Mary, possibly the daughter of Robert and Joan (Machell) Kent of Hursley, co. Hampshire, prior to 1604.
SECOND MARRIAGE: Elizabeth Fisher on 19 February 1617/8 at St. Mary Matfellon, Whitechapel, co. Middlesex, England.
CHILDREN (by Mary): Elizabeth, Constance, and Giles.
CHILDREN (by Elizabeth): Damaris, Oceanus, Caleb, Deborah, Damaris, Ruth, and Elizabeth.
DNA HAPLOGROUP: R1b-M269
Contact Adam Green!
c: 801-809-7766
e: g3president@comcast.net
Atlanta Georgia General Society of Mayflower Descendant, Adam Paul Green (Ancestor Stephen Hopkins / Gen.No. 86,723) Declares New Geneology Support Website for Local Enthusiasts http://www.g3-development.co/
Women of Early Plymouth: Governor William Bradford reported that the Pilgrims were worried that the "weak bodies of women" would not be able to withstand the rigors of a trans-Atlantic voyage and the construction of a colony. Prior to the Mayflower, very few English women had made the voyage across the ocean.
Sir Walter Raleigh's Roanoke colony arrived in Virginia in 1587, and amongst those 120 colonists there were 17 women: a baby girl, Virginia Dare, was born after arrival. When re-supply ships came from England, they could not relocate the people. The colony had mysteriously disappeared, and was never seen again. The Jamestown Colony was founded in 1607, but relatively few women had yet made the voyage and taken up residence there.
The Pilgrim husband, as head of the household, had an important and difficult decision to make. Building a colony would be hard on a woman's "weaker body." It might be safer and healthier to leave her behind, and have her come later once the houses were built, and the general safety and successfulness of the colony were better established. But that could be several years. Could he live several years without his wife? How strong was his wife anyway, could she really handle it? Was it right to put your wife's life in danger in this manner?
As the Mayflower left England for America, there were 18 adult women on-board. Three of them, Elizabeth Hopkins, Susanna White, and Mary Allerton, were actually in their last trimester of a pregnancy. All the adult women on the Mayflower were married; there were no single women--although there were a few teenage girls nearing marriageable age.
While no women would die during the Mayflower's voyage, life after arrival proved extremely difficult. In fact, 78% of the women would die the first winter, a far higher percentage than for men or children. Dorothy Bradford was the first woman to die, and the only woman who died in the month of December. While many of the men, including her husband, were out exploring on Cape Cod, she accidentally fell off the Mayflower into the bitter cold waters of Provincetown Harbor. Most of the women's death dates were not recorded, but we do know that Rose Standish died on January 29, Mary Allerton died on February 25, and Elizabeth Winslow died on March 24. Most of the women died in February and March.
The extremely high mortality rate among women is probably explainable by the fact the men were out in the fresh air, felling trees, building structures and drinking fresh New England water; while the women were confined to the damp, filthy and crowded quarters offered by the Mayflower, where disease would have spread much more quickly. The two-month voyage was long enough; the women, however, remained living on the ship for an additional four months while the men built storehouses and living quarters on shore. Many of the sick were no doubt cared for on-board the ship by the women, increasing their exposure to colds and pneumonias. William Mullins died on February 21, apparently on-board the Mayflower since his will was witnessed by the ship's captain and ship's surgeon. His wife Alice and son Joseph had not yet died, but it wasn't too long before they did, orphaning their teenage daughter Priscilla in the New World.
Only five women survived the first winter. One of the five survivors, Mrs. Katherine Carver, died in May of a "broken heart," her husband John having died of sunstroke a month earlier. Weak bodies or not, by the time of the famous "Thanksgiving," there were only four women left to care for the Colony's fifty surviving men and children. The four women were Eleanor Billington, Elizabeth Hopkins, Mary Brewster, and Susanna (White) Winslow.
http://mayflowerhistory.com/women
Adam Paul Green was born to a multi-talented beauty queen Mother and a Father who, in addition to being a US Army Spy and a Counter-Intelligence Special Agent, was also a highly accomplished entrepreneur. Adam was taught at a young age that, in both life and business, loyalty is a requirement for success. He's had the honor of working directly with his father in several of the family businesses. In fact, this is where he learned crucial entrepreneurial skills and honed his talents with international business strategies and venture capitalism. http://www.AdamPaulGreen.com, http://www.ImAdamGreen.com
Adam earned his Bachelors of Science Degree in International Business and Marketing from the University of Utah. He was hand-picked by the President of the University's renowned School of Business to compete with dozens of other ambitious nationwide-graduates for the opportunity to secure a lucrative job within a prestigious Fortune 100 company. http://www.Twitter.com/AdamPaulGreen
http://www.ImAdamGreen.com
Adam's hard work and creativity helped him land this job of a lifetime. He obtained incredible business experience there and spent years innovating, improving processes and setting sales records. Although this dream job in Traditional Corporate America was a fun challenge for him, and something he truly enjoyed mastering, Adam's natural entrepreneurial spirit kept nudging him to do something more significant with his time and talents. http://www.MyChocolatePod.com, http://www.Facebook.com/AdamPaulGreen
Since 2001, Adam has been involved in the Health and Wellness Industry as a successful Entrepreneur, Broker, Product Developer and Manufacturer of Cosmeceutical products. During his career, he has worked with some of the most recognizable Fortune 500 businesses along with many top international Network Marketing companies. Adam has consistently proven his unique ability to help his clients achieve their goals through creative Distribution-Channel Placement, innovative Product Development and custom Manufacturing. Adam currently owns three profitable businesses.
http://www.ImAdamGreen.com
The Pilgrims did not leave behind any lists of the items they brought with them on the Mayflower, but historians have used a provision list put together by Captain John Smith (of Pocahontas fame) to take an educated guess. However, in 2012, Caleb Johnson, Simon Neal, and Jeremy Bangs started transcribing and studying a rare manuscript (a page of which is here illustrated) in the possession of the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, that was written by one of the investors in the Pilgrims' joint-stock company. This manuscript actually contains several lists of suggested provisions the colonists should bring with them. It is the closest thing we can get to a list of what the Pilgrims would have actually brought.
A summary of some of the key items on the provision lists: http://mayflowerhistory.com/pilgrim-history/
-Food and Drink: Biscuit, beer, salt, (dried) beef, salt pork, oats, peas, wheat, butter, sweet oil, mustard seed, ling or cod fish, "good cheese", vinegar, aqua-vitae, rice, bacon, cider.
-Clothing: Monmouth cap, falling bands, shirts, waistcoat, suit of canvas, suit of cloth, Irish stockings, 4 pairs of shoes, garters. Slippers, plain shoes, little shoes, French soles, sewing needles.
-Bedding: Canvas sheets, bolster "filled with good straw", rug and blankets.
-Arms: Light armor (complete), fowling piece, snaphance, sword, belt, bandoleer, powder horn, 20 pounds of powder, 60 pounds of shot.
-Household: Iron pot, kettle, frying pan, gridiron, two skillets, spit, platters, dishes, spoons of wood, napkins, towels, soap, hand mill, mortar and pestle.
-Tools: Broad hoes, narrow hoes, broad axe, felling axe, steel handsaw, whipsaw, hammers, shovels, spades, augers, chisels, gimlets, hatchets, grinding stone, nails, locks for doors.
Admittedly, Adam was not initially a fan of Network Marketing. He did not understand the business model because it was new to him. However, once he learned that the REAL focus of Direct Sales is to help average people get a taste of entrepreneurialism --- with minimal risk and at a low cost --- Adam was absolutely convinced of the potential with Multi-Level Marketing.
http://www.ImAdamGreen.com
About MayflowerHistory.com
MayflowerHistory.com, the Internet's most complete and accurate website dealing with the Mayflower passengers and the history of the Pilgrims and early Plymouth Colony. The website was first created back in 1994 (when the web was still mostly text!) as a simple, but complete, passenger list of the Mayflower. It has grown over the past twenty years as the author, historian Caleb Johnson, has researched and compiled material.
http://mayflowerhistory.com
Lewes, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/22/2017 -- Report forecast the global diesel engines market for non-automotive applications to grow at a CAGR of 5.82 % during the period 2017-2021.
Diesel engines offer better operational performance, which makes them a preferred choice over petrol engines. The market is predicted to experience high growth due to the rising demand for diesel engines from APAC. China, India, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Japan are the key countries contributing to market growth in the region. These countries provide opportunities to global vendors to increase their market reach and establish their manufacturing plants to gain cost advantages.
The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global diesel engines market for non-automotive applications for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the demand for diesel engines from the non-automotive sector worldwide.
The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:
- Americas
- APAC
- EMEA
According to the report, improved fuel economy continues to be the most significant progress in diesel engine technology. Though many end-users prefer gasoline-powered equipment, diesel engines possess a solid end-user base in terms of the industrial sector as it considers fuel economy as an important parameter in owning a power backup equipment.
Further, the report states that the demand for alternative fuels such as natural gas whose combustion is comparatively cleaner and friendlier to the environment is increased due to stringent emission regulations. Thus, there has been a growing popularity of the use of natural gas as a substitute fuel for diesel, encouraging the engine manufacturers to incorporate their expertise and technology to develop engines that run on natural gas.
Global Diesel Engines Market for Non-Automotive Applications 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.
key players in the global diesel engines market for non-automotive applications: Caterpillar, Cummins, MAN, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Wartsila
Other Prominent Vendors in the market are: Detroit Diesel, DEUTZ, Deere & Company, Daihatsu, Doosan Infracore, Fairbanks Morse Engine, GE Transportation, HATZ Diesel, Henan Diesel Engine, Kubota, Kawasaki, Kirloskar Oil Engines, Kohler, Liebherr, Lombardini, MEGATECH Power, MTU, Isuzu, JCB, Power Solutions International, Rolls-Royce, Scania, Volvo Penta, Yanmar, and Weichai Power
Market driver
- Diesel engine technology gaining momentum on technological advances
- For a full, detailed list, view our report
Market challenge
- Abundant supply of natural gas leading to growing popularity of gas engines
- For a full, detailed list, view our report
Market trend
- Volatile maritime environment impacting demand
- For a full, detailed list, view our report
Key questions answered in this report
- What will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?
- What are the key market trends?
- What is driving this market?
- What are the challenges to market growth?
- Who are the key vendors in this market space?
- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?
Spanning over 86 pages and 29 Exhibits "Global Diesel Engines Market for Non-Automotive Applications 2017 - 2021" report covers Executive summary, Scope of the report, Market research methodology, Introduction, Market landscape, Market segmentation by end-user, Geographical segmentation, Market drivers, Impact of drivers, Market challenges, Impact of drivers and challenges, Market trends, Vendor landscape, Key vendor analysis, Appendix.
For more information Visit at: http://www.marketresearchreports.com/technavio/global-diesel-engines-market-non-automotive-applications-2017-2021
Find all Machinery Reports at: http://www.marketresearchreports.com/machinery
About Market Research Reports, Inc.
Market Research Reports, Inc. is the world's leading source for market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest market research reports on global markets, key industries, leading companies, new products and latest industry analysis & trends.
Yearly/Quarterly Report Subscription: http://www.marketresearchreports.com/subscriptions
The mining industry in the Philippines is in a life-and-death struggle with environmentalists led by environment and natural resources minister, Gina Lopez. The fight presages what is likely to happen across the Asia-Pacific.
At the moment, the Philippine mining sector is on the back foot, with Lopez ordering closure of 23 of the countrys 41 mines and suspending another five for destruction of watershed areas and indiscriminate mining.
Of the mines facing closure, 17 are involved in nickel production. These firms represent about half of the countrys annual nickel output, Lopez said. The Philippines has been the worlds biggest supplier of nickel since 2012, following Indonesias ban on mineral exports.
Lopez has also ordered the cancellation of 75 mineral production sharing contracts (MPSCs) in watershed zones, many of which are in the exploration stage and none in production yet. The latest action by Lopez suggests that she will not allow them to be developed further, though the mining companies plan to appeal in court.
Lopezs decision, which followed a month-long audit of the mines, disregarded recommendations by a government team that suspensions and fines were enough. She explained that as environment minister she has the power to go beyond suspensions.
You kill watersheds, you kill life. Gina Lopez, Philippines
You kill watersheds, you kill life, Lopez told a televised news conference called to announce the closures and suspensions. She added that her announcement, made on 14 February, was her Valentines gift to the Filipino people.
The writing on the wall
Environmental awareness is a global phenomenon, snowballing in the West and in some of the regions stronger economies such as China, Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar and the Philippines. The green voice is louder and politicians have now introduced policies aimed at protecting the environment.
John Miller, editor of The Miner, a trade journal for the mining industry in the Asia-Pacific, has warned that the industry as a whole will be in trouble if it does not read the writing on the wall. [1] Mining companies are facing increased compliance risks nowadays and other countries, including Indonesia, are taking keen interest in the Philippines move.
The Philippine case is a microcosm of what is happening elsewhere in Asia Pacific and it comes at a time when the mining industry is at the crossroads. To quote The Miner: With the short-term outlook for commodities remaining negative there is little likelihood of any relief for the next 12 months, which means more belt tightening, more mine closures and job losses, more financial hardship and more pain.
In China, the government plans to raise environmental standards in its highly-polluting mining sector, which is generally positive. The mining sector has been a crucial part of Chinas rapid economic expansion, but poor regulations and weak enforcement of standards have contaminated much of the countrys soil and left parts of its land and water supplies unfit for human use, not to mention the chronic air pollution, says Miller. [1]
According to Thomson Reuters GFMS [precious metals survey], the worlds top 10 miners have lost around half their market value in 2015, wiping out an estimated US$280 billion.
[The credit agency] Fitch Ratings outlook for the mining sector in 2016 is negative, reflecting its view that Chinese demand will weaken further and that commodities will remain unpopular with investors . . . the slowdown in Chinese demand has created substantial oversupply in some commodities. [2]
Environmental costs
However, the mining industry cannot be allowed to collapse since modern societies need minerals from aluminium to zirconium that are processed from the earth in various forms.
The roads we drive on, the buildings we live and work in, the equipment we need and the products we use in our daily lives are made of or contain minerals. The problem is that extracting these minerals creates a lot of waste and pollution, and destruction of the environment. This is why environmentalists go ballistic against the mining industry.
Disciplining the industry
The mining industry claims that the business brings profit and prosperity to national economies. But, this is always at the cost of environment, and the health and well-being of the poor who work and live where the mines are located.To quote Sven Haertig-Tokarz, web editor of the financial monitoring network bankwatch.org: In Kyrgyzstan, the Kumtor gold mine has already generated toxic spills that have injured local people the Centerra Gold has been contaminating local waters and glaciers while hiding evidence of such negative impacts from public oversight. [3]
Lopez has summed up the mining-environmentalist tug-of-war in the Philippines by doing a cost-benefit analysis as part of her audit of the Philippine mining industry. She found the cost outweighing benefits 3:1.
The destruction of the environment is far greater than the taxes paid to the national government by the mining companies. In presenting her audit reports to the media at the Valentines Day press conference, Lopez showed watersheds barren and mangled by open-pit mining, and asked repeatedly, Is it worth it?
To answer Lopez question, I say yes and no. I propose a compromise reduce the number of mines drastically and make sure that they follow mining and environmental rules to the letter. It starts with industry discipline and ends with political will to discipline the industry.
Crispin C. Maslog, a former journalist with Agence France-Presse, is an environmental activist and former science professor at Silliman University and University of the Philippines Los Banos, PHILIPPINES. He is a founding member and currently Chair of the Board, Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) based in Manila.
This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Asia & Pacific desk.
For the first time in history, scientists have identified a new species from water world that use to migrate towards the south during the winter. There are several species on earth used to migrate each year during the winter. Cetorhinus Maximus, commonly known as the basking shark swims to the south to get some sun in winter.
Scientists from the University of Exeter have discovered the strange behavior of Basking shark by using the long-term cutting-edge satellite tracking data. Researchers found that the basking sharks spend their winter off the coast of Portugal and North Africa. Some of them migrate to the Bay of Biscay and others chose to head towards the UK and Ireland. Their reports were first published in the journal of Scientific Reports.
Professor Philip Doherty from the Environment and Sustainability Institute on the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall and the lead researcher of this study, said in a statement,Knowing where these animals are all year round allows us to understand the threats they face. This is essential information if we want to protect them, especially as they swim far outside UK waters, meaning any conservation efforts must be international. Before this discovery, it was a hypothesis that the giant plankton-eating fish get hibernated at this time of the year.
An adult basking shark can grow up to 12 meters. It is the largest fish in British waters and the second largest in the world. Once British fishermen used to hunt basking shark for its fins, liver oil and meat. Later in 1988, the species received full protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
According to ScienceDaily, Scientists tagged 70 sharks for their research and 28 of them continued to transmit data for five months. Most of the sharks were found either stayed near the UK or swam to the waters off Spain, North Africa, and Portugal and a very few numbers of shark spent the winter in the Bay of Biscay, west of France.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified the Basking sharks as vulnerable and the north-east Atlantic population is officially endangered. Scientists are planning to conduct more research on basking shark because scientists do not yet fully know why or how often they do this.
SpaceX has been active as 2017 started. With the long list of plans up until next year, it seems that the Mars mission won't be part of 2018's agenda.
On Feb. 17, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell released an official statement that the Mars mission would be pushed back to 2020, according to The Verge. In the same article, Shotwell further explained the reasons why they moved their Mars mission date. She said that they wanted to focus first on their Falcon projects such as the Falcon 9 which had stunning exposures earlier this year up until the very recent which is last Sunday.
For those who are unaware of the SpaceX's Mars mission, here is some useful information. This mission is actually named the "Red Dragon", pertaining to the color of the planet Mars. The Red Dragon is targeted to study how can scientists from institutions like SpaceX and NASA land heavy equipment on the surface of Mars. Based on previous explorations, it was found out that Mars has a very thin atmosphere compared to Earth, which actually affects the impact of bringing down objects.
NASA scientists have thought of utilizing the Red Dragon for studying Mars through getting soil and rock samples from the planet. However, this speculation wasn't confirmed by both institutions, according to Space. In another interview last year, Elon Musk, SpaceX founder, shared that although the Red Dragon has several promises, SpaceX doesn't recommend it to be used for human missions as further studies are needed before that can transpire.
For space enthusiasts out there, a lot of Mars mission are up for grabs on 2020 aside from SpaceX's Red Dragon mission. Several government agencies such as the NASA and those from the United Arab Emirates and China have expressed their plans for the said target, the red planet.
New reports just recently surfaced that the area of the western province of Lorestan will get a big notice from the Iranian oil ministry due to the discovery of the significant shale oil reserves and stocked in the region. Bahman Soleimani, the National Iranian Oil Company's Soleimani, said on Monday, "The oil is light."
The shale oil found was totaled of two billion barrels and were found in the Ghali Koh Field. Soleimani said that their research and exploration on the study of the zone's shale gas reserves is expected to be complete by October 2017.
The same discoveries also happened in other provinces such as the places of Khouzestan, Kerman, and Semnan as reported in Reuters. Nonetheless, there were no such significant developments to establish how much shale oil they were maintaining and holding or whether producing oil from those reserves would be economically practicable.
It is still not clear on how the NIOC can produce oil from Lorestan shale reserves. According to the company, the exclusive technology that can do the work is in the hands of the US companies that is unfortunately banned from the Iran's oil projects. Apart from that, there are already speculations on whether creating and producing oil from shale reserves would be economically inexpensive for Iran assuming the high costs involved.
According to the Oil Price, Iran has the fifth's lowest costs for manufacturing and producing each barrel of crude oil. Rystad Energy, a global energy consulting enterprise, showed that the cost estimates for producing every barrel of oil in Iran stand at $12.6 while the highest and the lowest worth of price belonged to Britain and Kuwait respectively at $52.5 and $8.5.
Based on statistic quantity amount provided by the International Energy Agency (IEA), producing every barrel of shale oil ranges and costs from $95 to as low as $25. Iran's proven oil reserves at about 160 billion barrels are almost the amount to 10% of the world's total, was rank fourth among the petroleum-rich countries.
Climate change is being considered as the primary reason for the shifting of vegetation on a worldwide basis. Scientists say that projected global warming is supposed to decrease the amount of temperate dry lands by a third and will induce dry deep soil conditions during the agricultural growing season over the rest of the 21st century.
According to Phys, a computer model has been set up that will calculate the many components of the water cycle daily for 30 years at 20000 sites. This is all meant to keep an eye on the current climate change along with 16 possible future climatic conditions.
As per the scientists, dry land habitats have increased by 4-8% in the 20th century and currently cover 40% of the global terrestrial surface, inducing global climatic change. This expansion is likely to continue as the climate keeps heating up. A continuous climatic change, especially in the amount of rain and soil moisture in tropical and subtropical regions is an evident form of the tremendous global warming that the planet is experiencing. This is having an adverse effect on the vegetation to a great extent.
According to Berkeley News, the vegetation around the world is on the move due to the change in climate. In a paper published in the journal "Global Ecology and Biogeography", researchers present evidence that over the past century, vegetation has been gradually moving towards comparatively cooler regions, like the poles and the mountain slopes, and also towards the equator, where there is more rainfall.
An estimated one-tenth to one-half of the land mass on Earth will be highly vulnerable to climate changes by the end of this century, owing to the vegetation shifts. It is also dependent to a great extent on how effectively human are able to fare with the greenhouse gas emissions. Some examples of the biome shifts that occurred include grasslands taking place of dense woodlands in the African Sahel and, and shrub-lands intervene into the tundra region in the arctic.
Going by the scientists, around 1 billion people live in areas that are highly vulnerable to future vegetation shifts. Reduction in harmful gas emissions that cause climatic changes can help to stabilize the ecosystems that provide important services to people.
Patrick Kilonzo Mwalau, a Kenyan man has been delivering water to animals in the dry regions of Tsavo, Kenya. Also known as the "Elephant Guardian", Mwalau has also created a fundraising page to support his efforts.
According to People, Mwalau has stated in his "GoFundMe" page that water has become very precious and it is going to stay like that until November when there is some expectation of rain. Mwalau is worried about the situation as some years back also, a similar type of prolonged drought took away the lives of a number of elephants. Elephants are already becoming endangered due to poaching and to save the ones that are left, the provision of water is very important until the drought is over, he says.
Mwalau and his team, the Tsavo volunteers, deliver 12,000 liters of water in rented water trucks at least four times a week, at a cost of $250 for each tank. They drive almost 27 miles to deliver the water to the animals at two different locations. The animals often wait for him to arrive with the delivery. The wild animals don't harm their trucks and have developed a sense of understanding that Mwalau and his team are helping them.
According to The Dodo, Mwalau fills up the dry water holes as much as possible. He drives for hours every day to haul water to where it is most needed. At times, the impatient animals start crowding the truck fearlessly as they smell the water.
Mwalau, who is a pea farmer in a local village, was hit with the idea as he saw the climate change taking a toll on his homeland. He says that the area has not been receiving rain as it used to since last year June. His passion for the local wildlife and the animals living in them drives him to take up the role of the "water man", he says.
Mwalau's noble initiative has been supported by three women from the United States. Angie Brown, Tami Calliope and Cher Callaway have put in their efforts to make the initiative a success and create awareness about it via social media and fundraising programs. They also look forward to buying him his own truck very soon.
A zoo in Japan was forced to kill 57 native snow monkeys through lethal injection. The officials have found that they are carrying a gene of an "invasive alien species."
In the city of Futtsu in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, the Takagoyama Nature Zoo houses 164 simians that they believed to be all pure Japanese macaques. However, the local officials and zoo operators have found that the species were crossbred, one third of them. They have discovered that these were crossbred with the rhesus species, which they called an "invasive alien species."
The Japanese law bans the transport and possession of the invasive species, a city official said on Tuesday. It includes the crossbreeds, thus rejecting them is approved under their law.
The city official also said that the snow monkeys were put down through lethal injection over about one month and ended in early February. The operators of the zoo even held a memorial service for the snow monkeys at the nearby Buddhist temple to have peace for their souls.
The snow monkey-rhesus macaque crossbreeds were in line for culling when the environment law in Japan was revised in the year 2013. An official at the Chiba prefectural government said that, "They have to be killed to protect the indigenous environment," as quoted by Phys.org.
Nonetheless, the Environment Ministry of Japan shared that there are some exceptions, of which is that when the zoo applies for the permission to keep them. An official from the ministry said that, "There are many zoos in the country, which rear animals that became classified as invasive species after the law was created."
The killing of the animals might sound cruel to some, but the environmentalist said that it is crucial not to allow any contact between the native and the foreign species. It is a prevention for the natural balance to be upset.
BBC reported that a representative from the conversation group, WWF Japan Junkichi Mima, said that the invasive species can cause problems. "Because they get mixed in with indigenous animals and threaten the natural environment and ecosystem," he added.
Kenya has announced that the country is facing drought due to low rainfall since October. As animals suffer the effects of the natural disaster, a Kenyan man delivers water to wildlife species in the dry regions of Tsavo.
People reported that Patrick Kilonzo Mwalau, also known as "the Elephant Guardian," has raised over $90,000 through his GoFundMe page to deliver water to animals in the wild. He started his fundraising project five months ago as an urgent call to save animals from "a prolonged drought."
According to Mwalau, he and his team, the Tsavo volunteers, have become worried about losing wild animals. Since these species are now considered endangered due to poaching, his group took the responsibility of providing the water supply until drought is over.
At least four times a week, the team travels 27 miles via rented water trucks to deliver 12,000 liters of water (for $250 each tank) and bring these to animals at two different areas.
Mwalau said that elephants are fighting for few available water holes, preventing the smaller ones from drinking. These young ones end up extremely thirsty, walking far distances to look for something to drink.
Mwalau posts his updates on his Facebook page, including one saying the animals are often waiting for his delivery. "I found no water at all and animals were right resting at the waterhole waiting for my truck and quench their thirst," he wrote on Feb. 18.
According to The Week, there will be no heavy rains in the area until November. Thankfully, people are placing huge amounts of donations on the website. Furthermore, the media has given a lot of attention to the project, giving it enough publicity for further promotion.
"This month we should do a lot for animals and have permanent solutions because we are getting more donations," Mwalau wrote. "Want to thank my team and every donor in making this happen. I will continue delivering water until it rains."
Christopher Hayne Witherspoon surrendered to deputies and was charged with gambling, keeping a gaming house, unlawful possession of slot machines and unlawful games and betting, according to a release issued by the Darlington County Sheriff's Office.
Darlington County deputies, with assistance from Hartsville Police officers and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents, Feb. 9 served a search warrant at 1826 S. Fifth Street just outside Hartsville and discovered "several poker style tables with poker chips and money tallies of illegal gambling events. Agents also located several illegal video poker gaming systems that were operable during the service of the search warrant," Lt. Robert Kilgo wrote in the sheriff's office release.
FLORENCE, S.C. Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rice will be in Florence on Thursday evening for a Coffee with your Congressman event, and some local activists are planning to make their voices heard.
Rice will be at the Drs. Bruce & Lee Foundation Library in Florence at 6 p.m. Thursday. He regularly holds these types of events throughout the 7th District as a part of his constituent outreach.
Some local Democrats and activists who fundamentally disagree with the actions taken by President Donald Trump, his administration and the majority Republican Congress have questions concerning Rices motives.
We just want Congressman Rice to know that were his constituents and we want him to know that we deserve representation too, said Florence County Democratic Chairwoman LaShonda NeSmith. Whether Im a Democrat, a Republican, a liberal or conservative hes supposed to represent me.
Nesmith said there will not be a protest-like atmosphere, but rather an attempt to hold a conversation with Rice and question him on some of his stances particularly his decision to vote against an amendment that would have required President Trump release his tax returns.
There are a lot of things the Rep. Rice needs to explain to his constituents and I think this is a good time to do it, Nesmith said. Its going to be peaceful and cordial. We just want to know whats going on with our representation.
NeSmith said several community activists groups are planning to attend this event, including local members of the National Action Network as well as members of the Action Together Organizations Pee Dee Branch.
The Coffee with your Congressman event is free and open to the public.
HARTSVILLE, S.C. Danny Johnson Jr. was presented the 2017 Coker College Alumni Associations Outstanding Young Alumni Award during Homecoming activities on Feb. 11.
The award is given annually to a graduate of the past 20 years who has already made significant achievements in his or her chosen profession and who shows exceptional potential for future accomplishments.
I was very surprised when I was told I would receive the award, he said. I dont do anything to get recognized, but it is neat to be recognized for what you do.
Johnson, a 2004 graduate of Coker College with Bachelor of Science degrees in business and history, received a master of engineering degree from Clemson University. He is also a 2000 graduate of Hartsville High School.
I feel like I owe a lot to Coker, he said. The thing I like about Coker is it gives you the foundation that gives you the means to give back.
Johnson, son of Danny and Debbie Johnson, said his family has always worked in metal, but they didnt have the business experience. He said his business degree has helped.
Johnson has been married to his high school sweetheart, Brandy Timmons Johnson, for 13 years. They have two daughters.
He is vice president of and a board member of North Industrial Machine, Precision Components and Services and Sun Superior. He is also a partner at Chafin, Johnson and Associates.
North Industrial Machine is family owned, he said.
We started with one employee in 1995, he said.
They now have 150-200 employees here. He said they just finished a project in Arkansas with 312 employees.
They family purchased the old city hall building on Carolina Avenue and completed renovations for their central office.
We wanted a centralized location for our four companies, he said. We hope to expand here.
He likes having their businesses centrally located and likes having the building in downtown Hartsville, with lots of amenities located nearby, such as restaurants, shops, etc.
Johnson said their niche is machine work, fabrication, industrial and plant maintenance and engineering. They are licensed in seven states.
Johnson, who started working in the family business as a teenager, even before he could drive, said he likes what he does and enjoys a challenge.
I like to do projects that no one else wants to do, Johnson said.
One of the most interesting and challenging projects that Johnson said he has been associated with was the installation of miles and miles of safer barriers for International Speedway Corporation.
We made and installed them he said.
Johnson is an active member of the community, serving on many civic and professional organizations. He is a member of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons of South Carolina, the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Hartsville, Darlington County Progress, Coker Society, and Darlington County School District Business Cabinet. He also gives of his time to the South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Florence-Darlington Technical College Machine Tool advisory Board, and Darlington County School District Tool Advisory Board, the Architectural Review Board for the city of Hartsville, and the Leadership and Entrepreneurship Advisory Council at Coker College.
Johnson said his business and community service leave him little free time.
I like to stay busy, he said. Working is my hobby. I enjoy coming to work.
LAKE CITY, S.C. Carolina Academy sophomore Landon Bradshaw spoke on Feb. 2 to a group of South Carolina senators at the South Carolina Statehouse about a Sole Hope service project he hosted at the school in September.
The Sole Hope organization has a mission to offer hope, healthier lives and freedom from foot-related diseases through education, jobs and medical relief. Through the service project, Bradshaw and other students at The Carolina Academy collected and prepared items to make shoes for children in Uganda.
Bradshaw heard about the Sole Hope project last sumemr at a leadership 4-H camp that was held in honor of the late Senator Clementa Pinckney. At the Statehouse, Bradshaw spoke about the project to 15 state senators and Pinckneys widow, Jennifer Pinckney.
I spoke about Sole Hope and how Im trying to make a difference throughout my community and my aspirations to become a surgeon and then a U.S. senator, Bradshaw said.
The experience was fun, Bradshaw said.
I wrote my speech, and I practiced my speech so I had it down. So that was really good, he said. Everybody loved it, and I tried to make it a little funny so everybody laughed. I was happy about it.
Bradshaw was the only student from Florence County to speak on Feb. 2 at the Statehouse. He was invited by the Clemson Extension 4-H office along with three other junior leaders.
He does a great job here in his leadership role he takes at the school and doing things that benefit everybody, Carolina Academy headmaster Stevie Phillips said. Were just very proud of that and of him.
Bradshaw will visit the S.C. Statehouse again on March 14 to meet senators and other state leaders.
Seventh in a series
FLORENCE, S.C. The School Foundations 2017 Dancing for Our Future Stars began with a pairings party on Jan. 5, and dancers are halfway into their preparation for the show.
Voting is open to the public, and people can support their favorite couples for $10 per vote. At 7 p.m. on March 30, dancers will compete in the annual fundraiser at the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology Center on the Florence-Darlington Technical College campus.
Celebrity dancer Chris Handley is the associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church. His professional dance partner is Brandi Williamson.
Q. What was your first reaction when you were asked to be in Dancing for Our Future Stars?
A. No way. What are you thinking? Theyre going to ask me to dance? That is what it is, but Im excited to serve and to help raise some funds for The School Foundation.
Q. What convinced you to say yes?
A. Will Malambri was going to be dancing from Central United Methodist, and so we had to show off the Presbyterians.
Q. Do you have a background in dance?
A. Not a bit, except for in junior high I did the bump. You would never know what that is anymore.
Q. How long have you been in Florence, and what brought you here?
A. Fifteen, 14 years. Ive been the associate pastor here. I grew up in Charlotte but then lived in Richmond, Virginia, for about 15 years.
Q. How did you get into the ministry?
A. In college, I was in a Christian ministry, and from there ended up in campus ministry. During those years, about 6, I decided a life of ministry was where I was headed, so I went to seminary in Boston and then ended up in Richmond in my first church.
Q. What are some of your favorite ways to serve the community?
A. Ive enjoyed working to bring the races together. Thats been one of my pieces of the puzzle. Ive enjoyed working to develop relationships among people who are wanting to help. Its been fun. The thing called Helping Florence Flourish has been one of my passions, and that has afforded us the opportunity to think about racial bridging, education, homelessness and the family, so all of those have a little piece of the puzzle of my heart.
Q. Why is it important to help the School Foundation?
A. Kids are the future, and trying to help them as much as we can to help them get the best education they can makes a lot of sense.
Q. What are some of the ways that you hope your dancing will help education?
A. It brings awareness. People that probably I know maybe have never thought about The School Foundation and will give money to The School Foundation for the first time. I know that this dance has been going on a long time, and so its had a big impact on the community, but theres still people that are just finding out through new dancers getting involved.
Q. What was your congregations first reaction when you told them you would be dancing?
A. They said Do you still want a job? No, they were excited, and I was encouraged a lot of them got tables. In fact, I have more personal types of relationship folk that are buying tables rather than corporations and things like that.
Q. What is your biggest fear for competition night?
A. That Brandi will mess up.
Q. What are you most excited for?
A. Im excited to see what its all about. Brandis done this so many times, and this is my first time to do it. Itll be fun. Im looking forward to it.
Q. Whats been the best part of this experience so far?
A. Its been meeting the people. Ive loved the little jabs between Will Malambri and me. Thats been fun. We havent done that a lot, but its fun to do. The Presbyterians just have to show up the Methodists, but its all in good love, though.
LAKE CITY, S.C. Olivia McConnell and Braydon Smith represented Carolina Academy at the South Carolina Independent School Associations Literary Meet this month in Summerville.
The competition was held on Feb. 1 at Faith Christian School in Summerville, and nearly 500 students participated, according to Carolina Academy Headmaster Stevie Phillips.
McConnell, a sixth-grade student, won first place in the middle school divisions girls extemporaneous speaking competition.
Ive competed before but not in this type of category," McConnell said. "I really like to speak. Its just a natural thing. I really like politics. My grandma and grandpa talk about it a lot, and I just started talking about it one day with them.
McConnell said she was given topics to research a month before the competition. She used the facts she gathered to prepare her speech. During the competition, she said, she was given a 12-topic list. She drew three of the topics and was able to pick her favorite of the three to speak about. McConnell's chosen topic was "Does the American dream still exist?"
I really enjoyed the experience, and I hope to go next year, McConnell said.
Smith, an 11th-grader, won second place in the high school divisions oral interpretation competition. He read the book The Day the Crayons Quit and gave an oral interpretation to a group of judges and other people.
And I had to animate it and be all the different characters in the book, Smith said. It was challenging, but it was a good experience. It was a learning experience.
Both Smith and McConnell have competed in the South Carolina Independent School Associations Literary Meet every year since they were in second grade.
Im just glad both of them had that opportunity to compete, Phillips said. They take a lot of pride in the academic work they do here, and it certainly shows with them being part of the literary meet. Im just glad SCISA gives them that opportunity to show off their talents, too.
HARTSVILLE, S.C. Melanie Jackson of Stage Left History took fifth-grade students at North Hartsville Elementary School back in time on Feb. 10 to the year 1908 for the Ellis Island Experience, a simulation of the life of an immigrant being processed for entry into the United States.
The primary objective of the simulation is for students to gain an understanding, perspective and respect for the overall immigrant experience, especially during the height of the Industrial Revolution. Jackson said in a media advisory. It also provides an opportunity for our community to be involved in the life of our school.
Stage Left History is Jacksons own company. She goes into schools and creates historical education simulations. The Ellis Island Simulation is very large, Jackson said.
I only do it once a year at one school, in conjunction with the classroom curriculum," she said. "I have done it at several schools, but the last three years it has been at North Hartsville Elementary."
She said all the projects take from six to 10 weeks. She said she is like an artist-in-residence.
All of the officials are volunteers from the community.
Representatives from Coker College faculty and students, LighterSide Restaurant, Duke Energy, Burry Bookstore, Outback Steakhouse and the community at large accepted roles as immigration officials to create a memorable play about officials and immigrants.
The simulation lasted from 90 minutes to two hours per class. Everyone had to stay in character until it was announced that the experience had come to a close, Jackson said.
This year, 122 fifth-graders stepped into another place in history.
The students, after completing a classroom study of the European immigration movement from this time period, began an intense one-month preparation for their project, Jackson said. Each student was assigned the task of creating and developing a character profile to represent during the simulation.
The students put together costumes appropriate for the period, country of origin and character occupation they were portraying. The students also, through careful and directed research based on actual immigrant experiences and documents, kept journals throughout the month and during the simulation itself.
Jackson said the students were briefed on what to expect: discomfort, nervousness and crowded conditions as they moved through a series of processing stations in order to reach their goal access to America!
The students were warned that any number of things could disrupt their entry into America. Fewer than half of the students actually made it into the United States. The remaining students either ended up being detained for some reason or quarantined, she said. Their final outcome did not affect their grade.
This was considered a closed simulation, in that no parents, other instructors, or students were permitted to view it, Jackson said.
This way there are no distractions for the students as they move through the process, she said.
This was Jacksons 10th year for creating, producing and directing this historical simulation.
FLORENCE, S.C. Starting March 3, the YMCA will offer a lifeguard certification course.
Participants must be at least 16 years old. A swim test is required to enter the course.
The class includes all books and YMCA of the USA National Certification for YMCA Lifeguard as well as American Heart and Safety Institute CPR Pro including AED, Oxygen Administration and First Aid, required for certification.
Pre-work is required, so register at least one week in advance. Classes will meet Friday, Saturday and Sunday for two weekends.
For more information, visit florenceymca.org and look under programs/aquatics or call 843-665-1234.
On Feb. 13, CNN reported that a boycott of Valentines Day was ordered by the Islamabad High Court of all of Pakistan. It was stated that it had no place in their Muslim culture.
Then I remembered, Valentines Day is a Christian observance. When I was young, it was known as St. Valentines Day. It comes from the 3rd century in Rome. The Roman emperor Claudius II, while building his army, issued an edict banning marriage for his soldiers. He feared married men would have divided allegiances because of wives and families.
Valentine was a Catholic priest who married young couples in secret, defying the edict. He believed that love and family were the basis of Christianity. He was caught, imprisoned and executed by beheading on Feb. 14, 278 A.D.
Last week, we honored St. Valentine by expressing our love and peace to that special someone, our families and friends. I guess the Pakistani boycott is appropriate. You would have to believe in love and peace to celebrate Valentines Day. A far cry from war and violence.
ARLIE P. COLE JR.
Society Hill
Trump Nieto Mexico
This week, the Trump administration detailed new immigration plans that would expand the pool of immigrants eligible for deportation and offer more resources to agencies in charge of the crackdown.
The new plans would also see the US deport immigrants to the country from which they arrived, regardless of their country of origin.
This has drawn the ire of Mexican officials, who have worked closely with the US government in recent years to intercept migrants flowing through the country toward the US-Mexico border.
Luis Videgaray, the Mexican foreign minister, said on Wednesday that his government "will not accept" the US's new, "unilateral" immigration proposals.
Related Video:
For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.
The statement came hours before Videgaray was scheduled to meet with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly. Videgaray said the new proposals would be the main point of discussion during their meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.
Tillerson and Kelly are in Mexico to meet with high-level Mexican officials, including President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Videgaray also said the Mexican government wouldn't hesitate to go to the UN "to defend the rights of immigrants," Reuters reported.
The Trump administration has sparred with the Mexican government over immigration since the US president took office in late January.
Central America migrant Mexico
The two countries have long cooperated on immigration issues, with Mexico acting with US assistance to pick up migrants from Central America and other countries who pass through southern Mexico on their way to the US's southern border, where many intend to claim asylum.
Story continues
This initiative has earned the Mexican government criticism for the amount of resources it requires as well as over apparent violations of its obligations as a signatory to an international convention on the rights of migrants and refugees.
The Mexican government has said it could rescind its cooperation on immigration and other programs should relations with the US continue to deteriorate.
"We have been a great ally to fight problems with migration, narcotics," Mexico's economy minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, told The Globe and Mail this month. "If at some point in time things become so badly managed in the relationship, the incentives for the Mexican people to keep on cooperating in things that are at the heart of [US] national-security issues will be diminished."
NOW WATCH: 'Mexico does not believe in walls': Mexico's president rejects Trump's push for a border wall
More From Business Insider
The Best A/B Testing Tools For Mobile Apps
How Monetizing Your Blog Could Lose You Business
Dryships is splashing out $102.5m for a newbuild 113,205 dwt aframax being built in Korea and due for delivery in Q2 this year, and a 2011-built, 320,105 dwt VLCC, which it will also take delivery of in the second quarter.
Both vessels are expected to be employed on the spot market.
Economou, chairman and ceo of Dryships commented; We are very excited to have re-entered the tanker market by acquiring a modern aframax tanker of eco- design and one very large vrude varrier at historical low prices.
We continue to look at opportunities to diversify and grow our fleet with high quality tonnage and significant operating leverage.
Dryships quit the tanker sector in mid-2015 selling its six aframaxes to companies belonging to Economou.
With both THE Alliance and the Ocean Alliance kicking off on 1 April, along with Hyundai Merchant Marine and Hamburg Sud cooperating with 2M the Asia Europe trade is set for a major shake-up.
The big winner will be Singapore, with Rotterdam remaining the key port in Europe, while in Asia both Port Klang and Hong Kong will lose out.
Following the start of the new alliance Singapore is set to attract 34 weekly calls on Asia Europe compared to 29 previously. This increase goes as the expense of Port Klang. This shift from Singapore to Port Klang is mostly the consequence of the purchase of Singapore-based APL by CMA CGM, Alphaliner said in its weekly newsletter.
Following its acquisition of APL the French line has invested in a joint venture terminal CMA CGM-PSA Lion Terminal at PSA in Singapore boosting its, and with it the Ocean Alliance, presence in the city state. The big loser in this CMA CGMs longstanding Southeast Asian hub Port Klang in neighbouring Malaysia with weekly calls on Asia Europe reduced from 11 to just five.
Meanwhile THE Alliance will only hub in Singapore for Southeast Asia.
The Port of Tanjung Pelepas will remain the key regional hub for 2M with it adding a 12th weekly call, while the Ocean Alliance will also call the Malaysian port four times a week.
Hong Kong is also set to loss out with only seven weekly calls of North European loops and three weekly calls of Mediterranean loops, replacing ten and five calls respectively.
On the European side Rotterdam will remain the most important port and while losing two weekly Asia Europe calls due to the alliance reshuffle, however, it will also gain two calls from 2M.
The facts today suggest this business area has the potential to be a sensible, profitable and indeed long-term business for Bank of Cyprus, Irishman Hourican told the Shipping Forecast Summit in Limassol 20 February. We aim to become a trusting banking partner.
Until now the BoC has stayed out of shipping finance, but plans to enter with proper hires and embedding the required expertise, Indeed, Hourican admitted he was convinced to overturn his career long negative bias towards shipping finance from (his) own time at the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Four years ago BoC, Cyprus largest bank, was forced to convert almost 50% of its depositors uninsured funds into equity as part of Cyprus bailout terms and still has a mountain of non-performing loans.
Hourican said the bank wishes to serve the Cypriot and Greek shipping community through careful customer selection, careful asset selection and actually being there over the long term for this market.
Hourican said shipping financing requires taking global trade trends into account which in turn is threatened by risks to worldwide macroeconomic, social and political stability stemming from increased global private, corporate and government debt levels and the rising nationalism.
He said its essential as business leaders we understand and have a view on mega-trends that are impacting the world around us. The world we live in today, is changing and there are many difficult truths that we as business leaders must address as we plan our future prosperity and economic survival. he said.
Nationalism, as manifested in the Brexit referendum in June and the election of Donald Trump who applied an anti-globalisation rhetoric and which is likely to impact the outcome of elections in the Netherlands, France and Germany, is as a result on the rise, and has to do with global trade and subsequently shipping, said Hourican. In the eyes of many OECD democracies, globalisation has not delivered the promised high levels of living standards. Nationalism is raising its head in taxation policy, sharing of information across borders, in demands for greater security contributions in NATO, rising trade disputes and cancellation of trade agreements.
Already, the signs indicate the shipping industry may further have to cut back on its excess capacity, amid falling cargo rates, and follow the path of the ship construction industry, after the number of shipyards numbering almost 1,000 worldwide shrank to 40% in recent years, said Hourican.
He said banks realised the trend and reduced financing to shipping. Since 2008, bank finance to your industry has contracted by about 15% in aggregate while the seaborne fleet has expanded by 30%, he said. This has clearly pressured the financial strength of all operators in one degree or another.
There are real business challenges in this sector and whilst there appear glimpses of sunlight though the clouds, there are still difficult periods ahead.
The partnership, which will operate under the name Bunge Bahri Dry Bulk Ltd., will provide exclusive freight transportation services to regional and other international customers.
The company plans to ship over 5m metric tons in year one, ramping up volume over time to double-digit figures. BDB and Bunge will own 60/40% of the jv respectively, and it will be registered and based in Dubai.
This jv is one of BDB's strategic initiatives to reduce complexity for our customers along the value chain, said Ibrahim Al-Omar, ceo, Bahri
Working with a leading global player in commodity trading brings the necessary commercial and market intelligence to dry bulk supply and demand fundamentals, and Bunge brings crucial expertise and scale to the table.
Their global presence in commodity flows and knowledge of the freight market, coupled with our maritime expertise and strategic position in the region, creates a powerful alliance to meet growing demand for freight services within the Middle East.
Brian Thomsen, managing director, Bunge Global Agribusiness and ceo, Bunge Product Lines, said: We expect the jv to become a carrier of choice for customers importing grains and other agricultural commodities in the Middle East, as well as for dry bulk exports outside of the region.
The jv will charter and commercially operate supramax and/or panamax, and possibly other suitably sized dry bulk vessels, initially from the fleet currently owned or managed by BDB and subsequently from third parties.
BDB is itself a joint venture between Bahri and Arabian Agricultural Services Companyf founded in 2010, and has a fleet of five 81,555 dwt bulkers according to Bahri's website.
Financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed.
India-Microsoft-Satya-Nadella
Satya Nadella has only good things to say about Indian startups and Bengaluru.
On Feb. 20, the India-born Nadella was on his maiden visit to the city as Microsoft CEO. Among other things, he participated in a 30-minute fireside chat with Infosys co-founder and former CEO Nandan Nilekani. The event was attended by nearly 1,000 techies and academicians, including some of the countrys most prominent entrepreneurs like Flipkart co-founder and group CEO Binny Bansal and InMobi co-founder and CEO Naveen Tewari.
On the sidelines, he met a bunch of young entrepreneurs and saw some products that Indian startups are building. An impressed Nadella made several observations.
Here are some of his edited comments:
Entrepreneurship in India
Its fantastic to see the quality of the entrepreneurs in India. The ideas that these entrepreneurs are working on are not just for the Indian market, which itself is huge, but they also go beyond the country, which is amazing.
The centre of the entrepreneurial energy for us (Microsoft) in India is all around the cloud. We are working with some big brands that are using Azure and are already well established, such as OYO Rooms.
But even the startups, which I just saw (at the event venue in Bengaluru), were stunningbuilding on IndiaStack, transaction analytics, and the very idea of a payment infrastructure getting built on top of Aadhar, leveraging the cloud, is great.
I think the entrepreneurial energy of the place is just tremendous to see. In fact, in the last 12 months, we have had 2,000 startups using our cloud in India. It is one of the few places in the world where the entrepreneurial energy is able to scale up, not just start.
Flipkart
Flipkarts founder got the second-wave of Indian startup started (the first wave included companies like Infosys).
Story continues
I have always been an admirer of what Flipkart has done in not only starting e-commerce but now with payments and logistics. They are really getting India on the world map of cloud-native entrepreneurs and applications.
(At the event, Flipkart and Microsoft announced a partnership through which the e-commerce major will exclusively use Microsofts cloud computing platform, Azure.)
Future of artificial intelligence
If I could broadly talk about artificial intelligence, the impact that we are having even in India today is fantastic. Its a powerful great step towards harnessing the power of data.
But I dont think we should go and claim that something like artificial general intelligence is just around the corner. If anything, I would say we are on the right ladder this time.
Ultimately, the real challenge is human language understanding. That still does not exist, and we are not even close to solving it. We only have some parlour tricks but we dont have anything to say that we can write like Rabindranath Tagore anytime soon.
Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news.
More stories from Quartz:
The surprising rise of Donald Trump has put a serious strain on the longstanding economic partnership between the United States and Mexico. During his presidential campaign, Trump cast Mexico as an economic leech, stealing American jobs by luring U.S. companies, particularly U.S. automakers, across the border. After his election, Trump scored a victory when Ford canceled its plans to build a $1.6 billion manufacturing plant in Mexico.
But Trump isn't the world's only influential billionaire businessman. Carlos Slim, a Mexican magnate worth more than $50 billion, wants to prove that the Mexican auto industry can be as innovative as its northern neighbor. Slim recently announced a new collaboration with Grupo Bimbo - the world's largest bread company - to design and build a 100-percent Mexican electric vehicle.
Alejandro Salas, a senior automotive industry analyst for Mexico Business Publishing, says that Slim's electric car is the product of a Mexican auto industry that's benefited from years of foreign investment. After decades building cars for GM, Toyota and Volkswagen, Mexico now has the homegrown engineering talent and skilled labor to stand on its own.
"Part of [Slim's announcement] is to show the Mexican audience that we can participate in the automotive industry as creators and not just manufacturers," Salas told Seeker, adding that Slim's decision to focus on electric vehicles "shows a level of innovation that, internationally, Mexico isn't known for. It gives the new project a little edge."
When Slim's new electric cars roll out of the factory in 2018, they will be the first Mexican-made cars sold exclusively for the domestic market. This comes at a time when the Trump administration has floated the idea of a 20-percent tariff on all goods imported from Mexico. Salas says that almost 80 percent of all Mexican-made vehicles are currently exported to the United States.
Slim was a vocal critic of Trump during the presidential campaign. Forbes reported that Trump once accused the Mexican billionaire of pressuring The New York Times to skew its coverage toward Hillary Clinton, since Slim is a shareholder in the paper. Soon after the election, however, the two power brokers appeared to mend fences over a meal at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
RELATED: Americans Need Mexico, Here's Why
Salas wouldn't speculate whether Slim's decision to build a 100-percent Mexican vehicle is a retort to Trump's tariff threat, but said that "it helps in the eyes of the Mexican public to realize that there's investment coming from both outside and within the market."
The new electric car isn't Slim's first foray into electric vehicles. Slim and Bimbo, the global bread company that also owns Wonder, have already collaborated on an electric delivery truck. The electric bread trucks were designed and built by two of Slim's Mexican companies, Giant Motors and Moldex, and will soon be sold to other large food companies operating in Mexico, like Nestle.
The push for electric delivery vehicles in Mexico is largely a response to Mexico City's Hoy No Circula ("No-Drive Days") program, an anti-pollution initiative that bars vehicles from driving one day a week according to the last digit of their license plate. For businesses that make daily deliveries, this can be a logistical nightmare. The only vehicles exempt from the Hoy No Circula rules are electric and hybrid cars and trucks.
The consumer market for electric cars in Mexico is small, but growing, Salas said, partly because of the no-drive days in the Mexican capital and the rising price of gasoline. In January, the price for a liter of gasoline at Mexican pumps rose a whopping 20 percent. The massive price hike, known as the "gasolinazo," was part of the Mexican government's effort to cut back on expensive subsidies that have kept retail gas prices in check. The move was met with nationwide protests and a spike in interest in hybrid and electric vehicles.
That said, it still might be a few years before electric cars, Mexican-made or otherwise, really find a foothold in the Mexican market.
"The infrastructure in Mexico for electric vehicle charging stations isn't really developed," said Salas. "It's in the early stages. There are some consumers buying electric cars, but it's mainly been an effort toward taxis and large fleets."
In fact, that's where most Mexican auto industry analysts like Salas believe Carlos Slim's electric cars will first be adopted, by taxi companies in Mexico City. The consumer market will open up later.
In the meantime, the Mexican auto industry isn't sitting around waiting for Trump to figure out if he's going to withdraw from NAFTA. Mexico has free trade agreements with 44 other countries, and Salas said that industry leaders are actively courting relationships with other export markets, including China.
WATCH VIDEO: What Life Is Really Like In Mexico
As a society, we've been almost desperate in our need to recharge our phones and laptops and locate the cords and electrical outlets to make it happen. Now scientists at Disney Research have a found a way to turn an entire room in a wireless charging space.
Their method, called quasistatic cavity resonance, has the potential to make wireless electrical power as ubiquitous as Wi-Fi. Just walk into a room and your device starts charging.
To develop the proof of concept, principal research scientist Alanson Sample and his colleagues built a 16'x16' room framed with aluminum supports and sheathed in aluminum walls. At the center of the room, they erected a copper pole containing 15 capacitors, devices used to store an electric charge.
Outside of the room, the scientists placed a generator and amplifier that produced a radio frequency signal and connected it by wire to a device called a drive coil placed inside the room.
When they switched on the generator, the signal moved to the drive coil, which broadcast it to the capacitors in the pole. An electric current was produced that traveled through the pole, ceiling, walls and floor. It created a uniform magnetic field that filled the room.
RELATED: Device Lets You Share Wireless Power
A receiver coil that resonates at the same frequency as the magnetic field was able to pick up that magnetic field and turn it into power.
"One of the remarkable things about this room is that with the appropriate receiver design, we can power many devices simultaneously," associate research scientist Mark Chabalko says in the video below.
In the experiment, the scientists were able to power ten different objects at the same time, including a smartphone, a lamp, a fan, and an RC car, to name a few.
Researchers from Japan's Kyoto University have documented just the second case in chimpanzees of a genetic disorder similar to Down syndrome in humans.
The chimp, a captive-born 24-year-old female named Kanako, has a third copy of chromosome 22, in a condition called trisomy 22. (In humans, Down syndrome is known as trisomy 21, for a third copy of chromosome 21.)
The only such prior case in the species was observed in 1969, in a chimp that did not live to be two years old.
In humans, Down syndrome can be typified by slowed growth, intellectual challenges of varying degrees and features such as crossed eyes.
Kanako, who lives at the university's Kumamoto Sanctuary, has been blind since the age of seven, following cataracts that first appeared when she was only one year old. She also has crossed eyes, thinning corneas, a congenital heart disease and underdeveloped teeth.
Researchers only learned of Kanako's unusual condition when a routine exam three years ago showed she had a heart defect. When she was found to have a "hole" in the wall between the chambers of her heart, a chromosome analysis later revealed her trisomy 22.
RELATED: 6 Shocking Things About Chimps
While her blindness makes it tricky, and possibly unsafe, to socialize with other chimps, Kanako has made a female friend named Roman that she is allowed to see periodically. Thus far, the researchers say, the two animals get along great.
Thanks to special underwater cameras, scientists are getting a rare glimpse of dolphin life as it occurs far from the tour boats and smartphone-snapping hordes from the animal's point of view.
Researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Alaska Southeast attached cameras atop eight dusky dolphins off the coast of New Zealand, giving the scientists a look at what each dolphin sees.
The effort won the researchers more than eight hours of little-seen activities such as mother-calf interaction, play time in a kelp forest and intimate contacts the scientists described as fipper-rubbing.
How do you get a camera onto a wild dolphin gliding past your research boat? Carefully, as you can see in the video below, using a long pole to gently stick the device onto the speedy cetacean's back with the help of suction cups.
The cameras were good for six hours of battery life each. Along with video capture, the cameras also incorporated GPS tracking and depth logging.
In a perfect world, we'd all live to see 100. We're not quite there yet, but a new study suggests that by 2030, life expectancy is set to increase globally - and that South Koreans may live the longest, up to age 90 on average.
Scientists from Imperial College London in collaboration with the World Health Organization set out to study longevity, which reflects "one measure of the overall health of a population," Imperial researcher James Bennett told Seeker.
The team developed a Bayesian model averaging (BMA) system, a method that's commonly used to crunch weather data and make predictions, to analyze age data for 35 industrialized countries. They used age-specific death rates, which reflects health during the entire life course, and then calculated life expectancy for people in various countries at birth, again at age 65, and then looked at the probability of dying before age 70.
The countries in the study ranged from high-income nations, such as the United States, Canada, the U.K., Germany and Australia, to emerging economies like Poland, Mexico and the Czech Republic - and all countries had data dating back to 1985 and a population of 1 million or more during the entire period.
Based on the team's calculations, a baby girl born in South Korea in 2030 will have an average life expectancy of 90.8 years. A baby boy born in the same place and time would be expected to live to age 84.1 years.
In the past, an average life expectancy over age 90 was once considered impossible, Majid Ezzati, a lead researcher from the School of Public Health at Imperial, said in a press release. "Many people used to believe that 90 years is the upper limit for life expectancy, but this research suggests we will break the 90-year-barrier," he said. "I don't believe we're anywhere near the upper limit of life expectancy - if there even is one."
"South Koreans projected gains may be the result of continued improvements in economic status, which has improved nutrition for children, access to healthcare and medical technology across the whole population," Bennett told Seeker. "This has resulted in fewer deaths from infections and better prevention and treatment for chronic diseases, in a way that is more equitable than some Western countries."
RELATED: US Life Expectancy Drops for First Time Since AIDS Crisis
Among high-income countries, the U.S., however, ranked lowest, at a life expectancy of 83.3 years for women and 79.5 years for men in 2030. In comparison, French women are expected to live until age 88.6 and Swiss and Australian men until age 84.
"U.S. life expectancy is already lower than most other high-income countries, and is expected to fall further behind in 2030, potentially as a result of its large inequalities, absence of universal health insurance and of the country having the highest homicide rate, body mass index and death rates for children and mothers of all high-income countries," Bennett said.
The research also suggest that the life expectancy gap between men and women is closing. "Men traditionally had unhealthier lifestyles, and so shorter life expectancies," Ezzati said, explaining that they smoked and drank more and had more road traffic accidents and homicides. "As lifestyles become more similar between men and women, so does their longevity."
These findings could help to better set expectations for governments planning for health and social services and for pensions around the world.
In the future, Imperial researchers plan to tackle two more areas: include cause specific mortality to gain new insight into some of the major diseases impacting humans and extend average life expectancy analysis for every country in the world. Bennett said this will be "a very challenging area, as data from many countries are not as clean or reliable as those in the study."
The study shows potential for many people living longer around the world, though the U.S.'s ranking is a wake-up call that the country might have some catching up to do.
WATCH VIDEO: Can Technology Stop Aging?
(Corrects the Maple Leaf Foods story in the Stocks to Watch section to say total sales fell, and not rose, to C$828.2 million from C$873.1 million.) To access the newsletter, click on the link: http://share.thomsonreuters.com/assets/newsletters/morning_News_Call/MNCGeneric_CA_02222017.pdf You can read Morning News Call Canada via TOPNEWS Canada page.
If you would like to receive this newsletter through your email, please register at: https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/MorningNewsCall/ ECONOMIC EVENTS 08:30 Retail sales mm for Dec: Expected 0.0 pct; Prior 0.2 pct 08:30 Retail sales ex-autos mm for Dec: Expected 0.6 pct; Prior 0.1 pct COMPANIES REPORTING RESULTS Feb 22: CRH Medical Corp (CRH). Expected Q4 earnings of 5 cents per share Exchange Income Corp (EIF). Expected Q4 earnings of 51 Canadian cents per share First Majestic Silver Corp (FR). Expected Q4 earnings of 1 cent per share High Liner Foods Inc (HLF). Expected Q4 earnings of 31 cents per share Hudbay Minerals Inc (HBM). Expected Q4 earnings of 10 cents per share IAMGOLD Corp (IMG). Expected Q4 earnings of break even per share Lundin Mining Corp (LUN). Expected Q4 earnings of 5 cents per share Maple Leaf Foods Inc (MFI). Expected Q4 earnings of 33 Canadian cents per share Pason Systems Inc (PSI). Expected Q4 loss of 4 Canadian cents per share Taseko Mines Ltd (TKO). Expected Q4 earnings of break even per share Trican Well Service Ltd (TCW). Expected Q4 loss of 8 Canadian cents per share Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd (WDO). Expected Q4 earnings of 5 Canadian cents per share Western Energy Services Corp (WRG). Expected Q4 loss of 17 Canadian cents per share Feb 23: Alamos Gold Inc (AGI). Expected Q4 earnings of break even per share Altagas Ltd (ALA). Expected Q4 earnings of 31 Canadian cents per share Altus Group Ltd (AIF). Expected Q4 earnings of 42 Canadian cents per share Blackpearl Resources Inc (PXX). Expected Q4 earnings of break even per share Calfrac Well Services Ltd (CFW). Expected Q4 loss of 32 Canadian cents per share Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM). Expected Q1 earnings of C$2.59 per share CCL Industries Inc (CCLb). Expected Q4 earnings of C$2.60 per share Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSHun). Expected Q4 loss of 3 Canadian cents per share Cott Corp (BCB). Expected Q4 loss of 5 cents per share Crescent Point Energy Corp (CPG). Expected Q4 loss of 6 Canadian cents per share Eldorado Gold Corp (ELD). Expected Q4 earnings of 2 cents per share Gildan Activewear Inc (GIL). Expected Q4 earnings of 29 cents per share Guyana Goldfields Inc (GUY). Expected Q4 earnings of 5 Canadian cents per share Halogen Software Inc (HGN). Expected Q4 earnings of 3 cents per share IMAX Corp (IMAX). Expected Q4 earnings of 21 cents per share Innergex Renewable Energy Inc (INE). Expected Q4 earnings of break even per share Leon's Furniture Ltd (LNF). Expected Q4 earnings of 47 Canadian cents per share Loblaw Companies Ltd (L). Expected Q4 earnings of 97 Canadian cents per share MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd (MDA). Expected Q4 earnings of C$1.42 per share Mitel Networks Corp (MITL). Expected Q4 earnings of 23 cents per share Nevsun Resources Ltd (NSU). Expected Q4 loss of 1 cent per share Newalta Corp (NAL). Expected Q4 loss of 12 Canadian cents per share Northland Power Inc (NPI). Expected Q4 earnings of 49 Canadian cents per share Pembina Pipeline Corp (PPL). Expected Q4 earnings of 35 Canadian cents per share Silver Standard Resources Inc (SSO). Expected Q4 earnings of 19 cents per share Stantec Inc (STN). Expected Q4 earnings of 42 Canadian cents per share Syncordia Technologies and Healthcare Solutions Corp (SYN). Expected Q3 loss of 6 cents per share TeraGo Inc (TGO). Expected Q4 earnings of 1 Canadian cent per share Tree Island Steel Ltd (TSL). Expected Q4 earnings of 2 Canadian cents per share Tricon Capital Group Inc (TCN). Expected Q4 earnings of 12 cents per share CORPORATE EVENTS 08:00 5N Plus Inc (VNP). Q4 earnings conference call 08:30 Waste Connections Inc (WCN). Q4 earnings conference call 10:00 Golden Star Resources Ltd (GSC). Q4 earnings conference call 10:00 SQI Diagnostics Inc (SQD). Q1 earnings conference call 11:30 Sandstorm Gold Ltd (SSL). Q4 earnings conference call 13:00 First Majestic Silver Corp (FR). Q4 earnings conference call 14:00 High Liner Foods Inc (HLF). Q4 earnings conference call 14:30 Maple Leaf Foods Inc (MFI). Q4 earnings conference call 16:30 Patient Home Monitoring Corp (PHM). Q1 earnings conference call EXDIVIDENDS Allbanc Split Corp II (ALB). Amount C$0.12 Corby Spirit and Wine Ltd (CSWa). Amount C$0.21 DHX Media Ltd (DHXb). Amount C$0.02 Industries Lassonde Inc (LASa). Amount C$0.51 Pembina Pipeline Corp (PPL). Amount C$0.16 For Morning News Call U.S. -- a preview of market-moving news for the trading day: - type US/MNC in a news browser if you are an Eikon user, or type RT/US/MNC in a news browser if you are a Thomson One user For The Day Ahead -- a recap of the day's events and preview of the next trading day: - type DAY/US in a news browser if you are an Eikon user or type RT/DAY/US in a news browser if you are a Thomson One user For an index of our newsletters click on
President Donald Trump's newly-minted head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, cautioned the agency's staff to avoid "abuses" of their authority in an inaugural address to assembled employees, amid signs the White House plans to roll back key Obama-era climate and water initiatives.
In a 15-minute address, Pruitt painted a broad picture of a more constrained EPA - saying stricter adherence to "the letter of the law" when writing environmental regulations will help avoid lawsuits from corporations or states who might contend that the environmental watchdog overreached its mandate.
"Process matters," Pruitt told the EPA's staff in remarks broadcast to the agency's 15,000 employees. "We should respect that, and focus upon that, and try to avoid - not try to avoid, but do avoid - abuses that occur sometimes."
Such abuses, Pruitt said, include "using the guidance process to do rule-making," and "engaging in... regulation through litigation."
In his previous job as Attorney General of Oklahoma, Pruitt sued the federal agency he now leads at least 14 times, and his official web site described him as "a leading advocate against the EPA's activist agenda," in language that has since been removed.
As a result he has faced broad skepticism from current and former EPA staff as he assumes leadership.
RELATED: Senate Confirms Pruitt, Despite Questions Over His Fossil Fuel Ties
Pruitt opened his remarks with a tacit acknowledgement of the controversy surrounding his own appointment, and concern among environmentalists over the Trump administration's policies, with a call for "civility" among those who disagree and a pledge to "seek to be a good listener."
"This environment [in which] we live, in this country today, it is a very - forgive the reference - but it's a very toxic environment," he said. "We have jerseys that we put on, both politically and otherwise. And that's something that I think is damaging to the overall objective of finding results."
He added: "I believe we can be both pro-energy and jobs, and pro-environment; that we don't have to choose between the two."
Pruitt's address to EPA staff follows his first interview since being nominated in November, in which he told The Wall Street Journal that he expects the Trump administration to quickly withdraw from the Clean Power Plan - President Barack Obama's signature regulation limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants - as well as from the Waters of the United States rule, which grants the government expanded oversight over the nation's waterways.
Asked by conservative columnist Kimberley Strassel whether the EPA will seek to regulate carbon dioxide, which scientists broadly agree is the key source of climate change, Pruitt said he wasn't sure the agency has the authority to do so.
"There will be a rule-making process to withdraw those rules, and that will kick off a process," he told the Journal, which is owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who has personal ties to the Trump family. "And part of that process is a very careful review of a fundamental question: Does EPA even possess the tools, under the Clean Air Act, to address this? It's a fair question to ask if we do, or whether there in fact needs to be a congressional response to the climate issue."
The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 in Massachusetts v. EPA that the Clean Air Act provides the agency with authorization to regulate the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the planet to warm.
RELATED: Trump's EPA Nominee Rejects Scientific Consensus on Climate Change
The Trump administration is drafting a pair of executive orders aimed at rolling back both policies, The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing unidentified sources.
The first will purportedly instruct Pruitt's EPA to start rewriting the Clean Power Plan, and instruct the Bureau of Land Management to lift a moratorium on federal coal leasing.
The second order will instruct the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers to revamp the Waters of the United States rule.
"Scott Pruitt has made it clear he wants to destroy the Environmental Protection Agency, and he didn't say anything today to make anyone think he's changed his mind," said Travis Nichols, a spokesperson for the environmental activist group Greenpeace.
"Every single one of Trump's nominees share the same neglect of facts and disregard for the most vulnerable communities in this country, but Scott Pruitt may be the worst of the bunch," Nichols said. "Scott Pruitt does not care about healthy communities, clean air and water, or a stable climate, so it is up to all of us to still demand those basic rights and fight for them."
Cats notoriously turn their noses up to many foods, but this ability to sniff out particular odors holds tremendous potential, according to new research that makes a case for training domestic cats as search and rescue animals.
Cats may even be superior than dogs in this role, since their genes indicate they have better olfactory discrimination power than dogs do, according to the new paper, published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science.
"Given the importance of olfaction in cat sensory perception, cats could be trained to discriminate between a variety of odors, therefore serving in working roles for detecting specific humans, medical scent detection, bomb sniffing, or drug sniffing," said Kristyn Vitale Shreve, who co-authored the paper with Monique Udell.
"Given the popularity of cats, with cats outnumbering dogs by almost 10 million in the U.S. alone, cats may be an untapped resource for this type of work," said Shreve, a researcher in Oregon State University's Department of Animal and Rangeland Sciences.
Shreve explained that there are three families of receptor proteins in the scent detection organ of mammals: V1Rs, V2Rs and FPRs. The number of V1R receptor gene variants is believed to predict the mammal's ability to discriminate different odors. Domestic cats have around 30 V1Rs compared to just nine in dogs, Shreve said. Humans have only two. Rats beat them all, with an incredible 120 V1Rs.
As a result, rats are already being used to detect landmines, and research is underway to use them to detect tuberculosis. The rodents are also being trained now to be search and rescue animals, with five trained rats acing a test that called for them to locate a human in a simulated collapsed building.
RELATED: 'Claws' on a Cat's Tongue Work Like Velcro to Clean Fur
Cats may be the nemesis of rats, but like rodents, felines can squeeze into tight places, have the ability to climb, maintain good balance and more. All of these qualities could serve them well in search and rescue missions, according to the researchers.
Cats have a reputation for being difficult to train, but Shreve said challenges could be overcome if care is taken to "socialize the cat to experiences outside of the home, find rewards or experiences the cat most wants to work for, and use positive reinforcement to reward those behaviors you are trying to train."
In terms of socialization, Shreve has taught kitten training and held a monthly Cat Socialization Club, where felines in a safe space could "mingle," play with others and eat treats.
Choosing the right food for rewards during training is critical.
"Would you go to work every day to earn your living to be paid in corn?" she asked.
Carnivorous cats may not work for carbohydrate-packed treats, but they may be motivated by cooked chicken or tuna, she said, adding that cats seem even to prefer more intangible rewards, such as play or social interaction.
"I think the public perception of the 'un-trainable' cat stops many people from trying to train them for more complex tasks," she said. "In our kitten classes, adults and children have taught cats to sit, stay, go to mat and stay, stand, spin, high jump, ring a service bell and much more."
RELATED: How Did Cats Spread Around the World?
Often the training involves familiarizing a cat with a target (in the classes the target was everything from chopsticks to a food container lid) and then teaching the cat to approach and tap the item for a reward. Once a cat learns this first basic step, the feline can be taught more complex behaviors in order to reach the target.
Shreve and Udell indicate that the "target" can also be a particular odor, such as the scent given off by a type of cancer. Dogs have already shown that they can do this in studies, by touching their muzzle against a test tube when it contains a sample from a person with lung cancer.
Shreve said that the skill is likely underused in cats. One of her own cats, for example, repeatedly sniffed a certain side of another cat's face in the household. This second cat seemed fine, but then it was later discovered that she had a cancerous growth in the area that the other cat previously sniffed out.
Not all cats are destined for search and rescue work, however.
Shreve said, "Just like in dogs and humans, cats show variability in their social behavior and personalities. So, just like not all dogs or people may be equipped to go out on search and rescue missions, not all cats will either."
WATCH: These Plants Could Kill Your Pet
Bam eyes students' safety during field trips in probe
Are there tight guidelines to ensure our children's safety?
Sen. Bam Aquino said this will be the main focus of the impending Senate probe on the bus accident that killed 15 people, including 13 students from Bestlink College, during a field trip in Tanay, Rizal.
Sen. Bam has filed Senate Resolution No. 297, calling for an investigation into the accident, which also claimed the lives of a teacher and the bus driver.
"We need to check the guidelines. Are there tight guidelines to make sure that our children are safe?" said Sen. Bam, chairman of the Committee on Education.
"Gusto nating malaman how we can avoid these type of accidents. This is not the first accident na nangyari in a field trip na may namatay. Mayroon nang nangyaring ganito in the past," he added.
The probe, which will be conducted jointly by the Committees on Education and Public Services, would determine if the students were coerced by the school to join the field trip in exchange for a passing grade.
"We need to make sure that walang napilit. Kailangan nating alamin ang katotohanan sa mga kuwento na na-threaten daw iyong mga bata na babagsak kung hindi sumama sa field trip," the senator said.
Sen. Bam said representatives from the Department of Education (DepEd) will also be invited to the hearing to discuss regulations regarding field trips in elementary and high schools.
According to initial investigation, the students were en-route to a medical and survival training for their National Service Training Program subject when the bus lost its brakes while traversing a curved highway before hitting an electrical post.
Press Release
February 22, 2017 Transcript of Interview of Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin M. Drilon SFMD: Senator Recto has taken the position that we should not amend the Constitution and therefore, it is a vote against adoption of the resolution calling either for a constitutional convention or constitutional assembly. Whether or not that will be a decisive vote, I do not know. You know by his withdrawal of the resolution, it only means that he is not in favor of amending the Constitution. So any resolution that will propose for the call of a con-con or con-ass, he will cast a negative vote. Whether or not that negative vote will affect the vote is something that is speculative at this point. Q: He said that it is because he is seeing political reasons na yung Cha-cha, do you share his observations? SFMD: I would not express an opinion, because I am the chair of the committee that will draft the report. Q: Yun lang bang kay Senator Recto yung hini-hear na resolution? It will not affect the hearing? SFMD: Marami. It will not affect the hearing. Not at all. We would know the effect once we put it to a vote. Q: Yung legal luminaries, some are in favor, some are not. SFMD: That is expected and I'm glad that views were freely expressed. It as a very substantial discussion and we will take this into account when we submit a report to the plenary. Q: Is there another hearing? SFMD: We are reviewing the necessity whether or not we should conduct out-of-town hearings. But we have not decided on that. Q: Nagbotohan daw po kagabi sa caucus? SFMD: We voted and as reported in media, 10 of us said we should see what the truth is by hearing the new witness, and that the Committee on Public Order to whom it was referred would hear it. There were 10 of us who voted in favor and Senator Poe said she would also endorse the ruling, so there are at least 11. By tradition, we honor our agreements in caucus. In other words, the mechanism for calling for a caucus in order to arrive at a consensus is a time-honored practice in the Senate which is not easily disregarded. That is a tradition that other senators can junk if... Legally we cannot do much. I'm talking about the tradition in the Senate, caucuses are called to arrive at a consensus and there was a consensus last night, although we had to go to a vote. But a majority clearly stated that we should hear Lascanas. Q: May botohan talaga, mainit ang discussion? SFMD: There was a discussion. That's natural. The voting was only a way by which we, at the caucus, could arrive at a consensus. We assume that the consensus arrived at as a result of the voting in caucus is that we should hear the new witness and find what the truth is.
Press Release
February 22, 2017 Transcript of Sen. Grace Poe's Manifestation ...Number one, he mentioned that we shouldn't allow this person to come over here and lie again to us because we should not give this person the benefit of doing so. I would just like to give my own opinion about this. Making him come here to speak is not for the benefit of this person. I believe that making him come here to speak is also for the benefit of those of us who would like to know what made him change his mind and why he is doing so. Mr. President I think if we were to judge based on the statements of the other resource persons that came here and we would reject them for having lied in the past, I think we will not have any resource persons left. There are certain self-preservations that obviously these individuals might have had when they first came over here to speak. On the other hand, I would also like to thank Senator Gordon for being upfront about it. Senator Lacson and I were discussing, at least he was truthful in what he's saying that he was not going to hear it, that he thought it was just a waste of time because what he could do as a chairman of the committee is just to say 'yes, it can be referred to my committee, I will sit on it and I will do nothing.' But then he said, 'if it's referred to my committee, I think it will be a waste of time and I will not hear it.' On the other hand, Senator Ping, I'm sorry to my seatmate but I think it is a laudable reason also for him. He's uncomfortable in breaking the collegiality between us and accepting the referral to his committee. Although I think he's a capable chairman of public order and I think he could hear this fairly. I could understand his predicament. So Mr. President, most of you are lawyers here but we have Sec. 14 Rule 10 of the Senate Rules which reads, 'Whenever necessary, special committees shall be organized, the membership and jurisdiction of which shall be determined by the Senate President.' Proceeding from this and considering that the justice committee chair has expressed his objection to reopen the hearing on the EJK, and if in case the public order committee is not likewise inclined to do so, may I then manifest that there may be a necessity that a special committee be organized for this purpose, given the following: 1. The allegations of Mr. Lascanas are serious and appear to corroborate the testimony of Mr. Matobato. The Senate should be given an opportunity to test his credibility. It doesn't mean that he is telling the truth already by his coming out in the open or the truthfulness of his allegations in the interest of the public. 2. Mr. Lascanas may have perjured himself by making allegations that are diametrically opposed to what he had previously given under oath before the justice committee. This opportunity that we will give ourselves to hear and scrutinize these allegations before a special committee (that may be organized) would definitely not absolve Mr. Lascanas from any criminal act that he may have already committed. Mr. President, you were with me in 2004 when no one would hear us about all of the fraud allegations at that time during the elections. You were also with us during the hearings on the fertilizer fund scam where the blue ribbon committee refused to hear it and it was the committee on agriculture that had to assume that responsibility. I feel that even if we have other venues like the Ombudsman and the courts, it is always the Senate that is the last bastion for the public to be able to hear all of the testimonies without limit. So I appeal to my colleagues, we may have our inclinations and political affiliations. But this is not for anyone, this is really to preserve also what the Senate has done in the past and that is a forum for the public to hear issues. Now with regard to Mamasapano, it was mentioned that it has not been approved. We have a committee report, it has not been voted on but Mr. President, what we have recommended that charges be filed against those individuals, were carried on by the Ombudsman, usurpation of power, etc. And so with that, Mr. President, I thank you for this opportunity.
David Zalubowski/Associated Press
MESA, Ariz. - The As are hopeful that new reliever Santiago Casilla, signed as a free agent this offseason, will be able to report to camp in the next day or two.
Casilla, who started his career with Oakland but spent the past seven years with the Giants, was signed on Jan. 20, and the team anticipated that he would be late to camp because his visa process began much later than many other players coming from Latin American and Caribbean countries. Casilla was expecting to get his visa Wednesday in the Dominican Republic, making it possible for him to fly to Arizona sometime this week.
For the past few months, Amara Tabor-Smith has added a few more warm-up exercises to her Saturday morning Rhythm & Motion classes in the Mission, where 80 dancers regularly gather in yoga pants and drapey tank tops to joyously sweat. Sometimes Tabor-Smith begins class by telling her students to shudder the stress out of their bodies. Sometimes she encourages them to set a positive intention for the energy theyll generate. Most often, these days, she asks the room to breathe together.
We can come here together and acknowledge there is tension, she said. Thats one thing that were experiencing, regardless of what side were on.
Since Novembers presidential election, a new tension has infected the collective psyche of the Bay Area, where three-quarters of voters in many counties voted Democrat. The Bay Area is not alone: An American Psychological Association survey found that half of respondents, regardless of party, reported that the results of the election caused them significant stress. Among Democrats, that figure was 79 percent.
Paul Chinn/The Chronicle
Representatives from religious groups, activists and nonprofit organizations in the area say that people are coming to them in heightened numbers, seeking solace for post-election anxiety sometimes in some very Northern California ways.
Several members of the San Francisco-based Therapy Referral Network, for instance, reported that the majority of their clients are bringing up political worries.
Id say over half of them talk about it in every session, if not spending a large chunk of the session, said Sherry Freeman, a psychotherapist who practices in San Francisco and Marin County. Clients of Islamic descent share their anxiety over family members or hostility theyve encountered. Couples seek intercession for differing political views, even between Democrats.
Congregation Shaar Zahav, a synagogue in the Castro, says that an overwhelming number of people attended a service of healing on the Friday after the election. Since then, people have been calling with all kinds of fears and anxieties and excitement weve been a home for people on both sides, said director of engagement Adam Pollack.
The congregation has decided to focus on refugee issues, sponsoring three LGBT refugees who recently arrived in the United States, and is offering classes and discussion groups on how members can respond to incidents of harassment or bias.
According to Mike Brown, communications director for the San Francisco Archdiocese of the Catholic Church, the Trump administrations anti-immigrant pronouncements and policies have been a great source of stress for parishioners. At one recent meeting on immigration, 300 people showed up. The diocese is now holding workshops, in English and Spanish, on how to respond to immigration raids.
The Rev. James Moore, director of the St. Jude shrine at St. Dominics Catholic Church, says that San Franciscans have long sought comfort from the shrine, devoted to the patron saint of desperate causes.
So many candles burn in our church that we dont use heaters, Moore said. Its literally heated by the prayers of the faithful. In the 1930s, they prayed over the Depression. In the 1980s, AIDS brought many gay men to the shrine. Now, the priest says, many pilgrims ask him to pray for friends or relatives who face violence in Latin America or immigration woes here.
Many Bay Area residents have turned to volunteering. San Francisco-based Volunteer Match, which connects volunteers with nonprofits across the United States, reported that more than half a million people have visited the site since Jan. 20, an increase of 76 percent; Bay Area searches have been up 33 to 47 percent since the inauguration. That number is reflected in anecdotal reports from nonprofits; the Sierra Club, for instance, reports 3,000 new Bay Area members since the election and an uptick in volunteers.
Others find solace in action: protests, strikes such as the Feb. 16 Day Without Immigrants and writing appeals on social media.
A year ago, three Alameda residents formed Solidarity Sundays, a feminist political action group that held monthly meetings to plan political actions. At the beginning of November, Solidarity Sundays consisted only of the original Alameda chapter, which drew 50 to 70 people for its events, and a Facebook group with 700 members. Now it has 100 chapters across the country close to 30 in the Bay Area alone and almost 15,000 Facebook followers.
Each month, founders Kate Schatz, Leslie Dotson Van Every and Jennye Garibaldi, who are volunteering their time, come up with an agenda to share with the chapters. The actions include making phone calls and writing letters to members of Congress, and each group, said Schatz, is encouraged to add local actions. Were trying to cut through the noise, give people guidance about what to focus on and manage the shock and awe (tactics) of the administration, Schatz said.
But sometimes the most immediate coping mechanism is to grind anxiety away to Mary J. Bliges Just Fine in a dance exercise class, or press deeper into that Warrior 1 pose on the yoga mat.
San Francisco yoga teacher Stacey Rosenberg said that in her classes, she has been talking more about how yoga is a rehearsal for life. I talk about alchemizing the feelings, she said, or transforming them into the fuel you need to do the work in the world you need to do.
Jonathan Kauffman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jkauffman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jonkauffman
Business leaders at the Bay Area Council business group did their best at a recent fundraiser for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to persuade the Bakersfield Republican to get behind Caltrain electrification but no dice.
McCarthy and the rest of the California GOP congressional delegation urged the Trump administration to delay a $647 million federal grant for the Caltrain upgrade as a way of targeting Gov. Jerry Browns high-speed rail project, which would ride Caltrains rails from the South Bay to San Francisco. Last week, the administration went along with the delay. Caltrain says that could doom it to a future of slow, inefficient diesel trains.
At the Feb. 9 fundraiser for McCarthy at San Franciscos Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Bay Area business heavyweights pointed out the economic pluses of converting Caltrains aging diesel fleet to faster electric trains.
He said he supported electrification of Caltrain, but said the problem was that the $647 million was co-mingled with high-speed rail money and that the line would be used by high-speed rail, said Bay Area Council President Jim Wunderman.
As for McCarthys argument against high-speed rail?
Same as it has always been, Wunderman said. Too costly. Its not really high-speed rail.
Wunderman said the business group is still holding out hope that President Trump will include the Caltrain money in his upcoming budget.
Others, however, say the chances are slim.
The president might put the money back in maybe, said Tom Nolan, a longtime member of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board. But I wouldnt bet too much on that.
Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.
Dan Richard, chairman of the states High-Speed Rail Authority, said that if McCarthy and the other 13 California House Republicans were out to kill bullet trains, they picked the wrong target.
The business plan allows us to stop at San Jose, Richard said. If McCarthy is trying to blow us up, Caltrain was collateral damage.
San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross
Two former Bay Area Air Quality Management District employees say district managers destroyed records showing that major polluters were given big breaks in the fines they should have received.
In a claim to be filed Wednesday with the district and the state, a precursor to a potential lawsuit in Superior Court, Michael Bachmann, a longtime record-keeping manager in the district, and his former assistant, Sarah Steele, said they protested the destruction of documents and were fired.
Eustace de St. Phalle, a lawyer for Bachmann, said their case was intended to make sure that those responsible for the destruction of records essential to protecting the air we breathe, keeping the public safe, and punishing major polluters are held accountable.
The district, which oversees air quality in the nine Bay Area counties, denied the accusations.
The allegations were first raised over a year ago and were thoroughly investigated by an outside law firm, the district said in a statement. The allegations were determined to be false and without merit. The Air District complies with all document-retention requirements in state and federal law.
Gary Gwilliam, a lawyer for Bachmann and Steele, responded that the district had conducted a very biased investigation.
Bachmann, a 16-year employee, said he was in charge of a team that began transferring the districts records to a new headquarters in 2015 and creating a new electronic file and software program. During that process, the former employees said, they saw the destruction of records on the districts settlement agreements with polluters.
Many of those records, they said, showed that top officials in the districts legal and enforcement divisions had made significant reductions in fines assessed against major polluters, often lowering the amounts enough that the board would not need to be notified of the violations. Lawyers for Bachmann and Steele did not identify the companies involved.
Bachmann said in a statement that he told executive management in November 2015 that this was a violation of internal policy and state law.
Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.
He said the districts chief legal counsel, Brian Bunger, replied that it was better if staff destroyed records and that the district had no obligation to document what was destroyed. Mr. Bunger further told me that it could hurt us if we have a record of what was destroyed.
Bunger and other senior managers prevented Bachmann and his team from digitizing the records and ordered them to return the documents they had tried to protect, said lawyers for the former employees.
They said Steele was fired last February and Bachmann in August. The dismissals were based on trumped-up charges of minor policy violations, said attorney de St. Phalle.
Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
Incoming Oakland Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick wasnt the only winner in her $299,675-a-year deal with the city City Administrator Sabrina Landreth , who helped negotiate the contract, will see an immediate $8,000 bump to her $291,000-a-year pay.
The agreement also paves the way for the city administrators pay to go up every time the chief gets a raise. That means Landreth could see a salary bump of about $33,000 over the 2-year life of Kirkpatricks contract.
Chalk up the pay push to the citys compaction policy, which calls for managers to be paid more than the workers they manage.
It is general practice in both the public and private sectors for a salary or classification system to require an increase in pay with each higher level of responsibility in a chain of command, said Oakland public information officer Harry Hamilton.
And since Landreth along with the mayor and the citys new Police Commission oversees the police chief, she comes under the compaction rule, and her pay goes up with every raise the new chief earns.
City Councilman Noel Gallo said some council members had serious reservations about both the chiefs pay and the city administrators connected salary increase.
I was hoping to see some kind of (national) salary survey that compared the chiefs pay to what other similar-size cities are paying to justify the raises, Gallo said.
Kirkpatricks pay was negotiated by Landreth, Mayor Libby Schaaf and the recruiter the city hired to find a new chief last year. The salary was based on what nearby cities pay their top cops including San Francisco, where newly hired Police Chief William Scott pulls down about $316,000 a year.
The city also took education and experience into consideration.
The new Oakland chiefs contract also includes $5,000 for moving expenses. Kirkpatrick was working in Chicago when Schaaf tapped her last month to run the Oakland Police Department.
In the end, Gallo said he voted for the deal because, given that its been eight months since the city had a permanent chief to oversee a troubled Police Department, voting no would have sent the wrong message.
Landreths first raise which will bring her salary to $1 more than the chiefs will kick in with Kirkpatricks expected arrival Monday.
Even with the pay boost, Schaaf tells us Landreth still wont be even in the top 20 highest-paid city administrators in California who run smaller and far less complicated cities. Believe me, she earns every penny.
Landreth did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Kirkpatrick will be Oaklands sixth full-time chief since 2009. The rapid turnover rate has made it difficult for Schaaf and her predecessors to maintain stability in a department beset by layoffs, low morale and continued federal court oversight stemming from a case in the early 2000s in which a group of officers was accused of beating West Oakland residents and planting evidence.
Last year, just when the previous police chief, Sean Whent, seemed to be making progress, the department was engulfed in a scandal in which several officers allegedly had sex with an underage girl and gave her money and information about upcoming vice raids. Whent resigned, and two acting chiefs lasted only a few days on the job.
Collateral damage: Business leaders at the Bay Area Council business group did their best at a recent fundraiser for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to persuade the Bakersfield Republican to get behind Caltrain electrification but no dice.
McCarthy and the rest of the California GOP congressional delegation urged the Trump administration to delay a $647 million federal grant for the Caltrain upgrade as a way of targeting Gov. Jerry Browns high-speed rail project, which would ride Caltrains rails from the South Bay to San Francisco. Last week, the administration went along with the delay. Caltrain says that could doom it to a future of slow, inefficient diesel trains.
At the Feb. 9 fundraiser for McCarthy at San Franciscos Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Bay Area business heavyweights pointed out the economic pluses of converting Caltrains aging diesel fleet to faster electric trains.
He said he supported electrification of Caltrain, but said the problem was that the $647 million was commingled with high-speed rail money and that the line would be used by high-speed rail, said Bay Area Council President Jim Wunderman.
As for McCarthys argument against high-speed rail?
Same as it has always been, Wunderman said. Too costly. Its not really high-speed rail.
Wunderman said the business group is still holding out hope that President Trump will include the Caltrain money in his upcoming budget.
Others, however, say the chances are slim.
The president might put the money back in maybe, said Tom Nolan, a longtime member of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board. But I wouldnt bet too much on that.
Dan Richard, chairman of the states High-Speed Rail Authority, said that if McCarthy and the other 13 California House Republicans were out to kill bullet trains, they picked the wrong target.
The business plan allows us to stop at San Jose, Richard said. If McCarthy is trying to blow us up, Caltrain was collateral damage.
San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross
Bill Hutchinson / The Chronicle
A female staff member of a school in Berkeley was taken to a local hospital after being stabbed on Tuesday afternoon by a suspect who was quickly captured by police, officials said.
The stabbing, which allegedly took place at a school on the 2100 block of Sixth Street, was reported to the Berkeley Police Department about 1:46 p.m, police said. The only school on that block is the Via Center, a private school for special education students.
In the month since President Trump took office, conversations between Ramon and his children have become increasingly serious: The two children, ages 5 and 11, are scared about what will happen to their father, a Mexican national who is living in the Bay Area without legal documentation.
On Monday, the day before the Trump administration released a pair of memos spelling out how it will implement the presidents executive orders cracking down on illegal immigration, his children both U.S. citizens asked him whether the family would be able to stay together.
Why is this happening? You are my only family. Why do we have to separate? his sixth-grade daughter said through tears. She started shaking she has never been to Mexico, which Ramon left years ago. I dont want to go away from you.
Ramon, a home carpet installer who asked that his last name be withheld, tried to reassure her but knew that nothing was guaranteed. He is one of millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally who appear to be at increased risk of being deported under the new policies, which President Trump has said are needed to improve U.S. citizens job prospects and save on government social services costs.
The implementation memos signed by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly are a departure from policies enacted under the Obama administration, which in its last years focused on deporting people who had been convicted of serious crimes.
Kellys memos say people who should be moved to the front of the deportation line include not just those criminals, but people who have engaged in fraud or willful misrepresentation in connection with any official matter before a governmental agency, which can include using a fake Social Security number for work a common practice among immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
Also eligible for deportation are people who have committed acts which constitute a chargeable criminal offense. That can include any immigration-related crime, such as illegal entry or re-entry to the U.S.
The memos also give immigration officers the leeway to remove anyone they believe poses a safety risk.
Advocates for immigrants who entered the U.S. without legal permission say people are right to conclude that families such as Ramons could very well be broken up.
In essence, its a way of creating priorities without having any priorities I think something like this will sow significant fear and anxiety in people no matter where they are, said Pratheepan Gulasekaram, an associate professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law and an immigration expert. This will force people further into the shadows.
The new marching orders for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Gulasekaram said, amount to, Do as you feel and go after who you want to go after and it will fit into one of the priorities. They are so broad that they can include anybody.
The agency noted on its website in a statement clarifying questions about the memos that all of those in violation of immigration law may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States.
There are about 11 million unauthorized people in the country, more than 2 million of them in California, according to the Pew Research Center.
A Homeland Security official speaking to reporters in Washington denied that the implementation strategy is intended to produce mass roundups, mass deportations. ICE does not have the time, personnel or resources to round up people and do all kinds of mass throwing folks on buses, the official said in a background briefing, according to the Washington Post.
The big picture here is that were executing what the president directed, which is consistent with what Congress put into law, the official told reporters. We will do so professionally. We will treat everyone humanely and with dignity, but were going to execute the laws of the United States.
Immigration advocates and their Democratic Party allies werent convinced that enforcement would be limited.
The memos are breathtaking in scope and could result in anyone who is undocumented being swept up by ICE, said Priya Murthy, a policy and advocacy director at the Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network in Santa Clara County. Her advice for immigrants living in the U.S. illegally is to seek legal consultations from trusted organizations and be informed of their rights.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., called the memos a plan for mass deportations that imply that all immigrants should be treated as criminals, regardless of their background or lack of criminal history.
Kellys memos call for hiring 5,000 Border Patrol agents and 10,000 ICE agents, and for authorizing local police to help ICE round up immigrants who entered the country illegally. Harris said that provision will drain our local law enforcement resources because it makes them responsible for enforcing federal immigration law.
Most law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area have said that they dont intend to get involved in raids, and will leave federal immigration enforcement actions to federal authorities.
One group not affected by the Trump administrations new priorities are those covered by former President Barack Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Under it, 750,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, including around 200,000 in California, are temporarily shielded from deportation.
Ramon has no such shield. From his South Bay home, he said he was wondering what he should do next.
Although he has no legal authority to be here, he says, he pays his taxes, he is married and has a home. The life and the people he knew in Mexico are long gone.
Its like, I have my dreams I made it and now I have to go back? he said. I want to be free.
Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
By its nature, any large development project comes with false starts and crossed fingers. The unexpected twists that cast long shadows across the best-laid plans.
Even when the development in question is San Franciscos Presidio a 1,491-acre national park that predates the city around it, yet still is being reimagined before our eyes.
The newest attraction at the onetime Army post, the Presidio Visitor Center at the north end of the Main Posts grassy parade ground, has its official ribbon-cutting Thursday. Saturday, theres a full day of family activities open to the public.
Opened in 1900 as a guardhouse complete with barred windows, the building at 210 Lincoln Blvd. has been renovated to be the X that marks the spot where first-time Presidio visitors can begin to make sense of the offerings around them.
Natasha Dangond/The Chronicle
Step through the restored front door, past brick walls with deep arched windows on either side. Before you on a raised table is a topographic model superimposed with a photograph showing trees and buildings and trails and roads. The wall beyond displays a multi-panel video screen that lists the days events or the next departure of the shuttles that loop through the park or head back downtown.
The room in back, where military prisoners were kept under watch until 1951, dives deeper into Presidio lore. Four displays fill visitors in on the parks quartet of newly christened regions: the Main Post, Crissy Field, the Golden Gate (the bluffs along the coast) and Southern Wilds. Besides text there are items to touch, such as the shining brass musical instruments floating above the Main Post graphics, or the replica of a small green frog at toddler height in the Southern Wilds display.
All this is eye candy, the user-friendly interface in a $5 million orientation point conceived by the National Park Service, the Presidio Trust and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. But if the displays by exhibition designer Macchiatto are of-the-moment, the architectural upgrade by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson is subdued. It restores a sense of order without trying to take you back to another time.
There was very little historic fabric left in the building, said Michael Boland, the Presidios director of park operations. The effort was more about restoring the spatial integrity.
Natasha Dangond/The Chronicle
In other words, create a setting in which stories can be told. Yet the stories we dont see can be as fascinating as anything within the visitor center.
The center suggests that the Presidio saga was an orderly procession. Native Americans preceded the Spanish military outpost established in 1776. Then Mexican rule and then the U.S. Army presence that extended from 1848 until 1994, when the post became a national park.
The curated tale comes with blemishes, including the role of the posts Western Defense Command in the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As it should.
What you dont get, though, are the messy dramas since 1994. Aspects of the park that now look preordained often were preceded by angry hearings and tense what-ifs.
In the back room, for instance, theres a cool interactive table where bubbles float by with illustrations of people and places.
Tap the bubble with a smiling Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and read how her innovative legislation, creating a partnership-based approach to managing the Presidio, was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996. All true but theres no mention that a more ambitious plan for the Presidio, imagining it as nothing less than a permanent installation serving a peaceful world, was scuttled when the Republican Party won control of Congress in 1994 and threatened to sell the former post to private developers.
When the dust settled, Pelosi had crafted the format of todays Presidio Trust an autonomous body required to be financially self-sufficient. The Trust has done a remarkable job, as inviting trails and hundreds of restored buildings bear witness. But the bottom line is also why many of those buildings are leased to investment firms and the like.
As for the Southern Wilds, some hillsides and nooks covered by native plants spent decades buried beneath military waste. They were were off-limits. Wilds of a different sort, which makes todays landscape even more of a revelation.
Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.
And theres no bubble for Star Wars creator George Lucas. He was the developer whose Letterman Digital Arts Center replaced a military hospital, providing a revenue stream to the park when its financial prognosis was frail. His ill-fated and self-absorbed quest to build a personal museum near Crissy Field, meanwhile, prodded everyone who cares about the Presidio to focus on how the Main Post and Crissy Field will someday meet.
At the back of the visitor center, a former loading dock offers a perch to look at bare dirt behind a rickety fence. That dirt is where the Presidios next major initiative will sprout a tunnel top park cloaking tunnels that commuters pass through on their way from Marin to the Financial District.
Once there was a view-blocking elevated roadway. Now there are plans for a voluptuous landscape cascading down to Crissy Field, designed by James Corner Field Operations, best known for New Yorks High Line.
Back in 2015 the budget was $51 million and the target opening date was next year. Today the budget is $80 million, with no groundbreaking date.
Mark my words. The tunnel tops will be reclaimed. They likely will be embraced. And before too long, the delays that now loom large will be a footnote to the story that the visitor center tells.
Place is a weekly column by John King, The San Francisco Chronicles urban design critic. Email: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron
Opening celebration
The completion of the William Penn Mott Jr. Presidio Visitor Center will be marked by a day of tours, music and activities in the restored building at 210 Lincoln Blvd. For a full schedule, go to http://bit.ly/2kVUKvX
By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil traders from around the world, including the United States, Britain and Brazil, have tripled their sales to Asia as they take advantage of an emerging supply gap following OPEC-led production cuts announced late last year. Around 30 supertankers have this month made long-haul trips to ship crude oil from the Americas, the North Sea and the Mediterranean to refineries across Asia, the world's biggest and fastest growing consumer, data extracted from Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts shows. The unusual movements follow the decision late last year by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers including Russia to cut production by almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) during the first half of this year in a bid to rein in global oversupply and prop up prices. Companies most involved in the long-haul deals include major oil producers such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell , private commodity traders Trafigura, Vitol and Mercuria, and Chinese refiner Unipec <600028.SS>, trading sources say. Energy and mining giant Glencore , Azerbaijan's state-oil firm Socar and Brazil's Petrobras have also been involved. Taking advantage of relatively low freight costs and regional crude oil price differentials - known as arbitrage, or arb - traders can profit from supply shortages in one region and oversupply in another. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures , for example, currently trade at around $54.50 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude costs $56.90 - a Brent premium over WTI of $2.40 a barrel, compared with near parity in late November, just before OPEC announced its cuts. "The OPEC cuts have ... led to an open arb for long-haul cargoes, leading to a rise in long-haul crude imports (which) make up for the decline in OPEC (supplies)," said Tushar Bansal, director of Ivy Global Energy, a Singapore-based consultancy. The cuts are an OPEC policy reversal after two years of pumping out oil and keeping prices low as the cartel sought to squeeze rival exporters. "OPEC production cuts... created distortions in the Asian crude market, changing global trade patterns," BMI Research said in a note to clients. OPEC CEDES MARKET SHARE Helping fill the OPEC gap, crude shipments to Asia from the United States, Britain, Brazil, and even war-torn Libya jumped to over 35 million barrels in February, or 1.26 million bpd, from 10.4 million barrels in October, or 336,000 bpd, the data shows. For OPEC, which typically meets around 70 percent of Asia's oil demand, that means a 5 percent loss of market share since October. "Under current oil market conditions, OPEC risks losing market share with further production cuts," said Carole Nakhle, director of advisory firm Crystol Energy in London. Although OPEC's relationship with customers in Asia tends to be good, refiners in North Asia's consumer hubs of Japan, China, and South Korea say they will readily turn to other suppliers in order to meet their needs. Loading schedules show U.S. crude exports to Asia increased to more than 3.5 million barrels this month - including a first U.S. oil cargo delivery to India - from below 1 million in October. UK shipments have jumped to more than 10.5 million barrels from just 1.6 million. Shipments to Asia from Brazil have hit a record 16.7 million barrels in February, up from 6.9 million in October, and Libya, an OPEC-member exempted from the cuts, doubled its Asia shipments to 2 million barrels last month. Shipping schedules show the trend continuing into March. BMI said the OPEC cuts, especially of medium and sour crude grades, were "providing opportunities for (similar)... Mediterranean crudes to flow into the Asian market," which include Libyan oil. WILL THE ARB LAST? One of the first major long-haul shipments to Asia in this round of arbitrage trading was by BP, which late last year used more than half a dozen tankers to ship almost 3 million barrels of U.S. crude as far as 30,000 km (18,641 miles) to Australia, Thailand and Japan. In similar deals, Unipec and Trafigura have shipped U.S. oil from the Gulf of Mexico to China. Shippers of North Sea crude to Asia have included Vitol, Mercuria, Trafigura, Glencore, Shell, Unipec and Socar. The main exporter from Brazil has been state-owned Petrobras, shipping data shows, with traders saying its crude has replaced oil from OPEC-member Angola. Oystein Berentsen, managing director for crude oil trader Strong Petroleum in Singapore, said arbitrage for North Sea and U.S. oil to Asia has been possible due to the OPEC-led cuts, and these routes "may continue depending on freight and price spreads." Benchmark Middle-East to Japan freight rates for supertankers (VLCC) <.BAWC> are at 71 points on a so-called Worldscale rate based on 100, compared to a long-term average rate of around 76 over the last 10 years. "The whole reason arb opportunities are there is because of weak freight," said Matt Stanley, a fuel broker at Freight Investor Services in Dubai. It's not clear how long this arb window will remain open. Strong Petroleum's Berentsen said that despite the OPEC cuts "there is still oversupply, but the market will probably balance in the third quarter. Then we'll see if the arb still works." (Reporting by Henning Gloystein, with additional reporting by Jessica Jaganathan and Mark Tay in SINGAPORE and Roslan Khasawneh in DUBAI; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Target recently reopened its showroom for Internet-connected devices in downtown San Francisco with an unusual twist: one item for sale is the retail giants own app-controlled smart lamp.
Target is selling the $50 lamp under its Threshold home furnishings brand, possibly the first time a retailer has attempted to design and sell its own Internet-connected device.
Depending on how well it sells, the lamp could be just the first private-label smart device for Target, which is placing a bet on a still unproven smart-home consumer electronics market.
Were figuring out what it will take to actually create these products, not by doing that in a boardroom with Post-it Notes and a whiteboard, but by walking the talk and trying it out, said Gene Han, who heads Targets San Francisco innovation office.
Amy Osborne/Special To The Chronicle
Private-label consumer products, which have a higher profit margin than third-party goods, are hardly new for the retail industry. Sears, for example, had long been synonymous with its Craftsman tools lineup, although the struggling company recently agreed to sell the 90-year-old brand to rival Stanley Black & Decker for $900 million.
But Target has placed an even greater emphasis on expanding its private brands in the past year to help set its stores apart from competitors, said Amy Koo, senior analyst with the industry research firm Kantar Retail.
Those include food brands Archer Farms, Market Pantry and Simply Balanced, clothing labels Merona and Mossimo Supply Co. and its Up & Up household goods. Threshold is a premium furniture brand that has performed well, and Target recently introduced a high-end childrens clothing line called Cat and Jack to sell shoppers on the idea that store brands arent generic, Koo said.
So creating a line of smart lamps makes sense for Target, she said.
They really want to be seen as cutting edge, Koo said. Its not surprising to me theyve actually pushed it into a new category. They do see themselves as a convenient source of new and innovative products.
Smart-home devices could be starting to take off. Parks Associates said last month that about 26 percent of U.S. homes that have high-speed Internet connection also had a smart-home device in 2016, compared with 19 percent the year before. It forecast that half of those homes would have at least one connected device by 2020.
Target created its Open House section in San Franciscos Metreon in July 2015 as place for shoppers to get a hands-on feel for the connected devices, such as smart doorbells, thermostats and light bulbs. The retailer remodeled Open House to better showcase even more cutting-edge devices that are not yet for sale.
Some of the devices are also sold in regular Target outlets. Tile, which keeps track of frequently misplaced items like keys and wallets, became such a hot item at Open House that Target now sells it at all its stores, said spokeswoman Jenna Reck.
One of the biggest challenge for unknown smart-device makers is persuading retailers to give them prime space on their store shelves. But Target wont have that problem if it wants to push Threshold smart lamps in front of shoppers.
For now, Target is selling its first smart lamp, under the Threshold brand, in the Open House section and in the regular Target store upstairs in the Metreon. But it also has a smart floor lamp, a ceiling lamp and a taller table lamp available online. The Open House store also displays a prototype childrens smart night light.
The devices use mobile phone app controls similar to those found in smart light products sold by Best Buy, Lowes, B8ta and other stores. They let owners have online access to set variable on and off times, and they can control light dimming and colors to set a proper mood for the room.
However, Target designed its lamps with a feature that solves a fundamental problem that early smart-light enthusiasts encountered it wasnt as easy to control the devices without a smartphone in their hands.
Its got a standard on and off switch, so you dont need your phone, Han said as he demonstrated the Threshold lamp. Its making sure that tech doesnt drive the complete design.
The smart lamps could open the way for other Target-branded connected devices. But Han, vice president of the companys consumer Internet of Things office, said the next step is a little bit of an open-ended question still.
Benny Evangelista is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: bevangelista@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChronicleBenny
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Is Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed ready to stop climbing the firefighting ladder and leave her post?
Deloach Reed has been incessantly criticized for the Fire Departments failure to inspect the Ghost Ship before a deadly Dec. 2 blaze ended 36 lives at the converted warehouse.
While she didnt come out and say she was leaving during her keynote address at an NAACP event Monday at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland, it sure sounded like it. Ostensibly, it was a Black History Month worship service, but inside the citrus-filled chapel it felt like an end-of-career ceremony.
A firefighter for three decades, Deloach Reed has led Oaklands department since 2012.
Ive never met a woman who retired (as a firefighter) with 30 years of service, she said, drawing applause from the most welcoming crowd she has addressed in months.
Mason Trinca/Special to The Chronicle
Wearing her double-breasted dress fire chief uniform, Deloach Reed, who has been on leave from the department for several weeks, began by admitting to having second thoughts about attending.
I am so glad that I did not miss this program today, because this is truly what I needed, she said. I hope when its all over, youll get a message.
The events theme was exposing hidden figures in the community, and it was Deloach Reeds first public appearance in the two weeks since it was revealed shed gone on leave. But before you make a wisecrack, understand the theme was drawn from Hidden Figures, an Academy Award-nominated film that documents the long-ignored mathematical contributions black women made in the race to beat the Soviet Union to the moon.
Deloach Reed is the first black woman to head a fire department in a major city, and Oaklands black community leaders have been steadfast in their support. She smiled for pictures with attendees, posing in front of a row of photo posters, including one of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress.
We need to come stand by her anytime we can, said George Holland, president of the NAACPs Oakland branch.
She also needs firefighters to fight for her, but the firefighters union has been undermining her command by lobbying behind the scenes to get her fired for years. Union leaders want her gone, and Deloach Reed is a tailor-made, high-profile scapegoat to make people mad enough to surge forward and fix how broken the citys building inspection system is. Im kidding. Who really thinks the Fire Departments inspection bureau will be a fine-tuned machine as soon as shes out the door?
Let the courts assign blame. Oakland should focus on how the Ghost Ship slipped through the cracks and how to prevent it from happening again. One suggestion: Get the leadership of Oaklands police and fire departments to work together more closely.
According to hundreds of documents the city released, police were repeatedly called to the live-work warehouse in the two years before the fire. And there were complaints of garbage, blight and an illegal interior structure a month before the fire.
The police couldve called and said something like, Guys, we know that in 2014 an Alameda County civil grand jury said your department wasnt checking thousands of commercial buildings for fire safety violations, but we really need you to get into this one.
On Monday, Deloach Reed declined interviews. The city wont comment on her leave status and it seemed Tuesday things might be changing on that. A union representative declined to comment on the possibility of Deloach Reed leaving the department, but her office said she was back in the office last week without elaborating on what that meant.
I watched as she clapped and swayed during a praise dance performance. And as a trio sang a stirring version of I Love You, Jesus, she fanned herself with paper before dabbing her watery eyes with a finger slipped underneath the bridge of her glasses.
When she started he career in San Jose, her goal was reaching captain until she raised the ladder and became assistant chief before heading to Oakland. San Jose went through 10 fire chiefs in her first 20 years, she told the audience.
I saw what an organization can do to a fire chief, she said.
About two months after her 30th anniversary of firefighting, Deloach Reed had to answer for the deadliest structure fire in California history. The questions wont stop. And if Deloach Reed isnt going to be essential in creating solutions, a process that shouldve already begun, then, yes, its time for her to get off the ladder.
As reporters stood outside after the program, an employee escorted Reed from the chapel through a back door to keep her hidden from the waiting cameras.
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr
Sarah Ravani/The Chronicle
A 56-year-old man apparently attacked with a glass bottle on Market Street in San Francisco more than eight months ago died from his injuries Tuesday night, prompting police to open a homicide investigation, officials said Wednesday.
The man was identified as William Evans, the San Francisco medical examiners office said Wednesday.
As the waters receded from the swamped homes, schools and businesses in San Jose on Wednesday, thousands of residents in the nations 10th largest city remained pitched into a state of uncertainty and sadness in the wake of a 100-year event flood.
A day after emergency responders rescued more than 400 by boat when Coyote Creek spilled over its banks, public officials and water resource managers admitted they were ill prepared for the sweeping natural disaster.
If the first time that a resident is aware that they need to get out of a home is when they see a firefighter in a boat, then clearly something went wrong, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said at a news conference on Wednesday. We are assessing what it is that led to that failure.
Officials said residents in an estimated 14,000 households were under mandatory evacuation orders and 36,000 homes in total have been affected by the flood. The devastation mirrored major flooding in January 1997 when the Guadalupe River swelled into San Joses neighborhoods amid widespread floods around the state.
The hardest-hit areas this week were the Rocksprings and Brookwood Terrace neighborhoods on either side of Interstate 280, and three mobile home parks farther north on Oakland Road. Six schools including San Jose and Cristo Rey high schools, Rocketship Discovery Prep, and McKinley, Olinder and Empire Gardens elementary schools were all within the evacuation zone.
I think its fair to say when we saw the Rocksprings occurrence that we were dealing with a storm event that was on the order of a 100-year event, said David Sykes, San Joses assistant city manager.
The scope of the floods destruction became more apparent at sunrise Wednesday after a chaotic 24 hours that involved one of the citys largest-ever water rescue efforts. Members of San Joses Urban Search and Rescue Task Force went door-to-door by boat, pulling hundreds of stranded people from the waist-high filthy water.
Overnight shelters were opened at James Lick and Evergreen Valley high schools in San Jose. No one was injured in the flood, but when people would be cleared to return home remained unknown due to hazardous pollutants that seeped into the floodwater.
It is not safe for people to go into the water and into their homes, Liccardo said. Bluntly, the water is receding, but we are far from out of this.
Many residents, though, went home anyway to begin sorting through their water-soaked belongings.
In the evacuation area near San Antonio and 21st streets, residents wearing flip-flops or knee-high rubber boots were shoveling water out of their driveways.
Lawn chairs, garbage cans and toppled outdoor kids toys were scattered throughout front yards. Cars were left abandoned in the middle of flooded streets.
What can we do? 42-year-old Victor Chen said worriedly outside his home on 21st Street. What do we have to do to keep everyone safe?
Chen, his two children, ages 8 and 10, and his wife evacuated around 7 p.m. Tuesday hours after the Fire Department drove by announcing the mandatory order.
Its really tough to see. A home is all we worked for, and our family is all here, he said. And we had to leave it behind when the water was rising.
The familys garage, dining room and one of the childrens bedrooms were flooded. Toys, extra mattresses, a TV, bikes and clothing were all ruined.
The flood happened when a powerful rainstorm on Monday sent water surging out of Anderson Lake, 20 miles away in Morgan Hill.
An especially wet winter pushed the reservoir to capacity for the first time in 11 years. On Saturday, water began surging out of its spillway and down the 30-mile stretch of Coyote Creek, running through San Jose, a city of more than 1 million people, to San Francisco Bay
Even though it was forecast to flood, the amount of water that came rushing down Coyote Creek the day after Mondays storm caught many by surprise.
Were going to be learning from this as we go forward and making adjustments for the future, said David Vossbrink, a spokesman for the city of San Jose.
But some experts said flooding was almost a guarantee and should have been anticipated.
Anderson was already full, said Jan Null, a meteorologist with Golden Gate Weather Services. And another 3-4 inches of water came into the watershed. I was not surprised by the flooding. I was surprised by the response to the flooding.
The creek peaked Tuesday afternoon at 13.6 feet, according to a monitoring site in Edenvale. That was well over its 10-foot flood stage and was the highest it has ever been recorded.
Water resource officials had anticipated the creek would reach about 12 feet Tuesday a level that would flood parts of San Jose, including the Rocksprings neighborhood, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations river forecast center.
But San Jose officials took few steps to warn those in the threatened area. Santa Clara County Water District officials said they put out alerts on social media and through Nextdoor, a private social network for neighborhoods.
San Jose city officials said there were some alerts that went out on the countys online emergency notification system that residents must sign up for. There were no door knocks before the river was forecast to flood.
The fundamental cause of this is over spillage at Anderson Dam, Liccardo said. It is a unique event. Theres no question that there were elements of this that were very foreseeable.
Any future storms on par with Mondays atmospheric river may bring about more flooding, forecasters said. Rain that was on track to hit the Bay Area over the weekend was not expected to flood Coyote Creek, according to the National Weather Service.
The best we can do now is monitor the reservoir and warn people ahead of time, said Gina Adriano, a spokeswoman with the Santa Clara County Water District. For the next storms, I think its a matter of early messaging. But its really the power of Mother Nature that were up against, and I dont think thats a battle anyone can win.
Adriano said the district has been releasing the maximum 420 cubic feet of water per second out of the base of Anderson Dam since Jan. 9.
The 49-inch-diameter release pipe is the only way to get water out of the reservoir before it rises to the spillway and overflows. Once that happens, dam operators can only watch.
During heavy rain storms, thousands of cubic feet of water per second rushed into the reservoir through the surrounding watershed.
Knowing what caused the flood provided little consolation to the thousands of evacuees many resentful about the lack of warnings by the city.
Nobody came by and gave us a warning, said Jason Loureiro, whose basement unit on 24th Street and Shortridge Avenue was underwater. They should have given us a heads-up. We wouldve gotten sandbags and prepared the whole area.
Loureiro said he was more sad if anything, adding that he has to start all over pretty much."
Hien Nguyen, 70, looked at her apartment on Welch Avenue on Wednesday morning with nothing but a fanny pack and the clothes on her back.
l couldnt get anything. One (pair of) slacks. One blouse, she said, throwing up her hands in resignation.
She said her grandson, who lives in the unit behind her, attends DeAnza College but his books, laptop and backpack were stuck inside. His BMW was parked in the garage, and is likely inundated with water.
After this, we have to throw away everything, she said.
San Jose city officials created a community relief fund for the victims that can be found through a link at sjmayor.org.
Jenna Lyons, Sarah Ravani and Evan Sernoffsky are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com, sravani@sfchronicle.com, esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jennaJourno, @SarRavani, @EvanSernoffsky
Randall Benton/Associated Press
Homemade signs, strident questions and nonstop noise are back in fashion at normally stoic congressional town halls. Once a Tea Party playbook staple, the tactics are now aimed at Republicans who are squirming under the heat.
The protests are the first opportunity for the progressive flank of the Democratic Party, all but shut out of Washington decision-making now run by the GOP. Even in safe and secure Republican-red districts, the volume is turned up loud.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an extensive set of orders on Tuesday that lay out plans to implement President Trumps directive to increase immigration enforcement and deport more undocumented immigrants.
Critics of former President Obama noted that he deported enormous numbers of immigrants. The charge is true. During his first five years in office, Obama deported nearly 2 million people the fastest rate of any U.S. president in history.
Yet Trumps policies represent a dramatic expansion of the deportation process.
The new memos depart from deportation policies of previous presidential administrations in several significant ways.
The expedited removal process allows Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to deport people nearly as soon as they are apprehended.
Under presidents Bush and Obama, the expedited removal process was used only within 100 miles of the border, for people who had been in the country for no more than 14 days. Because expedited removal allows agents to deport immigrants without a full hearing before an immigration judge, it was a process that was used only for a small group of people.
Under Trump, expedited removal will be expanded to include immigrants who are found anywhere in the country and have been here for up to two years.
The directives also instruct ICE and the Customs and Border protection agency to reinvigorate the 287(g) program, which deputizes local police officers and sheriffs deputies to assist with deportations.
This program which was not a priority during the Obama administration is at the heart of Trumps fight with major cities across the country, who would rather have their police departments focus on fighting crime.
Some immigration advocates, scrambling for silver linings, noted that the new directives dont mention any changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
But just because the memos dont mention the DACA program doesnt mean its safe. Trump has gone back and forth about whether to end the program, and the White House is reportedly still identifying different ways to end the young peoples protections without creating a firestorm of controversy.
But these new memos should set off their own firestorm of controversy. They make it clear that nearly all undocumented immigrants are now at risk, no matter where they live or what their status is. This new approach isnt about public safety; its overreaching and cruel.
If ever there were a love-hate relationship, it would be the one shared by the Bay Area and recent American presidencies.
Barack Obama visited these parts 25 times during his eight years in the Oval Office. San Francisco was the most populous U.S. city not to merit a presidential visit by George W. Bush.
Before that, Bill Clinton had Cabinet secretaries working the region on a near-weekly basis and was so kind as to enroll first daughter Chelsea at Stanford University.
President Trump does have one big Bay Area connection, but its concrete and steel, not flesh and blood. He owns a share of 555 California St., an office high-rise in San Franciscos Financial District.
To the extent that the Bay Area has drawn Trumps interest, its not in a good way through sanctuary policy, campus protests and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, not innovation and emerging technologies.
So how to get Trump to engage in the Bay Area in a positive and productive way that benefits both the local economy and the nations well-being?
Some wise Bay Area minds have a plan: create a domestic consulate at Moffett Field to bring Washington to Silicon Valley.
White House West is a nonpartisan plan drawn up by Bradley Rotter, a Silicon Valley impact investor with a focus on homeland security, and futurist developer John Bechtol, formerly associated with an institute that seeks to create permanent communities at sea called seasteads.
Under their plan, White House West would consist of a series of technology leads in robotics, 3-D printing, big data, artificial intelligence, hydrogen (including fuel cells) and blockchain, a distributed database with many uses including the public ledger that underlies bitcoin digital currencies. That latter technology, for example, could be used to combat voter fraud.
Rotter envisions a venture SCIF (sensitive compartmentalized information facility) where a technology could demonstrate in a secured high-def conference area (think of the cone of silence in the 1960s TV comedy Get Smart).
One immediate benefit of such a set-up: If White House West turned out to be a reliable source of technology assessment and acquisition for the federal government, then it would help remove the clutter between the two coasts travel time, contracting delays and lobbying middlemen, for starters.
I know hundreds of companies with cutting-edge technologies that would not even consider selling into government, Rotter claims. They arent inclined to travel to D.C., hire lobbyists, rent expensive office space and figure out the byzantine nature of government.
And a second benefit: Moffett Field just happens to be home to a long airstrip that could land a plane even larger than the Google 767, Googles corporate jet, should Trump want to visit this region without San Francisco or some other Bay Area city bearing the mother of all security costs.
Could such a concept work? We wont know until its attempted. And it will take a financial commitment on the part of both the tech community and the powers-that-be back in D.C.
But why not try?
Just weeks into this new presidency, its clear that the Trump administration didnt leave its heart in San Francisco. There is no Trump Cabinet secretary from California, much less the Bay Area that hasnt happened since the Bush 41 administration.
Add to that a bruised political ego: Mr. Trump received the lowest percentage of statewide votes in a two-person presidential race since Republican Alf Landon 80 years ago, and it lessens the incentive for Air Force One to come this way. However, Silicon Valley is too large for this administration to ignore.
Even if the tech sector chooses to keep its distance from the new president, or to make principled objections to Trumps choices (127 tech firms signed an amicus brief opposing the immigration executive order), it has an obligation to help the government find ways to operate faster, smarter and more efficiently in this Information Age.
Think of it as two parties agreeing to meet halfway deep in the heart of Silicon Valley.
And for Trump: an outpost in a land where all relations dont necessarily have to be hostile.
Bill Whalen is a research fellow at Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution.
In 2014, 24 veterans representing U.S. military services gathered at the Concord Vet Center to record their stories of war and homecoming, and share how their tattoos reflect their experiences. Launched by the Contra Costa Library as an online exhibit supported by a grant from California Humanities, War Ink garnered national attention, and even helped promote modification of the Department of the Armys tattoo policy.
Inspired and led by poet Donte Clark, local youth created an urban adaptation of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet, set in the streets of Richmond, as documented in the film Romeo Is Bleeding, supported by the California Documentary Project to open and expand the dialogue about violence and community.
Heres the rub, and it hurts. According to recent reports, the Trump administrations proposed budget eliminates the federal agencies that are the bedrock of Americas cultural and artistic vision: the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. These are organizations that invest in the people who live in communities of all sizes, stimulating local economies through partnerships with libraries, schools, veterans hospitals, nonprofit arts and culture organizations, museums and more.
Shutting down these critical agencies is not a financial decision to balance the federal balance sheet: Their budgets are very small, and together with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (also on the chopping block), they make up only 0.02 percent of the annual federal budget. However, their impact is exponentially large and has garnered bipartisan support across the country for their role in job creation and attracting businesses into communities.
I have spent the majority of my professional life helping connect people to one another through the arts and the humanities. I was a child when President Lyndon B. Johnson created the two endowments in 1965, so there was never a time when they didnt help shape who I was and who I became from hands-on arts education throughout my school years to transformational cultural experiences as an adult. Ive been able to share what I learned with my own children as they find their creative and civic voices.
I believe the opening of hearts and minds that happens when people have access to historical perspectives, other cultures and creative self-expression is core to a healthy and thriving democracy.
State humanities councils leverage $5 for every federal grant dollar spent at the local level, according to the Federation of State Humanities Councils, with the National Endowment for the Humanities providing seed money that attracts additional foundation, corporate, state government and individual support.
Americans for the Arts states that students have better academic outcomes when they participate in arts learning, and a large majority of business leaders say that creativity is of high importance when hiring. The arts and humanities are good for the success of young people and good for the economy, and we all benefit from that.
As Johnson said back in 1965, this is about more than just the money: It is in the neighborhoods of each community that a nations art is born. The arts and the humanities belong to the people, for it is, after all, the people who create them.
Our country is richer when the federal government supports and values the arts and humanities. This is not a luxury item. This is who we are as a people.
Julie Fry is the president and CEO of California Humanities, a nonprofit supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities that makes grants and delivers programs across the state, as do 55 other sister councils across the country.
When Donald Trump gave a speech this month at Boeings factory in North Charleston, S.C., unveiling Boeings new 787 Dreamliner, he congratulated Boeing for building the whole plane right here in South Carolina.
Its pure fantasy. Ill let you know why in a moment.
Trump also used the occasion to tout his America First economics, stating, Our goal as a nation must be to rely less on imports and more on products made here in the U.S.A., and, We want products made by our workers in our factories stamped by those four magnificent words, Made in the U.S.A.
To achieve this goal Trump would impose a very substantial penalty on companies that fired their workers and moved to another country to make a product, and then tried to sell it back to America. The carrot would be lower taxes and fewer regulations that send our jobs to those other countries.
Trump seems utterly ignorant about global competition and about whats really holding back American workers.
Start with Boeings Dreamliner itself. Its not made in the U.S.A. Its assembled in the United States. But most of its parts come from overseas. Those foreign parts total almost a third of the cost of the entire plane.
For example:
The Italian firm Alenia Aeronautica makes the center fuselage and horizontal stabilizers.
The French firm Messier-Dowty makes the aircrafts landing gear and doors.
The German firm Diehl Luftfahrt Elektronik supplies the main cabin lighting.
The Swedish firm Saab Aerostructures makes the cargo access doors.
The Japanese company Jamco makes parts for the lavatories, flight deck interiors and galleys.
The French firm Thales makes its electrical power conversion system.
Thales selected GS Yuasa, a Japanese firm, in 2005 to supply it with the systems lithium-ion batteries.
The British company Rolls Royce makes many of the engines.
A Canadian firm makes the movable trailing edge of the wings.
Notably, these companies dont pay their workers low wages. In fact, when you add in the value of health and pension benefits either directly from these companies to their workers, or in the form of public benefits to which the companies contribute most of these foreign workers get a better deal than do Boeings workers. (The average wage for Boeing production and maintenance workers in South Carolina is $20.59 per hour, or $42,827 a year.) They also get more paid vacation days.
Not incidentally, these nations also provide most young people with excellent educations and technical training. They continuously upgrade the skills of their workers. And they offer universally available health care.
To pay for all this, these countries also impose higher tax rates on their corporations and wealthy individuals than does the United States. Their health, safety, environmental and labor regulations are also stricter. And they have stronger unions.
So why is so much of Boeings Dreamliner coming from these high-wage, high-tax, high-cost places?
Because the parts made by workers in these countries are better, last longer and are more reliable than parts made anywhere else.
Theres a lesson here.
The way to make the American workforce more competitive isnt to put economic walls around America. Its to invest more and invest better in the education and skills of Americans, in on-the-job training, in a health care system that reaches more of us and makes sure we stay healthy, in worker safety and in a clean environment. And to give workers a say in their companies through strong unions.
In other words, we get a first-class workforce by investing in the productive capacities of Americans and rewarding them with high wages.
Its the exact opposite of what Trump is proposing.
By the way, the first delivery of the Dreamliner is scheduled to take place next year to Singapore Airlines. Current orders also include Air France, British Airways and Mexicos flag carrier, Aeromexico.
In addition, Boeing is looking to China to buy as much as $1 trillion worth of its commercial airplanes over the next two decades, including wide-body jets like the 787 Dreamliner. China already accounts for a fifth of Boeings sales.
But if Trump succeeds in putting an economic wall around America, these other nations airlines may have second thoughts about buying from Boeing. They might choose an airplane from a country more open to their own exports say, Europes Airbus.
Trumps America First economics is pure demagoguery. Xenophobic grandstanding doesnt boost the competitiveness of American workers. Nor does it boost American companies.
At most, it boosts Trump.
2017 By Robert Reich
MARIPOSA California Rep. Tom McClintock showed up Tuesday and faced his constituents at a town hall meeting something many of his fellow Republicans have declined to do during this weeks congressional break.
About 900 people filled the Mariposa Fairgrounds and Exposition Center to toss pointed questions at the five-term congressman. Such a large crowd was a sign of how the resistance to President Trump has crept into the Californias Republican hinterlands even to Mariposa, population 2,173.
McClintock, first elected to Congress in 2008, has done more than 100 town halls, and his Mariposa stops typically draw 60 to 80 people. On Tuesday, every metal chair was taken 45 minutes before the event started. While a few wore Make America Great Again caps, the majority didnt appear to be supporters of the president. Many of them carried signs that read, Answer the question!, Dump Tom McTrump!, Lies!, and perhaps most telling, Not usually a protester ... but geez.
Ive never been to anything like this but Im frightened, said Penny Otwell, a painter who lives in Mariposa and held that sign. But we have gone over the edge.
McClintock, of Elk Grove (Sacramento County), isnt alone in facing blowback at town halls across the country during what Congress is calling its district work week. Some of the loud activism of the past few weeks continuing rallies and protests, large letter-writing and phone-call campaigns that have overwhelmed congressional offices has been generated by organizing groups such as Indivisible and MoveOn and has kept many GOP members off the public stage. A list compiled by the Town Hall Project showed that of 24 political town halls, coffees and other events to be held in California this week, just five were being hosted by Republicans.
While the minority who attended Tuesdays town hall supported McClintocks conservative positions opposing sanctuary cities and the Affordable Care Act, most were angry and fearful mainly about losing their health care, the lack of legislation to combat climate change or about how their schools might change under controversial new Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
And some, like Suzanne Eckes-Wahl, wanted to know if McClintock thought Trump is intellectually and emotionally capable of being president.
Absolutely, McClintock said as the room erupted in a wall of boos and scattered cheers. He compared Trump with other disruptive presidents, like Andrew Jackson and Theodore Roosevelt.
McClintock said the last four election cycles since former President Barack Obamas 2008 election when Republicans took control of Congress and made gains at the state level show that voters wanted to change the course of the nation.
Throughout the evening, he returned to the theme of the accountability in government, saying that if voters felt that he wasnt representing the district, then there will be somebody else standing here.
Tuesday was a bit of town hall deja vu for McClintock, who was one of a few sitting politicians at the vanguard of the Tea Party revolution that launched just a few weeks into Obamas term in early 2009. Then, conservative activists worried the new health care law being crafted at the time would become a government takeover of health care. Much like liberals are doing now, conservative activists flooded town halls around the country and delivered an earful to their representatives.
Tea Party conservatives were able to translate that grassroots energy into flipping the Congress in the 2010 midterm elections. Achieving that same feat will be a daunting challenge for Democrats, who need to turn 24 seats to regain control of the House in 2018.
This time the message was rooted in fear of how the Trump administration may reshape American life, from health care to immigration and climate change.
Carolin Frank, a UC Merced professor of microbiology who lives in Catheys Valley (Mariposa County), carried a sign that read, Man made climate change is real.
McClintock doesnt share that opinion, drawing some of his loudest jeers of the meeting when he dismissed a question by saying, Climate change has been going on for 4 billion years. The planet has been warming on and off since the last Ice Age.
He vowed not to approve any environmental regulations that would wreck the economy.
Its not the first time this year McClintock has faced an angry crowd. Earlier this month, police escorted him from a town hall in Roseville (Placer County) that was attended by about 500 people. Then, McClintock defended Trumps vow to roll back the Affordable Care Act, his executive order to restrict travel and immigration seven majority-Muslim countries and build the border wall. Protesters outside Rosevilles Tower Theatre chanted, Vote him out.
Tuesday audience was boisterous, but tamer, welcoming McClintock with polite applause as he strode down the center aisle of Fairgrounds Building A, clad in a blue blazer, blue button-down shirt and striped tie.
A few pointed out that they were not out-of-towners or radicals, alluding to President Trumps tweet earlier Tuesday: The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!
But many in the audience wore stickers stating their profession and their ZIP code, like Welder 94338, to show that they were indeed his constituents and not outside agitators. But the convivial feelings would last only a few minutes until the first question about the Affordable Care Act.
Mary Wood, 49, wearing a sticker that read, Park employee 95318 said she pays $1 a month under the health care law and it would go up to $467 a month without it.
This is the only way I could afford insurance, she said.
McClintock replied that there are no doubt good stories associated with the law, But most people had a bad experience.
He also pushed back on several speakers who tried to get him to split with Trump. He didnt have a problem with Trumps refusal to release his tax returns and didnt call for an investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election.
When asked if he thought, as Trump has tweeted, that the media is the enemy of the American people, McClintock disagreed but added, But I think its biased.
He also agreed with Trumps proposal to pull federal funding from sanctuary cities, which limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities. San Francisco is a sanctuary city, and its leaders have said the city will remain one.
Though he has long prided himself as a maverick conservative, McClintocks positions align with President Trumps stances 92 percent of the time, according to fivethirtyeight.com. But the congressman, whose district spans 10 inland counties from north of Sacramento to near Fresno, is not seen as vulnerable. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee doesnt even list him as one of the Republicans being targeted in the 2018 midterms.
As the room cleared, McClintock was asked by reporters what advice he had for his Republican colleagues who were contemplating holding their own town hall meetings.
If youre going to do it, he said, get the biggest room you can.
Joe Garofoli is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
It looked like any normal Friday night at Hopwater Distribution. The Bush Street bar always has a smart selection of California craft beers, and if you hadnt been tipped off, you might not have noticed that one of the 31 tap handles featured a new beer: Big Chicken IPA.
But if you asked for Big Chicken, the bartenders face would light up. Hed give you an affirmative nod: You were in the know.
In fact, it was probably your only shot in 2017 to get a taste of Big Chicken, which Petalumas HenHouse Brewing Co. brews just once a year. And it was never going to taste any better than it did on Friday night because it had been kegged at the Petaluma brewery less than 12 hours earlier.
Call it the instant-gratification IPA. Part publicity stunt, part quality control, Big Chicken like Russian River Brewing Co.s Pliny the Younger or Lagunitas Born Yesterday IPA is a limited- and controlled-release beer. But whereas Pliny is released over a two-week period (which ended Feb. 16) and Born Yesterday over two months, Big Chicken is released on a single day. It gets kegged at the brewery in Petaluma and delivered to Bay Area bars all in the same morning; bars are required to tap the keg immediately.
There are more beers coming, too. Following up on the success of Born Yesterday, which is released in the fall, Lagunitas will release a new limited-release beer called Born Again Yesterday in March, made with a special trademarked process thats all theyll say, at this point.
For the breweries, the bars and their customers, its a win-win. The fleeting window of time during which these beers are made available surely drives demand, but its not all a marketing ploy: Big Chicken, Pliny the Younger and Born Yesterday are extremely hoppy beers, and therefore the most susceptible to rapid degradation. Releasing them in this conspicuous way helps educate consumers about the importance of freshness in high-hop beers.
This marked the fifth time HenHouse has released Big Chicken IPA and this years was its biggest and hoppiest yet. HenHouses normal IPAs register at about five pounds of hops per barrel; last years Big Chicken had nine. This years has 11. That may sound extreme, but as HenHouse brewer Collin McDonnell explains, extremity is part of the point. Its all about making a statement.
People get excited about double IPAs, McDonnell said. Were just trying to use that excitement to teach them about beer freshness.
At many of the 79 Bay Area bars pouring Big Chicken, the excitement was palpable.
Its everything I could ever want in a double IPA, said Brian Gamble, a bartender at Mikkeller Bar. It smells and tastes happy.
Clocking in at 10.7% alcohol by volume, Big Chicken is not an aperitif its a meal. Its full-bodied and plump, with a creamy richness that balances the extreme hoppy bitterness. Its citra, mosaic and amarillo hops create a roasted, sweetish character, finishing juicy.
I wouldnt call it light, said Steven Wuerth, a customer at Liquid Gold. In fact, he observed, its filling and flavorful, kind of like chicken.
Some beers can age; IPAs cannot. Feel free to throw your porter, barleywine, sour beer anything thats seen the inside of a barrel into the cellar, but your IPAs are only getting worse as you read this. The higher a beers hop content, the more vulnerable it is to oxidation and spoilage. At best, its bright flavors become muted. At worst, it can taste rancid.
Beer oxidizes no matter what, but two main variables determine the rate of oxidation: the temperature at which its stored (the colder, the better), and the oxidative potential of its components. When hops oxidize, they can taste like cardboard and cooking Sherry.
Beer freshness, so to speak, is in, with breweries all over the country improving their transparency around when a beer was packaged, and when it should be consumed by. The phenomenon is not unrelated to the ever-increasing demand for hoppy beers like double and triple IPAs. What counts as a hoppy beer now is not what counted as a hoppy beer five years ago, McDonnell said.
Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle
Many breweries now stamp packaging dates, or enjoy-by dates, on bottles and cans of hoppy beers Sierra Nevada, Ballast Point, Stone, Firestone Walker, Oskar Blues and Sixpoint, to name a few. The general recommendation tends to be to consume a hoppy beer within about 30 days of its packaging.
But even under ideal storage conditions, a 15-day-old bottle of beer pales in comparison to a keg that was filled at the brewery, delivered cold to the bar and poured for a drinker in a 24-hour period.
We go through Big Chicken in two or three days, said Jon Guinea, owner of Hopwater Distribution.
It helps that the release lends itself to hype. Both HenHouse and the bars it delivers to engage in social media promotions before the release date. The timing, McDonnell insists, had only to do with Beer Week and nothing to do with coming the day after the Pliny the Younger release ended.
Freshness is a pillar on which HenHouse has built its brand, and its vigilance would not be possible if it werent for the fact that it self-distributes something that more Bay Area breweries are opting to do. A self-distributing brewery can control completely the storage, delivery and serving conditions of its beers.
Alvin Jornada / The Chronicle
Many breweries are doing this now, Guinea said. When I order beer from Half Moon Bay Brewing Co., they still have it in the bright tank. If I make an order on Tuesday and I would like it on Thursday, they are kegging that beer direct between my phone call and delivery.
Other breweries that I enjoy so much, even if theyre delivering to a small local distributor every two weeks, they still cant keep up with that, Guinea continued.
He believes his customers can tell the difference. I know that an experienced beer drinker can differentiate between a fresh keg and the last couple pints that come out of a keg.
And those experienced drinkers appreciate the fact that you cant get Northern California beer this fresh anywhere but in the Bay Area.
As Chad Tuckerman, sipping on Big Chicken at Liquid Gold, said, Every week is Beer Week when you live in San Francisco.
Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine, beer and spirits writer. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley Instagram: @esthermob
For shoppers seeking the ease of e-commerce, the feel of a designer showroom and the instant gratification of brick and mortar, the Mission Districts new Reformation boutique could be the answer.
Founded as an e-commerce site in 2009 by Yael Aflalo, the ethical fast-fashion label, known for its It Girl following, is hoping San Francisco will be the ideal laboratory for its first tech-enabled store.
All high-volume clothing stores have very low-end experiences, said Aflalo, 40, who manufactures most of the brands sustainable and notably fashionable womenswear out of the companys own factory in downtown Los Angeles. Here, youll have all the ease of online shopping, but with the added bonus of being able to try it on and take it home with you.
A departure from its three other stores (one in Los Angeles and two in New York), Reformations tech-centric Mission locale aims to eliminate the frustrations of the physical shopping experience, from hovering salespeople and disorganized inventory to dirty dressing rooms with unflattering lighting.
The sleek 2,000-square-foot space finds that sweet spot between high-end retail and fast fashion. Instead of cramming the sales floor with inventory, Aflalo applied the streamlined Apple retail approach: individual samples of the brands best-sellers hang on well-spaced white hangers made from recycled materials; all other stock remains hidden in the back.
Other e-commerce turned brick-and-mortar businesses that were early adopters of the Apple model include menswear brand Bonobos, eyeglass purveyor Warby Parker and San Francisco-based Everlane, which sells mens and womens basics.
Reformation prices range from $28 for an oversize white T shirt and $40 for a color-block basket handbag to $198 for a cropped, navy faux fur jacket.
Because the brand manufactures limited-edition runs and doesnt follow the standard seasonal fashion cycle, new stock hits the sales floor every week, Aflalo said.
Myles Pettengill
The minimalist store design by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson features six touch-screen monitors mounted on white walls, polished cement floors, modern white furniture and a rammed earth feature wall sustainably made from compressed dirt, a design by Rammed Earth Works in Napa, that separates the front showroom from the back dressing area.
A visit prior to the stores scheduled Feb. 27 opening revealed some technical glitches still being ironed out, but the process is supposed to happen something like this:
While in the showroom, customers browse and select items to be sent to their dressing room from any of the touch-screen monitors, a concierge calls the customers name once the room is ready, and the selections magically appear in an armoire that is pre-loaded from the back.
Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.
Similar in concept to the dressing rooms rolled out in 2014 at the Rebecca Minkoff boutique on Fillmore Street, the smart dressing rooms feature a menu of dimmer buttons for customized lighting (basic; cool; golden and sexy time), wired speakers for listening to mobile playlists, and an in-room touch-screen monitor for ordering additional sizes or items, or for making a purchase, at which point an actual salesperson comes to the room with an iPhone to ring up the sale.
Aflalo said shes hoping the features will bring a more personalized, high-end retail experience to mass market. Information collected from shoppers using the stores technology will also help the company cater to customer preferences and improve inventory and designs.
If all goes well, she said, the Bay Area store will serve as a template for future Reformation boutiques.
Coming from an e-commerce background, its all about the one-click checkout and making it super easy, said Aflalo, who targeted San Francisco for its latest store opening because it is the brands third-largest online market. In stores, youre left wondering Is anyone out there? Do you have another size? You poke your head out, see no one, get frustrated and say, Im out of here! It really shouldnt be that hard.
Nerissa Pacio Itchon is a Peninsula freelance writer. Email: style@sfchronicle.com
Shop 914 Valencia St., S.F. (415) 877-3720. www.thereformation.com.
What is it with women and Champagne?
The association goes way back. Several of the important houses in Champagne Veuve Clicquot, Bollinger, Laurent-Perrier, Pommery were shaped, centuries ago, by women. And not just any women: widows, bereft of their better (or, at least, better equipped to own property) halves!
The very methode champenoise is indebted to a woman. Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, who rightly recognized the unsightliness of the dead-yeast-cell buildup inside her bottles, invented riddling, the now-standard practice of regularly turning bottles upside down in order to later remove the sediment that collects as they age.
So we have Ponsardin, the widow (veuve) Clicquot, to thank for Champagnes crystalline sparkle. We also have her to thank for the Riddler, the new Champagne bar in Hayes Valley.
The Riddler is not only San Franciscos most Champagne-centric bar, but also its most woman-centric.
Within a month or two of planning it, it became clear that this was a womens project, says owner Jen Pelka. Though a first-time restaurateur, Pelka is a veteran restaurant publicist. Her Magnum PR company represents Rich Table, Mister Jius, the Daniel Patterson Group and others.
The vision for a Champagne bar called the Riddler had been in Pelkas head for a long time, ever since Id learned what riddling was, she says. Its such a cool word, and its a process that was invented by a woman.
Shed had her eye on the former Momi Tobys Revolution Cafe and Art Bar space, on the corner of Linden and Laguna; when it became available, she jumped. (Her fiance, Charles Bililies, owns Souvla, just around the block.)
What began as a subtle nod to female innovation quickly evolved into a full-fledged girl-power project. As Pelka began to seek investors, she found herself soliciting mostly women. So why not go all the way? Ultimately, 33 women funded the bar, all but one of them first-time restaurant investors. They range from their 20s to their 70s, and include the food writer Ruth Reichl; owners of local businesses Spice Mama, SF Heimat and Spring Fertility (the Warby Parker of fertility clinics, Pelka says); and Pelkas mother.
You wouldnt mistake it for a bar owned by a man. I dont think your average guy is going to gold-lace the ceilings, Pelka says. The focal point of the 500-square-foot room is a photo of Jacqueline Bisset as Giovanna Goodthighs in the 1967 film Casino Royale, clutching a coupe and a bottle (Laurent-Perrier, my best guess) as she leans languidly into a doorway. An oversize mens shirt grazes her thighs.
So forceful is the images sex appeal that Pelka nearly broke her budget to purchase an original print. It was more expensive than all the marble in the whole bar, plus the gold on the ceiling, she admits.
No, the staff is not entirely female (that would be illegal), but the clientele nearly is. I havent been in a room with so many women since I graduated from Smith College.
Natasha Dangond/The Chronicle
Ill admit I was suspicious. Such conspicuous gender marketing often strikes me as garish, as if adopting the women-only ethos precludes a project from seriousness. Call it the Skinnygirl Margarita syndrome.
Im happy to report thats not the case with the Riddler. Pelka and beverage director Marissa Paynes sparkling-wine list, at just over 100 bottles long, is smart. Theyve got a modest selection of half bottles and large formats; of grande marque and grower-producer, vintage and nonvintage Champagne; of sparkling wines from around the world.
Pleasant surprises come in the form of tropical, mellow sparkling Gruner Veltliner from Austria (from Sektkellerei Szigeti, $14/glass) and elegant sparkling Soave (Monte Tondo Brut NV, $60/bottle). I wish there were more traditional-method bubbly from beyond Champagne why is there so little Cava and cremant? especially since thats where some of the best bargains are. Champagne, no matter how you cut it, is expensive.
The highlight of the list is undoubtedly its selection of Special Club bottles ($160-$350) an exclusive society of 28 grower Champagne producers whose vintage wines are perennially among Champagnes most exciting.
Its by no means the best Champagne list in San Francisco, lacking the vintage and producer depth of the lists at Spruce, Quince and 1760 (all of which are run by men, incidentally).
But thats not really the point of the Riddler. I wanted to create a neighborhood bar, Pelka says, with a sense of high and low.
For example: You can order a $2,800 magnum of Moet & Chandon vintage brut, or you can order a $5 Miller High Life. (Get it?) Or get a Joan ($12), so named for a friend of Pelkas: a Riedel all-purpose glass filled to the brim with cheap wine (either Prosecco or La Vieille Ferme red or white) roughly half a bottle of wine.
Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.
Natasha Dangond/The Chronicle
And dont forget the Chambong ($12), which is exactly what it sounds like: a beer bong for Champagne. (Actually, and thank goodness, Prosecco.) We do a slow pour, Pelka says reassuringly.
The food options, too, play highbrow and low. A serving of golden osetra caviar ($150) comes with Lays potato chips. Smoked salmon, another duh Champagne pairing, comes loaded on a thick, starchy waffle made from tater tots. The bars decadent caviar-cum-Champagne presentation is called, mischievously, a bump and a shot ($35-$210).
Self-serve popcorn comes with self-serve topping salts, in flavors like Mexican corn, cinnamon toast crunch and Heidi Swanson. I wished the popcorn were crunchier, and found the everything-bagel salt a little flavorless, but I approve of the sentiment salty finger food as Champagnes best companion.
Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle
Inside-joke popcorn salt flavors, playful references to partying too hard, the priciest Jacqueline Bisset print in town all of these are details as perhaps only a restaurant publicist could realize them.
The one thing I always tell my clients is to pick one thing, and be the best at that, says Pelka. Were trying to be the best Champagne bar in the country.
Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine, beer and spirits writer. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley Instagram: @esthermob
To order: Sparkling wine by the glass ($12-$29); caviar ($25-$150); dark chocolate Grand Marnier pot de creme ($11); popcorn (free)
Where: The Riddler, 528 Laguna St., S.F. www.theriddlersf.com
When: 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday; until 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Closed Monday.
1. Wine of the Month Club
Established: 1972
The original monthly wine club is still the deepest bargain. Owner Paul Kalemkiarian Jr., son of the founder, chooses every wine, promising to replace it if you dont like it. Five club options, including one of only California wines; each allows specification of red, white or mixed.
A step above the discount bin at the liquor store, with some especially interesting, inexpensive finds from Europe.
Price ranges from $23.95/month for 2 bottles to $143.76/quarter for 12 bottles
2. Gold Medal Wine Club
Established: 1992
A slightly higher-end alternative to the early wave of budget-friendly clubs. Six club options include a Pinot Noir-only option and an international offering. Selection criteria is based on accolades from wine competitions or critics. Gold Medal buys only direct from wineries (not through wholesale), and imports some wines itself.
Solid, Dad-friendly wines youll recognize from your local liquor shop. The Gold tier is hit-or-miss, but there are gems in the Platinum tier.
Price ranges from $39/month for 2 bottles to $195/quarter for 2 bottles
More for you Wine clubs new frontier
3. Plonk
Established: 2010
Former wine marketer Etty Lewensztain focuses on organic and biodynamic wines from small producers. Customers can choose either the curated club, letting Lewensztain surprise them (though they can still specify red or white), or the grape variety club, which comes in Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc and may include some doppelganger grapes (e.g. Dolcetto in the Pinot Noir shipment; Tannat with Cabernet).
With grapes like Scheurebe and Saperavi, the obscurity quotient is high, but these are esoteric wines wrapped in approachable packaging.
From $49.99 per 2-bottle shipment for curated club or from $30 per 2-bottle shipment for grape variety club
4. Winc
Established: 2012
Run by former sommelier Brian Smith, Winc (Club W until May) is likely the best-known digital wine club. This self-proclaimed tech company sells only private-label wines. Those wines, matched to customers by a palate quiz, are either sourced from the bulk market or commissioned from individual winemakers. (Winc has no plans to open its own winery.)
Fruity wines with broad, obvious appeal, evidently branded by a marketing team with a strong sense of its target demographic. Label names include #TBT, So This Happened and Vinyasa.
Minimum $39/month for 3 bottles
5. Wine Awesomeness
Established: 2013
This New York startup explicitly targets Millennials, appealing to what CEO Logan Lee describes as their desire for authenticity. Wines are chosen by a tasting panel that includes guest wine experts. Themed shipments are accompanied by a magazine with tips, like how to transform your shipping box into a fort for your cat.
Theres a strong focus on discovering new regions and varieties, but theyre not the best examples of their type: bitterly metallic orange wine from Georgia; not-quite-dry German rose.
$45/month for 3 wines
6. Tasting Room
Established: 2013
The subscription offshoot of discount-wine retailer Lot18 adds one extra step to the palate quiz: It sends you a sample pack of tiny bottles, which you are instructed to rate, before sending you your first shipment of regular-size bottles. Dont expect to recognize your favorite brand; its a lot of private labels.
Bland, unremarkable wines catering to a customer not paying attention to what hes drinking.
$10.67 for one-time sampler; $149/quarter for 12-bottle shipment
7. Bright Cellars
Established: 2014
Co-founded by Richard Yau and Joe Laurendi after graduating from MIT, Bright Cellars is driven by Laurendis algorithm that selects wines for customers based on their palate quiz and their subsequent wine ratings. The startup purchases some wine at wholesale, but is moving increasingly toward private labels.
Many wines offer helpful introductions to a wine region Australian Shiraz, Chilean Pinot. The wines arent exactly nuanced, but theyre not excessively jammy either.
$68/month for 4 wines
8. Pour This
Established: 2015
Each month, former sommelier Ashley Ragovin chooses three wines that excite her, based around a stylistic or regional theme. She hand-addresses the letters to her customers and includes a CD of music to pair with the wines.
The specialty here is the avante-garde: orange wine from the Roussillon region in France; indigenous Sicilian grapes; natural wine from Canadas Niagara region.
$98/month for 3 wines
9. Foot of the Bed Cellars
Established: 2016
Based in San Francisco, Foot of the Bed Cellars buys finished wines directly from small West Coast wineries (mostly family-owned), then bottles the juice under its own label. Currently only available in California; customers can specify red or white wines. And dont forget the release parties.
Wines Oregon Pinot Blanc, Mendocino County Merlot, Sonoma Valley Syrah and Santa Barbara Chardonnay are clean, stylistically accessible, far outperforming their price point.
$45/month for 3 wines
10. The Panel
Established: 2016
This brand-new wine club out of Sonoma is co-founded by Windee Smith, who opened S.F.s William Cross Wine Merchants. Each month, a different panel of experts (e.g. winemaker Mia Klein, critic Virginie Boone, chef Sondra Bernstein) convenes to select three wines for the entry-level shipment. Pricier tiers include three additional bottles chosen by Smith.
Not simply for the country-club Cabernet guzzler. This is a sophisticated, diverse selection of fascinating wines (white Cote-Rotie; Loire Cabernet Franc), classic but not boring.
Price ranges from $99/month for 3 bottles to $299/month for 6 bottles
Don Ross/Courtesy SFMOMA
A massive curl of bright copper, roughly the size of six people standing shoulder to shoulder, gleams in a corner of a gallery at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It is a work in the museums permanent collection part of a new installation called A Slow Succession With Many Interruptions, but it is not the exhibition that we will consider here. Let us look closely, instead, at this single, deceptively simple work.
The sculpture was made by Chinese craftsmen, who hammered it out at the direction of the artist Danh Vo. The quintessential immigrant, Vo was born in 1975 on an island in Vietnam reserved for refugees after the fall of Saigon. His family escaped from Vietnam on a handmade boat that was intercepted by a Danish ship.
Brad Grey Mike Coppola Getty final
Paramount Pictures CEO Brad Grey announced his resignation on Wednesday in a company-wide memo.
Grey resigns following one of the worst years in the studio's history, with losses nearing $450 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
There will likely be other major changes coming to the studio's parent company, Viacom, as Shari Redstone, daughter of titan Sumner Redstone, is now in full control of the conglomerate.
Grey, who has run Paramount since 2005, wrote in his memo obtained by Business Insider, that "it has been my honor to work with a group of wildly talented storytellers. The core of our successes has always been their unique ability to entertain and inspire people around the world."
While searching for a replacement, the studio will be run by an interim committee that will report to new Viacom CEO Bob Bakish.
The complete Grey memo is below:
I am writing to let you know that I am leaving Paramount. I will hand over most of my duties effective today, but will remain engaged in the coming weeks to support a smooth transition.
It has been my privilege to be a part of Paramounts storied history, and I am grateful to Sumner Redstone for giving me this opportunity. I want to wish Shari, Bob and their entire team the best as they embark on Viacoms next chapter.
From the moment I came to Paramount in 2005, I saw myself as a steward of an iconic institution. I never could have dreamed that privilege would last more than 12 years.
In that time, it has been my honor to work with a group of wildly talented storytellers. The core of our successes has always been their unique ability to entertain and inspire people around the world.
Above all, I am indebted to all of you, the wonderful people here at Paramount. Your creativity, professionalism and integrity are second to none. I am grateful to everyone who helped me along the way and I look forward to new adventures.
Thank you.
Best,
Brad
Story continues
NOW WATCH: Shia LaBeouf got into a shouting match with a white nationalist on his anti-Trump live stream
More From Business Insider
San Franciscos corporate shuttles, maligned as sleek private buses full of tech-industry gentrifiers as often as theyre praised for taking cars off the streets, are here to stay. So is a citywide system designed to control the shuttles and let them share Muni stops.
Municipal Transportation Agency directors voted unanimously Tuesday, after about an hour of public debate, to grant final approval to the shuttle plan currently in effect. It allows shuttles to use a maximum of 125 bus stops, some shared with Muni, some in white-painted curb zones, in exchange for a $7.31 fee charged every time they stop to pick up or drop off passengers.
The policy also restricts large corporate buses to wider streets and requires operators to phase in newer, less-polluting vehicles, provide tracking data to the MTA and avoid labor disputes.
If this sounds familiar, its because theyve been here before. In 2014, the MTA board approved an 18-month experimental program before adopting a stricter program in 2016. That version included a six-month evaluation of four alternative systems using commuter-shuttle hubs instead of stops around the city.
In November, the board chose not to pursue the hub options, saying they would drive riders away from shuttles and into their cars, which would increase pollution and congestion on streets near the hubs. While the MTA could alter or eliminate the program in the future, Tuesdays approval was considered the final OK for the program.
Dozens of speakers, most of them shuttle riders or people who live near shuttle stops, spoke to the board.
The riders said corporate buses allowed them to avoid driving to the South Bay and, in many cases, owning a car. According to the MTA, about 10,000 riders a day board the shuttles. Several speakers said they use Muni and would take Caltrain to their jobs if the already-crowded commuter train had enough capacity.
But echoing many of the shuttle riders, Todd Lappin, a 26-year resident of San Francisco, said he would be forced to drive to work if the shuttle program were eliminated. After dropping off his daughter at school in the morning, he said, it would be much easier for me to just hop on 280 and drive to work. Instead, he heads home to pick up a nearby shuttle.
The shuttle is a valuable part of my life that allows me to get to work without putting another car on the streets, said Chris Hartley, another shuttle commuter.
Neighbors were less enthusiastic. While the corporate shuttle program may keep cars off of city streets and Peninsula freeways, it sends hordes of buses into the citys residential districts, crowding streets and sometimes interfering with Muni buses.
Contrary to what youve been hearing (from shuttle riders), people are not happy with a program that puts 400 commuter buses a day on their streets, said Phoebe Cutler, a longtime resident.
Some critics charged that the shuttle program illegally allows private businesses to use public bus stops. Preston Brown, a Castro Street resident, called it a neoliberal, private takeover of our public infrastructure.
In the end, MTA directors sided with shuttle supporters. With little debate, they agreed to continue the program. Director Joel Ramos noted that without it, the corporate buses would be stopping and driving everywhere. The program, he said, gives the city control in exchange for use of Muni stops and city curb space.
Without the program, said Francesca Napolitan, its coordinator, you would have more illegal behavior and less enforcement to catch them.
Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com @ctuan
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
For a few hours Monday, Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceutical executive most famous for raising the price of the drug Daraprim by 5,000 percent, was the center of social media focus in Berkeley.
Around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, a moderator on the popular Facebook page "UC Berkeley Memes for Edgy Teens" realized Shkreli had joined as one of the page's 63,000 members. The page was created in August 2016 and is filled with jokes and stereotypes about the school and its students.
At first the moderator who made the discovery, Berkeley student Kojin Glick, thought it was a copycat profile of the infamous executive, but he soon realized it was the real Martin Shkreli.
"I remember telling the group chat of moderators and admins, 'Guys, do you know this happened?'" Glick said.
The page's administrators and moderators seized the opportunity of having a celebrity in their midst and made Shkreli a page moderator as a sort of social experiment.
Shkreli, not one to turn away from the spotlight, made a few posts to the page (see screenshots above) and then went live on his Facebook page, saying, "I hacked the Berkeley page and now I'm in control. I have full control of all Berkeley memes."
Glick said Shkreli was surprisingly tame considering his public persona. "He was weirdly passive for an internet troll," Glick told SFGATE.
As CEO of Turing pharmaceuticals, Shkreli raised the price of the drug Daraprim, used to treat people with HIV and AIDS, from $13.50 a pill to $700 a pill. The dramatic price hike combined with Shkreli's attitude earned him the titles "pharma bro" and "the most hated man in America."
Things really escalated Monday afternoon when Shkreli gave out his phone number and began taking calls from Cal students, between interruptions of yelling at his cat and playing the guitar. The hour-and-a-half live stream was full of bizarre moments, all broadcast from the billionaire's home that despite his net worth, looks a lot like an average college student's apartment.
The content of each call and Shkreli's demeanor varied greatly from minute to minute. He went from taunting Berkeley students ("None of you kids know anything about science or STEM. Berkeley is well-known to have one of the worst STEM programs.") to giving seemingly earnest career and investing advice. In one moment he threatened to attack a caller with his nunchucks and in the next he was telling the story of how he lost his virginity.
RELATED VIDEO: Shkreli banned from Twitter for harassing female journalist
Some callers had serious questions, like what Shkreli plans to do with the Wu Tang Clan's latest album (Shkreli owns the only copy). Others simply had crude comments, which Shkreli gleefully returned with his own vulgar words.
UC Berkeley student Rachel Trujillo was able to get Shkreli on the line after several failed attempts to get through.
"I was pretty surprised that he was nice to me because usually when people called he was pretty rude," Trujillo told SFGATE in an interview. "I was taken aback that he was nice and didn't say something mean to me."
Trujillo wanted to ask him why he was talking to Berkeley students in the first place, but didn't get a satisfying answer. "I still don't really know what he wanted out of all of this," she said.
Administrators of the Facebook page removed Shkreli as a moderator a few hours later after he deleted other users' posts and comments.
Later, page administrators removed Shkreli's posts, putting the social experiment to an end as quickly as it started.
Glick, a media studies major, explained that's part of the meme phenomenon: "The dynamics of memes are very never serious and are hardly ever taken seriously or meant to be taken seriously. They're very much a fake reality, a tongue in cheek construction of the world we think we see."
Glick added, "At the end of the day it was just Martin Shkreli, the 'pharma bro,' the troll of the century."
This live stream is Shkreli's most recent stunt designed to provoke a reaction. In January the billionaire tried to join conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopolous at a speaking event at UC Davis (before the event was canceled) and in September 2016 he auctioned off the chance to punch him in the face.
Shkreli's two Facebook live streams from Monday have garnered more than 120,000 views combined.
UPDATE: The Alameda County Sheriff's Office announced Thursday that Deputy Mike Foley died from his injuries.
Original Story:
An Alameda County sheriffs deputy was in touch and go condition Wednesday after an inmate transport bus struck him at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, officials said.
Deputy Mike Foley, who is about 60, was struck by a bus driven by another sheriffs deputy in the jail parking lot at about 6 a.m., said Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern.
The driver of the bus was going about 15 mph and didnt see Foley, who was wearing dark clothes, in the morning darkness until it was too late, Ahern said.
This is just an accident, Ahern said, adding that the California Highway Patrol is investigating the incident.
The deputy was in extremely serious condition at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, said Sgt. Ray Kelly, spokesman for the sheriffs office.
Foley was initially taken to the closest hospital to the jail, Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, but was moved to John Muir because of the severity of his injuries. His son, who attends college in Southern California, was flying to the Bay Area on Wednesday afternoon to be at his fathers side, Ahern said.
Foley underwent surgery Wednesday to relieve swelling on his brain caused by extensive head trauma, Ahern said.
Foley joined the Alameda County Sheriffs Office in 2007, after serving for 30 years as an officer with the Concord Police Department. He was a member of the sheriffs office transportation unit, which handles inmate transit.
No inmates were aboard the bus that hit Foley, Ahern said. The driver and another deputy were leaving the jail to pick up lunches for inmates when the incident occurred. As part of protocol, the driver, whose name was not released, was placed on paid administrative leave.
Ahern said that while Foley is the oldest member of the transportation unit, he is the hardest working. As usual, Foley showed up an hour early Wednesday, intending to begin an overtime shift at 7 a.m.
Dozens of officers from all over, including the Contra Costa County Sheriffs Office, the Concord Police Department, the Walnut Creek Police Department and the California Highway Patrol, converged at the hospital to show support for Foley.
Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @michael_bodley
Wells Fargos board of directors fired four senior managers as part of its investigation into the banks sales practices scandal.
Tuesdays announcement is the first public firing of managers and executives since the San Francisco bank acknowledged in September that its employees opened up to 2 million bank and credit card accounts, without customer authorization, to meet lofty sales goals.
When the scandal broke, Wells had said it had fired roughly 5,300 employees, the vast majority of them lower-level workers.
The board said agreed unanimously to terminate Shelley Freeman, head of consumer credit; Pamela Conboy, Arizona lead regional president; Matthew Raphaelson, head of community bank strategy; and Claudia Russ Anderson, former community bank chief risk officer.
None of the executives will receive a bonus for 2016, the bank said.
Autonomous cars
Uber tests start
in Arizona
Uber has expanded its self-driving car program to Tempe, Ariz., the second city where customers can test the ride-hailing companys automated technology.
Riders who request an UberX in Tempe will be matched with a self-driving car if one is available, according to a company spokeswoman.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a proponent of self-driving cars, took the inaugural ride, the company said. Ducey wooed Uber to Arizona after its self-driving cars were banned from San Franciscos streets in December by the California Department of Motor Vehicles after failing to register the vehicles for testing. Uber also is operating its self-driving vehicles in Pittsburgh.
Fast Food
Popeyes joins
Burger King
The parent company of Burger King and Tim Hortons is buying Popeyes for $1.8 billion, with plans to accelerate the growth of the fried chicken chain.
The move fits Restaurant Brands Internationals strategy of taking over fast-food chains that it believes have the potential for wider expansion. Popeyes has a presence in almost every state, with locations concentrated in the eastern half of the country.
The company plans to speed up Popeyes expansion, as it has done with Burger King.
Restaurant Brands was created after Burger King, controlled by Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital, bought Tim Hortons in 2014. The corporate name it took signaled the companys expansion goals.
It has more than 20,000 locations worldwide, and Popeyes gives it about 2,600 more.
The deal gives shareholders of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen $79 per share, a 19 percent premium from its closing price on Friday.
Earnings
Macys profit
sees 13% drop
Macys, the nations largest department store chain, says its earnings for the quarter that includes the holiday period dropped nearly 13 percent, dragged down by lower sales, store closures and other costs.
The profit results beat Wall Street expectations, but Macys said it expects to post another year of sales declines. Like many department stores, the chain has faced sluggish sales as customers buy more online and less at the malls where Macys is often an anchor. The company has been shuttering stores as it tries to regroup.
Macys has also been under pressure from shareholders to get more value out of its real estate holdings, which activist investor Starboard says are worth nearly $21 billion. The chain has reportedly been in preliminary talks with Hudsons Bay about a takeover or a real estate deal. However, Macys declined to talk about the topic Tuesday, saying it doesnt comment on rumors.
For the three months that ended Jan. 28, Macys earned $475 million ($1.54 per share). That compares with $544 million ($1.73) in the year-ago period. Revenue fell 4 percent to $8.52 billion.
Online sales
boost Walmart
Walmart drew more shoppers to its U.S. namesake stores and its e-commerce sales soared, signs that its efforts to lower prices and improve Web services are helping it compete with online leader Amazon.
Still, the worlds largest retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings that fell 18 percent as its results have been squeezed by its investments in online upgrades and stores. The results did beat Wall Street expectations. And total sales were hurt by a stronger U.S. dollar, which is making its international business more challenging.
Global e-commerce sales grew 29 percent in the quarter, up from 20.6 percent in the same period a year earlier.
The company said Tuesday that it earned $3.76 billion ($1.22 per share) in the three months that ended Jan. 31. That compares with $4.57 billion ($1.43) a year ago.
It spent more than $3 billion for Jet.com last year in a deal that it hopes will help it attract younger and more affluent customers.
And it just announced that it had bought outdoor gear seller Moosejaw for $51 million as it expands its online product selections. Moving closer to the terms of Amazons powerhouse Prime program, Walmart is now offering free two-day shipping on online orders of its most popular items with a minimum purchase order of $35.
Walmart has also said that it plans to slow its new store openings and pour money into its online efforts, technology and store remodels.
Chronicle News Services
A 19-year-old Flint, Mich., woman returning to her car after a late shift at the mall found that someone had tampered with the vehicle.
A shirt was wrapped around the windshield. She sensed a potential trap.
"I got to my car and locked the doors behind me immediately as I always do and noticed that there was a blue flannel shirt on my windshield," Ashley Hardacre wrote later that night on Facebook. "There were two cars near me and one was running so I immediately felt uneasy and knew I couldn't get out to get it off.
Instead of leaving herself vulnerable to possible attack while peeling the shirt off the wiper, she drove to a safe area to clear the garment.
Facebook screenshot
"I had seen posts lately about people finding things under their windshield wipers in the burton/Flint area as an attempt to get girls out of their cars and distracted," Hardacre wrote in the Feb. 11 post.
"I posted about the incident to inform others that it can happen to anyone and that they shouldn't fall for it. A lot of people think it is fake or it won't happen to them. But you can never be too safe."
Hardacre's warning blew up on Facebook, with over 104,000 shares, but Flint Township Police Detective Sgt. Brad Wangler told CBS News, "Nothing like this has ever happened before." The incident remains under investigation, and police and Genesee Valley Mall security are examining surveillance footage in the hope of identifying the person who left the shirt.
In July, Facebook poster Savannah Nguyen of Wisconsin wrote that someone had left a silver jeweled Kay Jewelers ring on the windshield of her mother's car. Her mother discovered the ring just after another car slowly drove by in an otherwise empty parking lot.
"This is exactly how human trafficking and abductions take place," Nguyen said in the post, which has since been removed. "They probably watched her get out of her car and placed it on her window and waited for her to come back."
The debunker site Snopes labeled the "gift ring" incident unproven. It noted over the last few years there have been numerous stories posted on social media sites about human traffickers preying on unsuspecting customers outside large stores including Walmart and Target. But evidence supporting such claims has been hard to come by.
According to Snopes: "Law enforcement sources have told us over and over again in response to these types of warnings that human traffickers are far more likely to recruit victims by attempting to establish relationships (and even a degree of trust) with them; snatching random victims from store parking lots is not their modus operandi."
LIMA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Peru may bar Enagas SA from bidding on a new contract for a natural gas pipeline because the Spanish company had worked on the project as scandal-plagued Brazilian builder Odebrecht's junior partner, the energy and mines minister said on Tuesday.
Odebrecht, at the center of a growing graft scandal, lost the $5 billion pipeline project last month after missing a financing deadline on worries about corruption.
Odebrecht owned 55 percent of the project, Enagas 25 percent and Peruvian construction group Grana y Montero 20 percent.
In an interview with local broadcaster RPP, Gonzalo Tamayo said the government was evaluating whether to exclude Enagas or Grana from a new tender for the pipeline project that would be held within nine months.
"In the case of Enagas they have a limitation because they were the operators of the natural gas pipeline," Tamayo said when asked if Enagas or Grana would be able to submit bids. "We've commissioned legal briefs to tell us specifically if the companies you mentioned should have a limitation or not."
Enagas said it was focused on terminating the pipeline concession and might later consider taking part in a new bid "as long as the government of Peru thinks it would be correct."
Odebrecht and Enagas had won the right to build and operate the pipeline in 2014 during the previous government after their sole competitor was disqualified the day of the auction. Grana joined the consortium in 2015.
Prosecutors in Peru have been investigating the pipeline bid and are in talks with Odebrecht on who took part in $29 million in bribes the company has acknowledged distributing to secure public work projects in Peru between about 2005 and 2014.
Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has said that he wants the new pipeline contract to have a smaller pricetag.
Odebrecht has been barred from bidding on any future contract in Peru.
(Reporting By Mitra Taj; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
February 22nd is National Margarita Day. The drink, typically made with lime juice, triple sec and tequila, is the perfect pairing with your burrito from Taqueria Cancun or to sip on its own as a reward for successfully making it through the epic rush hour traffic on the 101 again.
In San Francisco, there are tons of great options when it comes to places to grab a margarita. If you work near Caltrain, then it doesnt get any better than Tres, located on Townsend St., The restaurant has an excellent selection of tequila, and makes margaritas out of limes imported from Mexico.
Downtown, Tropisueno has a delicious list of options to choose from and, if youre in the Mission on a sunny day in San Francisco, then El Techos rooftop bar is the perfect place to grab a pitcher for you and your friends.
While the traditional margarita is certainly a winner, there are a ton of different riffs on the cocktail that take the standard version up a notch. Raul Ayala at SOMAs Dirty Habit created something he calls the Arandas Legacy that adds sherry and Aloe Vera Liqueur into the mix for a new, unique flavor.
If you cant make it out tonight to grab a margarita, Ayala was nice enough to share his recipe for the Arandas Legacy so you can mix it up at home yourself.
Arandas Legacy
Crafted by Raul Ayala of Dirty Habit Bar, San Francisco
Ingredients:
1 oz. Tequila Cazadores Reposado
.75 oz. Lustau "Jarana" Fino Sherry
.75 oz. Anatto, blood orange syrup**
.5 oz. Fresh-squeezed lemon juice
.25 oz. Chareau Aloe Vera Liqueur
Chili powder/salt rim
Mint for garnish
How to make it: In a Boston shaker, mix all ingredients except for the mint. Hard shake. Double strain into a chili/salt rimmed double old fashioned glass and garnish with a mint sprig.
By extending food stamp benefits on produce in grocery stores, a new Bay Area program aims to get more fresh vegetables and fruits into home kitchens and to send more money to California farms.
A pilot program at three grocery stores in San Jose and Gilroy gives low-income Californians in the CalFresh program called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, nationally an extra dollar to spend on fresh produce for every CalFresh dollar they use to buy California-grown fruits and vegetables. Called Double Up Food Bucks, the benefit is up to $10 a day at the participating stores, with an eventual goal to expand statewide.
Many people struggle to make ends meet and afford enough food. Given the cost of living in the Bay Area, (the CalFresh program) isnt enough, said Eli Zigas of SPUR, which is rolling out the program with $300,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, plus additional grants from other organizations. We know that one of the biggest barriers to healthy eating is the affordability of healthy food, and this program addresses that.
Workers at Arteagas Food Center in San Jose, a participating grocery store, recently put up signs explaining how the benefits work, alongside labels for California-grown produce, which right now includes lettuce, broccoli, carrots, celery, yams and oranges. Shoppers who buy that produce with their Electronic Benefit Transfer cards from CalFresh receive a coupon for up to $10, to use on their next purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables, which dont have to be California-grown.
The customers are excited for the program, said Alonzo Lopez, president and co-owner of Arteagas, which had to upgrade its cash-register system to incorporate it. They love the option that you buy something that youre already going to buy and theyre going to match it dollar for dollar.
The pilot program is similar to one in place at 260 California farmers markets. Called Market Match, it started in 2009 and allows CalFresh recipients to double produce purchases up to $10 a day. Benefits depend on income, but the monthly average is around $200 per household.
The new supermarket expansion comes just a week after the House Agriculture Committee discussed the idea of not allowing SNAP recipients to use their benefits to buy soda and other junk food. While that proved unpopular among both Democrats and Republicans, providing an incentive for healthy eating has more momentum. The state of California set aside $5 million to expand the Market Match program in farmers markets, for example, and is waiting to hear if the USDA will match the funds.
People receiving public benefits should be treated with dignity and support rather than more rules and restrictions, said Martin Bourque, executive director of Ecology Center in Berkeley, which runs the Market Match program. Giving them an incentive to improve their health and the health of their families is a valuable and strategic approach.
Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle 2017
In 2015, the USDA awarded Market Match a $3.7 million Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive grant. In 2016, 180,000 Californians participated, resulting in $3.9 million in sales at farmers markets, according to a report by the Ecology Center. Of those customers, 52 percent reported having difficulty affording produce without the Market Match dollars.
Bourque prefers awarding the extra benefits at farmers markets because the purchases have a more direct impact on small- and medium-scale farmers than supermarkets do. However, Zigas of SPUR said that 90 percent of CalFresh dollars are spent at grocery stores.
Its important to encourage people to go to the farmers market and to meet people where they are, Zigas said.
Before SPUR launched the Double Up Food Bucks program, which is also being offered at Arteagas Food Center in Gilroy and Food Bowl 99 in San Jose, it looked at other efforts like it, such as one by Mandela Marketplace in Oakland, to find what they consider the most efficient process for stores that would also encourage customers to use the benefit.
SPUR research showed that expanding the program across the state would cost $100 million to $400 million per year, but only about $2 million to administer.
In terms of how you could improve access to healthy food, said Zigas, its a lot of money, but its a big bang for the buck.
Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
This story originally appeared on Hoodline.
Several eateries recently called it quits in the Westfield Shopping Centre, including Peets Coffee, Amoura Cafe, Mr. Hana, and Bistro Burger.
Retailers bebe and Zara are also gone, one mall employee recently told a Hoodline editor. (Update, 12:20pm: A Westfield spokesperson has confirmed that Zara will return. Zara is expanding to two levels and undergoing a complete re-model. It will be a much larger and beautiful store. Additionally, bebe is still inside Westfield but has moved into a smaller space, a representative from the company told SFGATE.)
Weve received no official word as to why the closures happened; phone numbers at Amoura and Bistro have been disconnected (Bistros website is also down), and Peets didnt reply to a request for comment.
In a recent email to Hoodline, a Westfield spokeswoman said the mall is currently undergoing exciting changes.
There have been some recent departures, but there is strong interest in locating here, said Rebecca Weill, marketing director for the mall. Its not unusual for a center of this size to experience turnoverfluctuations are a natural part of our business cycle as retailers open, close and reinvent themselves.
We last checked in on Westfield when Bristol Farms closed in January. The popular theory behind the grocer's closer: a 25 percent lease hike.
Weill declined to comment on the rumored hike, noting, While we dont discuss leasing details, we can tell you that San Francisco Centre is currently undergoing exciting changes, as several of our retailers expand, remodel, some retailers leave, and new retailers come into the Centre.
Competition for Westfield is on its way down the street: The "6x6" mall on the 900 block of Market Street recently opened, although not with any retail tenants yet. The mall set developers back $150 million to build, and it boasts 250,000 square feet across six levels.
Are departing Westfield tenants attempting to flock to the new space? No response yet from the new malls developers, but well let you know if we hear anything.
CANNON BALL, N.D. Some of the last remnants of the Dakota Access pipeline protest camp went up in flames Wednesday as opponents of the project set fire to makeshift wooden housing as part of a leaving ceremony ahead of a government deadline to get off the federal land.
The camp has been home to demonstrators for six months as they tried to thwart construction of the pipeline. Many of the protesters planned to go peacefully, but authorities were prepared to arrest others who said they would defy the deadline in a final show of dissent.
About 150 people marched arm in arm out of the camp, singing and playing drums as they walked down a highway. It was not clear where they were headed. One man carried an American flag hung upside-down.
Others departed the soggy camp earlier in the day. Authorities sent buses to take protesters to Bismarck, where they were offered fresh clothing, bus fare home and food and hotel vouchers.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set a 2 p.m. Wednesday deadline for the camp to be cleared, citing the threat of spring flooding.
At the height of the protests, the site known as Oceti Sakowin hosted thousands of people, though its population dwindled to just a couple of hundred as the pipeline battle moved into the courts.
The camp is on federal land in North Dakota between the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and the pipeline route that is being finished by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners. When complete, the project will carry oil through the Dakotas and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois.
Some of the remaining protesters were focused on moving off federal land and away from the flood plain into other camps, said Phyllis Young, one of the camp leaders.
The camps will continue, she said. Freedom is in our DNA, and we have no choice but to continue the struggle.
New camps are popping up on private land, including one the Cheyenne River Sioux set up about a mile from the main camp.
A lot of our people want to be here and pray for our future, tribal Chairman Harold Frazier said.
Others, including Dom Cross, an Oglala Sioux from Pine Ridge, S.D., said he planned to return home after living at the camp since September.
Theres a lot of sadness right now. We have to leave our second home, he said.
Blake Nicholson and James MacPherson are Associated Press writers.
Andrew Harnik/Associated Press
WASHINGTON The Trump administration is revoking U.S. transgender guidelines, stepping into an emotional national issue and stripping students of federal protections to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching gender identities that differ from their birth certificates.
The administration is coming down on the side of states rights, revoking federal guidelines that had been issued by the Obama administration. Without the Obama directive, it will be up to states and school districts to interpret federal antidiscrimination law and determine whether students should have access to restrooms in accordance with their expressed gender identity and not just their biological sex.
Evan Vucci/Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Trump on Tuesday condemned recent threats against Jewish community centers in the U.S. as painful reminders of lingering prejudice and evil, his first full-throated comments on the rise of anti-Semitic venom after pressure for him to speak out forcefully.
With his somewhat delayed denunciation, Trump sought to reset his relationship with American Jews, which has been strained by a recent White House statement on the Holocaust, comments by some of his supporters and his own fractious exchange with a reporter for an Orthodox Jewish publication.
It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Procter & Gamble Company (The) PG. Shares have added about 7.5% in that time frame, outperforming the market.
Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to the stocks next earnings release, or is it due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.
Procter & Gamble Q1 Earnings & Sales Top, View Intact
The Procter & Gamble Companys first-quarter fiscal 2017 earnings and revenues exceeded expectations. P&Gs fiscal first-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.03 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.98 by 5.1%. The bottom line also increased 5% from the prior-year quarter. Currency-neutral core EPS per share improved 12% on higher volumes.
Sales in Details
P&Gs reported net sales of $16.52 billion that beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $16.46 billion by 0.4%. The top line, however, remained unchanged year over year. Foreign exchange had a negative impact of 3% on sales.
Organically (excluding the impact of acquisitions, divestitures and foreign exchange), revenues grew 3% on the back of a 3% increase in organic shipment volumes.
All the five business segments recorded organic sales growth. Health Care and Fabric & Home Care segments reported 7% and 4% growth, respectively, in the fiscal first quarter. Beauty and Grooming segments witnessed 3% organic sales growth, whereas Baby, Feminine & Family Care segment reported 2%.
In developing markets, organic sales were up 6% on 3% volume growth, as the pricing osted the top line. On the other hand, in developed markets, organic sales were up 2% on 4% volume growth, reflecting heightened promotional activity in part to address price gaps in certain categories.
Segment Discussion
Beauty: This segment declined 1% year over year to $2.99 billion due to currency headwinds. Foreign exchange hurt revenues by 2%, while acquisitions/divestures/Venezuela deconsolidation had a 1% positive impact on sales. Organic sales grew 3% driven by positive pricing and higher volumes. Price was up 1%, while mix was up 1%. Organic volumes rose 2%.
Skin and personal care gained with demand for the SK-II brand, and hair care was higher due to Pantene and Head & Shoulders (partly offset by declines for smaller brands).
The segments net earnings declined 5% to $592 million.
Grooming: Grooming was down 1% to $1.7 billion. Currency had a 3% negative impact on revenue growth, while acquisitions/divestures/Venezuela deconsolidation contributed 1% to sales. Organic sales rose 3% driven by higher pricing and volumes.
Price increases added 1% to revenue growth. Organic volumes rose 3% while mix had a neutral impact.
The segments net earnings rose 6% to $415 million.
Health Care: Healthcare products rose 4% to $1.9 billion. Currency had a negative impact of 3% on sales, while acquisitions/divestures/Venezuela deconsolidation had a neutral impact. Organic sales rose 7% on the back of higher pricing and volumes.
Price grew 1%, mix climbed 1% while organic volume rose 5%. Personal health care grew at a double-digit rate with innovation and pricing, and oral care benefited from development in Oral B brushes and paste.
The segments net earnings inched up 1% to $320 million.
Fabric Care and Home Care: The segment increased 1% to $5.3 billion. Currency had a negative impact of 2% on sales, while acquisitions/divestures/Venezuela deconsolidation had a 1% positive impact. Organic sales rose 4% on higher organic volumes. While price declined 1%, mix improved 1%. Organic volumes rose 4%.
Fabric care was higher in developed markets with investments in innovation and marketing, and home care expanding at mid-single digits globally.
The segments net earnings declined 3% to $728 million.
Baby Care, Feminine and Family Care: The segment declined 1% to $4.6 billion due to currency headwinds of 3%. Acquisitions/divestures/Venezuela deconsolidation had a 1% positive impact on sales. Organic sales rose 2% as all three businesses experienced solid volume growth with innovation and some pricing adjustments to improve value gaps. While organic volumes rose 4%, price declined 1%. Mix had a 1% negative impact on sales.
The segments net earnings declined 7% to $697 million.
Rising Margins
Core gross margin expanded 50 basis points (bps) to 51.6% as productivity cost savings and higher volume benefits were offset by currency headwinds, unfavorable mix, innovation and capacity investments, and higher commodity costs.
Core selling, general and administrative expense (SG&A) margin increased 40 bps (as a percentage of sales) to 28.3% owing to benefits from overhead and marketing spending reductions due to productivity efforts. Core operating margin expanded 20 bps to 23.4% owing to productivity cost savings.
P&G has undertaken an aggressive cost-cutting plan to reduce spending across all areas like supply chain, research & development, marketing and overheads.
Financials
As of Sep 30, 2016, the companys cash and cash equivalents were $7,456 million, up from $7,102 million at the end of fiscal 2016 (as of Jun 30, 2016). Long-term debt was $18,910 million as of Sep 30, 2016, slightly down from $18,945 million at fiscal 2016-end.
Cash flow from operating activities were $3,025 million during the quarter, down from $3,538 million a year ago.
Fiscal 2017 Guidance
The Cincinnati-based company maintained its organic sales growth projection at approximately 2% for fiscal 2017. It expects the combined foreign exchange headwind and minor brand divestitures to reduce sales by about 1 percentage points. P&G estimates all-in sales growth of about 1% for fiscal 2017.
Core earnings per share are expected to grow in mid-single digits as against the fiscal 2016 core earnings of $3.67 per share.
Currency is expected to be only a small headwind in 2017.
Management expects small improvement in profit margins.
Capital expenditure is expected to be 5%-5.5% of sales.
Core effective tax rate is expected to be in line with the fiscal 2016 rate.
Free cash flow productivity is anticipated to be 90% or more of adjusted net earnings.
In fiscal 2017, the company expects to repurchase shares worth $15 billion (including those exchanged in the Coty transaction) and pay more than $7 billion in dividends.
Average share count is estimated to decline by approximately 4% in fiscal 2017.
Story continues
How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?
Following the release, investors have witnessed a downward trend in fresh estimates. There has been one revision higher for the current quarter compared to five lower. While looking back an additional 30 days, we can see even more downward momentum. There have been seven downward revisions in the last two months.
Procter & Gamble Company (The) Price and Consensus
Procter & Gamble Company (The) Price and Consensus | Procter & Gamble Company (The) Quote
VGM Scores
At this time, Procter & Gamble's stock has a subpar score of 'D' on both growth and momentum front
Following the exact same course, the stock was allocated also a grade of 'D' on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for this investment strategy.
Overall, the stock has an aggregte VGM Score of 'F'. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.
Our style scores indicate investors will probably be better served looking elsewhere.
Outlook
Estimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock. The magnitude of this revision also indicates a downward shift. Notably, the stock has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We are expecting an inline return from the stock in the next few months.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Procter & Gamble Company (The) (PG): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Hawaii State Senator Will Espero proposed a bill last month to ban the sale of "reef-unfriendly" sunscreens in the Aloha State.
If passed, the legislation will take effect in July 2018 and those caught selling sunscreens containing oxybenzone or octinoxate could face misdemeanor charges.
Sunscreens containing the aforementioned active ingredients would still be available under medical prescription, according to the proposed legislation. Espero argued that such a ban would help preserve Hawaii's tourism industry, which relies heavily upon visitors to its coral reefs.
Fourteen thousand tons of sunscreen wind up in global coral reefs each year, according to a study published in the "Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology." The same study found that oxybenzone, an active ingredient in many commercial sunscreens, causes coral bleaching.
When waters become too warm or the corals become stressed, they expel algae living in their tissues. Without algae, the coral loses its major source of food, turns white, and becomes more susceptible to disease.
If coral bleaching is not severe, the organism can recover; however, if the "algae loss is prolonged and the stress continues," the coral will die, according to the National Ocean Ocean Service.
Manufacturers have argued that more extensive research is necessary to justify such a ban. "We sympathize with the desire to preserve Hawaii's coral reef, but there is no scientific evidence that under naturally occurring conditions, sunscreen ingredients are contributing to coral-reef declines," a spokeswoman from the Consumer Healthcare Products Association told Nature.
"Reef-friendly" sunscreens have been manufactured in response to these concerns. Additionally, physical or mineral sunscreens, containing ingredients such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide, block UVA and UVB rays. The National Park Service says such blocks have not been found to harm reefs.
"Since there are eco-friendly sunscreens on the market now, a total ban hurts no one," Espero told Nature.
Read Michelle Robertsons latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.
Here are some of the key stories CNBC is following this hour:
Libya says the bodies of 74 migrants washed ashore in a city on the Mediterranean Sea. The circumstances involving the drowning of the migrants are not yet clear. Migrant deaths have risen to record levels along the Libya-Italy smuggling route.
Italy's taxi drivers staged a sixth day of protests in major cities Tuesday. Demonstrators blocked traffic in central Rome as they pushed the government to crack down on Uber and limousine drivers. Scuffles erupted outside Democratic party headquarters.
Three national monuments in Washington were defaced with graffiti over President's Day weekend, the third major vandalism of memorials in the capital since 2013. The Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and World War II Memorial were hit sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning.
A Mayo Clinic survey reveals that men and women have different motivations for exercising. It found that women exercise to lose weight while men exercise as a form of recreation. But fewer than half knew what their target heart rate should be.
By Karen Pierog
CHICAGO, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday approved a revised budget that incorporates unpaid furlough days and other cost-cutting measures to save $104 million to help address a $215 million pension funding shortfall.
The $5.41 billion budget still has a $111 million hole to fill before the fiscal year ends on June 30. The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will continue to pursue money from the state of Illinois to fill the gap, including through its recently filed lawsuit against the state, according to a school spokeswoman.
The nation's third-largest public school system sued Illinois last week, claiming the state's method of education funding discriminates against the district's largely black and Hispanic student body.
CPS is struggling with pension payments that will jump to $733 million this fiscal year from $676 million in fiscal 2016, as well as drained reserves and debt dependency. The fiscal woes have pushed its general obligation credit ratings deep into the junk category and led investors to demand fat yields for its debt.
As part of a deal to enact state-wide pension changes, Illinois lawmakers passed a bill last year to send CPS $215 million in one-time funding earmarked for its teachers' retirement system. In December, Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed the measure after comprehensive pension legislation failed to materialize.
Frustration over the veto led CPS to file its lawsuit invoking Illinois' Civil Rights Act. The Illinois State Board of Education said on Wednesday it finalized a settlement in the only other pending lawsuit over state funding, which was filed by civil rights group the Chicago Urban League in 2008.
Under the settlement, procedures will be put in place for when legislative appropriations fail to cover all general state aid claims submitted by school districts, the state board said in a statement.
The state Senate has proposed a package of bills aimed at ending Illinois' record-breaking budget impasse. The measures, which must all be passed in order for the package to be enacted, include state funding for Chicago teacher pensions as well as a major tax hike, casino expansion and a school funding revamp. A bipartisan deal on the bills stumbled earlier this month when the Senate rejected a key measure to cut pension costs.
Story continues
A spokesman for Democratic Senate President John Cullerton said on Wednesday negotiations over the bills continue.
CPS's fiscal 2017 budget, which was originally approved by the school board in August, was also revised in December to accommodate a new teachers' contract.
(Editing by Matthew Lewis)
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)
A San Francisco firefighter has been arrested on suspicion of domestic violence charges, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.
While few details are available at this time, it appears that Battalion Chief Samuel Romero was arrested by Daly City police last night, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said today.
He was booked into San Mateo County jail and has been released on bond, with a court date set for March 23.
The case is being forwarded to prosecutors by Daly City police this afternoon, and Wagstaffe said he did not yet have details of the incident.
Calls to Daly City police and San Francisco fire officials were not immediately returned.
660-0545
Daly City police Sgt. Ron Harrison (650) 243-8287
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe (650) 363-4752
FILE PHOTO: A Saudi Aramco employee sits near the Saudi Aramco stand at the Middle East Petrotech 2016 in Manama, Bahrain, September 27, 2016. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
By Mike Stone, Tom Arnold and Sumeet Chatterjee
REUTERS - Oil giant Saudi Aramco has asked JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley to assist with its mammoth initial public share offer and could call on another bank with access to Chinese investors, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The U.S. banks have joined boutique investment bank Moelis & Co in winning coveted roles in what is expected to be the world's biggest IPO, worth some $100 billion.
HSBC Holdings Plc has emerged as the leading contender for a role among a list of five banks that could provide a pipeline to Chinese investors - an important part of the offering, the source said, adding that the other four are Chinese banks.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China International Holdings, a wholly-owned Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China , and China International Capital Corporation (CICC) are among the Chinese banks pitching for the deal, two other sources familiar with the matter said.
"This will give Chinese banks a bit of an opportunity to flex their muscles and show that they have the firepower to get involved in such a large, global deal, said Benjamin Quinlan, CEO of financial services consultancy Quinlan & Associates.
"There will also be a strategic interest from the government side to have some China role in the IPO process given the role Saudi Aramco plays in the resources sector there. So, there is a political undertone to it as well."
The growing Chinese interest in Aramco's IPO comes ahead of King Salman's visit to Asia next week.
The final line-up for banks working on the IPO could still be adjusted, the first source said.
The IPO is the centrepiece of the Saudi government's ambitious plan, known as Vision 2030, to diversify the economy away from oil. Up to 5 percent of the world's largest oil producer is likely to be listed on both the Saudi stock exchange in Riyadh and on one or more international markets.
Story continues
On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal said that JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and HSBC have been selected as lead underwriters.
Aramco, formally known as Saudi Arabian Oil Co, declined to comment, as did JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and HSBC.
ICBC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment and CICC declined to comment.
Citigroup Inc was also among those asked to pitch for an advisory position with Aramco, Saudi-based industry sources said last month.
The IPO plan has been championed by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who oversees the country's energy and economic policies. Last year, he said he expected the IPO would value Aramco at a minimum of $2 trillion, and that the figure might end up being higher.
Saudi Arabia is considering two options for the shape of Aramco when it sells shares next year: either to develop it as a global industrial conglomerate or make it a specialised international oil company, industry and banking sources have told Reuters.
Saudi Aramco has also appointed international law firm White & Case, which has a long-established relationship with the state oil giant, as legal adviser for its IPO, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters this month.
Saudi Arabia is favouring New York for listing Saudi Aramco, while also considering London and Toronto, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The oil giant also held discussions with the Singapore Exchange regarding a potential secondary listing, sources have said.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington, Tom Arnold in Dubai and Sumeet Chatterjee in Hong Kong; Additional reporting by Reem Shamseddin in Khobar, Julie Zhu and Michelle Price in Hong Kong and Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Writing by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Edwina Gibbs, Greg Mahlich)
CATLETTSBURG, Ky. (AP) While the Affordable Care Act has brought health coverage to millions of Americans, the effects have been profound, even lifesaving, for some of those caught up in the nation's opioid-addiction crisis.
In Kentucky, which has been ravaged worse than almost any other state by fentanyl, heroin and other drugs, Tyler Witten went into rehab at Medicaid's expense after the state expanded the program under a provision of the act. Until then, he had been addicted to painkillers for more than a decade.
"It saved my life," he said.
Addicts and mentally ill people who gained access to treatment programs for the first time are worried about how that might change as President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress try to make good on their promise to repeal and replace "Obamacare."
Repeal could end coverage for 1.8 million people who have undergone addiction or mental health treatment and could cut $5.5 billion in spending on such services, said Richard Frank, a health economist at Harvard Medical School.
Some GOP governors insist addicts have nothing to fear from repeal because, they say, Medicaid will continue to pay for treatment. But Democrats and others are dubious.
Currently the federal government covers a certain percentage of each state's Medicaid costs, however high they might go. As part of the plan to junk Obamacare, the Trump administration has expressed support instead for giving states a fixed amount of money for Medicaid and letting them design their own programs.
But Raymond Castro, senior policy analyst for New Jersey Policy Perspective, a left-leaning think tank, said these block grants are likely to come with less money. And that could force states to cut benefits.
Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has made the opioid crisis his top priority in his final year in office, said he would support a shift to block grants because of the flexibility they give states. But he said the people receiving treatment through the Medicaid expansion now shouldn't be forgotten.
Story continues
"Whatever changes are made to the ACA should be made with those people in mind, because we don't help ourselves by kicking those people off coverage," Christie said.
In areas overwhelmed by the opioid crisis, the uncertainty is worrisome to people receiving treatment.
In Pennsylvania, nearly 63,000 newly eligible Medicaid enrollees received drug and alcohol treatment in 2015, the first year of the state's expansion.
One of them was 44-year-old Pittsburgh restaurant hostess Erika Lindgren, who credits the health care law with quickly getting her into a 26-day rehab program in 2015 and covering the daily medications she takes to fight opioid cravings.
When she was uninsured, getting into rehab involved waiting lists and daily phone calls to see if a publicly funded bed had opened up. With coverage under the Affordable Care Act, "I was able to pack my bag at that moment," she said. "I was in an in-patient rehab within an hour and a half of making that call."
"I am scared to death to lose my coverage," she added. "It saves my life every day."
In Wildwood, New Jersey, Ashley Grant, a 30-year-old recovering heroin addict who has been sober since June, is hoping to regain custody of her three children. She has signed up for Medicaid under the health law expansion and is waiting to be approved so she can afford weekly counseling. A county program helps pay for a monthly anti-relapse shot.
"They should make it easier for people with addiction to get insurance," she said.
Care for mental illness, too, expanded under the Affordable Care Act.
Marquitta Nelson, a 60-year-old homeless Chicagoan with severe depression, is getting psychiatric care and treatment for asthma, arthritis and other conditions since she obtained Medicaid coverage under the health law expansion. She is waiting to be assigned to a shelter and staying with a friend.
"Am I expected not to take my medications and wig out and be walking up and down the street, not coherent?" Nelson said.
While the law expanded coverage, it did not always translate into more treatment.
For those buying insurance in the marketplace, many plans still exclude or limit residential treatment and clinics that dispense methadone, which is used to treat addictions to heroin and painkillers. Deductibles for some plans are so high that people still cannot afford help.
Despite those hurdles, the health care law was beginning to shift the system and giving hope to many, said Samuel Ball, chief executive of the nonprofit National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse in New York.
"At a point where we feel we're turning a corner, to have the whole rug pulled out from under us is very concerning," he said.
___
Johnson reported from Chicago. Associated Press writer Josh Cornfield in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed to this story.
Sebastian Gorka Donald Trump
It was May 2016 and Sebastian Gorka, a former editor at Breitbart News who is now a senior official in President Donald Trump's White House, had been invited to speak at a Defense Intelligence Agency conference.
Gorka was joined on a panel by two well-respected counterterrorism and national-security experts Georgia State University professor Mia Bloom and Foreign Policy Research Institute fellow Clint Watts.
But he showed up unprepared, Bloom and Watts said, refusing to answer the questions that had been provided to the panelists weeks in advance.
Bloom told Business Insider that before things got underway, the panel organizer started to discuss which panelists would answer which questions. Gorka, she said, refused to answer anything.
"Gorka stood up after me and said, 'Well, I've been invited here under false pretenses. I couldn't possibly address this level of granularity,'" Bloom said. "He made it sound like he had no idea that they were going to ask us these questions."
Watts, a former Army officer and FBI agent, confirmed this description of events, characterizing Gorka's performance as a "disaster."
"Instead of participating in the panel the way he was supposed to, he was kind of grandstanding," Watts said. "He said, 'I'm going to stand up because I'm a lecturer and I want to see the crowd,' and I thought, this is bulls---. You don't act like that."
Bloom and Watts also said he tried to use the panel as a platform to sell his book.
"He actually carried around his book and was basically trying to sell his book to people in the crowd," Watts said. "It was low class."
The episode encapsulates the concerns that several people in the national-security community have about Gorka.
In conversations with Business Insider, several national-security experts questioned Gorka's credibility in their field, saying he is often dismissed as an outspoken conservative pundit who lacks the chops to serve in the highest levels of the White House advising on national-security policy.
Story continues
Gorka is a deputy assistant to the president for the Strategic Initiatives Group, a new White House organization that US officials have said is like a parallel National Security Council (NSC). The organization has the power to write executive orders, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Gorka reports to Trump's chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, who first noticed Gorka through his appearances on Fox News and later offered him a job at Breitbart, according to The Washington Post. Gorka told The Journal that he also reports to Trump adviser Jared Kushner and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus. Gorka also advised the Trump campaign during the election.
When Business Insider asked him for comment by email, Gorka called Bloom's and Watts' characterization of events at the 2016 panel "fallacious" but did not dispute any specific points. He did, however, advise Business Insider not to report on his participation in the conference because it was a closed event.
Sebastian Gorka
'The Simon Cowell of counterterrorism'
Terrorism and national-security experts have been going after Gorka on Twitter for weeks.
"I call him the Simon Cowell of counterterrorism," Watts told Business Insider.
Watts said he's met Gorka about a half-dozen times on panels and conferences over the past several years and added that he's "always very negative and very controversial."
Michael S. Smith II, a terrorism analyst who has advised members of Congress and White House officials, said "no one has anything nice to say" about Gorka. Smith said he has the level of expertise "one would expect from a Congressional intern."
"His work is of little interest because he has never not that I can think of contributed anything to the body of knowledge which informs understandings of threats posed by the Salafi-jihadist groups of interest to him," Smith told Business Insider.
Smith said a top counterterrorism official at the National Security Council emailed Gorka on his first day at the White House to recommend that he talk to Smith. Smith said he responded politely to the introduction.
Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, also said he has reservations about Gorka influencing policy in the White House.
"Gorka does not have much of a reputation in serious academic or policymaking circles," Walt told Business Insider. "He has never published any scholarship of significance and his views on Islam and US national security are extreme even by Washington standards. His only real 'qualification' was his prior association with Breitbart News, which would be a demerit in any other administration."
Other prominent terrorism analysts such as Will McCants of the Brookings Institution and Hassan Hassan of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, both of whom have authored widely read books on the terrorist group ISIS, have questioned Gorka's position in the White House on Twitter recently.
"Disdaining complexity may endear you to a certain kind of warfighter but makes for terrible analysis & policymaking," McCants wrote on Twitter, linking to a recent Washington Post story on Gorka.
Hassan replied, writing, "Gorka working with top minds like" Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster "is just weird."
Some in the national-security community have defended Gorka.
Alberto Fernandez, a former US ambassador who led the State Department's Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications under President Barack Obama, said he's known Gorka for several years.
"He is a good choice because he has a more solid grasp of the ideological challenge than his NSC political appointee counterparts in the previous administration," Fernandez told Business Insider.
He said much of the criticism of Gorka seems to be "politically motivated."
Some of the criticism is "by people who would have been in a Hillary Clinton White House or who never questioned the Obama administration's own grasp of Salafi-jihadism," Fernandez said.
But the criticism comes from both sides of the aisle, according to Bloom. Smith, for example, says he voted for Trump.
"The issue for us is not the Trump part of it or the Fox News or conservative politics," said Bloom, who has appeared alongside Gorka on Fox News. "It's that this guy has absolutely no business speaking about terrorism. He needs to sit down and read a few books that he didn't write."
Sebastian Gorka Mia Bloom
Media clashes
Bloom, the Georgia State University terrorism expert who was on the DIA panel, has clashed with Gorka.
Bloom says it started with a segment on Fox News in December 2015 during which she appeared with Gorka. She rolled her eyes while he was being introduced, not knowing that the cameras were already showing her on-screen.
She said she got several emails from Gorka the next day demanding an apology.
"If you are so thin-skinned that someone questions your bona fides and you fold like a house of cards, I mean, grow up," Bloom said.
Gorka confirmed that he "requested an apology for [Bloom's] markedly unprofessional behavior" on the Fox segment. He also accused her of using "ethnic slurs" in referring to him on social media.
"Disappointing coming from someone teaching at a university," Gorka said in an email to Business Insider.
For those who missed @MiaMBloom's priceless response to the puffery used to introduce a #FakeTerrorismExpert on Fox... Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/0Xh5iTkGf7 Michael S. Smith II (@MichaelSSmithII) February 17, 2017
Bloom forwarded part of her correspondence with Gorka to Business Insider, but was unable to recover all the emails from that incident.
But Gorka did attack her in a tweet last year, calling her "disgusting."
Sebastian Gorka tweet
The tweet linked to a 2016 story about conservative commentator and former CIA intelligence officer Buck Sexton clashing with Bloom during a segment on CNN. Bloom has also ripped Gorka on Twitter more recently.
Gorka has also fought with Smith, the terrorism analyst who has advised members of Congress and White House officials.
In recent weeks, Smith has been going after Gorka on Twitter, questioning his qualifications and using the hashtag #FakeTerrorismExpert to refer to him.
On Tuesday evening, Smith said, Gorka called him to express concern about Smith's "animus" toward him and threatened to bring his tweets to the attention of the White House legal counsel.
"I'm mostly tweeting links to news stories about him," Smith told Business Insider on Tuesday night, adding: "He was planning on bringing to the attention of the White House legal counsel my 'obsessiveness' with him, as I suppose is evidenced by my tweets about him."
In an email to Business Insider on Wednesday morning, Gorka disputed this characterization.
"Mr. Smith has been sending disparaging emails to [US government] officials about me and my work and I indicated that I may have to consult with legal staff at the [White House] about what he is doing," Gorka said. "However I ended the discussion by inviting him to meet at the [Eisenhower Executive Office Building] for a coffee to discuss why exactly he feels the need to constantly be tweeting about me."
Smith said Gorka was "berating him" and nearly yelling on the call.
According to Smith, Gorka said he looks at Smith's Twitter feed once or twice a day and was bothered by Smith's "incessant berating" of his "professional acumen," to which Smith asked, "Are you defeating jihad by monitoring my Twitter feed?"
Gorka later said he wanted to know why Smith was attacking him.
"Put yourself in my shoes," Gorka said on the call, according to Smith, adding that the two had never met and that he had not attacked Smith.
Later, Gorka said that it was strange for Smith to question his qualifications when the TV appearance Smith has pinned to his Twitter feed is two years old, according to Smith.
Gorka also referenced a tweet Smith has since deleted, in which he posted a screenshot of the NSC official recommending that Gorka talk to Smith. Gorka asked on the call why Smith would publicly note his concerns about Gorka when an NSC official was recommending that Gorka talk to him.
The day after Smith posted the tweet, an NSC official contacted him and asked him to delete it, Smith said.
Smith said he has tentatively accepted Gorka's invitation to meet him in his office in the White House next month.
Gorka seems to have a combative attitude toward the media in general.
In an interview with the Independent Journal Review last week, Gorka said the media "doesn't listen" and that "80% of the reportage on the White House" is "fallacious."
He also said the media has a "demonstrably biased" attitude and that they don't "really understand what happened on Nov. 8 when Donald Trump was elected to be president."
"They haven't learned their lesson," he said. "The ball is in their court right now."
Sebastian Gorka and Michael Flynn
Ideology and 'the war of ideas'
Experts have expressed hesitancy about Gorka's ideology.
Gorka told The Washington Post recently that he "jettison[s]" the view of past administrations that the terrorism problem is "nuanced and complicated." He said terrorism is rooted in Islam and portions of the Quran.
"Anybody who downplays the role of religious ideology ... they are deleting reality to fit their own world," he told The Post.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations referred to Gorka's "Islamophobic views" in a statement about his wife Katharine, who worked with Trump's transition team for the Department of Homeland Security.
A counterterrorism analyst in the special-operations community, who asked not to be identified by name over concerns of professional reprisal, told Business Insider that Gorka was seen as a "figure on the fringes" with an ideology "rooted more in fear-mongering than in sound strategy and policy."
For instance, Gorka and others in Trump's circle including the president himself make a point to use the term "radical Islamic terrorism." Ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had similar views.
Some experts, however, have defended Gorka's views on terrorism.
James Carafano, a national-security expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation who said he's known Gorka for about 15 years, spoke to The Wall Street Journal and said Gorka likes to focus on "the war of ideas."
"I think the notion that we can fight the ideology without discussing and referencing the religion is kind of ridiculous," Carafano told The Journal. "It's like combating communism without discussing Karl Marx."
Gorka, like Flynn, also seems to have bought into the idea of an ideological war between radical Islam and the West the same idea that ISIS itself promotes.
"Al Qaeda, ISIS, all of these groups are totalitarians either you surrender to them or they will kill you," Gorka told The Washington Post.
The Post described a scene from an event Gorka spoke at in Florida three days after the election. He told the crowd, which had paid to see him speak, that he wanted to show them an image he was "not meant to show usually."
The photograph showed "a dead, bloodied brown-skinned man, lying on the ground next to an AK-47 assault rifle," according to The Post. The audience cheered.
"We can win now," Gorka said. "We can win!"
Sebastian Gorka
Questions about credentials
Gorka was born in England to Hungarian refugees, according to The Journal. He holds a doctorate in political science from a university in Budapest and has taught at the Joint Special Operations University, the National Defense University, and the Marine Corps University.
Gorka was also a reserve intelligence soldier in the British Army Reserve for a few years and taught at the George C. Marshall Center in Germany, which educated NATO and allied military officers, and the Pentagon-funded College of International Security Affairs, according to The Washington Post.
Gorka has also led lectures and seminars for FBI agents.
The Post described his academic credentials as "thin," especially in the subject area of Islam.
Unlike many scholars in his field, Gorka does not speak Arabic. He's also never lived in a majority-Muslim country, according to The Post. He said he's read the Quran, but only English translations of the texts, which could make nuances harder to detect.
"You don't have to speak Arabic to do good work in this field, but the people who don't speak Arabic realize that there are limitations to what you can do," Bloom said.
Bloom also pointed to Gorka's apparent lack of academic credentials. Several other sources within the community of terrorism and national-security experts and analysts also said Gorka's work is not widely cited among such professionals.
Smith portrayed Gorka's work as not being taken seriously.
"Terrorism researchers and analysts are largely unfamiliar with his work because he is neither a terrorism researcher engaged in novel research work, data collector, nor a formally trained intelligence analyst," Smith said.
Gorka doesn't seem bothered by his unconventional background. He suggested to The Post that he writes more for people fighting terrorism in the field than for academics in the US.
And of course the administration he's working for includes many people who aren't part of the Washington establishment. Trump's calls to "drain the swamp" were popular with his supporters during the election.
"What I care about is if somebody in the field is reading my article," Gorka told The Post. "I see myself as somebody who supports the bravest of the brave the warfighter. Publish or be damned? I'll be damned, thank you very much."
NOW WATCH: Public policy expert: Trump's claim that drugs are cheaper than candy bars isn't 'entirely untrue'
Related:
For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.
More From Business Insider
This comes as budget pressures spike.
According to Bloomberg, Singapores government is studying measures to boost revenue, including higher taxes, to help ease pressure on the budget as spending increases. Medium-term expenditures will continue to rise significantly, be it for infrastructure or for health care reasons, Lawrence Wong, second minister of finance, said in an interview on Tuesday with Bloomberg TVs Haslinda Amin. So we are studying revenue. Revenue means taxes.
Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said in his budget speech on Monday the surplus will narrow to 0.4 percent of gross domestic product in the next fiscal year beginning April 1. Singapore takes a fiscally conservative approach as the government is mandated to run a balanced budget over its term in office.
Read more here.
More From Singapore Business Review
This Lego-like toy uses sensors and actuators that bring kids creations to life.
After children build shapes and models using the pieces, the sculptures can be wirelessly connected to a computer, where kids can use basic coding to make the blocks move around and light up.
The toy is called Koov and was created by Sonys education arm, Sony Global Education.
The blocks just started selling in Japan for 37,000 yen, which converts to $340 in the U.S. Koov is expected to come to the U.S., but there is no official date yet.
Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/sony-joins-the-coding-for-kids-party-with-the-koov/
More:
Robot teaches kids as young as 3 to code
This food recycler will turn your food scraps into fertilizer
Industrial robot technology may soon be in your home
Wristband monitors your blood alcohol content while you drink
Breast-pumping moms can now go wireless
The worlds first 3-screen gaming laptop is mind-blowing
Netflix has just helped improve your commute
Apples plan to beat Google in the maps game
Your next food delivery order could come from a robot
You can now add cooking to the list of things Alexa can help you do
This anti-drone gun looks like it can do some serious damage
You could soon be using your smartphone to get cash from the ATM
Instagram offers disappearing photos and live broadcasting
You may soon be able to use a drone to catch fish
Amazon offers special deals through Alexa
WhatsApp video calling is finally here
Sold-out Snapchat sunglasses already on eBay
You can now cast Harry Potter spells from your phone
Apple reveals new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar
This smart crib will help your baby sleep safely through the night
New hybrid console takes Nintendo on the go
Self-driving cars have hit Great Britain
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation LPX manufactures and sells building products that could be an interesting play for investors. That is because, not only does the stock have decent short-term momentum, but it is seeing solid activity on the earnings estimate revision front as well.
These positive earnings estimate revisions suggest that analysts are becoming more optimistic on LPXs earnings for the coming quarter and year. In fact, consensus estimates have moved sharply higher for both of these time frames over the past four weeks, suggesting that Louisiana-Pacific could be a solid choice for investors.
Current Quarter Estimates for LPX
In the past 30 days, one estimate has gone higher for Louisiana-Pacific while none have gone lower in the same time period. The trend has been pretty favorable too, with estimates increasing from 24 cents a share 30 days ago, to 28 cents today, a move of 16.7%.
Current Year Estimates for LPX
Meanwhile, Louisiana-Pacifics current year figures are also looking quite promising, with three estimates moving higher in the past month, compared to none lower. The consensus estimate trend has also seen a boost for this time frame, increasing from $1.35 per share 30 days ago to $1.49 per share today, an increase of 10.4%.
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation Price and Consensus
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation Price and Consensus | Louisiana-Pacific Corporation Quote
Bottom Line
The stock has also started to move higher lately, adding 29.5% over the past four weeks, suggesting that investors are starting to take note of this impressive story. So investors may definitely want to consider this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock to profit in the near future. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Zacks Best Private Investment Ideas
While we are happy to share many articles like this on the website, our best recommendations and most in-depth research are not available to the public.
Starting today, for the next month, you can follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time. Our experts cover all kinds of trades from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Click here for Zacks' private trades >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LPX): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
PARIS Amnesty International says toxic fear-mongering by antiestablishment politicians, among them President Trump and the leaders of Turkey, Hungary and the Philippines, is contributing to a global pushback against human rights.
Releasing its 408-page annual report on rights abuses around the world Wednesday, the watchdog group described 2016 as the year when the cynical use of us vs. them narratives of blame, hate and fear took on a global prominence to a level not seen since the 1930s, when Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany.
Amnesty named Trump, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte among leaders it said are wielding a toxic agenda that hounds, scapegoats and dehumanizes entire groups of people.
Poisonous rhetoric employed by Trump in his election campaign exemplified the global trend of angrier and more divisive politics, Amnesty said.
The limits of what is acceptable have shifted. Politicians are shamelessly and actively legitimizing all sorts of hateful rhetoric and policies based on peoples identity: misogyny, racism and homophobia. The first target has been refugees and, if this continues in 2017, others will be in the crosshairs.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the report.
In the Philippines, Dutertes spokesman, Ernesto Abella, said the president has recently toned down his rhetoric. Duterte previously said he would be happy to slaughter 3 million drug addicts and talked of fattening fish in Manila Bay with corpses.
His crackdown on illegal drugs is feared to have killed more than 7,000 mostly poor drug users and petty drug pushers since he took office last June.
The Hungarian government, which has come under fire from human rights groups for its treatment of refugees and migrants, also rejected the report.
John Leicester is an Associated Press writer.
A local politician in Sweden has an idea to improve workers' morale and the city's low birth rate an hour-long daily break from work for employees to be intimate with their partners.
Erik Muskos is a 42-year-old councillor from Overtornea, a town of roughly 2,000 people in the northern part of Sweden. He put forward the motion Monday, arguing that Swedish couples don't spend enough time together, according to the International Business Times.
"There are studies that show sex is healthy," Muskos told AFP. "It's about having better relationships."
Muskos went on to tell the Swedish newspaper Kuriren that sex is a healthy form of exercise with documented positive effects on well-being. "The municipality should kill two birds with one stone and encourage employees to use their fitness hour to go home and have sex with their partner," he said.
Muskos admits his proposal does have some weaknesses. For one, there's no way to tell whether employees are using their time off for its intended purpose.
"You can't guarantee that a worker doesn't go out for a walk instead," Muskos said, according to the Business Times.
As for single people, Kuriren reports that the councillor thinks they should also be given the hour-long break to improve their well-being in different ways.
Kuriren writes that some of Muskos's fellow councillors were laughing while his proposal was being discussed, but the lawmaker believes his motion should be taken seriously and doesn't see a reason why it wouldn't pass when put to a vote.
If this proposal becomes policy, it will add to the host of federal benefits Swedes already receive. Swedish workers are entitled to 25 paid vacation days plus nine paid holidays every year. Parents are also given up to 480 days of paid time off when they have children, according to Sweden's official website.
In fact, Swedes already spend relatively few hours working compared to some of their European counterparts. On average, Swedes work about 1,600 hours per year (that's an average 30 hours per week), according to a study by the Economic Observation and Research Center.
AMMAN, Jordan More U.S. troops may be needed in Syria to speed the campaign against the Islamic State group, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East said Wednesday.
I am very concerned about maintaining momentum, Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of the U.S. Central Command, told reporters accompanying him on a trip to the region.
It could be that we take on a larger burden ourselves, he added. Thats an option.
The current U.S. strategy is to press the Islamic State group from multiple directions by moving ahead with the offensive to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa even as Iraqi forces carry on their operation to take western Mosul.
Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters backed by the United States are to play the principal role in seizing Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State groups professed caliphate.
But one option being considered is for U.S. troops to step up their support of the fighters by firing artillery, shooting mortars, helping with logistics and significantly expanding efforts to advise them, much as the United States is doing for Iraqi forces in the battle for Mosul.
In late January, President Trump gave the defense secretary, Jim Mattis, 30 days to develop a preliminary plan to defeat the Islamic State group. That deadline is fast approaching.
Trump has not said what steps he is prepared to take to make good on his campaign vow to hasten the defeat of the Islamic State group. But he has a high regard for U.S. generals and for Mattis, and he is likely to be receptive to their recommendations.
Michael R. Gordon is a New York Times writer.
Letters, February 8: Not So Fast
No Moral Compass
Victoria Erhart, I truly mean no disrespect for the local employees of Wells Fargo, and the good volunteer work you all do in our community. I thank you.
But there are huge issues at stake here. Native Americans from many different tribes have been camped out in freezing weather in peaceful protest of this pipeline across their land, threatening the water supply of thousands. Though they have been peaceful, they have suffered serious harm at the hands of government authorities because they are standing in the way of oil industry profits.
Wells Fargo corporation and our new authoritarian government are not moved by non-violent protest. They don't have a moral compass guiding their actions, the way their employees here in Northern New Mexico are guided to do good work. They will trample the people who get in their way in service to an industry that threatens the future of their own children and grandchildren. (70-degree temps in February?)
The only thing they understand is a loss of income. I hope you do not lose your job because of their greed. But I would like to see the city and individuals take their banking elsewhere, to financial institutions that have the same desire to do good work that you and your coworkers share.
David Camp
Santa Fe
Pointing Fingers
I most certainly blame local Wells Fargo employees for the corruption at this bank. Every time I went to Wells Fargo, they would push me to open more accounts. I knew there was something criminal going on and I would tell them so, every time. Tired of my complaining, they made a false report to the police to retaliate for my perceptiveness, claiming that I threatened them. Lucky for me, the responding officer saw through their slander, but it was another clear case of Wells Fargo's dishonesty and abuse of power. Prevented from seeking justice in court, I have been waiting over eight months for the results of Wells Fargo's arbitration process.
Even if some Wells Fargo employees did not directly participate in lying and stealing from millions of customers, I bet they were aware of it.
Let's not forgive and forget corruption on such a grand scale. Wells Fargo should not be in business after proving it has no integrity.
Kelita Smith
Santa Fe
Food, February 8: Trumptails
One More for Ya
Kompromat: Equal parts Russian vodka and prostitute urine. Served over a dirty mattress.
Dylan Pommer
Santa Fe
Movies, February 8: Death of an Attention Span
We Just Didn't Get It?
We are fortunate Santa Fe devotes so many movie screens to the international scene. There is no better movie-watching town anywhere.
The Salesman by Ashgar Fahradi has been nominated for over a dozen international awards, and is Iran's latest Oscar foreign film selection. I'd describe it as an enticingly layered drama that draws the viewer onward effortlessly. Your reviewer claims it's boring.
In it, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is presented by a Tehran theater company. Here's evidence of Iranians relating to our humanity; why don't more Americans relate to theirs? The Salesman deals with the universal subjects of temptation and revenge. We are invited to watch as a man indulges his righteous indignation past the point of good sense. That's an especially relevant topic these days.
Last week, Iran's military conducted a ballistic missile test. Our leadership issued dire warnings. Your film writer skipped an opportunity to foster mutual understanding at a critical time, opting for lazy self-absorption instead. World cinema invites us to see that most everyone on earth, even our so-called "enemy," is at least as moral, intelligent, and culturally well-endowed as we.
Stryder Simms
Santa Fe
Web Extra, February 8: Rallying Cry
Non-Lethal Approach
I am writing regarding the current status of wolves. Wolves have been trapped, poisoned, and shot into near-extinction at taxpayer expense to accommodate ranchers and other special interest groups. In 1998 there were only seven left. Last year alone they were reduced again by 20 percent. There are currently 97 left in two states.
I hike in the White Mountains. I have found two wolves that have been shot even with the Endangered Species Act still in effect. We need to introduce new wolves in an effort to deal with inbreeding.
The primary complaint is from ranchers. Ranchers pay approximately $14 a year to graze a cow and a calf on public land. Basically a free lunch. Keep the cows off public land. That is our land and it is where the wolves are released. There are numerous non-lethal ways to deal with this problem. Please consider them.
Patrick Stocks
Show Low, Arizona
Ethically Deplorable
"More Wolves!" was just one of many chants from about 200 people who gathered at the Roundhouse to convey their exasperation and outrage at Governor Martinez' obstinate refusal to allow wolves to be released.
The lack of introducing unrelated wolves into the wild is a death knell for the struggling lobos. ... The debilitating effects on their population are smaller pup litters and lower survival rates, a direct result of wolves that are all interrelated. Captive-bred wolves have genes not represented in the wild, and are the lobos' only hope for recovery.
Wolves deserve better. It is ethically deplorable that they be held hostage and used as political pawns by a governor who prefers to appease special interest groups. ... Gov. Martinez and her minions have continuously ignored science as well as the majority of New Mexicans who support wolf recovery. Without the genetic diversity that new, unrelated wolves would provide, our lobos remain on the precipice of a second extinction. Ultimately, the governor must reconcile her self-serving choices at the expense of what is moral and just.
Barbara Strack Garcia
Albuquerque
Do Wolves Roost?
Thank you Elizabeth Miller for accurate and balanced reporting, and for a realistic assessment of the attendance numbers. Wolves may be coming home to roost if public support is any indication, and as the move away from animal proteins continuesespecially beef. The frustration with politics and private interests, and the failure of a compromised business model to recognize consumer prowess with their purchasing options, will continue to favor wildlife interests. A healthier society on a number of levels will emerge. Factor in the struggling New Mexico economy and the need for revenues, the actual cash cow is tourism. Tourists will come to see, or hope to see, indigenous wildlife, especially a rare Mexican gray wolf. Like it or not, a paradigm shift is inevitable. The opposition against this progress will be unable to overcome the momentum. It's not just coexisting favorably with indigenous wildlife, but hoping that some coexistence is still possible with consumers, who have the real leverage.
JE Newman
SFReporter.com
Balanced Forest
I am writing to urge you and your readers to support the immediate introduction of the Mexican gray wolf to our national forests.
I live in Tucson, Arizona, and have spent most of my life hiking and camping in our forest lands and I've passed this experience to my son and, now, my grandson. I'm proud to say, we all cherish the idea of wild animals, such as the Mexican gray wolf, living freely in our forests. We believe a healthy forest must include a balance of wildlife predators, such as wolves. Please help to maintain this balance by continuing the introduction of these wonderful animals to our forests!
Patrick Volle
Tucson, Arizona
Correction
The photo used in "Something Stylish is Happening in Santa Fe" (Feb. 25) is from photographer Jenn Carrillo. SFR regrets the omission of a credit.
SFR will correct factual errors online and in print. Please let us know if we make a mistake, editor@sfreporter.com or 988-7530.
Mail letters to PO Box 2306, Santa Fe, NM 87504, deliver to 132 E Marcy St., or email them to editor@sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.
Santa Fe Reporter
Santa Fe is home to a small Muslim community of about 450 people in the greater county area, according to estimates in a private survey called the 2010 US Religious Census. Despite those modest numbers, Muslims in the City Different tell SFR they received an outpouring of support when federal officials enacted an executive order last month suspending all refugee resettlement and temporarily banning travelersincluding visa holdersfrom seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States.
As some people remained stranded at international airports thronged with protesters, more than 130 locals from Christian churches, Jewish synagogues and other groups packed the Mosque of Al Rahma in Santa Fe's South Capitol neighborhood to stand with their neighbors. Mayor Javier Gonzales and the Santa Fe Police Department phoned mosque officials, according to Joe Hamad, a volunteer and worshipper, and personal phone lines also rang to the tune of solidarity.
"We keep getting calls from people we don't know just to say, 'If you guys need anything, let us know,'" says Azher, an Iraqi-American who works in a local school. "This kind of support is what gives us hope that, in the end, good will prevail."
Yet, Azher and his wife May asked that SFR not publish their last names. All that support can't counteract their instinct toward self-preservation.
A federal court in California recently held up a temporary restraining order on Trump's ban. That move followed a deluge of lawsuits and impromptu demonstrations at airports across the country, including the Albuquerque International Sunport.
As of press time, the Trump administration was exptected to release a new version that targets the same seven countries, but exempts green card holders.
While the executive order shocked many Americans, people from some of those nations who now live in Santa Fe tell SFR they weren't surprised. After all, Trump originally proposed a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" back in 2015. His chief strategist, Steve Bannon, ran Breitbart, a news site that often traffics in fear of Muslims.
Trump brought the same rhetoric to New Mexico in May, falsely accusing Gov. Susana Martinez of allowing "large numbers" of Syrian refugees to relocate to New Mexico. "If I was governor, that wouldn't be happening," he said to cheers. At the time of Trump's speech, fewer than 10 Syrians had resettled in the Land of Enchantment.
Martinez, meanwhile, opposed President Barack Obama's plan to accept a limited share of Syrian refugees fleeing ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and the bloody civil war in their country, stating that there must be "a very clear plan in place to properly vet" them. Martinez didn't mention that such a federal policy already exists. Refugees seeking entry into the United States encounter a painstaking screening process that includes interviews, background checks and fingerprinting. Jumping through those hoops, installed by the United Nations and multiple federal agencies, takes up to two years.
But contrary to the messages coming from the White House and the Fourth Floor of the Roundhouse, not to mention a recent rash of hate crimes directed towards mosques across the country, Muslims in Santa Fe say they have yet to encounter any Islamophobic sentiment in their hometown.
During his annual State of the City speech last week, Mayor Gonzales reaffirmed his earlier stance that Santa Fe remains a place for refugees "fleeing the world's most oppressive and most violent places and looking to our country to honor the promise engraved on the Statue of Liberty."
The city's demographics mean that most of the recent political discourse, however, is focused on thousands of immigrant residents from Latin American countries who lack permission from the federal government to be here. The concerns of our small Muslim population, most of whom aren't facing the same paperwork complications, may seem myopic in comparison to the threats that loom for undocumented people that make up a large swath of the local workforce.
But Trump's policies dictating who comes in and out of this countrywhether it's a deportation plan or travel banfeed off fears in the same vein. Only the target changes.
SFR spoke with Muslim locals from three of the seven countries listed in Trump's travel ban, all of whom are naturalized American citizens. Their experiences in this country differ widely, but each story holds unique significance in this moment.
May pulls out her phone and loads up a video showing the University of Mosul, before and after ISIL invaded the city and transformed the historic research institution, her alma mater, into a battlefield. As the Iraqi-American woman peers at the screen from her perch in a Southside coffee shop, the sequence jarringly transitions from scenes of student life to black-clad militants shooting machine guns over rubble and piles of ashen books. May recounts how not just this place, but her entire country, transformed over decades of war and terror, most recently under the control of ISIL.
When ISIL took over the city of Mosul in the fall of 2014, militants forced her family and all their possessions out of her childhood home. They fled to central Asia. Three of May's friends, one doctor and two lawyers, didn't get a chance to escape before they were killed. Some of Azher's relatives, her in-laws, also fled for refuge in Europe and East Asia. Others stayed in the city, living for months without electricity or running water.
"Those people were running for their lives. They've lost everything: their homes, their livelihoods, their businesses," Azher says. "Can you imagine anyone who would want to abandon everything behind and go thousands of miles away to a place where they don't know the language or culture, unless they had a very powerful reason to do so?"
When Azher left Iraq back in the '80s, he did so under relatively peaceful circumstances. He decided to study in the United States after reading about the country's strong education system. "As a young man, anybody would like to investigate the world and see what is going on," he explains. After studying at the University of Mosul, Azher arrived in Arizona on a student visa and chose to pursue a graduate degree at the state's flagship university in Tucson. The warm weather reminded him of Iraq and helped him acclimate to his new surroundings. So did the warm people. "I was very impressed with the way people dealt with me as an individual who doesn't speak very good English," he says. "They didn't even know where I came from. People were very friendly."
After the Iraq-Iran war broke out, killing many of his friends, Azher did not feel compelled to return to his home country. "You don't want to kill or get killed," he says. "I just don't believe in violence or in war or killing. That's something I feel very strongly about."
Azher instead completed his Master of Science degree. He then got to work teaching at a local community college before returning to the University of Arizona as a staff instructor.
He says he never felt unwelcome or discriminated against during his time at the college. Not even in the immediate wake of 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, when early media reports had speculated that the perpetrator was Muslim. A student approached him and asked, "Why are you people so violent?" He chose to make the news a teachable moment.
"When we found out it was committed by Timothy McVeigh, who was an American, I called her and said, 'See? Now you said to me something not very nice.' I told her not to rush to judgment in the future," he says.
In the mid-'90s, Azher visited Jordan, where he met another University of Mosul grad, May. They moved back to the United States together and got married. In August 2001, the couple relocated to Santa Fe. Three weeks later, terrorists from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates flew two planes into the World Trade Center, sending America into two wars, creating a pretext for a surveillance state and ushering in an era of Islamophobia unseen in modern history.
However, Azher says he didn't personally encounter any of the hate that pervaded post-9/11 America. "On the contrary, the support I got from people at work was overwhelmingeven from some of the students," he says.
He felt the same support when Trump rose to power, pledging to ban Muslims from entering to the United States. The outpouring came again when the president carried out his promise on his 10th day in office. "We have received so many phone calls," he says. "The support from this community was overwhelming, and in my opinion, [that is] what makes America great."
Still, Azher is keenly aware of the fear that swept other parts of the countrythe same fear Trump fed off of in his bid for the White House, claiming without evidence that the Syrian refugee resettlement programs could be the "ultimate Trojan horse" for ISIL and other terror groups.
Azher chafes at the irony.
"Muslims have suffered more from [ISIL] than anyone else," he says. "We're talking about my hometown. My university, which housed over 30,000 students, has been literally destroyed by these criminal individuals."
When Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor, held a campaign rally on the Plaza in the fall, Mohamed Sassila walked a couple blocks from his rug shop to see the Libertarian presidential candidate speak.
Johnson had recently flubbed when asked what he would do about the conditions in Sassila's hometown in Syria, Aleppo, a city considered by international observers as the site of the greatest humanitarian crisis of the decade.
Mohamed Sassilas rug shop off the Santa Fe Plaza is a long way from his hometown of Aleppo, Syria. (Anson Stevens-Bollen)
"I always excuse American ignorance of the Middle East, Syria or the Arab world in general. They don't have access to the right information," Sassila says. "Johnson shocked me, though, because Aleppo had been mentioned in the media so much."
Still, Sassila attempted to shake hands with the candidate, but didn't manage to get his attention. "I have nothing personal against the guy," he says.
For many Americans, Aleppo became a buzzword most associated with Johnson's failed campaign. But for Sassila, who has lived in Santa Fe for more than three decades, his living connection to the city's real human tragedy is deep.
When the Syrian revolution broke out years ago, Sassila was optimistic about his country's future. But protest descended into war, sparked by a violent crackdown ordered by President Bashar al-Assad. Rebel groups rose against a government with little regard for civilian lives.
The war came to Aleppo in 2012, when rebels took control of the city. Some of Sassila's family escaped through Greece and Turkey before eventually finding refuge in Germany, but two of his cousins died during air strikes. Late last year, the city capitulated to government forces, creating a vacuum for Assad's soldiers to commit atrocities. The United Nations warned of "a complete meltdown of humanity."
When asked whether he worries for the safety of family members in Syria, Sassila tells SFR: "We Muslims have a very strong belief that we don't worry. We believe that Allah, the only God, decides when we exist and when to end our lives. This is out of our control. So we don't worry about death."
When Sassila came over from Syria in 1984, it was two years after the ruling Ba'ath Party cracked down on a years-long rebellion against the government. Sassila obtained a student visa and flew to Miami, Florida. The culture shock immediately overwhelmed him.
"You don't know what to expect. Coming here, the people are very liberal. What do you see? Topless beaches and night clubs," Sassila says, letting out a hearty laugh. "It was a huge difference. You have strip clubs on every corner. To them, that's normal. But for us, women cover themselves."
Sassila attended the University of Miami for one semester. But tuition was too expensive, so he enrolled at Florida International University, where he pursued a degree in electrical engineering. There wasn't a mosque in town, so he and other Muslim students used a university classroom for prayers.
Santa Fes Muslim worshipers gather at a mosque in South Capitol. (Steven Hsieh)
After graduating, Sassila moved to Santa Fe to help another Syrian man run Desert Blossom, a jewelry store on the Plaza. Seven months later, in 1991, he opened his own shop.
Sassila sold jewelry and run-of-the-mill gift shop products at first, but eventually swapped the turquoise earrings for oriental rugs. His hometown, after all, had produced generations of weavers tracing back centuries.
"Rugs are a passion of mine," he says. "It's something I have knowledge of." Sassila traveled the worldAfghanistan, Turkey, Uzbekistanpicking hand-woven rugs for wealthy tourists. He named his store Silk Road Collections, after the ancient trade network that for centuries connected many of the civilizations from which Sassila buys his products.
Sassila became an American citizen in 1999, after passing what he says was a "piece of cake" test and taking an oath of allegiance at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
The first time Sassila cast a vote, he did so for for Barack Obama in 2008. But the president fell out of Sassila's favor for what he viewed as ineptness when confronting the crisis in Syria. The Obama administration provided arms to moderate rebel groups, but some analysts believe he could have done more to prevent catastrophe. "He is one of the worst presidents in American history for foreign affairs," Sassila says.
That disenchantment led Sassila not to vote in the last presidential election. And he wasn't surprised when Donald Trump announced his travel ban last month. "American policy has always been hostile to Muslims and Arabs," Sassila says. "What he is saying is not new to me."
When Syrian refugees started arriving in Albuquerque, Sassila drove down to help them get oriented. When asked for specifics, Sassila demurs, saying he does not want to insult the five families he's reached out to by bragging about his deeds.
"When you do something good, you do it softly, quietly," he says. "I feel like that's my duty, without any question, to help as much as I can. It's a must. It's not leisure. It's not an option. I think most Syrians feel the same way."
Sally Tavassoli's father, a shopkeeper, had high hopes for life after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Those hopes quickly dissolved. Not long after the Ayatollah Khomeini took control of the country, Tavassoli's uncle was captured and struck with lashes. Agents burned down his record store for selling Western music.
"That's when we realized that it would be totally different," says Tavassoli, who was 4 years old at the time. "We realized the new regime would be an Islamic Republic, so we left." Fearing persecution from the country's new, ultra-conservative rulers, millions of Iranians fled, forming large diasporas in Germany, Sweden and the United States.
Sally Tavassolis father, a shopkeeper, brought his family to the US amid the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Sally, pictured here as a child, lives in Santa Fe today. (Courtesy of Sally Tavassoli)
Tavassoli, along with her mother and father, wound up in Houston, Texas. They applied for and received asylum under President Jimmy Carter's State Department. (As opposed to refugees, who apply for residency before arriving in the United States, asylees are granted protective status after living in the country for some time.)
Immediately, Tavassoli's father started thinking about business. His steakhouse failed after two years. A roller rink in the Houston suburbs proved more successful. Around that time, Islamic militants stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held Americans hostage for more than 400 days. Backlash against Iranian immigrants followed.
"One time, a falling-out happened and someone got fired" at her father's business, Tavassoli recalls. "I remember coming into work with my dad the next morning, and spray-painted across the parking lot were the words 'Iranians eat shit.'"
Suddenly, Tavassoli became conscious of her own national and ethnic identity in a way she hadn't before. "I think I was about 6 or 7 then, and I had a really good friend that was Hispanic. I even started to lie to her. I told her my family is Greek. I reconnected with her 10 years ago on Facebook, and she still thought I was Greek. I totally had forgotten about that. There's probably a whole group of people who still think I'm Greek."
When Tavassoli turned 12, her parents divorced and she moved to Orange County, California, with her father, who opened a successful men's clothing store. "And that's when I saw other people were like me," Tavassoli says. "We spoke Farsi in school together, and then it just became okay. It was very liberating. We had a secret language."
After graduating from high school, Tavassoli attended college on and off. She was living in Texas on Sept. 11, 2001, and was dating a white man at the time.
"George Bush sent troops to Iraq. I was very scared because my whole distant family is in Iran. I remember saying to my boyfriend, 'Oh man. That's really close. I hope they don't unleash nuclear weapons.' His answer to me was, 'If it has to be done, it has to be done. In order to tell people not to mess with America.' And I was like, Okay. Same old story. That's when I became more politically aware."
Tavassoli became even more engaged as she pursued an education degree at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. She worked on the side for an outreach program called the Center for Human Origin and Cultural Diversity, where she facilitated student field trips to a facility exploring the human race's common ancestry. "My mentor encouraged me to speak up about being Muslim. At that point, I had never really associated with being Muslim."
In 2011, Tavassoli moved to Santa Fe with her husband, a Syrian physician. She immediately got to work at the Dragonfly School as an elementary teacher. Moving from the Midwest, she was happy with the city's diversity. "It's a very open-minded town," she says.
When President Trump came along on the campaign trail, she didn't take him seriously. "I was, like everybody else, kind of entertained by it," Tavassoli says. Another part of her underestimated the people of her own country. "C'mon, this isn't America," she thought. "This isn't the people. This is just some loon."
When Trump announced his travel ban last month, Tavassoli didn't worry too much about her father, who's a dual Iranian-American citizen currently living in his birth country, "chasing money." Her mother and sister, also dual citizens but living in the US, plan on visiting Iran for a wedding this summer. But when SFR spoke with Tavassoli before the federal courts acted on Trump's order, she feared disconnection from another close family member: "my grandmother, who has never been granted citizenship because she kept failing her test. I probably won't see her again unless I go over there," she says.
"Recently people have been coming up to me to say, 'Oh, I'm sorry. Our hearts are with you. I've been thinking about you all weekend.' It takes me off guard a little bit, because I'm not directly affected. What I want to say is, I'm sorry for all of us. Don't be sorry just for me. This is a reflection on all of us in this country," Tavassoli says. "I say thank you. I try to be gracious. But, really, deep inside, we're all in this together."
Santa Fe Reporter
Homeland Security Immigration Memo Lands With a Thud
A new memo from the federal Department of Homeland Security that would expand a program to enlist local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws is getting a mixed reception from New Mexico police. The measure would expand efforts to deport undocumented immigrants. Some local police agencies say their job is to worry about their own laws first.
Senate to Vote on Open-Carry Ban in Capitol
The state Senate will consider a bipartisan bill to ban
in the New Mexico State Capitol. Several gun control debates in recent years have featured gun-rights advocates carrying semi-automatic rifles through the halls of the Roundhouse. The bill's Republican co-sponsor told a Senate panel that waving a rifle around in my face pisses me off.
State Agency for Kids Opposes $320 Million Budget Boost
Saying the influx of hundreds of millions of dollars for early childhood education could lead to waste and abuse of public dollars, the Children, Youth and Families Department testified yesterday
to tax energy producers and electricity providers. CYFD sided with oil and gas producers as well as electric companies from around the state. The electricity tax would likely be passed on to consumers. CYFD warned that too much money for early childhood education could lead to pressure to spend it all right away. The bill in question died in committee.
Senate Committee Clamps Down on
Bill to Ban Trapping on Public Lands
A panel of state senators has
on a bill that would outlaw traps placed on public lands. Trappers represent a relatively small part of New Mexico's hunting community, generating $40,000 in licensing fees each year. The state Department of Game and Fish stood behind them, saying it's done so for 100 years.
SFPD Officer Resigns
A Santa Fe police officer has resigned after the department began investigating claims that he
on a woman who passed out at a party attended by off-duty cops. The officer, Isaiah Anaya, turned in his resignation yesterday. The department continues to investigate the
of Sgt. Troy Baker, whom officers elected as their union president.
Women Out to Enforce
The Navajo Nation's police force has
better than one in five officersworking the beat on the country's largest reservation. The
Farmington Daily Times
takes a look at how the department became so successful at finding women to serve.
Court Funding Bill Finally Heads to Governor
The state court system would get $1.6 million to cover expenses for the rest of the year if the governor
headed her way. Funding for the courtswhich said jury trials may have to be canceled without more moneyhas been a surprising political poker chip during the legislative session.
Like We Said...
So far, Shia LaBeouf's art installationwhich encourages people to say the words "He will not divide us" into a street-level camera mounted on the El Rey Theaterhas been spray painted and
. The actor and two artist pals moved the installation after it caused too much of a stir in New York City. Give it time, we suppose.
Thanks for reading! The Word wants to know what you're up to tonight. Just out of curiosity. Nothing weird. Oh, this is awkward now.
Subscribe to the Morning Word at sfreporter.com/signup
Santa Fe Reporter
New Zealand shares dropped, dragged lower after Fletcher Building's first half earnings disappointed, with A2 Milk Co and Sky Network Television also falling.
The S&P/NZX50 Index fell 53.22 points, or 0.7 percent, to 7,062.47. Within the index, 32 stocks fell, 16 rose and two were unchanged. Turnover was $148.7 million.
Fletcher Building, the second biggest stock by market cap, led the index lower, down 5.2 percent to $9.68. The company posted a 2 percent gain in first-half profit to $176 million that included unexpectedly weak earnings from its construction division, especially given its $2.7 billion backlog of work. Earnings before interest and tax (ebit) was $294 million, from $288 million the previous year. The shares had soared 54 percent in the past 12 months on optimism it would benefit from a boom in Auckland residential construction.
"Our market has been driven lower by what was a massive ebit miss from Fletcher, at one stage it did trade down to $9.45 so it's trading back up," said Peter McIntyre, investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners. "It was well below what we were forecasting, the consensus was $333 million and the New Zealand construction division really drove that result. Fletcher is a company that tends to over-deliver, and we haven't seen that delivery today. Usually the surprise is to the upside not the downside, so we've seen a lot of selling today."
A2 Milk Co dropped 4.5 percent to $2.33. The milk marketer's chief executive and chair have sold down their stakes, less than a week after reporting first-half profit more than tripled.
"It's sent the market into a bit of a tailspin really, we've seen good volumes running through once news got out," McIntyre said. "They had a sound result, so whether the market has perceived this to be top of the market stuff - we've seen this historically with some companies as well when some CEOs or chairs sell their shares. They've completely forgotten about the result, the market has tended to overreact and we know A2's a very volatile stock, even more so since the Bellamy's issues towards the later part of last year."
Sky Network Television fell 2.7 percent to $4.35 and Spark New Zealand rose 0.6 percent to $3.49. Spark and 2Degrees have been granted a stay on the proposed merger between rival Vodafone New Zealand and pay-TV operator Sky to consider their legal options. If the Commerce Commission clears the merger tomorrow, it won't come into effect immediately, giving the opposing parties time to read the reasoning behind the decision and decide whether they will pursue a legal challenge.
Separately, Sky today posted a 32 percent drop in first-half profit to $59.3 million as content costs increased, and revenue and subscriber numbers fell. The pay-TV operator is looking to team up with telecommunications company Vodafone as it faces increased rivalry from online streaming video services such as Netflix and Spark's Lightbox.
"I don't think anyone really knows where that's going to go, it will provide a lot of interest for the market tomorrow," McIntyre said. "You can see with Sky's result today the struggles it's having maintaining what was a very successful business model. Technology and competition is really catching up with it, we saw today churn and weaker subscriber numbers coming through in that result - Sky really needs Vodafone to continue what they see as their growth strategy."
Mercury New Zealand was the best performer, up 1.3 percent to $3.09, and Metlifecare gained 0.9 percent to $5.49.
Ebos Group advanced 0.5 percent to $18.20. The pharmaceutical and animal health products maker's recent acquisitions helped it lift first-half profit 7.2 percent to $68.8 million and fatten its dividend to shareholders, while also bolstering the outlook for annual earnings to be at the upper end of a previous projection for growth of 7-to-10 percent.
Meridian Energy rose 0.2 percent to $2.67. A strengthening performance in its Australian business and less dry period insurance thanks to a wet spring and mild winter saw Meridian record a 6 percent lift in operating earnings for the six months to Dec. 1, allowing an increased interim dividend and a further special dividend payment.
Outside the benchmark index, Tower jumped 16.7 percent to $1.325. ASX-listed insurer Suncorp Group has built an 11 percent stake in Tower and put forward a rival takeover offer for the NZX-listed general insurer. The offer, worth a total $219.3 million, trumps a $197 million deal already on the table and backed by Tower's board and major shareholders Salt Funds Management and Accident Compensation Corp to sell to Canada's Fairfax Financial Holdings at $1.17 apiece.
"The volume that has gone through today has been quite significant, there's a bit of a bidding war developing here," McIntyre said. "I think a number of investors who held the stock below $1 were wondering what was going to happen next. The shares trading above the offer price would suggest there's more action to come."
BusinessDesk.co.nz
Comments from our readers
No comments yet
Add your comment:
Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.
Related News:
SKC - ADDITIONAL US PRIVATE PLACEMENT FUNDING SECURED
Spark New Zealand Limited's Annual Meeting Results 2022
Fonterra Australia settles class action proceedings
PFI - Q3 Dividend, Development and Divestment Update
November 4th Morning Report
FPH to announce half year results on 29 November 2022
ATM - FDA approval to supply infant milk formula to United States
Steel & Tube - Adopts ESG World Platform
BGP - 3rd Quarter Sales to 30 October 2022
GEO - Quarterly Operating Update
Transpower New Zealand reported a higher first-half profit as the state-owned company saw a rise in transmission revenue.
The Wellington-based company, which owns and operates the national grid that carries electricity around the country, said its profit before net changes in the fair value of financial instruments was $101.6 million in the six months to Dec. 31, an increase of 2.6 percent on the prior period. The increase largely reflects higher transmission revenue, which was up 3 percent to $496.7 million, it said.
"A continuing focus on tight cost control and an ongoing business transformation programme has seen the organisation perform well over the last six months," said chairman Tony Ryall.
The board declared an interim dividend of $66 million, representing 40 percent of the full-year dividend forecast in the 2016/17 Statement of Corporate Intent. It paid an interim dividend of $64.8 million a year earlier.
Capital expenditure was $109.7 million for the first half of the year, up 9 percent from the same time last year, it said.
Transpower also said it is considering an offer of unsecured, unsubordinated fixed rate bonds to New Zealand retail investors and institutional investors. It is expected the bonds will have a maturity of five and a half years, and full details of the offer will be released early March. Transpower has appointed ANZ Bank New Zealand as lead manager and organising participant in relation to the bond offer.
BusinessDesk.co.nz
Comments from our readers
No comments yet
Add your comment:
Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.
Related News:
SKC - ADDITIONAL US PRIVATE PLACEMENT FUNDING SECURED
Spark New Zealand Limited's Annual Meeting Results 2022
Fonterra Australia settles class action proceedings
PFI - Q3 Dividend, Development and Divestment Update
November 4th Morning Report
FPH to announce half year results on 29 November 2022
ATM - FDA approval to supply infant milk formula to United States
Steel & Tube - Adopts ESG World Platform
BGP - 3rd Quarter Sales to 30 October 2022
GEO - Quarterly Operating Update
(Updates to add detail throughout, broker comment, corrects operating revenue figure in 3rd paragraph)
Air New Zealand posted a 24 percent fall in first-half pretax profit in the face of increasing competition both at home and abroad but fared better than analysts expected.
Pretax earnings fell to $349 million in the six months ended Dec. 31 from $457 million in the same period a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement.
Net profit in the first half fell 24 percent to $256 million. Operating revenue was $2.6 billion versus $2.7 billion in the prior year. Basic earnings per share were 22.8 cents versus 30.1 cents in the prior period.
New Zealand's national carrier was forecast to post a 45 percent decline in first-half earnings to $186.5 million on a 2.6 percent decline in revenue to $2.63 billion, according to Forsyth Barr analyst Andy Bowley. Last month Craigs Investment Partners downgraded their price target for Air NZ shares to $2.09 on the prospect of weaker-than-expected earnings given increased competition among carriers and rising fuel prices.
Brad Gordon, investment adviser for Hobson Wealth Partners, said the stock may get a lift on the better-than-expected result. "Cost management was key," he said.
Air NZ chief executive Christopher Luxon said "the last six months saw unprecedented levels of international carriers adding new services to New Zealand. As expected, the change in the competitive landscape in a relatively short period of time has impacted our airline's profitability when compared to the prior year".
In recent years, for example, Qantas Airways and American Airlines gained approval for a tie-up operating between Auckland and Los Angeles, competing with Star Alliance members Air New Zealand and United Airlines in routes between New Zealand and North America and earlier this month Qatar Airways celebrated the arrival of its inaugural flight to Auckland. Jetstar's entry on domestic regional routes has pressured Air New Zealands domestic load factors and yields.
Luxon said, however, the airline responded swiftly by adjusting its capacity plans and accelerating the exit of older aircraft and while net profit was sharply lower it was the second highest result for an interim period in the airline's history.
According to Luxon, lower fuel prices benefited operating costs but were partially offset by the adverse impact of foreign exchange, he said.
The board declared a fully-imputed interim dividend of 10 cents a share, which is consistent with the prior period.
Looking ahead, chairman Tony Carter said he expects the revenue environment will improve from the first half on continued strong growth in inbound and outbound tourism, although higher jet fuel prices will be a headwind.
Based on the current market environment and expectations for the average jet fuel price in the second half of the year of US$65 per barrel, Air New Zealand said it is targeting 2017 earnings before taxation in a range of $475 million to $525 million.
The shares last traded at $2.15 and have fallen 6.7 percent over the past 12 months.
BusinessDesk.co.nz
Comments from our readers
No comments yet
Add your comment:
Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.
Related News:
SKC - ADDITIONAL US PRIVATE PLACEMENT FUNDING SECURED
Spark New Zealand Limited's Annual Meeting Results 2022
Fonterra Australia settles class action proceedings
PFI - Q3 Dividend, Development and Divestment Update
November 4th Morning Report
FPH to announce half year results on 29 November 2022
ATM - FDA approval to supply infant milk formula to United States
Steel & Tube - Adopts ESG World Platform
BGP - 3rd Quarter Sales to 30 October 2022
GEO - Quarterly Operating Update
Spark New Zealand and 2Degrees have been granted a stay on the proposed merger between rival Vodafone New Zealand and pay-TV operator Sky Network Television to consider their legal options.
If the Commerce Commission clears the merger tomorrow, it won't come into effect immediately, giving the opposing parties time to read the reasoning behind the decision and decide whether they will pursue a legal challenge.
"I have concluded it is appropriate in the present case to make an order staying the effect of any clearance decision for a short period in order to enable the applicants to consider their options," High Court Justice Graham Lang said. "The transactions have the potential to directly affect consumers in the markets affected by the commissions decision. There is, therefore, a significant degree of public interest in the outcome of the clearance decision. As a result, there is also public interest in ensuring that the decision-making process has not miscarried in any material way."
The parties have until midnight on the third day after the regulator delivers its decision to file for judicial review, and if they do Sky and Vodafone will be unable to merge until further court orders are made.
Spark, Internet New Zealand, and Trustpower last week asked Sky and Vodafone to voluntarily put off finalising the merger if they got regulatory approval, a request that was rejected.
Sky and Vodafone want to create the country's largest telecommunications and media group, with Sky TV buying Vodafone NZ for $3.44 billion, funded by a payment of $1.25 billion in cash and the issue of new Sky TV shares at a price of $5.40 per share. Vodafone becomes a 51 percent majority shareholder in Sky TV, in what amounts to a reverse takeover. The pay-TV operator will borrow $1.8 billion from Vodafone to fund the purchase, repay existing debt and use for working capital.
BusinessDesk.co.nz
Comments from our readers
No comments yet
Add your comment:
Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.
Related News:
SKC - ADDITIONAL US PRIVATE PLACEMENT FUNDING SECURED
Spark New Zealand Limited's Annual Meeting Results 2022
Fonterra Australia settles class action proceedings
PFI - Q3 Dividend, Development and Divestment Update
November 4th Morning Report
FPH to announce half year results on 29 November 2022
ATM - FDA approval to supply infant milk formula to United States
Steel & Tube - Adopts ESG World Platform
BGP - 3rd Quarter Sales to 30 October 2022
GEO - Quarterly Operating Update
By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump, who has vowed to stop U.S. manufacturing from disappearing overseas, is seeking job-creation advice from at least six companies that are laying off thousands of workers as they shift production abroad. Caterpillar Inc. , United Technologies Corp. , Dana Inc. , 3M Co. , Timken Co. and General Electric Co. , are offshoring work to Mexico, China, India and other countries, according to a Reuters review of U.S. Labor Department records. (Graphic: http://tmsnrt.rs/2lk9N5W) The six firms are part of the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative, a White House advisory council created to help Trump deliver on his promise to increase factory employment. Trump is expected to meet with several manufacturing executives on Thursday, but it is not clear whether they are part of the group. About 2,400 U.S. workers at these six companies stand to lose their jobs within the next two years as a result of the offshoring, according to the Labor Department's Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, which provides retraining benefits to workers displaced by global trade. Reuters obtained the information through a Freedom of Information Act request. The six companies confirmed the planned job cuts to Reuters. It is not clear whether the other 19 companies on the council are currently offshoring work, as the TAA program does not cover all workers who lose their jobs due to global trade. The lost jobs amount to a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers employed by the council's 25 corporate members. General Electric, for example, employs 125,000 U.S. workers, financial filings show. On the campaign trail and in the White House, Trump has painted globalisation as a zero-sum game that has enriched low-wage countries while leaving the United States littered with abandoned factories and underemployed workers, and he has threatened to tax companies that offshore U.S. jobs. The experience of companies on Trump's jobs council, however, shows the reality is more complex in a world where they are serving customers across the globe. Several said they were creating many new U.S. factory jobs even as they move work to other countries. It's not clear whether Trump will opt for the carrot or the stick when he meets with the manufacturing executives on Thursday. Trump plans to meet business leaders to hear their reasons for "why they're going offshore," said a White House aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. Blue-collar workers who share Trump's scepticism of global trade say they will be watching closely to see if he will try to save their jobs. "I don't think he's a typical politician, so there is hope alive for middle-class families that he will do something," said Scott Schmidt, one of 222 workers at a GE engine plant in Waukesha, Wisconsin who are due to lose their jobs later this year when the company shifts production to Canada. General Electric says it is closing its Waukesha plant because Congress has hobbled the U.S. Export-Import Bank's ability to finance large export orders while most other industrialized nations still offer such financial support. The company says it laid off 225 workers last year at a Houston factory for the same reason, shifting production to France, the United Kingdom and Hungary. GE says it is also closing an Ohio factory and laying off 180 workers because consumers are buying fewer of the florescent and incandescent light bulbs they make there. What production remains will be handled by a factory in Hungary. OFFSHORING AND ONSHORING The U.S. economy lost 6 million manufacturing jobs from 2000 to 2010, roughly one-third of its total, in part due to offshoring, but the sector has added 900,000 jobs since then, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Multinational companies say labour costs now are only one factor they consider when deciding where to manufacture. An auto maker, for example, may decide to build a particular model in the country where sales are strongest, prompting parts suppliers to set up there as well so they can turn around orders quickly. The offshoring picture is also more complex than official statistics indicate as a shuttered factory in the United States does not always mean a new factory abroad. When auto-parts maker Dana Corp. closes a factory later this year in Glasgow, Kentucky that is operating at 20 percent of capacity, one of its plants in Ohio will pick up the work, along with other factories in Mexico, India and China. The company plans to hire nearly 700 U.S. workers over the next three years as the company expands factories in four U.S. states, spokesman Jeff Cole said. That is little comfort to the 223 people in Kentucky who will lose their jobs. "It seems like all these CEOs and companies have turned their backs on the American worker," said Dana employee Tim Wells, one of those who will be laid off. GIVING TRUMP A CHANCE Assembled with the help of Dow Chemical Co. Chief Executive Andrew Liveris, Trump's council is tasked with "identifying new and creative policies that can spur U.S. manufacturing and create factory jobs," a Dow spokeswoman said. Dow has also offshored jobs. It laid off 178 technology workers in Michigan last year and moved their work to India, according to the Labor Department records. Dow confirmed the figure. The jobs council includes labour groups like the AFL-CIO. "People are giving president Trump a chance to demonstrate that he means what he said on the campaign trail and that he can deliver. We'll see," said AFL-CIO deputy chief of staff Thea Lee, who is on the council. The council also includes United Technologies Corp., which Trump criticized for planning to close an Indianapolis plant and move the work to Mexico. The company struck a deal with the incoming president in November to preserve roughly 700 jobs in exchange for $7 million in tax breaks. United Technologies says it still plans to lay off 786 workers at a separate Indiana plant and move production to Mexico this year. The company is also moving work from a facility in Arden Hills, Minnesota, resulting in a loss of 72 jobs. Most of that work is staying in the United States but some is moving to Poland, spokeswoman Bethany Sherman said, and some of the affected workers will be offered positions elsewhere. The company is adding more than 1,000 new jobs in the United States, Sherman said. Other panel participants engaged in offshoring include: - Caterpillar, which is laying off 712 workers in the American South and Midwest and moving the work to China, Mexico, Italy, France and Germany as it weathers the largest sales slump in its history; - 3M, which is eliminating 130 jobs in suburban Cincinnati and moving production to Mexico; - Timken Co., which is laying off 120 people at a ball-bearing plant in Tennessee due to declining demand and moving the work to other plants in the United States and abroad. "To stay strong and grow jobs in the United States, we must be able to compete and win where our customers need us today and in the future," Timken spokeswoman Nicole DiSalvo said. A Caterpillar spokesman said it was simultaneously creating 1,300 new manufacturing jobs elsewhere in the United States. 3M said it had added more than 2,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs over the last five years. (Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Ross Colvin)
The alternative-fact alerts are blaring.
President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing forecasts for economic growth that considerably exceed those published by most mainstream economists. So what, you may say. Its just a forecast. Theres no harm in being more optimistic than the rest.
But fudging the numbers can cause plenty of harm. Trump, as becomes more apparent every day, creates his own data when the facts dont suit him. (See: greatest electoral victory since Reagan, widespread voter fraud, highest murder rate in 45 years, unreported terrorist attacks, etc.) And economic policy is highly dependent on the best possible understanding of whats going on. Bogus economic data can be used to justify new policies that might appeal to Trump personallyand appease his populist supporterswhile failing to address real economic problems and even damaging the economy.
Trump is preparing a budget that predicts the economy will grow by around 3.5% per year for the next several years, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Mainstream forecasters like the Congressional Budget Office, the Federal Reserve and private research outfits think thats way too high, and expect growth closer to 2% per year. A point-and-a-half difference in the economic growth rate might not sound like a lot, but its actually huge. If the US economy were growing by 3.5% now, wed probably have several million additional jobs, higher incomes and a lot less dissatisfaction.
The Trump administration hasnt yet published its forecasts, which will be part of the 2018 federal budget Trump must submit to Congress in a few weeks. So we dont know exactly how Trumps team is arriving at rosier forecasts. And the Trump forecasts could change.
Politicizing economic data
But Trumps economic proposals so far rely heavily on supply-side assumptions about tax cuts and infrastructure spending producing a big boost in growth. Such assumptions could justify a big increase in annual deficits and the national debt, since faster growth in the future would produce more income and therefore more tax revenue for the government. Thats not what happened during the last supply-side experiment, however. The big tax cuts signed by President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003 failed to produce a notable boost in growth, and simply added to the national debt.
Story continues
The danger is using selective or bogus forecasts to justify bad policy choices. If it didnt affect policy, there would be no harm, says conservative economist Donald Boudreaux of George Mason University. The harm comes through its potential affect on policy. It can make policy worse.
Trumps team is already looking into ways to restate trade deficits that would make them sound worse than they are, by counting foreign products that transit the United States on their way to some other country as imports but not exports. Economists say such products must be treated the sameeither counted as imports and exports both, or not counted at allto give an accurate picture of whats happening. Counting them as imports but not exports would make the trade deficit larger, fueling calls for protective tariffs and other trade restrictions Trump favors. Many economists and business leaders say such protectionism would raise prices and hurt the economy.
Researchers are beginning to explore whether Trump could politicize economic data the federal government collects and disseminates, which is largely viewed as rigorous and untainted by political manipulation. The Trump administrations alarming tendency to dismiss objective facts as fake news has led to claims that the president and his team could seek to politicize US statistics, British research firm Capital Economics wrote in a recent note to clients. Such worries, the firm said, are a little far-fetched, but no longer completely implausible.
Its obviously still early in Trumps administration, and it may be premature to charge him with the intent to manipulate economic numbers. But Trump is not like other presidents. His contempt for data and science is unprecedented. He dismisses facts that are irrefutable. And he has made promises, such as 3.5% economic growth, that reality may not abide.
To that end, we may be seeing the outlines of a strategy for Trump to declare victory on the economy, regardless of what really happens. Trump could use forecasts in this years presidential budget to change the way growth is measured, setting a new baseline that could make it easier to hit the 3.5% number in subsequent years. When experts protest, hell call it fake news, and blame the media for lying about the real rate of growth.
One big catch is that ordinary people who support Trump now may not buy it if Trump says the economy is suddenly doing greatbut they dont see it reflected in their own lives. You can fool people into thinking theyre worse off than they really are, says Boudreaux. Its harder to fool people into thinking theyre better off than they really are. Alternative facts cant enlarge your paycheck, after all.
Confidential tip line: rickjnewman@yahoo.com
Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman
More from Rick:
Trump wants to block immigrant workers companies need
Why Trump deserves extreme vettingfrom the press
A better way to spend Trumps border wall money
NEW YORK: Yahoo slashed the price of the sale of its core Internet business to Verizon by $350 million following a pair of major data breaches at Yahoo, the two companies announced Tuesday.
Under the revised terms of the deal, Verizon's purchase the Yahoo assets will now total USD 4.48 billion. Yahoo still faces probes and lawsuits related to the breaches, which affected more than 1.5 billion accounts.
The transaction had been delayed due to the hacks.
Yahoo announced in September that hackers in 2014 stole personal data from more than 500 million of its user accounts. It admitted another cyber attack in December, this one dating from 2013, affecting more than a billion users.
Under the terms of the revised agreement, Yahoo will continue to cover the cost of a Securities and Exchange Commission probe into the breaches and shareholder lawsuits.
However, other government investigations and third-party litigation related to the breaches will be shared by Verizon and Yahoo.
"We have always believed this acquisition makes strategic sense," said Verizon executive vice president Marni Walden.
"We look forward to moving ahead expeditiously so that we can quickly welcome Yahoo's tremendous talent and assets into our expanding portfolio in the digital advertising space."
Prices of Yahoo shares rose 0.3 pct to USD 45.24, while Verizon gained 0.4 pct to USD 49.39.
Read Also:
Ramco Systems Bags $2.5 Mn Cloud Deal From Allegis Group
Jio, Uber Forge A Strategic Partnership
LONDON: Mobility of Indian professionals would be key to boost India-UK ties in a post-Brexit scenario, according to the country's top envoy here.
"For us, mobility is key for our services sector. There has to be a system where our professionals can come to the UK and return. They contribute immensely to both the Indian and British economies," Indian High Commissioner Yashvardhan K Sinha said while speaking at the launch of the India@70 programme at India House in London yesterday.
The programme has been organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the University of East Anglia to explore a "new diplomacy" between India and the UK in the 70th year of India's independence.
"We have come a long way since 1947. It is time for us to re-craft our relationships with the wider world and the UK will be a good place to start," said Sinha.
The envoy also expressed hope that a free trade agreement (FTA) with Britain might be easier to achieve than an FTA with the EU, which has not made much headway.
"We have been in discussions with the EU since 1997 but a trade deal has not made much headway. The EU is a large grouping with various national interests involved and there is a view that bilateral negotiations may be easier. India and the UK have set up a joint working group, which could become the fulcrum around which an FTA can be discussed after Brexit," he said.
Laura Clarke, Head of South Asia at the UK Foreign Office, said the "sheer breadth" of the India-UK relationship would be the defining feature in the post-Brexit world.
"In an era of disruption, this relationship becomes all the more important. The relationship is robust and resilient enough that we can talk frankly and openlyabout issues of concern, including visas," she said.
The India@70 programme, which will involve various events in the UK and India over the course of this year, seeks to explore ways in which the India-UK relationship can be readdressed.
"Global politics is changing and it is time to recalibrate, given the unfolding scenario. These are very interesting timesand whileuncertainty will cause a blip, the realities of business mean the focus will be on where the best deals can be found," said FICCI Secretary-General Dr Didar A Singh.
Read Also:
Indian Electronics' Market To Be $228 Bn In 2020: ESDM
India Launches 'Cyber Swachhta Kendra' To Protect Citizens
DailyFX.com -
Talking Points:
US Dollar corrects lower versus yield-geared currencies
Euro and British Pound drop alongside local bond yields
Canadian Dollar falls as crude oil prices turn downward
Currency markets have put in a mixed performance heading into Wednesday morning in European trade. The US Dollar is trading lower against particularly rates-sensitive alternatives at both ends of the policy spectrum, with the perennially low-yielding Yen as well as the high-beta Australian and New Zealand Dollars scoring outsized gains.
This is perhaps reflective of pre-positioning ahead of the upcoming release of minutes from Februarys FOMC meeting. Steady hawkish comments from central bank officials including Chair Yellen seems to have primed investors for more of the same. Still, cautious profit-taking on near-term USD exposure appears to have taken hold after the greenback managed the highest close in a month yesterday.
Meanwhile, European currencies looked decidedly downbeat. The Euro and the British Pound plunged alongside benchmark German Bund and UK Gilt yields, respectively. This points to eroding ECB and BOE policy supportexpectations, although a discrete catalyst for the pickup in momentum is not readily apparent. The moves began long before the days offering of regional economic data began to cross the wires.
The Canadian Dollar likewise declined, tracking crude oil prices. The latters turn downward may be corrective after yesterdays gains on the back of supportive comments from OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo. Markets may have turned leery ahead of API inventory data that may show swing supply continued to swell last week and may undermine the cartels production cut scheme.
Where is the US Dollar going this week? Join a Q&A webinar and ask a DailyFX analyst!
Asia Session
US Dollar Pulls Back vs. Yield-Sensitive FX as FOMC Minutes Loom
European Session
US Dollar Pulls Back vs. Yield-Sensitive FX as FOMC Minutes Loom
** All times listed in GMT. See the full DailyFX economic calendar here.
--- Written by Ilya Spivak, Currency Strategist for DailyFX.com
Story continues
To receive Ilya's analysis directly via email, please SIGN UP HERE
Contact and follow Ilya on Twitter: @IlyaSpivak
original source
DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets.
Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts from IG.
NEW DELHI: Welcoming a 26-member bipartisan delegation from the U.S. Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged the United States to develop a balanced outlook towards the movement of skilled professionals, said an official here.
Underlining the contribution of the Indian talent to the US economy and society, the Prime Minister asked the United States to develop a reflective, balanced and farsighted perspective on movement of skilled professionals, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said.
"The Prime Minister shared his perspective on areas where both countries can work even more closely, including in facilitating greater people-to-people linkages that have over the years helped in contributing to each other's prosperity," it said.
India, in January, had expressed its concern over a bill to change rules on H-1B visas that will impact the IT industry and Indian techies working in America.
The High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017, introduced in the House of Representatives by California Congressman Zoe Lofgren, calls for doubling the minimum salary of H-1B visa holders to $130,000 from the current minimum of $60,000 -- a move that could impact Indian techies.
Calling the visit as a good start to bilateral exchanges following a new US administration, Modi recalled his "positive conversation with President Donald Trump and the shared commitment to further strengthening of ties that have grown deeper in the last two-and-a-half years".
"In this regard, he recognised Congress's strong bipartisan support for the India-US partnership," the statement added.
Read Also:
Indian Civilisation Stands Tall Overcoming Obstacles: Modi
India Discusses Visa, IPR Issues With U.S. Lawmakers
Editor's Note: Charista's Corner is a weekly feature from our teen correspondent.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Grasmere resident Summer Moran has come full circle.
An alumna of St Joseph Hill Academy, Summer is currently a 20-year-old student at Marymount Manhattan College, pursuing a communication arts major with a creative media concentration.
Now she's back at Hill for her senior thesis. This intrigued me because I've often imagined what it'd be like to write and direct your own film or the amount of time and number of people it takes to shoot.
So, I interviewed Summer, a native Staten Islander and daughter of Cathy O'Hare and Kevin Moran, and she told me all about the whys and the hows of her film experience.
Summer's major requires every student to complete a project by taking all the production skills they've learned over the last few years and make a film, an installation, or an interactive piece.
"I chose film. Film is the most powerful medium there is," shared Moran.
"Popular Vote" is about a high school underdog named Josh who impulsively decides to run for Student Council President, and quickly learns that looks and charm are necessary to win -- neither of which he has. With help from fellow classmates, and of course, social media, Josh reinvents the person everyone thinks he is, and actually stands a chance in the election.
Moran's inspiration for the film derived from a class she took last spring called Communicating Image: Fame, Popularity, and Identity in American Culture, taught by professor Dawn Werner.
"I learned that our culture is saturated with image; thanks to social media, we get glimpses into lives that seem a thousand times more exciting than our own. So Popular Vote is kind of a companion to that class. I want it to make people really look at the images they construct for themselves and others," explained Moran.
The film was mainly shot at my school and Moran's alma mater, Saint Joseph Hill Academy High School on Staten Island! It surprisingly only took four days to film, three of the four days being at Hill. The fourth day was spent filming at Brows by Sebastian and Central Park in Manhattan.
"Hill was always so good to me during my time there, and as I wrote the script I just couldn't see it playing out anywhere else. It's got a very homey feel to it that I think others will also experience, even those who've never been there," said Moran.
Although it mere days to film, "Popular Vote" took much longer to write and produce.
"I've got the best crew anyone could ask for. This is my second semester studying under the guidance of Professor Sarah Nelson Wright. The first semester was entirely pre-production. So we've been developing our ideas since September -- writing, casting, rewriting, storyboarding, rewriting, fundraising, rewriting, rehearsing and of course, rewriting. My crew knows exactly what they're doing and we all work really well together. There's a lot of care and effort there," shared Moran.
Assembling everyone and everything was a difficult task for Summer in itself, and she was careful to select people whom she could trust and rely upon.
"Once we had everyone, we could all sit down and read the script and lay things out, and basically get everyone's thoughts," Summer said. "And I remember during that initial meeting, everyone was really eager to make something special. And then we did."
Moran draws inspiration from the people around her. She doesn't base her inspiration on anyone in particular. If she finds someone she wants to turn into a character, she completely exaggerates them. Those are the most fun for her to write. Her two favorite movies are "Pleasantville" (1998) and "The Stepford Wives" (1975/2004).
She accredits her success with this film, and in college in general, to Saint Joseph Hill Academy. "Academically, I've been very greatly influenced by Hill as I'm graduating a semester early thanks to the classes I took in high school. On a personal level, it's even better. At Hill I was instilled with very important values, and for me it all comes back to faith," explained Moran.
"When I am facing difficulties at school, I remind myself of the skills I learned at Hill to cope. I try my best to exemplify summum bonum, the highest good, and I think that's the reason I've been blessed with so much success in college."
After college, she wants to continue doing independent projects, writing for television and film, and have a successful acting career.
According to Summer, the goal of "Popular Vote" is mainly to entertain. She loved to write and perform things on a larger scale and hopes her film displays it. "It's meant to make people think about the way we view popularity and glorify celebrities in American culture, and how we're influenced by these so-called 'stars' that we make for ourselves," shared Moran.
"This project wouldn't be possible without the efforts and kindness of so many people: Mrs. Brodeur and Mrs. Sullivan at Hill; Anthony Lee, John Hasbrouck and Joe Ralko; and my parents. It truly does take a village to make a film!"
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Last month, "Fresh Start" gave over 200 local artists, filmmakers, musicians, actors, writers, photographers and entrepreneurs the opportunity to meet, network and bond over a love for their crafts.
Now, it's time to "Connect Differently."
On Thursday evening, beginning at 7 p.m, home-grown organizations Staten Island Talent, Fifth Borough Media and Assembyl 3D Printing will host their second creative community networking mixer of the year. This Way On Bay and Dock St Studios co-sponsor the event that already has 60 people planning to attend.
"I hope that [this event] connects people, not just on one side of the Island," said Jonathan Joseph, creative director of Fifth Borough Media. "There's a lot of talent that I haven't met before -- whether it be the age gap or distance -- so, this is a great way to get everyone together."
Those attending the mixer are given a color coded sticker once they walk in, that represents their area of expertise. Organizers believe this will help Staten Island talent spot out those in their respective fields right away.
NOT JUST THE 'FORGOTTEN' BOROUGH
Fifth Borough Media and Staten Island Talent have been creating monthly meet-ups since late last year in an effort to bring talent from all over the Island under one roof to meet, chat and make long-lasting business connections.
"This is an opportunity to put the cream of the crop of Staten Island in one room," said Joseph. "It's sort of our obligation to show other people who we are."
Michael Perina, owner of Assembyl 3D Printing and another creative force behind these monthly mixers said the goal of these events is to highlight the "incredible art community we have" and "help reshape Staten Island's image, as well as facilitating great minds coming together and collaborate."
"Staten Island isn't really seen as the forgotten borough these days but our image is still tainted with negative stereotypes," said Perina. "There is tremendous talent on Staten Island that most people don't realize is here."
Jahtiek Long, director of creative outreach at Staten Island Talent, says Staten Island is a blank canvas and local artists hold the brush.
"We have the opportunity to define the Staten Island culture," said Long. "There are so many different types of artists on the Island and the fact that the community is coming together is beautiful."
"We all want the same thing for Staten Island-- for it to come together and flourish," Long added.
AX224_7B13_9.JPG
The city's Health Department says cat adoptions have resumed at city animal shelters after an outbreak of bird flu was contained. (Staten Island Advance)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The city Health Department and Animal Care Centers (ACC) of NYC have good news for people looking to adopt a cat from a city shelter.
Cat adoption services have resumed at all shelters and at various mobile adoption events across the five boroughs, the agencies announced Wednesday.
Shelter operations were partially suspended in response to an outbreak of the H7N2 virus, a rare strain of bird flu.
Testing began in mid-November, first with 45 cats in an ACC shelter in Manhattan testing positive for the flu. Most experienced a mild illness and are expected to recover. Only a handful of cats in the Staten Island ACC shelter in Charleston tested positive for the disease during the period.
Signs of the virus include sneezing, coughing, runny nose, and runny or red eyes. It can spread if a cat has contact with another infected cat or with objects used by sick animals (such as kitty litter or food bowls).
Working with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Maddie's Fund and the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, the Health Department and ACC was able to provide a temporary quarantine shelter as cats recovered from the mild illness.
Over half of the quarantined cats have been placed with rescue groups and shelters, including the ASPCA's Adoption Center, which received more than 100 cats that were completely cleared of the virus based on multiple negative test results prior to adoption.
The quarantine shelter will remain open as cats are cleared and released for adoption.
"I thank our partners at ACC and the ASPCA for their support as we resume normal operations at our shelters and once again offer cats to New Yorkers looking for furry friends," said city Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett.
"Our swift response to the H7N2 outbreak stands as a model for the nation and we will continue to do everything we can to ensure the cats in our care remain healthy and find loving homes."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A lifetime parolee, his brother, a married couple and an ex-convict are among eight borough residents accused of helping fuel Staten Island's drug crisis by conspiring to distribute heroin and oxycodone, authorities said Wednesday.
The ring operated over a five-month period from September of last year to January of this year, officials said.
Charged in Brooklyn federal court were lifetime parolee Michael Calabria, 49; his brother, Joseph Calabria, 52; Glenn DePaolo, 59; Maria DePaolo, 55, and ex-convict Ugo Gallo, 46, authorities said.
Also accused in the scheme were borough residents Stephen DelPriore, 55; Devida Lombardo, 46, and Carol Monforte, 57, along with Vincent Maniscalco, 55 of Brooklyn.
Authorities did not provide street addresses for the suspects.
Their lawyers' names were not immediately available.
An additional defendant, whom authorities did not identify, was arrested Wednesday in Arizona.
"These defendants allegedly pushed heroin and oxycodone for months, contributing to the opioid plague that has caused great suffering on Staten Island," said Robert L. Capers, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a statement.
Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill said the defendants, as alleged, "endangered the lives of those who live and work around them by contributing to the supply of highly addictive narcotics that have led to numerous overdoses and deaths."
Capers and O'Neill announced the arrests along with James J. Hunt, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York Division and Angel M. Melendez, Special Agent-in Charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations.
According to a criminal complaint, the DePaolos, Maniscalco and Monforte supplied oxycodone to Joseph Calabria, who distributed the drug to others.
Joseph Calabria was heard a number of times on wiretaps discussing oxycodone purchases with those four defendants, said the complaint.
The foursome typically refilled oxycodone prescriptions containing 120 to 180 pills and sold most of the drugs to Calabria, the complaint alleges.
A second criminal complaint accuses Michael Calabria of supplying heroin to Gallo, who then distributed the narcotics.
Michael Calabria transacted tens of thousands of dollars with Gallo, and Calabria generally sold heroin to customers in $10 bags, that complaint said.
Delpriore is accused, along with Michael Calabria and unnamed others, of conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin.
The Calabria brothers, Lombardo and others allegedly conspired to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute oxycodone.
Each defendant could face up to 20 years behind bars if convicted, said prosecutors.
Advance records show Michael Calabria and Ugo Gallo have criminal records.
Calabria is on lifetime parole after serving a sentence of three years to life for a 1990 drug-dealing conviction in Brooklyn.
Gallo, then living in Great Kills, pleaded guilty in February 2014 to a felony drug-sale charge for peddling heroin to an undercover cop and was later sentenced to two years in prison, said the Advance.
He was paroled in May 2015, according to online records of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police were investigating a reported pellet gun shooting of a 28-year-old male in St. George Tuesday night.
Police were alerted to the incident after a victim with a gunshot wound walked into Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton around 5 p.m., police said.
The victim was being uncooperative with authorities, but several police cars could be seen parked outside of 165 St. Mark's Place, where police believe the shooting occurred. Officers could be seen walking in and out of the building.
The victim was expected to recover from his injuries.
tareck el aissimi
Tareck El Aissami, the recently appointed vice president in Venezuela, took out a full-page in The New York Times on Wednesday to rebuke sanctions against him and other Venezuelan officials leveled by the US government over drug trafficking charges.
El Aissami, who was named alongside an alleged associate, was declared by the US Treasury Department to be a specially designated narcotics trafficker for allegedly "playing a significant role in international narcotics trafficking."
He is accused of being a part of a network of military and government officials who, with others, have facilitated the transshipment of narcotics through Venezuela to destinations in the US, Europe, and elsewhere.
El Aissami's letter, addressed to Steven Mnuchin, the recently appointed US Treasury secretary, rebuts these drug-trafficking accusations, chalking them up to partisan political motives:
"First, in your capacity as [Office of Foreign Asset Control] Authority you have been deceived by political sectors, lobbyists and stakeholders in the u.S. whose essential interest is to prevent that the United States and Venezuela restore their political and diplomatic relations on the basis of mutual recognition and respect."
"These stakeholders not only lack any evidence to demonstrate the extremely serious accusations against me, but they have also built a false positive case in order to criminalize through me the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a country that is decidedly waging a war on transnational drug trafficking business."
El Aissami cites as evidence of this fight against drugs the apprehensions of drug traffickers made by Venezuelan authorities during his time as interior minister under late President Hugo Chavez from 2008 to 2012, a number of whom were extradited to the US and Colombia.
Tareck El Aissami Hugo Chavez Venezuela president
Story continues
He also cites the increase in the average annual amount of cocaine seized by Venezuelan authorities between 2005 and 2013 over the average yearly amount of the previous six years, when the US Drug Enforcement Administration was operating in the country.
"This figure by itself shows the lack of commitment of DEA to fighting drugs trafficking, and upholds the very well documented assertion of the connections between that U.S. Agency with the criminal drug organizations," the letter states.
Aissami also refers to Venezuela's policy of shooting down suspected drug planes detected over its territory. The country has brought down over a 100 aircraft under this policy, the letter says. Drug-plane shoot-down policies are risky and have led to international incidents in the past.
Planes shot down over Venezuela have been found to be carrying cocaine, but in other cases, the evidence justifying the shoot down and source of the authorization for it have been murky.
"But beyond any political and geopolitical considerations, OFAC's decision constitutes a serious violation against my human rights and seriously damages my dignity and honor," El Aissami states in the letter. "I have led my personal, professional and political life in my country, which I love deeply and to which I devote my life through a political project whose supreme objective is the happiness of our people, equality and social justice."
"I have no assets or accounts in the United States or in any country of the world, and it is both absurd and pathetic that an American administrative body without presenting any evidence adopts a measure to freeze goods and assets that I do not own at all."
Tareck El Aissami Nicolas Maduro Venezuela president
El Aissami also cites what he calls the failure of the US-led war on drugs at home and abroad, calling on the US government to "rethink" and "rectify" policies he says have violated international law and human rights and abetted or empowered criminal actors.
El Aissami has been called the "narco of Aragua," referring to the state he was governor of from 2012 to 2017, because of suspicions he has used his official connections to facilitate the trafficking of drugs from Colombia through Venezuela's air and seaports.
Drug traffickers arrested in the region have said they had links or made payments to Venezuelan officials and others with ties to El Aissami.
Other Venezuelan official sanctioned or indicted by the US over drug-related offenses have been placed into higher-ranking positions within the Venezuelan government, in a move some see as an effort by embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to bring on officials with interests in defending his administration.
Responding to the sanctions leveled against El Aissami, Maduro said, "They are not attacking Tareck, they are attacking a country, a revolution and I am the final objective."
Full letter by Tareck El Aissami published today in New York Times pic.twitter.com/HGhdXydhOa Nathan Crooks (@nmcrooks) February 22, 2017
NOW WATCH: Trump says he shaved $600M off Americas most expensive weapons system
More From Business Insider
By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent.
Agree
Best Canadian Blog
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
About Kate
Why this blog?
Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked.
This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio - "You don't speak for me."
(goes to a private mailserver in Europe) I can't answer or use every tip, but all are appreciated!
Katewerk Art
Support SDA
I am not a registered charity. I cannot issue tax receipts.
Reconnaissance Man
Economics for the Disinterested
Montrose County
Trump The Establishment
"I enjoyed these poems immensely."
- William Peter Blatty,
author of The Exorcist
Want lies?
Hire a regular consultant.
Want truth?
Hire an asshole.
Weather Shop
Click to inquire about rates.
Dow Jones
What They Say About SDA
"Smalldeadanimals doesn't speak for the people of Saskatchewan" Former Sask Premier Lorne Calvert
"I got so much traffic after your post my web host asked me to buy a larger traffic allowance." Dr.Ross McKitrick
Holy hell, woman. When you send someone traffic, you send someone TRAFFIC. My hosting provider thought I was being DDoSed. - Sean McCormick
"The New York Times link to me yesterday [...] generated one-fifth of the traffic I normally get from a link from Small Dead Animals." Kathy Shaidle
"Thank you for your link. A wave of your Canadian readers came to my blog! Really impressive." Juan Giner - INNOVATION International Media Consulting Group
I got links from the Weekly Standard, Hot Air and Instapundit yesterday - but SDA was running at least equal to those in visitors clicking through to my blog. Jeff Dobbs
"You may be a nasty right winger, but you're not nasty all the time!" Warren Kinsella
"Go back to collecting your welfare livelihood."Michael E. Zilkowsky
Intelliweather
Seismic Map
Comments Policy
Read this
Best Of SDA
Hide The Decline
The Bottle Genie
(ClimateGate links)
You Might Be A Liberal
Uncrossing The Line
Bob Fife: Knuckledragger
A Modest Proposal (NP)
Settled Science Series
Y2Kyoto Series
SDA: Reader Occupation Survey
Brett Lamb Sheltered Workshop
Flakes On A Plane
All Your Weather Are Belong To Us
Song Of The Sled
The Raise A Flag Debacle
(Now on Youtube!)
(.mwv Video)
Abuse Ruins Life Of Girl
Trudeaupiate
Kleptocrat Jeans
Child Labour
I Concede
Small Dead Feminist
Protein Hoser: THK Interview
The Werewolf Extinction
Dear Laura (VRWC)
We Wait
Blogging The Oscars
Jackson Converts To Islam
Just Shut The HELL Up
Manipulating Condi
Gay Equality Rights
System error
error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.
context: ... 21: %method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: %perl> 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25
/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948
/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17
/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149
Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612e822e960)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e63c8fd0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612e822e960)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e63c8fd0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe4e120)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e63c8fd0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e63c8fd0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e63c72d0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612e63c92e8)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612e63c92e8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
Kane Orr doubts he will ever feel as proud as he was the moment he completed his last stroke in the water separating southern England from northern France.
But he will never feel as much at home as swimming in the water that divides Canberra's north and south.
Canberran Kane Orr did all of his English Channel training in Lake Burley Griffin, including many three-to-six-hour swims and a few eight-to-11-hour ones
Mr Orr trained tirelessly in a lake that many Canberrans have never stepped foot in, in preparation to take on the famous English Channel. He completed the tough swim in 14 hours and 41 minutes.
While his fond memories of jumping in LBG may not be widely shared among the Canberra public, he hopes that will soon change.
The hearing for a Canberra father accused of negligent driving over a crash that killed his seven-year-old daughter has been delayed after a court was told authorities had failed to hand over road signs critical to the defence case.
Christopher James Ward, 73, pleaded not guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to negligent driving causing death and failure to give way stemming from the two-car collision at a Florey intersection in which his daughter, Acacia Ward, died in July 2015.
Acacia Ward, then 5, busks at the National Folk Festival in 2013. Credit:Melissa Adams
Ward's defence team this week launched a bid for those charges to be stayed, at least temporarily, arguing repeated attempts to get the ACT government and a private contractor to produce signs at the intersection at the time of the crash had been unsuccessful.
Magistrate Peter Morrison refused to grant the stay, prompting Ward's lawyers to make an application for that decision to be reviewed in the ACT Supreme Court.
Bega Cheese has flagged the possibility that dairy processors could start paying farmers more for their milk later this year.
Bega said on Wednesday that prices for global dairy commodities have been improving because of lower production from many exporting regions and stronger demand, particularly from China.
"We would expect that if that commodity position prevails and indeed stabilises, you'll see farmgate price improvement later in the year, indeed more likely in the beginning of next financial year," Bega Cheese executive chairman Barry Irvin said on Wednesday.
He said the current farmgate milk price is $5.13 per kilogram of milk solids, down from the opening price of $5.60 in the 2016 financial year.
Melbourne industrial property deals surged to a record $1.92 billion in transactions in 2016, a 15 per cent increase on the previous year.
Melbourne was the strongest performer nationally, in a year where the national total spend fell to $4.83 billion, down from a record $5.26 billion in 2015, according to research from agents CBRE.
Melbourne was the nation's strongest performer for industrial property sales in 2016.
While a lack of stock held down the national total, the number of deals in Melbourne increased to 70 in 2016 up from 60 in 2015. Yields compressed a further 10 basis points to 6 per cent.
The appetite for industrial come as investors, local and offshore, look for high-quality buildings to stuff into their portfolios or other assets that have scope for development and improvement.
LuLaRoe leggings
Some LuLaRoe customers are saying that the company's leggings are tearing and starting to "disintegrate" after as little as a few hours of wear.
The clothing brand has grown rapidly over the last two years by building a cultlike following among millennial moms.
Most of its success has been built with a single product: soft leggings, which cost about $25.
The company releases a limited number of leggings in unique patterns it distributes them through a network of "consultants" who sell to their friends at parties held in homes and customers seem to go nuts trying to get their hands on the latest styles.
But in recent months, complaints about the quality of the leggings have started piling up.
Women are sharing photos on social media of LuLaRoe leggings with large holes in the fabric or, in some cases, dozens of tiny holes and many say the damage appeared after the leggings were worn once or twice. There's a Facebook group with more than 1,400 members devoted to sharing stories about the damage, a guide for how to put the leggings on without tearing them being passed around, and even a theory about which leggings are more likely to wind up damaged.
"These pants rip like wet toilet paper," said Valerie Williams, 35, of Syracuse, New York. Williams has bought five pairs of LuLaRoe leggings. She says two of them tore as soon as she put them on.
"This must be a widespread issue," she told Business Insider.
Maintaining quality is a challenge for any fast-growing brand, but for a company like LuLaRoe, the backlash is particularly serious because it is taking place in the same forums that helped create buzz for the leggings in the first place. LuLaRoe's customers say they're having a hard time returning the damaged goods because the company's sales consultants, who buy directly from the company at wholesale prices, are barriers.
Story continues
Some consultants, meanwhile, say they're saddled with the damaged merchandise.
A LuLaRoe spokeswoman, Shana Frahm, said an internal audit showed that damages were 0.061% of shipped merchandise per month. She said this is well below the industry average.
"As you know, we are a new brand, and we have been working diligently to ensure that our customer experience is highly satisfactory," she said. Frahm declined to answer questions about whether the company was aware of problems with holes in the leggings.
But one LuLaRoe consultant said on Facebook in early February that the company was aware of the issue.
"LuLaRoe is working super hard to reinvent the process a bit, to stop holes from happening yay!" Nichole Ramirez wrote on February 2.
Advice for buyers
LuLaRoe sellers are also widely sharing a diagram with tips on how to avoid holes, including advice like "Pull just a tad or you'll be sad!"
Still, customers have complained through social media and the Better Business Bureau's website.
"Second pair of LuLaRoe leggings to get a hole. ... Safe to say, I'm done wasting my money," one person wrote on Twitter on January 31.
Another customer wrote on Facebook: "What am I doing wrong with LuLaRoe leggings? I hand wash them, basically treat them like newborn infants without a fully formed skull, and still only have 1 pair left without holes all over."
On January 30, someone wrote in a review on the Better Business Bureau's website that three pairs of their leggings developed large holes within hours of putting them on.
"In November I put on a brand new pair of leggings," they wrote. "By lunch the whole rear end had just disintegrated.
"That ends my years long relationship with your consultants," they wrote. "No more Lula for me. Sick of paying twice what I should for clothes that disappear. THREE pairs in two months is three too many."
The bureau's website has 170 reviews of LuLaRoe and 210 customer complaints, mostly about quality issues primarily holes in the leggings.
On Facebook, more than 50 complaints in the last two weeks have cited holes in the leggings. On Twitter, more than 100 complaints since September refer specifically to holes.
Vietnam connection?
LuLaRoe leggings
One theory among LuLaRoe customers is that the holes are more common with leggings that are manufactured in Vietnam as opposed to in China or other countries. In Facebook groups where LuLaRoe is sold, customers are inquiring about where the leggings are made before purchasing them, according to Williams, who is a member of many of these groups.
There's no place to review LuLaRoe's products on its website because it doesn't sell any clothes on it.
LuLaRoe sells products only through the consultants, which the company refers to as "independent retailers." The consultants many of whom are millennial moms buy the clothes at wholesale prices and then sell them at marked-up prices to friends in their living rooms and in online forums.
The consultants can earn money not only from their direct sales, but also from the sales of a team of recruits. This strategy is called multilevel marketing, and it's also used by companies like Mary Kay, Beachbody, and The Pampered Chef.
For some LuLaRoe customers, this setup has made it difficult to get refunds or credit for damaged goods.
Customers have said in reviews that when they tried to get in touch with the company about damaged goods, either they couldn't get through to anyone or were told to contact their consultant.
"The quality of the clothing is extremely poor!" one customer wrote on the Better Business Bureau website on January 13. "I have had several leggings arrive with holes OR disintegrate upon first wear. Wrote customer service who basically blew me off and told me to find a consultant to replace them."
LuLaRoe leggings
Some customers say their consultants won't do anything to replace the damage goods. Others say they can get only a credit or exchange, not a refund.
"In regard to returns, our direction to our independent retailers is that we stand behind our product," Frahm said. "The retailers can take those damages back and replace or issue refunds, and in turn, we credit their accounts as well."
She also highlighted LuLaRoe's limited control over how consultants conduct business.
"With the independent nature of our retail structure, complaints to the BBB are sometimes regarding customer interactions with our independent retailers," she said. "We try not to interfere with how they run their businesses, aside from providing guidelines and internal policies to help shape great customer service and cultural transference."
Sellers complain
People who say they are current and former consultants have also complained that they can't get in touch with anyone at the company to resolve issues.
"I'm a former [LuLaRoe] representative and am still waiting to be refunded for the damaged items I submitted on May 19," one person wrote on the Better Business Bureau website in late October. "It's been over five months since these damages were submitted and I'm still waiting for money. Very frustrating. ... Also very happy I stopped selling it."
Another person who said they were a consultant said they also had trouble getting a response from the company.
"I am still waiting on five backordered shirts they will not refund or send me," the person wrote in a review. "Then, when the products arrived, they would have holes, look worn, etc."
One person who said they stopped selling LuLaRoe said in December that the company delayed refunding them for unsold products.
"After some product would not sell we were given the option to send it back and pay a restocking fee," the reviewer wrote. "After following the process word for word on filling out the forms, paying money to UPS to send the product back, we have not received our refund or credit for that matter. You cannot talk to anyone on the phone and we have also sent numerous emails inquiring. Three weeks ago we were sent one email saying it would be process but that was it. ... As of right now we are out $1100 with no way of speaking to someone to try and resolve."
Despite these seller complaints, some women say they are getting rich by selling LuLaRoe.
LuLaRoe leggings
As Business Insider reported last year, LuLaRoe's top sellers say they make six-figure salaries by selling the brand's clothes and managing teams of other sellers.
Some have posted rave reviews on Glassdoor, a website where employees can anonymously review the companies they work for although the company has an overall rating of 2.5 stars out of five.
"I have been a consultant for seven months and it has been life changing," one review says. "I didn't have two dimes to rub together and I am making more money in a month than I used to make in a year."
As with most multilevel-marketing companies, employees' experiences appear to be wide-ranging, based on the success they have had in selling products.
But achieving that success could be increasingly challenging if the company's quality issues erode brand loyalty.
Williams says she isn't ready to give up LuLaRoe just yet, even after purchasing two pairs of leggings that ripped open on the first wear.
"I will buy more LuLaRoe, but I'm disappointed that I have to ask now where the leggings are made before claiming so as to avoid more Vietnam pairs," she told Business Insider.
NOW WATCH: Watch the new Nike ad celebrating Arab women in sports that is causing controversy
More From Business Insider
The surging east coast property market means Stockland, one of the country's largest home developers, is holding more deposits for its developments than ever before.
The group, which owns offices, shopping centres, logisitic centres and retirement living dwellings, on Wednesday reported a statutory profit of $702 million and generated funds from operations (FFO) of $369 million, an increase of 7.8 per cent on the previous corresponding period.
With Sydney, Melbourne and now Brisbane, markets all heading upwards the group enjoyed a 3 per cent rise in sales volumes in the first half, with 2853 lots settled, compared to the corresponding period.
Contracts on hand at the start of January 2017 totalled 5807, a new record for Stockland and an increase of 1698 on the prior corresponding period.
One of the city's well-know watering holes, the Verandah Bar's leasehold is on the market with price expectations of about $9 million as the owners take advantage of the strong pub sector.
Current owner, Dean Haritos, who sold the Light Brigade Hotel in Sydney's eastern suburbs to the Bayfield family in 2015, said he had received a number of unsolicited inquiries for the hotel, at 60 Castlereagh Street, which prompted him to test the market.
The leasehold of the Verandah hotel at Martin Place is being offered for sale
While most pub sector sales are freehold, a lack of city sites has led investors to turn their attention to long-term leasehold concerns.
"In much the same way we were when we brought The Light Brigade Hotel to market, the unsolicited inquiry we've fielded for Verandah Hotel has been such that we felt it was appropriate to engage the industry specialists and put some process around the constant inquiry," Mr Haritos said.
Ramsay Health Care has announced that Chris Rex plans to retire this year after nine years as managing director and chief executive as it delivered a 13.8 per cent rise in interim net profit to $255.9 million.
The company said it had a "comprehensive" CEO succession process under way. Mr Rex would continue to lead the company in the meantime.
Ramsay CEO Chris Rex has flagged his retirement. Credit:Daniel Munoz
Ramsay chairman Michael Siddle paid tribute to Mr Rex, saying he had been instrumental to the company's success.
"During his time as CEO, Ramsay has become one of the largest health care companies in the world, operating 220 hospitals and facilities across six countries, and is a market leader in France as well as Australia," he said in a statement to the ASX on Thursday morning.
Crown Resorts insists its $1.2 billion casino and apartment development at Barangaroo will not be affected by the ongoing detention of 14 of its staff in a Chinese jail.
At its interim results announcement on Wednesday the James Packer-controlled operation also insisted its decision to "pause" its pursuit of Chinese high-rollers was not a retreat from the region and that it would return to China.
Unveiling a 9 per cent slump in net profit Crown confirmed it would pursue an "efficiency drive" that would likely lead to hundreds of job losses at its Perth and Melbourne resorts along with the potential axing of sponsorship contracts.
Crown has pulled its sales force out of China until it can clarify the exact nature of the allegations made against its staff but its Chinese workforce is already chasing new VIP customers in other parts of the South-East Asian region.
Australia must tackle the highly-centralised structures of public education if we are to stem the long-term decline of Australian students' performance compared to the rest of the world.
When it comes to public education, Australia has much to learn from the United States.
Last week, the US Senate voted to confirm President Donald Trump's controversial pick for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos. Vice-President Mike Pence was called in to break a tie vote for the first time in history for a cabinet appointment.
DeVos was a provocative nomination principally because she has spent decades campaigning for school choice promoting charter schools and voucher programs. While this has pitted her against the teaching unions, it is hardly a fringe position: 43 US states have adopted charter school laws, and more than 2.5 million students are enrolled in 6465 charter schools.
However, Australia has consistently maintained that we must rely on US nuclear weapons to "protect" us ("extended deterrence"), and therefore will not rule out their use on our behalf. Exactly how or under what circumstances that protection would manifest, or against which populations a nuclear bomb might be launched on our behalf, has never been explained.
The UN resolution and the forthcoming negotiations are the result of intense government and civil society action in recent years that has highlighted the catastrophic humanitarian impacts of these most terrifying and destructive of all weapons, and the imperative to prevent any further use.
We are about to boycott major UN multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations. On March 27 in New York, negotiations will commence on a treaty to ban nuclear weapons, following a strongly supported resolution passed in the General Assembly last December with 123 nations in favour, 38 against and 16 abstentions for "a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination".
Australia's boycott of the disarmament talks, a decision that was made public just last week, will have grave implications, quite apart from the unconscionable act of snubbing the most promising disarmament initiative in decades. It calls into question our commitment not only to the UN but also to the 1968 nuclear non-proliferation treaty, article 6 of which obliges all member states not just those with the weapons to "pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to ... nuclear disarmament".
The key to a ban treaty's effectiveness lies in its power to delegitimise and stigmatise weapons that kill and maim whole populations indiscriminately. Which nation would boast of a "smallpox deterrent" or a "nerve gas deterrent"? Yet despite the existence of treaties to ban these other weapons of mass destruction, there is still no equivalent treaty to ban the only weapons that can destroy a city in an instant and leave human suffering and environmental devastation on a scale we can't imagine.
The US, which has been the strongest opponent of the ban treaty process, with Australia as our ally's most active and vocal supporter, has conceded behind closed doors that a ban treaty will have exactly its intended purpose. A letter from the US mission to NATO to its NATO allies on October 17 last year, expressed alarm that a nuclear weapons prohibition could, among other things, "make it impossible to undertake nuclear planning or training". Indeed; that's the whole point of the thing.
Australia's boycott will also render our advocacy in other areas less credible. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's frequent pronouncements on the need for a rules-based international system will ring hollow if Australia actively undermines this historic effort to strengthen international law and give effect to the disarmament obligation written into the non-proliferation treaty.
How will Australia be able to condemn nuclear missile tests by, say, North Korea, or other possible future proliferators, when we support a nuclear apartheid and oppose efforts to place all nuclear-armed nations on the same legal footing?
Perhaps lesser-known than his founding of scouting (C8, birthday) is Sir Robert Baden-Powell's illustrated 1889 volume, Pig-sticking or hog-hunting: A complete account for sportsmen and others, reports Ralph Davis (C8PhD) of Wahroonga. His copy is the 1924 "revised and enlarged edition", which at 312 pages certainly is "complete". "Chapters include 'Healthy for body and mind'; 'Its value as a school for soldiers'; and 'The boar himself as an ally'." The book is "dedicated by permission to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales who in the pig-sticking field proved himself in the fuller sense of the word, a Prince among sportsmen".
There is a memorial to Baden-Powell in the park in Deloraine, Tasmania, advises Judy Ford. "I often wondered if there was a link there." [C8: Perhaps a pig-sticking excursion?]
"In reply to Gail Conder (C8, PM hand on heart), when I was a child in primary school in Victoria we stood with our hands on our hearts and said an oath of allegiance. This was in the 30s and 40s, so I don't know when it ceased," says Joy Wood, West Gosford.
More from Joe Kensell of Five Dock. "This practice was allegedly started by the British military survivors of the Battle for Rorke's Drift during the Zulu War. Eleven VCs were awarded (the most ever awarded in one action) and during a ceremony on the troops return to the UK, they covered their medals with their right hand on the basis that they were no braver than those who had died during the battle. This simple action was carried on by British troops during the various ceremonies and marches after the armistice that ended WWI."
The winner of the C8 (YOUR) Olympics is based on the number of contributions chosen by C8 (YOU), a conflict of interest even Donald Trump would understand. Shouldn't the winner be decided by a poll of C8 readers? John Christie, Oatley.
As a lesbian Jew I share Michael Danby's approval of Israel's gay pride march and its thriving democracy ("Jewish leaders hit back," February 22).
I saved my pocket money as a child to donate to Israel's survival in the attacks from Syria and Jordan, which resulted in the occupied territories. I understood self-defence then, and I still do.
Benjamin Netanyahu's endorsement of the retroactive theft of private Palestinian land and his support for expansion of the settlements is not self-defence, it is violence. It is hard to hold the line between self-defence and violence, and for that reason most gay Jews I know would welcome Mr Netanyahu to Australia.
But they would also tell him that we Australians are not enemies with anyone. We don't like the expansion of the settlements, or the theft of Palestinian land.
Australian forces are playing a key role in the escalating battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul, bombing 130 Islamic State targets and deploying special forces medics close to the frontline to treat wounded Iraqi soldiers.
RAAF pilots have hit IS fighters, car bomb factories, artillery positions, weapons caches, tunnel entrances and water supplies across the city since October, when Iraq and its coalition supporters launched their offensive.
With the fighting now set to enter a deadly new phase as the Iraqi forces start pushing into the perilous IS stronghold of West Mosul, Australian medics near the battlefield are preparing for a sharp increase in casualties.
Mosul fell to IS militants in 2014, the largest city to come under extremist control. Iraq hopes to reclaim it in the coming months, but the fight will require intense, street-to-street fighting in heavily populated areas.
George Christensen's regular squabbles with the Turnbull government are well-known. He has threatened to quit over the backpacker tax, same-sex marriage and the direction of the Coalition.
But the issue which has brought the maverick MP closest to cutting the cord - and blowing up the Parliament - is one that has received scant attention outside of Queensland.
For three years, sugarcane growers in that state's Burdekin region, south of Townsville, have been sucked into a looming crisis over their contracts to supply sugarcane.
The Singapore-owned conglomerate Wilmar, which bought CSR Sugar's mills six years ago, is seeking control over marketing as well as milling. But growers want the choice to use their old single-desk collective, Queensland Sugar Limited, which has been able to garner a better price for farmers than Wilmar in recent years.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives for a meeting of foreign ministers at the World Conference Centre in Bonn on Friday. Credit:Getty Images Yes but who is the guy in the background with small fingers and orange hair? Bishop went on: "It's a new administration. Of course people are very interested to hear whether there's going to be a change in policy and I found the statements very reassuring, as I'm sure other NATO allies did as well, that the US is committed to a leadership role. The United States is asking other countries to share the burden of ending conflicts and resolving challenges around the world." And at that point she made a very neat segue, away from Trump to a declaration that Australia was of a like mind, and that Canberra had a role to play, working with its allies to end conflict and build peace. Then there was what sounded to the rest of the world like Tillerson declaring war on China - he caused jaws to drop in think tanks across the globe when he was asked if he would support a more aggressive US posture in the South China Sea.
"We're going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed," he told his Senate confirmation hearing. You might have responded: "Wow." But Bishop wouldn't even acknowledge that Tillerson had spoken as the record shows he did, or that the vast information-gathering capacity of the Australian government surely delivered her several briefing papers on the Tillerson outburst. To the amazement of the master class, Bishop's response was borderline Trumpian: "They are not the words that Secretary Tillerson has used in any conversation with me nor have I heard him say it at the G20 foreign ministers' meeting." Then, another of those segues away from the cuckoo's nest that is today's Washington, to sober, sensible Canberra: "I think Australia has a role to play in putting our perspective and we have been consistent on the South China Sea.
"It's a matter we say publicly and privately to the US and to China and to other claimant states and it's a matter that we will continue to urge, that there be a de-escalation of tensions and that the parties resolve their differences peacefully. "After all, Australia has a very deep national interest in peace and stability in the South China Sea. The majority of our exports go through the South China Sea. That's why we continue to exercise our rights to freedom of over-flight and freedom of navigation to ensure that international trade can continue unimpeded." Asked about the phone call in which Trump lashed out at Malcolm Turnbull before throwing the Australian prime minister off the line earlier that expected, Bishop barely acknowledged that phone call. Instead of talking about the Trump-Trumbull phone call, Bishop was away with her ears pinned back, eulogising the Pence-Bishop phone calls. "I've had two previous telephone conversations with the vice-president. This was my opportunity to meet him face to face. It was very warm. It was very friendly. We spoke about many things. The meeting went longer than scheduled, which is always a good sign, because we had so many issues to discuss a positive, constructive, discussion between partners, allies and friends.
"That matter [the Turnbull-Trump phone call] didn't come up " It all sounded a bit like speed-dating. Bishop's reference to the meeting going over time prompted a query on how long the meeting actually was. "I think it was almost an hour", she answered. Maybe 50 minutes and take a few minutes at each end for welcome and farewell pleasantries, and you might conclude that she and Pence talked turkey for about 45 minutes - during which, by Bishop's count, half-a-dozen or more global issues were discussed. Here's how it went: Q: Did you discuss a greater commitment from Australia in the fight against [Islamic State] in Iraq and Syria?
A: We discussed the fight in general terms Q: What about the potential realignment between the US and Russia? A: We certainly discussed many global and regional, as well as bilateral issues and we certainly spent some time discussing the situation in Iraq and Syria. Q: Did Pence tell you what might be in Trump's revised executive order on migrants and refugees? A: We discussed that, but not in the sort of detail that I can share with you.
Q: Did you discuss the two-state solution for the Palestinian crisis? A: Not in detail Q: Did Afghanistan come up? A: Yes it did Q: Did Pence indicate what is happening with the Paris agreement on climate change?
A: We discussed a range of issues Q: Did China and the South China Sea come up? A: Yes it did. Uncertain in all of this is who Bishop is seeking to reassure regarding the hunky-doryness of the trans-Pacific relationship. Certainly, Pence and Tillerson are aware of the madness of the house in which they live; and anyone with half an ear or an eye on media coverage of Trump's Washington would be aware that we live in uncertain times.
The Christian Brothers underpaid almost 170 sexual abuse claimants millions of dollars because they believed they were "going to be taken to the cleaners", a royal commission has heard.
An inquiry into Catholic church authorities heard the order was asked to re-examine 201 compensation settlements to victims of child sexual abuse in 2014 and found 165 were too low.
An additional $14 million was paid to the claimants, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard.
Province leader of the Christian Brothers Peter Clinch told the inquiry the inadequate initial settlements were due to defensiveness.
Gary Sheppard is a highly successful commercial photographer with 30 years in the industry. Sheppard's latest personal work, however, takes a vastly different tack.
The series, Mephisto, plays with the psychology of the viewer by inviting them to put their own interpretations on complex, liquid patterns much like a Rorschach test.
Mephisto, Gary Sheppard. Credit:Gary Sheppard
Fairfax Media spoke with photographer Gary Sheppard about his series Mephisto:
Tell me about your series Mephisto. How did you go about taking these striking images?
These images are based on the interaction of dyes, paints, inks and varnishes in water. There's something innately fascinating about liquids. The way they ebb and flow. Combine two liquids and their differing densities, colours and molecular structures will interact and produce the most amazing patterns. As they loop, swirl and disperse, they bring chaos theory to life before our eyes. The intricate structures and details that manifest as the liquids mix and flow into, through and over each other are almost infinite in their complexity. I think most photographers like to create shots that are unique and working with liquids in the way I have with this exhibition means you know that each time you capture an image, the particular combination of patterns, colours and swirls which occurs at that instant has never existed before and will never exist again. That image will only appear once in the history of the universe and I kind of like that idea.
A group of former members of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, who staged an extraordinary coup last week, have opened a new bank account and are collecting and spending halal certification fees.
The revelation emerged in the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday as the national Islamic organisation tried to force out the group of "usurpers" who entered AFIC's Zetland offices late at night last week and changed the locks.
Agim Garana, who has been installed as the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils' general manager following a coup, leaves the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Credit:Daniel Munoz
Hafez Kassem, who voluntarily resigned last year, now claims he was only on temporary leave and has "rightfully" returned to his role as president.
His group of former members, some of whom were banned or sacked for maladministration, convened a meeting on February 11 and installed themselves as the executive committee and passed no-confidence motions in all others, including Keysar Trad, who was elected unopposed to replace Mr Kassem in August.
An elderly man has been extradited from Britain to NSW accused of hundreds of child sex offences stretching back decades.
The man, 72, will appear in court on Thursday after NSW Police detectives escorted him on a flight from London which landed in Sydney early on Thursday.
The man was taken to Mascot police station, where police said he was charged with "multiple child sex offences".
Police could not immediately say how many charges were laid, but the figure is understood to be more than 300.
All of the charges relate to one alleged victim, police say, and the offences are alleged to have occurred in Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s.
Once home to Redfern's Aboriginal community, The Block is set to become a university student hub, under revised plans lodged by the Aboriginal Housing Company for the area's redevelopment.
More than 500 students will live in new student accommodation which, in a marked departure from the original plans, will increase in size from six to 16 storeys at the building's highest point.
The revised concept plans for the Pemulwuy Project, the name of the $70 million dollar development of The Block, almost quadruples the provision of student accommodation from the original 152 student places initially proposed.
AHC chairperson Alisi Tutuila said the changes were necessary to ensure the other aspects of the development - namely the provision of 62 affordable homes for indigenous people - could be built without having to rely on further government funding or grants.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has again insisted the next state election will be in 2018.
Speaking from the Gold Coast on Wednesday, Ms Palaszczuk said it was her "intention" that the election would be "just over a year away".
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says it is her "intention" that the election will be in 2018. Credit:Robert Shakespeare
Saturday, May 5, 2018 is the last possible date for the next state election, but it is widely tipped to be held in the second half of 2017.
However, Ms Palaszczuk has repeatedly said the election was not due until around "this time next year".
An Australia-first study has kicked off in Brisbane to see if robots can help those with a sweet tooth to kick their cravings.
QUT Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation PhD student Nicole Robinson has 12 willing participants enlisted so far for her study seeking to encourage healthy eating habits in those who snack on high-fat, high-sugar food and drinks.
Nicole Robinson with one of the NAO robots. Credit:QUT
As part of the study, participants will have a conversation with two knee-high NAO robots named Andy and Rob who will ask questions, listen to what goals the participant would like to set and then discuss with the participant how they can achieve those goals.
It was hoped the robots, who speak in a "non-judgemental" and child-like voice, would reduce the inhibitions in those who normally feel uncomfortable about speaking with a person.
Justin Dry from VinoMofo who recently made it on the BRW Young Rich list in the Sensis marquee. Credit:Jesse Marlow I agree. As The Venture has previously argued, more people will need to create, rather than apply for, their job in the digital economy. There will not be enough full-time jobs to go around and workforce casualisation will, sadly, reach new heights. Having a portfolio of micro-jobs and ventures, and moving between them as circumstance dictates, will be the norm for many. As will starting a venture for necessity-entrepreneurs who believe it is their best and, perhaps only chance of reasonable income. Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins is one of the few women on the Young Rich List. Credit:Louise Kennerley An agile Australian economy will need creators, innovators, start-ups and entrepreneurs. And a community that backs them to the hilt and is there for them when they fail (ethically). Not one that shuns or derides entrepreneurial success, or is indifferent to it.
Australia's attitude towards entrepreneurship is hard to reconcile with the country's rising global standing in new-venture activity. More support is needed for entrepreneurship such as the Hatchery program, which runs entrepreneur boot camps. Credit:Anna Zhu More people will need to create, rather than apply for, their job in the digital economy. We rank third for total early-stage entrepreneurial activity among innovation-driven economies, says GEM, and first for employee entrepreneurial activity, where staff are involved in launch products or establishing new businesses for their employer. Imagine what Australia could do if we got behind entrepreneurs. Not only with government programs or the start-up community's good work, but with a community that genuinely encourages entrepreneurs and celebrates their success.
Now in its 18th year, GEM tracks entrepreneurship rates and attitudes across multiple phases of new venture creation and growth. By surveying households and experts in 66 countries, GEM is a snapshot of global entrepreneurship attitudes and intention. Like all surveys, GEM has limitations. Its definition of total early-stage entrepreneurial activity is those aged 18 to 64 who are in the process of starting or running a new business that is less than 42 months old. That counts many small businesses that are not fast-growth ventures, and thus may inflate Australia's rate of early-stage entrepreneurial activity. GEM suggests Australian entrepreneurship continues to grow, despite lacklustre community attitudes towards it. To my thinking, these attitudes are more to do with low awareness about entrepreneurship and its benefits to individuals and the community, than the "stigma" that came from failed entrepreneurs of the 1980s. We are asking the wrong questions. Instead of "is entrepreneurship a good career choice?", we should ask "can entrepreneurship be a career?"
A definitive "yes" means thinking about entrepreneurship in the same way we think about other professions, trades and occupations: Specialist entrepreneurship teaching at school, TAFEs and universities, or more of it, for example. Career counsellors at schools and universities who can help students understand if entrepreneurship suits them and how to build a career in it. Incubators and accelerator programs that develop entrepreneurs for the next five to 10 years of their career, not only for their next venture. A professional association for entrepreneurs that provides accreditation and ongoing career support and networking.
Getting the community to see entrepreneurship as a viable career choice means professionalising this skill. That is, having more structure around what an entrepreneurship career looks like and how to pursue it. Those who view entrepreneurship only through the lens of start-up ventures, or believe its greatest strength is a lack of structure or conformity, miss the point. Entrepreneurs exist in large companies, not-for-profits, government enterprise and the small business community. A more professional approach to entrepreneurship would help them. Gifted start-up entrepreneurs the 1 per cent or less who are born with this skill might find their best source of support is their peers. They might have little time or need for professional associations or believe entrepreneurship cannot be taught and is learned only by doing. That's their choice. But tens of thousands of people who start ventures for the first time will benefit from a more professional approach to entrepreneurship. When they view entrepreneurship as a sustainable, transportable career across sectors not only something that happens around new ventures community attitudes will change.
Police consider the husband of slain Melbourne mother Karen Ristevski to be the "number one suspect" for her murder, his lawyer has declared, only hours after detectives confirmed her body had been found.
Leading criminal lawyer Rob Stary said Borce Ristevski visited his office on Wednesday morning, seeking guidance on what the discovery of Ms Ristevski's remains could mean to the investigation.
On Tuesday night Mr Ristevski and family members hatched a plan for him to leave the family home and avoid scrutiny from the large media scrum outside, as family members delivered McDonald's.
The Age has been told that Mr Ristevski and several other family members wept after hearing the news that the body found on Monday was that of his wife.
FINEST KIND CLINIC AND FISHMARKET.... Discussing medicine, culture, and the joys of cooking Pansit.
Investigators searching through the wreckage of Tuesday's fatal plane crash at Essendon Airport say they have already discovered several "interesting facets" to the incident.
A Beechcraft B200 Super King Air carrying a pilot and four passengers may have suffered "catastrophic engine failure" soon after takeoff from Essendon Airport about 9am.
The plane appeared to veer left, before crashing into the roof of the Essendon DFO shopping centre and bursting into flames, killing all five people on board.
Within 24 hours, crash investigators had already identified "several factors" of interest, Australian Transport Safety Bureau's chief commissioner Greg Hood said.
Failures in both the engine and 'feathering' system, that pilots are not trained to deal with, may be behind Tuesday's fatal plane crash, experts say.
Investigators remain at Essendon Airport, sifting through pieces of wreckage from Tuesday's light plane crash that killed five, as they try to determine what went so fatally wrong.
But experts say several crucial clues may point to a failure of the feathering system on the Beechcraft King Air.
A remarkably similar fatal crash in 2001, referenced by air crash investigators at a press conference on Wednesday, involved another King Air whose engine failed. Its propeller did not feather, and it drifted to the left before crashing.
Victorian Speaker Telmo Languiller charged taxpayers almost $40,000 to live in Queenscliff at least 80 kilometres from the western suburbs electorate he represents.
Fairfax Media can reveal Mr Languiller used the posh seaside town as his primary place of residence, while maintaining a second residence in Footscray, also outside his Tarneit electorate.
Victorian speaker Telmo Languiller Credit:Jason South
The arrangement allowed him to last year claim the generous but little-known "second residence" perk, currently worth $37,678 a year for ministers and senior office holders.
Under the rules of Parliament, MPs are entitled to the allowance if they live at least 80 kilometres from the Melbourne Post Office and maintain a second residence in Melbourne.
A Sydney woman visiting Melbourne for the weekend tried to run for her life moments before a drunk driver in a stolen car hit her at more than 150km/h, throwing her into the next intersection and killing her instantly, a court has heard.
Tanami Nayler, 24, was on her way to a friend's house on a pedestrian crossing on the corner of King Street and Hawke Street when she was struck about 2.15am on July 30 last year.
New Zealand national Nicholas Davison was driving about 152km/h in a 60km/h zone and ran a red light when he hit her.
Davison, 23, had an estimated blood alcohol level of up to 0.22, more than four times over the legal limit, the County Court heard on Wednesday.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale has called for the decriminalisation of drug possession for personal use while campaigning in Perth for the WA election.
He says illicit drug use should be treated as a health issue rather than a criminal one in WA, where use of the drug ice is believed to be the highest in the country.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale has called for the decriminalisation of drug possession. Credit:Andrew Meares
The Greens say their policy aims for harm reduction with people caught with drugs, such as methamphetamine, ecstasy and cocaine, for personal use directed towards health care rather than the justice system.
Dr Di Natale was in Perth on Tuesday and said he had seen how the current approach to drugs was causing more harm than good during his work as a drug and alcohol doctor.
London: Laws which require low-income Britons to earn a set minimum income before they can obtain visas for some foreign spouses, including Australians, have been upheld in the country's highest court, despite judges ruling they cause "hardship" to separated families.
But the court has declared unlawful rules which can lead to foreign-born children being separated from their British parent, leading the government to issue an immediate temporary hold on applications while it digests the ruling.
Theresa May introduced the laws when she was Home Secretary. Credit:Bloomberg
In 2012, Prime Minister Theresa May, who was the then Home Secretary, made it more difficult for Britons to obtain visas for their spouses born overseas and outside of the European Economic Area (EEA), requiring they earn a minimum wage of 18,600 ($30,150) for at least six months. The financial threshold is higher if there are children involved.
The law does not recognise if the foreign spouse earns above this wage and only looks at the income of the Briton. Previously, couples only had to demonstrate to the Home Office that they could afford to look after themselves.
A Florida pastor who took his 11-year-old daughter to campaign-style rally for President Donald Trump said he hoped the event would serve as a civics lesson - but that it turned instead into a spectacle where "demonic activity was palpable."
Joel Tooley, lead pastor at Melbourne First Church of the Nazarene in eastern Florida, said that when he heard that the president and first lady would be passing through town, he decided to go see them in person.
"I am enough of a sentimentalist that when I found out THEEEE President was coming to town, I got online quickly and reserved two tickets," he wrote on Facebook.
But the rally last weekend was not what the pastor had in mind.
Ottawa: Canada will continue to accept asylum seekers crossing illegally from the United States but will ensure security measures are taken to keep Canadians safe, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday.
The number of would-be refugees crossing into Canada at isolated and unguarded border crossings has increased in recent weeks amid fears that US President Donald Trump will crack down on illegal immigrants, and photos of smiling Canadian police greeting the migrants have gone viral.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, left, welcomes the Jamkossian family from Syria, at Pearson International airport,Toronto, in December. Canada has resettled 40,000 Syrian refugees since Trudeau came to power. Credit:AP
Opposition Conservatives want Trudeau's centre-left Liberal government to stem the flow of asylum seekers from the United States because of security fears and a lack of resources to deal with them.
"One of the reasons why Canada remains an open country is Canadians trust our immigration system and the integrity of our borders and the help we provide people who are looking for safety," Trudeau told Parliament.
Bangkok: Malaysian police want to question a diplomat at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur over the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar identified the diplomat as a second secretary, 44-year-old Hyon Kwang-song, who holds diplomatic immunity. Mr Khalid said police also want to question an official of North Korea's airline Air Koryo, named as Kim Uk-il, 37. He gave no further details.
He said the men, who were still in Malaysia, "are not in custody, they've being called in for assistance". Asked if they were suspects, he said "we would call them in first". He said if the men did not comply with requests to be interviewed, warrants would be issued for their arrest.
Five other North Koreans have been identified as suspects in Mr Kim's suspected poisoning at Kuala Lumpur International Airport's low-cost terminal on February 13. The case has sparked international intrigue, rumours and a diplomatic spat.
Seoul: North Korea said on Thursday Malaysia was to blame for the death of its citizen there last week and accused the Malaysian government of demonstrating "unfriendly attitude" under a scenario drawn up by South Korea.
Malaysia had initially informed the North that the person bearing a diplomatic passport had died of a heart attack at Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13, the North's KCNA news agency said.
Kim Jong-nam, left, and his half-brother, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Credit:AP
North Korea denies the person who died of apparent poisoning by two women was Kim Jong-nam, estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Mr Kim, 46, who was about to fly to Macau, became unwell after two women appeared to wipe a cloth on his face. He died on the way to hospital.
Cannon Ball: Demonstrators opposed to the Dakota Access pipeline braced for a showdown with authorities on Wednesday, as protest leaders said at least some would defy a deadline to abandon the camp they have occupied for months to stop the project.
President Donald Trump has pushed for the completion of the multibillion-dollar pipeline since he took office last month, despite objections from Native Americans and environmental activists who say it threatens the water resources and sacred land of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
File image from the Standing Rock camp in December. Credit:AP
Republican Governor Doug Burgum and the US Army Corps of Engineers set a deadline of Wednesday afternoon for protesters to leave the Oceti Sakowin camp, located on Army Corps land in Cannon Ball, North Dakota.
As freezing rain fell on Wednesday morning, demonstrators burned some structures at the camp.
For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser
Willemstad/ Aruba:--- Civil Aviation Inspectors from the Netherlands (ILT) who traveled to Aruba and Curacao to conduct an investigation into the air-worthiness of Insel fleet, and the competence of the Aviation Authorities of Aruba and Curacao has released a very disturbing and damning report that travelers should take keen note of since airworthiness and flight safety of Insel fleet of Insel Aruba and Insel Curacao have great risks.
The Secretary of State Dijksma informed the second chamber on February 21st advising them on the safety situation of Insel Air all of which was based on the findings of the Aviation Inspectorate of the Netherlands (ILT). The letter was sent to inform the second chamber on the findings and the follow-up actions taken by ILT. During the week of February 5th, a team of inspectors conducted and indebt investigation in conjunction with the local civil aviation authorities of Aruba and Curacao who requested their assistance. The Secretary of State stated in her letter that the Curacao Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA) does not have the required legal framework in place to guarantee compliance and other legal requirements. Certain part of the legislation does not meet international norms and standards. The CCAA does not have sufficient competent staff, an insufficient structure while proper management is lacking. ILT also concludes that there were insufficient independence and objectivity towards Insel Air. Insel Air International seems not to be in compliance with essential parts of Aviation Legislation, creating a huge safety risk for travelers.
The Supervisory system of CCAA was unable to prevent the high safety risk caused by Insel Air. The report further states that ILT was not able to get sufficient insight into the agreements that were made for the wet-lease with other airlines for the lease of aircraft's that are currently transporting passengers internationally for Insel Air. As per Aruba, the department Civil Aviation (DCA) has sufficient staff with broader and more diverse experience, a good management structure where internal procedures have been established. The supervision remarkably focuses on the inspections of the daily operations --- the so-called product inspections, while in a limited amount of time on system levels. Insel Aruba is not in compliance with essential parts of Aviation legislations that has elevated a very high safety risk, while the supervisory level of DCA was also not able to prevent these risks for travelers. The high safety risks involved demanded actions, as such in consultation with the Minister of Economic Affairs of Curacao, the Curacao has agreed with the assistance from ILT and the transfer of authority to supervise Insel Air International and also to evaluate the current wet-lease agreements. Besides, that ILT will work closely with CCAA to provide reinforcement for them and to ensure that proper legal basis is established along with supervision.
As per Aruba, the department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has sufficient staff with broader and more diverse experience, a good management structure where internal procedures have been established. However, supervision remarkably focuses on the inspections of the daily operations --- the so-called product inspections, while a limited amount of time was placed on system levels. Insel Aruba is not in compliance with essential parts of Aviation legislation which has created a very high safety risk, while the supervisory level of DCA was also not able to prevent these risks for travelers. The high safety risks involved, demanded actions, as such in consultation with the Minister of Economic Affairs and Transportation of Curacao, Curacao government has agreed with the assistance from ILT and the transfer of authority to supervise Insel Air International and also to evaluate the current wet-lease agreements. Besides, that ILT will work closely with CCAA to provide reinforcement for them and to ensure that proper legal basis is established along with supervision.
While in Aruba discussions were held with Minister of Tourism and Transport of Aruba, who also agreed that ILT will be formerly involved in the re-certification of and the future the decision to release the grounded aircraft of Insel Air Aruba. ILT and DCA will work closely to improve the quality of DCA in Aruba, ILT will be granted formal authority to conduct the work they have decided to do. Clearly, both CCAA and DCA have been proven to be incompetent bodies that could not flight safety for travelers.
Both countries within the Kingdom, Curacao, and Aruba will sign a collaboration agreement with ILT and make separate legal agreements to grant ILT the necessary authority to execute the tasks. The outcome of the joint inspections with Curacao, Aruba and ILT are necessary to guarantee the flight safety of Insel Air. The Secretary of State made clear that unless she receives clearance from ILT that flight safety has been guaranteed, the Minister of Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk will join her in maintaining the travel prohibition for Dutch Civil Servants and the Marine Korps.
The report which was found on the ILT website along with the letter can be viewed beneath this article.
Now that the ILT and the Dutch Secretary of State have made their report public, it behooves the people of St. Maarten of the steps to monitor the that will be taken by St. Maarten Civil Aviation and Government, namely the acting Minister of TEATT Rafael Boasman. It must be noted that St. Maarten Civil Aviation formerly falls under the CCAA and if they are incompetent and are not able to guarantee air transportation safety then St. Maarten has to now look in other directions for proper guidance or join the ILT to build St. Maartens Aviation Authority.
It is clear that the ILT and the Secretary of State of the Netherlands chose to properly inform the general public of their findings in order to guarantee public safety and proper awareness, something St. Maarten should consider especially the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) and USZV that are scheduled to be audited in the near future.
Click here to read the report from ILT and the letter sent to the second chamber.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Prison Officer Wilfred Williams who began working at the Pointe Blanche House of Detention has been reassigned to the Prison by Minister of Justice Rafael Boasman. Williams began working at the Pointe Blanche Prison since 1994 but had to leave when the former Prison Director Edward Rohan chose not to work with him to properly manage the House of Detention. Williams worked under the management of the former director Russel Ricardo and for years was the adjunct director of the Pointe Blanche House of Detention.
Williams then requested a transfer and has been working at the Police Academy as an instructor. On Wednesday, Minister of Justice Rafael Boasman released the names of the two persons whom he said would manage the prison since the director of the prison Edward Rohan was sent on mandatory leave.
Also appointed to work on restructuring the prison is Inspector of Police and known CPO Steven Carty. Carty also serves as spokesman for KPSM.
Last week the Minister of Justice stated that he chose two persons within the justice chain to restructure the prison and bringing it under control. At the time the Minister did not release the names of the two civil servants whose main tasks are to work on the human resource problems at the Pointe Blanche house of detention since a number of prison guards are out on sick leave, while the other person will work on the technical aspect of the prison, one being the repairs that need to be done immediately and to work towards constructing a new prison.
Police and French Authorities never stopped looking for Escaped Prisoner
Asked by SMN News what other measures law enforcement officers intend to take to recapture escaped prisoner Katron Kutchi Fortune since the prisoner escaped one year and eight days and ago and to date, the cannot be recaptured. Minister of Justice Rafael Boasman said he could not release the plans police have in place because then he would be telling the escapee what they intend to do. He did assure that members of KPSM and their counterpart on the French side never stopped looking for the escaped prisoner. During the earlier part of last year when Kuchi escaped from Pointe Blanche Prison the Gendarmes conducted several controls, house searches and even used their helicopter to look for the wanted man each time they were tipped off. Police on the Dutch side also made a few house searches and arrested an elderly couple but the real door to door manhunt by KPSM was not so visible.
Minister Boasman also announced on Wednesday that KPSM intends to "train" or give tips to business owners in order for them to assist with curbing the violent crimes committed against business owners.
PHILIPSBURG:---- Minister of VSA met with WICLU to discuss a number of issues related to the field of Labor, including Labor day celebrations, representation on SZV, International Labor Conference, changes to the civil code, improved compliance and concerns with a couple of businesses that are encountering financial difficulties.
Based on the outcomes of the meeting, the Ministry of VSA and WICLU have agreed upon key areas of labor that will require collaboration or attention in 2017; beginning with the Labor Day celebrations. In the past the Department of Labor has been the lead organization in coordination Labor Day, however, last year Minister Lee empowered WICLU to take on the role of coordinating the Labor Day celebrations in order for the event/activities to resonate with the working population.
In 2016, due to budget constraints, it was decided not to attend the International Labor Conference, however, WICLU has expressed interest in a delegation attending in 2017. It was agreed that while the Ministry would prefer to host an event locally with support from ILO Caribbean, the Ministry would see if the budget was available to support a delegation in 2017.
In addition, one of the critical legislative changes that the Ministry is committed to finalizing is the changes to the civil code, addressing the abuse of the 6 months contracts. The amendments which have been fully supported by the labor tripartite has been submitted to Parliament. However, due to elections and changes in government, it has not yet returned on the agenda of Parliament. Furthermore, two staff members from the Labor Department left to take up positions in different Ministers Cabinets leaving the department short staffed. Minister expects to be in Parliament in March 2017 to renew discussions with Parliament regarding proposed changes to the Civil code and the consensus document on labor reform.
The union representatives also expressed interest in strengthening union representation on the board of SZV. Minister Lee commented, based on the impact that SZV has on the health and wellbeing of the groups that they represent, I could certainly understand their desire and will incorporate their desires in the selection of replacement board members for SZV.
Final discussion point was the concerns about a couple of businesses that were experiencing financial difficulties and possible impact to the employees. Minister Lee assured the representatives that based on their concerns, the Department of Labor would check on the mentioned concerns.
Claim: Archaeologists have discovered Pharaoh's chariot and the bones of horses and men under the Red Sea. Rating: About this rating False
Advertisment:
On 24 October 2014, the web site World News Daily Report (WNDR) published an article reporting that chariot wheels and the bones of horses and men had been discovered at the bottom of the Red Sea, thereby supposedly proving archaeological proof of the Biblical narrative about the escape of the Israelites from the Egyptians. According to the Book of Exodus, God parted the Red Sea long enough for the Moses-led Israelites to walk across it on dry ground, but closed the waters up again upon the pursuing Egyptian army and drowned them all:
Egypt's Antiquities Ministry announced this morning that a team of underwater archaeologists had discovered that remains of a large Egyptian army from the 14th century BC, at the bottom of the Gulf of Suez, 1.5 kilometers offshore from the modern city of Ras Gharib. The team was searching for the remains of ancient ships and artefacts related to Stone Age and Bronze Age trade in the Red Sea area, when they stumbled upon a gigantic mass of human bones darkened by age. The scientists lead by Professor Abdel Muhammad Gader and associated with Cairo Universitys Faculty of Archaeology, have already recovered a total of more than 400 different skeletons, as well as hundreds of weapons and pieces of armor, also the remains of two war chariots, scattered over an area of approximately 200 square meters. They estimate that more than 5000 other bodies could be dispersed over a wider area, suggesting that an army of large size who have perished on the site.
However, if one is looking for news of an important scientific or historical discovery, World News Daily Report is not the place to look. WNDR is fake news site whose disclaimer notes that the site's articles are satirical in nature:
World News Daily Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within worldnewsdailyreport.com are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental, except for all references to politicians and/or celebrities, in which case they are based on real people, but still based almost entirely in fiction.
Despite WNDR's framing of the alleged "discovery" as recent and newly announced, reports of divers finding chariot wheels and the like under the Red Sea are a hoax that has been promulgated for many years now.
The WNDR article's use of language such as "this morning" and its claims that a team of "underwater archeologists" in Egypt responsible for the discovery were planning to recover more artifacts from the site reinvigorated interest in the long-discredited rumor, but those details were not only fabricated, they had simply been recycled from past claims and infused with more recent dates. In October 2015, the equally dubious web site Disclose.TV once again jump-started the phony rumors by republishing the year-old fake WNDR article.
INTERPOLs Michael Moran Receives 2017 M3AAWG Litynski Award; Urges Industry to Improve Defenses Against Child Abuse Materials
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (Marketwired) 02/21/17 Michael Mick Moran, who has helped rescue thousands of child abuse material victims since he started working in the field in 1997, challenged the internet industry to do more to protect innocent children as he received the 2017 M3AAWG Mary Litynski Award today. Moran, assistant director of INTERPOLs Vulnerable Communities Unit, was honored at the 39th general meeting of the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group for his personal commitment to this challenging work and for fostering international cooperation to fight online exploitation.
The M3AAWG Mary Litynski Award recognizes the life-time achievements of a person whose work has significantly contributed to the safety of the online community. In his acceptance presentation and , Moran outlined some of the changing strategies in battling child abuse materials and offered suggestions on how the industry can better safeguard its networks.
Until a few years ago, dealing in child abuse materials (CAM) was basically a commercial enterprise and its photos or movies were widely circulated online. But industry efforts, such as controlling the flow of spam used to circulate links to these materials, has largely driven it off the open Web and into private emails, cloud storage and live streaming events, Moran explained.
Up to 95 percent of abuse materials today are exchanged like-for-like, without any money changing hands, with the real currency being the pain of the children. But every picture, every movie, involves a real child and we have become very victim-centric at INTERPOL. We are moving away from the whack-a-mole work of catching someone for possessing or distribution and are now thinking about what we can do as law enforcement to identify that child and thereby stop the abuse, he said.
Growing out of this child-centric strategy, the International Child Sexual Exploitation database is used to identify and locate victims. INTERPOL maintains ICSE, which connects fifty countries and provides them with current information on vulnerable children. The ICSE data helps identify an average of six victims a day around the world, ranging in age from infants to pre-teens, according to Moran.
Addressing how the industry can better protect this vulnerable population, Moran said, In my opinion, anyone who has a network has the responsibility to ensure that it is not being used by bad actors. I would argue that youre being negligent if you, as a system administrator, are allowing child abusers to use your system.
Why would you scan your systems for malware and not scan for child abuse materials? Why would you ensure you arent leaving any relays open on your mail servers but not make sure those servers arent being used to transmit or store child abuse material? While there are some large companies that are managing this issue in a mature manner, for every one that is, there are ten, fifteen or twenty that are not, he said.
Moran also urged the industry to build safety into new platforms and apps from the initial design phase. We should acknowledge that bad people will abuse new services as these go online. If some thought is given to this at the coding stage, then it is possible to actually stop the exploitation early on, he said.
Moran started his law enforcement career and is affiliated with the Garda Siochana, the police force of Ireland. He has been seconded to INTERPOL for 10 years and is stationed in Lyon, France, where its Vulnerable Communities Unit is headquartered. Moran began working against CAM in the early IRC chat rooms then followed as abusers moved to the Web and other technologies to distribute materials. Over the years, he has provided support and expertise to private organizations in the field and other law enforcement agencies globally, forging an international community that cooperates in rescuing exploited children, and he often speaks on the subject to both professional and public audiences.
In announcing the award, M3AAWG Chairman Michael Adkins said, Were recognizing Michaels tireless efforts over the last twenty years to protect these victims while working in a very demanding field, his commitment to protecting their dignity and his drive to protect as many children as possible. But this award is also a wake-up call for the industry. We all need to follow Micks lead and take responsibility for this social issue. We all need to do more to keep it off our systems and networks.
The 2017 award was presented during the M3AAWG 39th General Meeting that opened February 20 in San Francisco. Over 500 security experts, ISPs, researchers, public policy representatives and vendors are participating in the four-day meeting that features more than 50 cybersecurity and information sharing sessions. M3AAWG holds three meetings each year, including one in Europe, to develop best practices and other work that will protect online users. The next M3AAWG meeting will be June 12-15 in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG) is where the industry comes together to work against bots, malware, spam, viruses, denial-of-service attacks and other online exploitation. M3AAWG () members represent more than one billion mailboxes from some of the largest network operators worldwide. It leverages the depth and experience of its global membership to tackle abuse on existing networks and new emerging services through technology, collaboration and public policy. It also works to educate global policy makers on the technical and operational issues related to online abuse and messaging. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., M3AAWG is driven by market needs and supported by major network operators and messaging providers.
AT&T; CenturyLink; Cloudmark, Inc.; Comcast; Endurance International Group; Facebook; Google; LinkedIn; Mailchimp; Microsoft Corp.; Orange; Return Path; SendGrid, Inc.; Charter Communications; Vade Secure; and Yahoo! Inc.
1&1 Internet AG; Adobe Systems Inc.; Agora, Inc.; AOL; Campaign Monitor Pty.; Cisco Systems, Inc.; CloudFlare; Dyn; Exact Target, Inc.; IBM, iContact; Internet Initiative Japan; Liberty Global; Listrak; Litmus; MAPP Digital; Sparkpost; Mimecast; Nominum, Inc.; Oracle Marketing Cloud; OVH; PayPal; Proofpoint; Rackspace; Spamhaus; Sprint; Symantec; and USAA.
A complete member list is available at .
Linda Marcus, APR
+1-714-974-6356
(U.S. Pacific)
Astra Communications
Securonix Wins Record-Setting 20 Info Security Products Guide Global Excellence Awards, Including CEO of The Year
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (Marketwired) 02/22/17 Securonix, the industry leading innovator of security analytics platforms that predict, prevent, detect and respond to cyber attacks, insider threats and fraud, was honored with an unprecedented 20 awards at the 2017 Info Security Products Guide Global Excellence Awards. The awards are held in conjunction with the RSA Conference, the cybersecurity industrys premier annual event.
Securonix CEO Sachin Nayyar was honored as a CEO of The Year. Securonix CTO Tanuj Gulati was named a CTO of The Year, and the company won the Grand Trophy in recognition of its leading security analytics platforms that deliver complete, end-to-end security using cutting-edge behavior analytics and machine learning.
We are honored that the ISPG awards organization and its panel of respected judges recognize our groundbreaking technologies and the solutions were delivering to Fortune 1000 companies, top government agencies and organizations across a range of industries, said Sachin Nayyar, CEO of Securonix. Were proud to lead the industry and we are dedicated to developing advanced technology solutions that solve the security problems that are most crucial to our customers.
Securonix executive and company awards also included:
Management, Executive, and Professional of the Year in Security Industry: Sachin Nayyar, CEO
Security Product Management/ Development Executive of the Year: Tanuj Gulati, CTO
Outstanding Management Team of the Year in Security Industry
Best Overall Security Company of the Year
Fastest Growing Security Company of the Year
Innovative Company of the Year
Companies with Tomorrows Technology Today
Securonixs SNYPR Big Data Security Analytics Platform earned awards for:
New Products & Services
Best Security Software
Innovation in Enterprise Security
Innovation in Next Generation Security
Most Innovative Security (Software) of the Year
Products and Solutions for U.S.A.
Security Products and Solutions for Enterprise
User Behavior Analytics
Securonix-produced video content also earned accolades. Its video series featuring insights from security thought leaders, , won gold for Best Thought Leadership and its expose of the Edward Snowden breach, , featuring Chris Inglis, former NSA deputy directory and Securonix advisory board chair, won silver in the same category.
An international panel of judges representing a broad spectrum of industry voices determined the 2017 Global Excellence Awards finalists and winners. Winners were announced during the February 13 awards dinner and presentation in San Francisco attended by the finalists, judges and industry peers.
Securonix is working to radically transform all areas of data security with actionable security intelligence. Our purpose-built advanced security analytics technology mines, enriches, analyzes, scores and visualizes customer data into actionable intelligence on the highest risk threats from within and outside their environment. Using signature-less anomaly detection techniques that track users, account and system behavior, Securonix is able to detect the most advanced data security, insider threats and fraud attacks automatically and accurately. Globally customers are using Securonix to address the most basic and complex needs around advanced persistent threat detection and monitoring, high privileged activity monitoring, enterprise and web fraud detection, application risk monitoring and access risk management. For more information visit .
Info Security Products Guide plays a vital role in keeping end-users informed of the choices they can make when it comes to protecting their digital resources. It is written expressly for those who are adamant on staying informed of security threats and the preventive measure they can take. You will discover a wealth of information in this guide including tomorrows technology today, best deployment scenarios, people and technologies shaping info security and market research reports that facilitate in making the most pertinent security decisions. The Info Security Products Guide Global Excellence Awards recognize and honor excellence in all areas of information security. To learn more, visit and stay secured.
Webair Enhances Disaster Recovery Capabilities for x86 and IBM Power Systems Infrastructure
NEW YORK, NY (Marketwired) 02/22/17 , a high-touch, agile and fully infrastructure service provider, today announces a partnership with (OTCQB: DTST) to enhance its High Availability (HA) and overall support capabilities for IBM Power Systems (iSeries, AS/400, AIX) environments. The demand for Webairs Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS) solution has grown exponentially over recent years, and the addition of IBM Power Systems support positions it for even further expansion.
Many companies require both x86 and IBM Power Systems platforms to run mission-critical applications, making Disaster Recovery critical to these environments. The partnership between Webair and Data Storage Corporation provides x86 and IBM Power Systems users with:
Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) of one hour, including continuous replication, network automation and orchestration;
72 hours of monthly recovery site usage before incurring additional fees;
fully managed quarterly recovery site testing with attestation report;
per-IP failover, public BGP failover, DNS failover, L2 stretch, and VPN(s);
one week of checkpoints;
recovery site network architecture customization to enable customer infrastructure integration; and
the ability to replicate data to any Webair DR location, including U.S. East and West Coasts, Canada, Europe, and Asia.
Through this new partnership, Webair now also offers customers fully managed IBM Power Systems solutions and services backed by a premier IBM Managed Services Provider.
Webairs strategic partnership with Data Storage Corporation broadens our Disaster Recovery support capabilities, explains Michael Christopher Orza, CEO of Webair. While most providers only offer a limited range of services encompassing specific operating systems and workloads, this partnership delivers a true DRaaS solution that is customized to mirror customers specific production environments and supports both state-of-the-art and legacy platforms.
Webair customers can also take advantage of ancillary services available at its data centers as part of their larger DRaaS solutions, including Public and Private Cloud infrastructure, snapshot-based Storage Replication, Colocation, Authoritative DNS, third-party Cloud connectivity, Backups-as-a-Service, network connectivity, and Seeding. These services are fully managed and can be tied directly into DRaaS infrastructure via private and secure cross-connects.
I am excited about the Data Storage Corporation / Webair partnership and the opportunities it will provide to both companies as our services are in high demand across all markets and industries with tremendous growth forecasted, says Hal Schwartz, President DSC. Because of this partnership, the combined teams can now provide first-class management and technical support, allowing them to deliver and fully manage cloud, hybrid cloud and cloud backup solutions with the highest confidence and service levels.
To learn more about Webairs Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service, visit .
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in New York, Webair is an innovative, agile and unique Managed Hosting company focused on providing the right solutions to customer needs as quickly and efficiently as possible. It does this by fully owning and controlling the entire technology stack from the physical data center to the end-user application. Webairs technology solutions portfolio encompasses Public, Private and Hybrid Cloud, Cloud Storage, Bare Metal Servers, Colocation, CDN, Security and Disaster Recovery. Combining industry-leading innovation, expert support and high-touch customer service, Webair serves as a true technology partner to enterprises and SMBs, healthcare organizations, IT firms, eCommerce companies and VoIP providers. Webair also operates an international network of data centers located in New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, Amsterdam, and Asia.
Follow Webair on Twitter: , Facebook: and LinkedIn: .
About Data Storage Corporation
is a 15-year veteran in cloud storage and cloud computing, providing data protection, disaster recovery, business continuity and compliance solutions that assist organizations in protecting their data, minimizing downtime and ensuring regulatory compliance. Serving the business continuity market, DSCs clients save time and money, gain more control and better access to data and enable a high level of security. Solutions include: Infrastructure-as-a-Service for IBM Power i and Intel, data backup, recovery and restore, high availability data replication services; email archival and data analytics for the compliance officer with Message Logic; continuous data protection; data de-duplication and virtualized system recovery.
Data Storage Corporation logos are trademarks of Data Storage Corporation. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Solar Novus Today Has Been Integrated
With Novus Light Technologies Today
Visit Novus Light Technologies Today to see all the cutting-edge stories and products that you have come to enjoy on Solar Novus Today. In addition, you will find more information on related light-based technologies.
Get the latest solar and renewable energy news delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the Green Technologies newsletter
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR GREEN TECHNOLOGIES NEWSLETTER
When photography was invented in France in the 1820s, some artists predicted even feared that it would in time take the place of painting. That didnt happen, but photographers around the world consistently have recorded images that reveal...
For Anuj Ranjan, the globetrotting India head of Brookfield, the fundamental investment thesis behind buying a large telecom towers portfolio from Reliance Communications was not all that different from taking over Hiranandani's 4.5 million square foot of swish office and shopping space in the financial capital.
The world's largest democracy with a billion plus population needs to communicate, share information as well as work and play to sustain its trillion-dollar economy, said a report in the Economic Times.
More importantly, both are scaled-up, income generating, operational assets which can be leveraged further using their global expertise to build out larger platforms. Similarly, they have high margins with low capital expenditure going forward and built-in escalators.
Toronto based Brookfield is the world's 2nd biggest manager of alternative assets like real estate and private equity with $250 billion of assets and have already overshadowed traditional Wall Street heavyweights Carlyle, KKR or even Apollo Global Managament. So capital has never been a handicap for Ranjan and his 1000 odd team on the ground.
From airports to e-commerce, Canadian institutional money pouring into India like never before
Fresh from raising $14 billion to invest in infrastructure -- believed to be the largest single commitment to the sector of its kind -- the Canadian firm has been scouting around for compelling stories across emerging markets like Vietnams. So when both the Hiranandani and the Reliance towers came up for grabs last summer, Brookfield jumped head long.
By the end of the year, they wrote a $2.6 billion to stitch up both -- arguably among the largest FDI commitments in India in the year. The Brookfield Reliance Infratel transaction worth $1.6 billion alone is also the second-biggest private equity transaction ever in the country, behind Temaseks $2 billion investment in Bharti Telecom in 2007.
Call it Canada calling. The bulge bracket Canadian asset managers from pension or PE funds have been the biggest India Bulls in the last one year, whipping up a storm with their investment frenzy. Between marque names like CPPIB, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), Ontario Teachers or Brookfield and Fairfax, they have jointly committed around $7-8 billion across companies and funds so far, according to industry estimates. This would be among the single-largest country-wide commitment towards India in recent times. Such Canadian transactions mirror the excitement of PE opportunities in India, which reached fever pitch in the peak vintage of 2007-2008, reported ET.
This becomes even more striking once compared to FDI or trade data. Canada has never been a top investment source for us with bilateral trade touching a mere $6.5 billion in March 2016. That's only a tenth of neighbour US, the 5th largest FDI partner, as per the latest government figures.
Our long investment horizon aligns to the financing and capital needs of Indias economy, growing entrepreneur culture and the strength of business in the country, says Suyi Kim, Managing Director, Head of Asia Pacific at CPPIB.
From the building blocks -- airports, roads, power plants to warehouses, logistics parks and commercial real estate to financial services and even financial services firms and even ecommerce companies, their bets are becoming bolder and complex, cheque sizes bigger. Even "regulated sectors" like banking, airports or distress debt is fair game as are risky emerging bets like ecommerce. Last February, instead of safe havens like government securities, Ontario Teachers decided to put its pension capital to back a $200 million capital raise by Snapdeal.
The board of the sleepy community lender from Kerala and also one of the oldest private player in the country -- Catholic Syrian Bank -- will give Prem Watsa-- Canada's Warren Buffet and among the earliest champions of the India story -- their approval to acquire a controlling 51% slice of their bank through his flagship Fairfax Financial Holdings. Late last November Watsa and his close confidante Deepak Parekh managed to swing RBI to allow the first takeover of an Indian bank by a foreign investor. This was Watsa's 2nd bold bet within 1 year -- having bought into GVK's Bangalore airport earlier in 2016.
Compared to their US counterparts, the Canadians have been far more conservative in scoping out high growth emerging market opportunities. Its only in the last 3-4 years that they have looked beyond the usual happy hunting grounds of Canadian bonds, global equities (read US and other OECD countries) and hedge funds to adapt a far global and diversified portfolios.
For a country that is 40% reliant on its banks and financial institutions and another 40% on energy, volatile oil prices forced looking beyond the usual safe havens.
"The global economic balance has been changing fast so a lot of the fund managers felt they too needed to allocate assets accordingly and build global capabilities. Moreover with some of the emerging markets like China and Brazil have slowed down in recent years making India that much more attractive," said Vikram Gandhi, founder VSG Capital, a long time advisor to CPPIB.
Commentary
By Jooneed Jeeroburkhan
New Canadian Media
The cold-blooded shooting of six Muslims following evening prayers on Jan 29 at a Quebec City mosque has, predictably, amplified the acrimonious debate over racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia in Quebec as the suspect, who also injured a dozen others, is a 27-year-old white Quebecois university student.
Calls for an Inquiry Commission on Systemic Racism in Quebec quickly redoubled and political leaders, responding only piecemeal, did not hesitate to label the mass killing an act of terrorism although terrorism is not among the six counts of murder the Quebec City police have charged Alexandre Bissonnette with.
Never to miss an opportunity, militant secularists, including Muslim ones, chimed in, accusing political leaders, from Quebecs Philippe Couillard to Canadas Justin Trudeau, of Islamizing Canadian Democracy while progressive secularists, Quebecois mainly, complained some people were heaping collective guilt on all Quebecois for the crime of one individual a role reversal since all Muslims are usually held responsible for each and every terrorist act committed by Takfiris/Salafis, ISIL/Daesh, Al Qaeda
And, as usual, familiar noises came from the English North American media about Quebec being more racist than the rest of Canada and the Quebec National Assembly unanimously condemned a Washington Post article, penned by Vancouver-based J.J. McCullough, saying exactly that, adding Quebecs history of anti-Semitism and religious bigotry leads to more massacres like this one.
The motion was moved by the opposition Parti Quebecois, the party whose ethno-centrist Charter of Values bill died on the order paper as the PQ was resoundingly defeated by the Liberals (41% to 25%) in the 2014 elections. The Bloc Quebecois proposed a similar motion in Ottawa denouncing the newspaper article as hateful, but the House of Commons refused to debate it.
As everywhere else throughout the hegemonic, and increasingly isolationist, West, the playing field, and the rules, remain heavily skewed against immigrants, refugees and all minority communities, yet the ruling communities paint themselves more and more as victims. And this trend has become noticeable in Quebec too in the wake of the Jan 29 shooting.
To be fair, a huge mass of Quebecois remains committed to an open and plural society, welcoming of diversity and militant in solidarity, as tens of thousands made it clear by attending a public meeting next to a mosque, and in snow and deep sub-zero temperature on Jan 31, in the heavily immigrant neighbourhood of Park Extension in Montreal, home of our very own Little South Asia.
Heart-warming as this demonstration was, it is highly unlikely that the discourse resulting from the Quebec City shooting will help in putting to rest the old debate over reasonable accommodation in Quebec. If anything, it has re-ignited it. And police and media secrecy and selective leaks have only fed suspicion and distrust.
In the early hours following the massacre, media reports quoting informed sources, even witnesses, suggested there were two masked gunmen, and they shouted the Muslim cry of Allah o Akbar. The first-named suspect was a Muslim from Morocco, and stories suggested it may have been a settling of accounts between two neighbouring mosques of rival denominations.
The police then announced the Muslim man was only a witness and that the prime suspect was Alexandre Bissonnette who apparently called police himself and gave himself up on the bridge linking Quebec City to Orleans Island. The media then posted the photo of a suited and clean-cut boyish looking Bissonnette who we were told was known in local social media circles as a pro-Fascist, anti-Feminist, anti-Immigrant, Islamophobic admirer of US President Donald Trump. But the police remains silent and the media has stopped digging.
Appearing Feb 6 before the Senate committee on national security, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson refused to give details of the inquiry into the Quebec City shooting. He instead voiced concern that the caustic tone of political discourse in Canada may contribute to radicalize criminal extremists. For its part, CSIS has warned of the recent development of a Canadian online anti-Islam movement, similar to ones in Europe.
As in the US and Europe, Quebec and Canada are in the throes of a major global re-balancing of power, marked by a decline of century-old global Western hegemony. The rise of xenophobia, particularly Islamophobia, and of right-wing populism and fascism, is a by-product of this momentous crisis and the Quebec City shooting, like the election of Donald Trump to the White House and the rise of Marine Le Pen in France, are its symptoms.
The trials and traumas are bound to get worse before they get better.
Jooneed Jeeroburkhan, 70, is a journalist, writer, human rights activist, feminist and grandfather living in Montreal.
See http://www.newcanadianmedia.ca/component/k2/40458-shooting-in-quebec-city-symptom-of-a-wider-crisis
Noie: That's what it all should look like in Notre Dame Stadium
First-year head coach Marcus Freeman kept insisting it was going to happen if Notre Dame kept working. On Saturday, it finally happened for the Irish
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.
Georgetown, SC (29440)
Today
Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High around 80F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..
Tonight
Partly cloudy skies. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable.
Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city.
Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea
A Russian Soyuz rocket launches the automated Progress 66 cargo ship toward the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on Feb. 22, 2017. The spacecraft is carrying 3 tons of supplies for the space station crew.
The Russian space agency Roscosmos launched a robotic cargo ship early Wednesday (Feb. 22) on a mission to deliver fresh supplies to the International Space Station.
The autonomous Progress 66 resupply ship launched into orbit atop a Soyuz rocket at 12:58 a.m. EST (0558 GMT), lifting off from a pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The cargo ship will arrive at the space station early Friday (Feb. 24).
See more
"Liftoff of the 66th Progress resupply vehicle outbound to the International Space Station," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said during live commentary.
The new spacecraft is due to dock itself at the station on Friday at 3:34 a.m. EST (0834 GMT). You can watch the Progress 66 docking live online, courtesy of NASA TV, beginning at 2:45 a.m. EST (0745 GMT).
A Russian Soyuz rocket launches the automated Progress 66 cargo ship toward the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on Feb. 22, 2017 in this still from a NASA TV broadcast. (Image credit: NASA TV)
Progress 66 is Russia's first resupply mission to the space station since the loss of the Progress 65 cargo ship shortly after its launch on Dec. 1, 2016.
Wednesday's launch occurred just hours before another cargo ship, a SpaceX Dragon capsule, was due to arrive at the International Space Station. But the Dragon aborted its approach at a range of seven-tenths of a mile due to an incorrect value in the global positioning system software used to pinpoint the spacecraft's position relative to the space station, NASA officials said.
The Dragon capsule will attempt another rendezvous on Thursday (Feb. 23), NASA officials added.
The International Space Station is currently stocked with supplies using a fleet of robotic spacecraft. In addition to Russia's Progress vehicles and SpaceX's Dragon capsules, the station is also resupplied by Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft and Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicles. SpaceX's Dragon and Orbital ATK's Cygnus are privately built spacecraft that resupply the space station under contracts with NASA.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Astronomers have never seen anything like this before: Seven Earth-size alien worlds orbit the same tiny, dim star, and all of them may be capable of supporting life as we know it, a new study reports.
"Looking for life elsewhere, this system is probably our best bet as of today," study co-author Brice-Olivier Demory, a professor at the Center for Space and Habitability at the University of Bern in Switzerland, said in a statement.
The exoplanets circle the star TRAPPIST-1, which lies just 39 light-years from Earth a mere stone's throw in the cosmic scheme of things. So speculation about the alien worlds' life-hosting potential should soon be informed by hard data, study team members said. [Images: The 7 Earth-Size Worlds of TRAPPIST-1]
"We can expect that, within a few years, we will know a lot more about these planets, and with hope, if there is life there, [we will know] within a decade," co-author Amaury Triaud, of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge in England, told reporters on Tuesday (Feb. 21).
Artist's illustration of the surface of a planet in the TRAPPIST-1 system, which hosts seven roughly Earth-size worlds. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
A bizarre alien system
TRAPPIST-1 is an ultracool dwarf star that's only slightly larger than the planet Jupiter and about 2,000 times dimmer than the sun.
The research team, led by Michael Gillon of the University of Liege in Belgium, originally studied the star using the TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST), an instrument at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. (This explains the star's common name; the object is also known as 2MASS J23062928-0502285.)
TRAPPIST spotted regular dimming events, which the team interpreted as evidence of three different planets crossing the face of, or transiting, the star. In May 2016, Gillon and his colleagues announced the existence of these three alien worlds, called TRAPPIST-1b, TRAPPIST-1c and TRAPPIST-1d. All three, the team reported, are roughly the size of Earth and may be capable of supporting life.
Diagram of the orbits of the TRAPPIST-1 worlds, compared to those of Jupiter's Galilean moons, Mercury, Venus and Earth. (Image credit: ESO/O. Furtak)
The astronomers kept studying the system, using TRAPPIST and a number of other telescopes on the ground. This follow-up work suggested that the supposed TRAPPIST-1d transits were actually caused by more than one planet, and also revealed evidence of additional possible worlds in the system.
A three-week observation campaign by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in September and October 2016 helped clear all of this up. Spitzer's transit data confirmed the existence of planets b and c, but revealed that three worlds are responsible for the originally detected "TRAPPIST-1d" signal. And Spitzer also spotted two more exoplanets in the system, for a total of seven.
These seven worlds which Gillon and his colleagues announced in the new study, published online today (Feb. 22) in the journal Nature (opens in new tab) are all roughly Earth-size. The smallest is about 75 percent as massive as Earth, while the largest is just 10 percent heftier than our planet, the researchers said.
"This is the first time that so many planets of this kind are found around the same star," Gillon said in Tuesday's news conference. [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]
All seven alien worlds occupy tight orbits, lying closer to TRAPPIST-1 than Mercury does to the sun. The orbital periods of the innermost six worlds range from 1.5 days to 12.4 days; the outermost planet, known as TRAPPIST-1h, is thought to complete one lap in about 20 days. (Spitzer spotted just one transit by TRAPPIST-1h, so its orbital path is not well-known.)
The six inner planets are in near-resonance, meaning their orbital periods are related to each other by a ratio of two small integers. This arrangement suggests that the worlds formed farther out in the system, where water was likely plentiful, and then migrated in to their current positions, study team members said.
Data gathered by the various telescopes suggest that all six inner planets are rocky, like the Earth; not enough is known about planet h to determine its composition.
Habitable worlds?
Because the seven alien worlds orbit so tightly, they're probably all tidally locked, Gillon said. That is, they likely always show the same face to their host star, just as Earth's moon only shows the "near side" to us.
And powerful gravitational tugs, both from TRAPPIST-1 and neighboring planets, could heat up the worlds' insides considerably, leading to lots of volcanism, especially on the innermost two worlds, the researchers added.
Despite these characteristics extreme closeness to their star and tidal locking the TRAPPIST-1 system is a promising place to search for E.T., study team members said.
TRAPPIST-1 is so dim and cool that its "habitable zone" that just-right range of distances where liquid water could exist is quite close to the star. And even tidally locked planets are thought to be potentially habitable, as long as they have atmospheres that can transport heat from the day side to the night side, Gillon said.
"You'd have just a [temperature] gradient, but it's not catastrophic for life," he said.
Indeed, modeling work performed by the team suggests that three of the seven TRAPPIST-1 planets (e, f and g) are in the habitable zone. And it's possible that, given the right atmospheric conditions, water and, by extension, life as we know it could exist on all seven, Gillon said.
Such speculation is preliminary, he and other team members stressed; more data will be needed before the TRAPPIST-1 planets' habitability can be gauged with confidence. Such work is already underway. The team has been studying the worlds' atmospheres with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, for example.
Detailed characterization and the search for signs of possible life, such as oxygen and methane will have to wait until more powerful instruments come online, Triaud said. But that wait shouldn't be long: NASA's $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope is slated to launch in late 2018, and huge, capable ground-based scopes such as the European Extremely Large Telescope and the Giant Magellan Telescope are scheduled to come online in the early to mid-2020s.
"I think that we've made a crucial step toward finding [out] if there is life out there," Triaud said. "Here, if life managed to thrive, and releases gases similar to that that we have on Earth, then we will know."
The TRAPPIST-1 system is at least 500 million years old, but its age cannot be constrained more precisely than that, Gillon said. Ultracool dwarfs such as TRAPPIST-1 generally live for 4 to 5 trillion years about 1,000 times longer than sun-like stars.
Characteristics of the seven TRAPPIST-1 worlds, compared to the rocky planets in our solar system. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Alien skywatching
If there were life-forms on one or more of the TRAPPIST-1 worlds, what would they see? Because of the star's dimness, even daytime skies would never get brighter than Earth's are just after sunset, Triaud said. (Still, the air would be warm, because most of TRAPPIST-1's light is radiated in infrared, not visible, wavelengths.) And everything would be suffused in a sort of salmon-colored glow.
"The spectacle would be beautiful, because every now and then you would see another planet, maybe about as big as twice [Earth's] moon in the sky, depending on which planet you were on," Triaud said.
Future work may help determine just how common such seemingly exotic vistas are in the sun's neck of the cosmic woods.
"About 15 percent of the stars in our neighborhood are very cool stars like TRAPPIST-1," Demory said in the same statement. "We have a list of about 600 targets that we will observe in the future."
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com .
This view of a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship as seen from the International Space Station is a NASA file photo from a July 2016 mission. On Feb. 22, 2017, a Dragon capsule aborted its approach to the station due a navigation software issue.
A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship packed with nearly three tons of supplies aborted its rendezvous to the International Space Station early Wednesday (Feb. 22) due to a navigation software glitch, NASA officials said. The supply ship will now aim for a Thursday arrival at the station.
The unpiloted Dragon capsule aborted its approach to the space station at 3:25 a.m. EST (0825 GMT) when it detected an incorrect value in the relative global positioning system software used to pinpoint its place in the sky with the orbiting lab, NASA spokesman Rob Navias said during live commentary. The spacecraft was about 1,200 meters just over seven-tenths of a mile from the station when the glitch occurred, he added.
At no point were the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station in any danger, Navias said.
"Dragon itself is in excellent shape," Navias said. "It did exactly what it was designed to do, breaking out of a rendezvous approach when it saw an incorrect value." [In Photos: SpaceX's Dragon Launch to Space Station]
Navias said the navigation software issue can be corrected by SpaceX engineers, allowing Dragon to deliver its 5,500 lbs. (2,500 kilograms) of supplies to the space station's crew early Thursday. Dragon launched toward the space station Sunday (Feb. 19) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that lifted off from NASA's historic Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, a first for the Hawthorne, Calif.-based spaceflight company. The mission is SpaceX's tenth cargo delivery flight for NASA.
See more
"Dragon is in good health and will make another rendezvous attempt with the @Space_Station Thursday morning," SpaceX representatives wrote in a Twitter post. The cargo ship is following a preplanned "race track" path that will bring it back in range for a docking tomorrow, NASA officials said.
The 24-hour delay will not adversely impact any of the science or supplies aboard Dragon, Navias said. The science gear on the spacecraft includes several biological experiments.
Dragon is now scheduled to arrive at the space station and be captured by a robotic arm at 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT) on Thursday. NASA will broadcast the rendezvous on NASA TV beginning at 4 a.m. EST (0900 GMT), and you can watch that Dragon arrival webcast here, courtesy of NASA. A follow-up broadcast at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) will cover Dragon's attachment to the station's Earth-facing Harmony module.
Meanwhile, another cargo ship this one from Russia is making its way to the International Space Station.
The automated Progress 66 resupply ship launched toward the station early Wednesday at 12:58 a.m. EST (0558 GMT), just hours ahead of SpaceX's planned Dragon arrival. A Russian Soyuz rocket launched the cargo ship from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Progress 66 is packed with 3 more tons of supplies for the space station's six-person crew. It is Russia's first Progress supply ship to fly since the loss of the Progress 65 cargo ship shortly after its launch on Dec. 1, 2016.
Progress 66 will arrive at the space station on Friday (Feb. 24) at 3:34 a.m. EST (2034 GMT). NASA's live coverage of that event will begin at 2:45 a.m. EST (0745 GMT).
Editor's note: This story was updated at 6:35 a.m. ET to correct the docking date for Russia's Progress 66. It is Friday, Feb. 24, not Feb. 23.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Mystery surrounds return of Pentagon's secretive X-37B spaceplane
Moscow (Sputnik) Feb 21, 2017
After nearly two years in space, one of the US Air Force's biggest mysteries may be returning to Earth. The Air Force has denied that rumors that its X-37B spaceplane, whose mission is classified, will be landing at Florida's Kennedy Space Center in the near future. The experimental X-37B spaceplane was scheduled to return to Earth, according to space news outlet NASA Spaceflight. Despite its name, NASA Spaceflight is not affiliated with the US space agency but they are seen as a reputable source ... read more
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement
Optimization
Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should?
Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools.
Yanukovych Seeks To Justify Himself
Yanukovych says that he could have defended his position of power by deploying the military at the time and that he even considered establishing a government-in-exile in another Ukrainian city, but he says that would have resulted in a civil war.
In the letter to Trump, Putin, Merkel and Hollande, he describes every possible facet of the events on the Maidan and his subsequent flight: the drive to Kharkiv, the helicopter flight to Donetsk and finally his escape to Crimea that almost failed near Melitopol because "a heavily armed group of mercenaries had been waiting for our convoy with orders to shoot everyone in it, including me." It becomes clear that this is a man who is seeking to retroactively exculpate himself. Even the Russian president himself suggested publicly that he never would have left his country behind in a situation like that.
Yanukovych says he knows the exact identity of the snipers on Maidan Square, who it was who let them through and from which buildings they shot at police officers and at the men belonging to his special force. But he says he has to protect the identities of his informants and he also has to mount a legal defense. He constantly repeats, "I can't tell you everything right now." And this includes the names of the oligarchs or the politicians currently in leadership roles in Kiev with whom he has recently met.
Six Points for Resolving the Conflict
During his interview, Yanukovych says he would like to contribute to a peacekeeping mission in Donbas, where the war is currently waging near his hometown. He says the contested region should remain part of Ukraine but be given greater autonomy.
In his letter to the leaders, he lists six points he believes could lead to the resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Four relate to the "investigation into the crimes committed on the Maidan in February 2014," for which he proposes a special commission to be established by the Council for Europe. Yanukovych also calls for the separatist leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk to be included in the negotiations in the Normandy format, the group that monitors adherence to the Minsk agreement. Finally, the sixth point comes with a threat: If the Minsk deal isn't fulfilled by those "currently in power in Kiev," then a referendum should be held over the status of Donbas.
The letter doesn't devote a single word to what will happen if Russia doesn't adhere to the deal, which leads one to conclude that the missive was closely coordinated with the leadership in Moscow or that the idea was perhaps even initiated by the Russians. The letter to Putin, incidentally, is three pages shorter than the one to Western leaders because Yanukovych spared Putin of all the details that the Russian leader likely knows intimately already.
The evening with Viktor Yanukovych ends shortly before 10 p.m. The final impression is of a deeply unsettled man fighting for his reputation. His account of the past three years was repetitive and long-winded, constantly searching for understanding and at times almost pleading for it.
One insight, though, is that he apparently had very little control over the events on Maidan Square, constantly controlled by those in his own circle and by his distant allies in Moscow. He's a man who shies away from making decisions.
Ultimately, it is one of his advisers who suggests bringing the interview to a close because his people want to go home for the night. "Ukraine has become a wild country," Yanukovych says before reluctantly standing up. He likely would have gone on talking all night.
Maputo (Mozambique), February 22, 2017 (SPS) -The President of the Republic , Secretary General of the Frente POLISARIO, Mr. Brahim Gali, arrived on Tuesday to the State of Mozambique in a three-day State Visit, officially invited by the President his country, Mr. Filipe Nyusi.
The President of the Republic was received at the Maputo military airport by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique, Mr. Oldemiro Baloi and several other ministers besides the Mayor of Maputo and other political figures and media.
The visit comes within the framework of strengthening the excellent relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries and sister countries and will be an opportunity for the exchange of views on different issues of common interest.
The President is accompanied on the State visit by an important delegation composed of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mohamed Salem Uld Salek, the Minister of Cooperation, Mr. Bulahi Sid, the Secretary of State for Documentation and Security, Mr. Brahim Mohamed Mohamud and the General Secretary of the National Union of Saharawi Women, Ms. Fatima Mehdi. SPS
125/090/TRA
Charlotte, a freelance journalist who presents BBC Radio 4s Farming Today programme and is also a regular presenter on BBC1s Countryfile, has been confirmed as the Federations President Elect. She will be officially elected as President at the Federations Annual General Meeting on 23 April in Torquay at the International Riviera Centre, during NFYFCs Annual Convention weekend.
Charlotte was born and brought up in the Leicestershire village of Quorn and is keen to raise awareness of the issues surrounding rural isolation and the impact this can have on young people.
After working in local radio, regional TV and as a news journalist for BBC TV and radio, a conversation in a lift led her into rural affairs.
Charlotte Smith said:
NFYFC is an organisation I have always been really impressed with especially as it teaches young people how to talk! Pretty much the youth service in rural Britain is YFCs. It is the local youth club for lots of people and its really important especially for combating isolation issues.
Im not young and Im not a farmer but I am someone who is involved in agriculture on a day-to-day basis. As President, I hope to bring a fresh pair of eyes, my experience and a bit of a sense of humour to the organisation. I think its going to be a lot of fun!
NEWTOWN - Clues left at the scene of a fire and purported robbery last month at a liquor store on South Main Street quickly led detectives to the owner of the business, who had faked the crimes and then tried to shift blame to anti-Semitic attackers, police said.
Scott Young, the owner of The Rooster Wine and Liquor Store, told police that two men had robbed him at gunpoint before setting fire to the building. Investigators found a swastika painted on the building, as well as the words Burn The Jew.
Young told police that the suspects probably knew he was Jewish because he has a Star of David tattooed on his arm.
But investigators found spent matches throughout the store and a can of black spray paint under the counter, police said. They also found that the alarm system had been disabled and the battery removed from the smoke detector, court documents state.
Searching Youngs car, detectives found a number of bottles of expensive products, including Dom Perignon, several spent matches and an empty can of spray paint in the trunk.
Young faces a number of charges including arson and insurance fraud. He is being held on $100,000 bond.
Court documents note that Young took over the business about a year ago, after the original owner fell behind on his rent. Young had previously operated a liquor store in Meriden that closed in 2008 after he declared bankruptcy, according to court documents, which also show that he changed his name after the ordeal.
The Jan. 21 incident came at a time of heightened alarm in the Jewish community about anti-Semitic incidents, which have been on the rise since the presidential election.
Andy Friedland, the assistant director of the ADLs Connecticut chapter, said the number of faked hate crimes is minuscule, but they distract from real incidents of hate speech and conduct.
Its very sad and troubling, if you view this in the context of all the hate crimes that are happening today, he said. Hate crimes have a unique impact on their victims and society as a whole, and we have to take them seriously.
Recent incidents in the area include the painting of swastikas on a home and several parked cars in Danbury in November.
The ADL called on President Donald Trump to condemn the rise of anti-Semitism nationally after he failed to directly address the issue during a recent news conference.
On Tuesday, Trump said attacks on the Jewish community are painful and horrible after a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms, Trump said. The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil."
dperrefort@newstimes.com
/ file photo
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and colleagues in the Senate asked Wednesday for a review of sober homes used by recovering addicts, to determine whether more federal oversight is necessary.
Unfortunately, there have been several recent overdoses that have occurred in Connecticut sober houses, Murphy said in a prepared statement. These deaths have raised questions about these facilities and the (Government Accountability Office) review will be helpful in determining whether state and federal policymakers should consider additional oversight.
The current issue of Time features the topic of longevity. It offers readers the latest information about the concepts of human aging.
In a prior issue published in 1958, it was predicted that the number of persons age 80 and older would reach 2.3 million by the early 1960s. In 2017, that number exceeds 7.7 million.
During the past month, the Trump Administration has identified nominees for key administrative posts, including the Cabinet. As one reads about each of the nominees, the chronological age of each person is included in their bios. The age range of these nominees is from the mid 40s to late 70s, that includes the presidents age of 70.
The qualifications of each nominee to serve the nation are vetted by Congressional committees and other federal officials. And, of course, there is always the external comments by media and the general public about the competency to serve. In the process of appointing his cabinet and other key posts, President Donald Trump has gathered together a group of individuals who may have been called old geezers in years past. However, there has been scarce commentary about the chronological age of the presidents nominees. Why is that so?
If you look further at the bios of both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, the chronological age of these elected officials, particularly the persons who are in leadership positions, extend into the 80s. Also, the Constitution provides that Supreme Court justices are eligible to serve during good behavior. The term good behavior is understood to mean that the Supreme Court justices may serve for the remainder of their lives, unless they are impeached and convicted by Congress, resign or retire.
The word gerontocracy is defined as a society where leadership is reserved for elders. The ancient Greeks were among the first to believe in this idea of gerontocracies. However, these beliefs are not unique to ancient Greece, as many cultures continue to believe in this way of thinking. Often these political structures are such that political power within the ruling class accumulates with age, making the oldest the holders of the most power. Those holding the most power may not be in formal leadership positions, but often dominate those who are.
Age discrimination, as it pertains to employment in the United States, forbids employment discrimination against anyone at least 40 years of age. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Age Discrimination Act of 1967 into law. The law also applies to standards for pensions and benefits provided by employers and require that information about the needs of older workers be provided to the general public. Yet, there are perceptions by the general public about when a person should stop working, based upon their chronological age. The benchmark has been linked to the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Back in 1994, the median age of U.S. employees was 37.7 years old, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BSL), 40.3 years old by 2004 and to 41.9 years by 2014. By 2024, the median age of U.S. workers is expected to be 42.4 years old.
So why is it that Americas workforce isnt getting younger as millennials reach working age? Part of the reason is that a greater share of older Americans are bucking traditional retirement and staying in the labor force longer than has historically been the case. Between 2004 and 2014, the number of Americans at least 55 years old who were active in the civilian labor force ballooned by 47.1 percent, according to the BLS. And that number is expected to grow nearly 20 percent over the next 10 years. This age groups share of the labor force is anticipated to increase from 21.7 percent in 2014 to nearly 25 percent in 2024.
As we analyze the current workforce data and observe the composition of the political leadership, the assessment is that the concept of ageism may not be present that is, the prejudice and discrimination toward older persons in the workforce is minimized. The United States is not a gerontocracy because there is a balance of ages that govern our society. Finally, I am pleased to conclude that Americans are looking beyond age, as a variable, in determining competency to serve not only our nation in political leadership, but also that older workers are perceived as making a valuable contribution to the future well-being of our country.
Michael M. Ego is a professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Connecticut Stamford. He teaches the course, Adulthood and Aging.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
STAMFORD A California man whose radical beliefs led him on a spiritual journey last summer to a local synagogue where the annual JCC Maccabi Games were being held plans to represent himself at trial.
Yoon Chul Shin, 53, of Berkeley, Calif., rejected a plea offer earlier this month and began jury selection Wednesday in the Stamford courthouse.
Shin has been held on $15,000 cash bond since his August arrest. He faces up to four and a half years in jail if found guilty of four charges of interfering with police and a single count of breach of peace.
In October, Shin was sent to the states most secure psychiatric hospital after it was determined that he was not competent to stand trial. Two months later it was decided that he could both understand the charges against him and assist in his own defense. He chose to represent himself on the case.
Shin declined to plead guilty this month to interfering with police, which would have released him for time served.
Articulate and polite on Wednesday in Stamford court, wearing a gray suit and tie with his shackled ankles and sneakers hidden behind the defense table, Shin appeared interested to determine if potential jurors were concerned with corruption and racism.
Shin asked one young black man his views about civil rights and whether he experienced problems with police officers.
He asked the potential juror whether he had heard about targeted individuals, words that were emblazoned across the Toyota Celica he had been driving when he was arrested outside Temple Beth El on Aug 11.
Assistant States Attorney Daniel Cummings halted the questioning when Shin asked the man how he felt about 9/11. Cummings insisted the question was not relevant to the case.
9-11: The Great Deception was written in gold letters and red accents across the hood of Shins car. Shin said during jury selection that he was on a spiritual journey to expose corruption.
It is ironic that I got locked up for the very corruption I was trying to expose, he told Judge John Blawie, who presided over the jury selection.
Blawie sided with Cummings, and did not allow Shin to continue the 9/11 questioning.
Stamford police were alerted the day before Shins arrest that he could be coming to the city, where thousands of Jewish youth and their families were gathering from all over the country for the weeklong games and arts festival.
Police said Shin posted a video online a month earlier, saying he planned to desecrate Jewish temples during his cross-country trip.
Stamford police saw Shin near the temple and stopped the car, where they found religious documents, aluminum foil and pyramid sculptures.
I nvestors rode away from Serco on Wednesday after the troubled outsourcing giant admitted that exiting a number of contracts had pushed down profits.
The government contractor said a 250 million sale of its Indian call-centres business in 2015, as well as ending a job with Suffolk Community Healthcare, had contributed to underlying profit dropping 14% to 82.1 million last year.
Revenues fell 13% at the firm, which runs the Boris Bikes scheme. Analysts at Liberum said the results were weaker than expected, and the broker cut its recommendation from Hold to Sell.
Serco was one of the biggest fallers on the FTSE 250 index, with the shares down 14%, or 21.7p, to 126p.
But boss Rupert Soames was upbeat and said trading was better than expected at the company, which is looking to recover from a string of scandals such as charging the Government for tagging some criminals who were dead, imprisoned or non-existent.
He noted new contract wins, and added that Serco was bidding for six major deals this year, including running Saudi Arabias biggest-ever transport project, the 18.3 billion Riyadh Metro.
This shows we have some big opportunities at our feet, said Soames.
The road back to prosperity was always going to be long and winding... but we are making good progress, he added.
H igh-end jeweller Thomas Sabo swung into the black last year but on Wednesday warned a steep rise in business rates has hindered London expansion plans.
The German brand reported a 437,949 profit in the UK compared with a 27,349 loss a year earlier after slashing costs and posting a 3% rise in revenues to 26 million in the year to June 30.
But the firm, founded in 1984, revealed it will see rates surge by between 45% and 100% at its five London and South-East standalone shops, because of the Governments revaluation of the rateable value of commercial property.
UK managing director Jon Crossick told the Standard that the company wants to grow here but the process will take longer than expected.
He said: Our options for new London stores are narrowed following the rates revaluation.
The UK arm, which counts celebrities Frankie Bridge and Amanda Holden as fans, was helped by demand for its Together Forever romance range, which includes a 360 silver necklace.
L ondon land prices are still too high to address the crisis in student accommodation, the boss of property developer Unite has warned.
Chief executive Richard Smith said values dipped ahead of the EU referendum in central London, but since then we have not seen it spread to Zones 2 and 3, where we want to invest.
Prices are still around 10% above what the firm wants to pay.
The developer, which has 49,000 beds across Britain, warned that London freshers will face a scramble for accommodation this year because demand exceeds supply.
Unite, which has 27 properties in the capital, including in Tottenham Hale and Stratford, saw rental income rise 3.8% in 2016. It lifted its full-year dividend by 20%.
The firm has benefited from students shunning crumbling digs seen in shows like Fresh Meat, in favour of more upmarket accommodation with gyms and en-suite bedrooms.
Pre-tax profits at the company dropped to 201.4 million from 388.4 million, owing to much smaller rises in property values than in previous years.
T he Brit Awards are the biggest night of the year for British music and the fans. Tonights event will be a star-studded show with performances from Skepta, Little Mix, The 1975, Emeli Sande, Ed Sheeran, Robbie Williams, Bruno Mars and Katy Perry. The worlds eyes and ears will be on the Brits a dazzling sign that London is open for business.
The Brits celebrate commercial success, and British artists are riding high in major markets across the world. One in every six albums bought globally is by a British performer, and seven out of the UKs top 10 albums last year came from home-grown talent.
Since last years Brits there were discussions across the industry about diversity. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), organiser of the awards, took this seriously and were proud of this work, which will continue. We refreshed the voting academy its now 48 per cent female and 21 per cent BAME, and 45 per cent of this years nominations are BAME artists or feature a BAME artist in the line-up. As well as celebrating great pop, this years show will reflect grime, which is fast becoming a commercial force to match its cultural influence.
Its been a fresh, exciting year for the UK record industry, which is now a leading digital business. Consumption is up recently, hitting a billion audio streams a week, and the vinyl revival continues.
British music is a powerful global calling card, especially in the light of Brexit. All our business sectors need to focus on overseas trade, and music is a powerful way to showcase the UKs creativity. We are skilled at producing culture the world loves and wants to buy.
The Brit Awards: Most Memorable Moments - In pictures 1 /40 The Brit Awards: Most Memorable Moments - In pictures Old-school Oasis Liam and Noel Gallagher got rowdy about their rivals in 1996 Rex Features Jack Whitehall interviews Little Mix Rex Features Show crasher Jarvis Cocker mounted the stage in protest to Michael Jackson's Earth Song performance Jackson vs Cocker In 1996 Michael Jackson was given a special Artist of a Generation award. At the ceremony he accompanied his single Earth Song with a stage show, culminating with Jackson as a Christ-like figure surrounded by children. Fiona Hanson/PA That dress Ginger Spice Geri wore that infamous Union Jack T-shirt as a dress in 1997 Rex Features Smashing it up on stage Kendrick Lamar performs at the Brit Awards 2018 Hannah McKay/Reuters The safe word Cheryl and Liam Payne and put on the spot in an on-air impromptu interview with host Jack Whitehall in 2018 ITV Perry's Puppet Show Puppets as Katy Perry performs on stage at the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena, London in 2017 Dominic Lipinski/PA Getting emotional Adele accepts the Global Success award at the BRIT Awards 2016 at The O2 Arena Dave Benett Falling for it Singer Madonna falls during her performance at the BRIT music awards at the O2 Arena in 2015 Reuters Not impressed Adele was interrupted making her speech as she collected her award for Album of the Year in 2012 - so she gestured to producers where to go PA Ungrateful Liam Gallagher threw his trophy and microphone into crowd in 2010 Rex Features Divas Kelly and Sharon Osbourne, who told Vic Reeves to get off stage as he was too drunk in 2008 Rex Features Big Mouth Russell Brand's off the cuff comments got him in trouble in 2007 Rex Features What went wrong? Joss Stone strutted on stage in 2007 wearing a psychedelic mini-dress and bright purple perm, then said "How's it goin'?" in an American accent Rex Features Comedy duo Matt Lucas and David Walliams in 2005 take the mick out of Take That (in front of Robbie Williams) Rex Features Pop! Cat Deeley opened the awards on a giant champagne bottle in 2004 Rex Features Up close and personal Justin Timberlake and Kylie Minogue set tongues wagging in 2003 with their raunchy performance Reuters Raunchy Ali G and Shaggy's performance of Me Julie in 2002 caused quite a stir Rex Features Turning up the heat Kylie Minogue performing at The Brit Awards 2002 PA Sir Elton John presenting the award for Best International Male Solo Artist to American rap star Eminem in 2001 PA On fire Destiny's Child, from left to right, Michelle Williams, Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland performing during The Brit Awards 2001, hosted by SMTV presenters Ant And Dec, at Earls Court PA Showered DJ Brandon Block poured water over Ronnie Wood's head in 2000 Rex Fighting talk Robin Williams challenged Liam Gallagher to a televised boxing match for money in 2000 Rex Features Wet, wet, wet John Prescott had water thrown over him by Chumbawamba in 1998 Reuters Hold the 9 O'Clock news Producers hurried the Who into starting their live performance before Rick Astley had chance to collect his award in 1998 but this didn't prevent the delay of the news for over a minute Rex Features Let me entertain you Robbie Williams and Tom Jones performing at the Brit Awards ceremony at London Docklands Arena in 1998 PA What a speech Prince said he wanted people to think he was 'insane' in 1995 Rex Features Look out Arty dance duo The KLF sabotaged the Brits in 1992 Rex Features Terrible hosts Samantha Fox and Mick Fleetwood failed to read autocues, got their lines mixed up and guests arrived on stage late or too early in 1989 Rex Features
We are the second-biggest exporter of music after America. The BPI runs important trade missions to emerging markets such as China, South Korea and India and supports new talent touring overseas through the Governments Music Export Growth Scheme. We are optimistic about our future.
The Brit awards also raise money for the Brit School of Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon, which turns 25 this year and has received more than 10 million from the record industry through the Brit Trust.
The school provides a top-class, free education to 14- to 19-year-olds who want to pursue a career in the creative industries either as performers or technical experts. Former students account for around 125 million global music sales.
It also gives students who want to work behind the scenes excellent technical training almost all Brit students go on to higher education or get jobs in the industry. The school also opens up opportunities beyond family background half the students are from BAME backgrounds and nearly a fifth qualify for free school meals.
Arts and culture in schools help every child become the best person they can be. Its also vital for our countrys future: the creative industries generate almost 10 million an hour. All our children must have access to a quality arts education and musical instruments if we are to make the most of our talent from all communities and walks of life.
Tonights Brit Awards will be a stunning reminder that talent is everywhere. Lets make sure the opportunities are too, so we can continue to see British music rock the planet and make us proud.
Ayesha Hazarika is an adviser to the BPI.
I ndustrial action on the Tube and rail networks has once again caused chaos for commuters today. On the Central line, staff began a 24-hour stoppage last night, with no trains running east of Leytonstone today and significant delays on the rest of the line. Meanwhile, long-suffering Southern passengers have experienced cancellations, delays and overcrowding thanks to yet another walkout by RMT members.
The details of the Southern dispute are all too familiar, with guards unhappy over the move to a driver-only operation and the impact this will have on their roles. It is appalling that this year-long wrangle remains unresolved. No regular user of Southern has remained unaffected; and for some commuters the regular strike action has cost them their health, contact with their families and even their jobs. The RMTs intransigence beggars belief.
On the Tube, the cause of todays industrial unrest is arguably even more incomprehensible, the strike having been called by the unions in response to a proposal to move just eight drivers from the Central line to other parts of the Underground. The RMT and Aslef say bosses are forcing staff to travel longer distances to get to work; London Underground says it is entitled to request that employees work beyond their home depot as part of existing contractual arrangements. A full-on strike is a wholly disproportionate reaction by union chiefs.
Plainly, strikes have a disastrous effect on the economy. With every day lost to them the need for ministers and the Mayor to take a tougher line becomes clearer. Sadiq Khan promised there would be zero strikes on public transport if he were elected; that may sound hollow but is all the more reason for him to show mettle now.
Business rate panacea
The Chancellor has, it seems, expressed keen interest in the idea of dealing with the uproar over the rise in business rates by taxing superstores and airports more in order to cushion small high-street shops from the worst of the increase. For instance, abandoning a 10 million rates cut for Heathrow Airport and large cuts for superstores operated by big retailers would release 200 million to help small firms facing huge increases. It would be a fiscally neutral solution that is to say it would cost the Treasury nothing which adds to the attraction. This is an excellent idea for now. The increase in business rates in London, amounting to some 30 per cent in some boroughs, would drive firms out of business. It would penalise small independent retailers and lessen the diversity of our high streets while leaving online retailers with far less to pay proportionately. It creates a disproportion between business and residential tax which is quite unsustainable. But as Anthony Hilton points out on this page, a stop-gap solution such as this is not a long-term solution. Business rates are an out-of-date way of raising tax, which do not recognise contemporary ways of life. They must be fundamentally reformed.
France in London
The rally for the French presidential candidate, Emmanuel Macron, in Westminster last night was not only the best-dressed political gathering of recent times but an acknowledgement of London as Frances sixth city, as the candidate observed. His pitch to persuade French expats to return home was based on promises to reform sclerotic French labour laws and its punitive tax system. But Londons French community already have favourable conditions for entrepreneurship to succeed: here. Brexit or no Brexit, that will still hold true. Please stay.
L ord Strathclydes warning to the House of Lords not to create a public v Lords battle should be roundly ignored [Dont pit peers against the people, Lords warned as it begins Brexit Bill debate, February 20].
I say Strathclydes sole interest is to avoid a row while the ship of state sails blithely on. Unfortunately, the ship is heading for the rocks.
If the good Lord was really interested in democracy, he would be reminding us, as former Prime Minister Tony Blair did last week, that minds and plans can and should change if the outcome looks unfavourable. Democracy also requires acceptance that the opposition has a right to a legitimate viewpoint something that the crowing David Davis, Liam Fox and Boris Johnson do not get.
A halfway democratic Brexit would respect the position of the 48 per cent who did not vote Leave and pay particular attention to areas such as London or Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly in favour of Remain. Instead, we have hard Brexit and, if negotiations fail, a threat to jump into the arms of President Trump.
If row avoidance is what Lord Strathclyde wishes to achieve, he should watch this space if the views of Remain voters continue to be so contemptuously treated.
Simon Diggins
Alexander McLaren may have changed his mind about Brexit [Letters, February 20] but more fool him for not understanding the issues in the first place. Everyone I know who voted Leave feels exactly the same way as they did last June.
We voted to leave a bureaucratic organisation which has become the United States of Europe; we voted to ensure that Britain can negotiate its own trade arrangements, make its own laws, and decide what is best for its economy and its residents, wherever they originally came from.
It is not possible for 28 countries with different economies, industries, histories and cultures to want or need the same things. The result is every nation has to compromise and I dont think that is fair for any country.
Marcia MacLeod
I wish it had been someone other than Tony Blair who said we should rise up against Brexit, but he voiced what at least 48 per cent of us feel.
It is too simplistic for Brexiteers to suggest that those of us who voted Remain should just shut up and concede the democratic vote. If the result had gone the other way, I very much doubt that they would have meekly accepted the result.
Democracy means those of us who fear the dire consequences of leaving Europe have the right to continue to campaign, to try and persuade our fellow citizens to support us and push to reverse a decision we feel is potentially disastrous.
Craig Alexander
The dumps: Donald Trump has been as inept and unsuitable as the world predicted
Donald Trump is a global disaster
After only a month under the rule of President Trump, America is as divided as it has ever been. It seems that Americans are more angry and political views are far more polarised.
This is a consequence of Trump introducing a number of controversial policies, notably the Muslim ban, which resulted in massive protests sprouting across the country.
Trump said he wanted to Make America great again before the election, but ever since he took office there has been nothing but chaos and dysfunction. When will this period of turbulence end?
Baldev Sharma
The people who are opposed to allowing Donald Trump to address Parliament forget that, in reality, the United States does not need Britain.
As we leave the EU, surely the last thing we want is to upset a volatile president who could easily terminate the so-called special relationship?
Dominic Shelmerdine
Is Cressida Dick right for the Met job?
It beggars belief that Cressida Dick could even be in the frame for such a critical policing post as Met Commissioner [Mayor gives extra 27m to the Met to keep the officers London needs, February 20].
Ms Dick was Operational Commander on the day of the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Underground station in 2005. Subsequent investigations called her competency into question. While the deceaseds family still long for accountability, wouldnt it be inappropriate to promote her further?
Dr Shahrar Ali, former Green Party deputy leader
Investors' needs should be prioritised
The warning from Sean Hagerty, head of Vanguards European business for investors, about the impact of high management fees charged by some funds on long-term investments is welcome [Vanguard calls on funds to issue cost warning, February 20].
That such fees are often deducted from investors own capital rather than from returns generated by the management should be given equal prominence in any invitation to invest.
If fund managers livelihoods depended on a level of performance from which their fees might be paid, this would be a clear sign of intent that investors needs are being prioritised.
John Payne
Parents can't fight knife crime alone
It is disturbing to hear the seemingly never-ending news of Londons teenagers being stabbed to death [Met plea: Parents must act to stop stabbings, February 20]. We cannot allow children to die on our streets.
While I think parents have a better chance of getting through to their children, they cannot do it on their own.
It will take a joined-up effort from the Mayor, politicians, the public and the Met in order to reduce the number of knives and therefore stabbings in the capital.
Handsen Chikowore
Join the conversation: #esnewsviews
The Mayor needs bolder air solutions
Congestion is at a critical point and the fact that idling engines contribute to Londons air pollution is simply unacceptable. We need a revolution in how we travel and healthier streets where people can walk and cycle.
I suggested the Mayor commissions a road-charging study that prices by distance travelled and emissions, a fairer system than the current one-size-fits-all charge schemes.
The Mayor must look into bold options if he wants to make a positive difference to Londons air pollution and the health of Londoners.
Caroline Russell, London Assembly Green Party Group
What about the 21,000 diesel taxis?
Can anyone explain how the Mayor can express concerns about diesel-vehicle pollution in London without mentioning the 21,000 London diesel taxis polluting the city?
What plans or proposals have been made to replace or convert these serial polluters?
Anthony John
Join the conversation: #escleancityviews
T he capital has proven its cocktail might by winning every award going at last nights prestigious Class Bar Awards 2017.
Run by the team behind Worlds 50 Best Bars, the awards celebrate the best of the UK bar scene and are judged by industry experts from across the country.
The biggest winner of the night was Ryan Chetiyawardanas Bankside bar Dandelyan, which scooped four top awards including bar of the year and hotel bar of the year.
Among others it saw off competition from Satans Whiskers in Bethnal Green and Bramble in Edinburgh as well as London stalwarts The Connaught Bar and The American Bar at The Savoy to claim these honours.
The best bars in London 1 /64 The best bars in London Scarfes Bar at Rosewood London 252 High Holborn, WC1V 7EN, rosewoodhotels.com/london
The Rosewood is doubly wonderful for drinkers, as theyve two fine spots. In the modern Dining Room, sit at the gin bar, which outstocks anywhere else in London, with more than 400 gins and 27 tonics. Trying to choose is impossible, but what a lovely impossibility to have. The bar staff clearly had one hell of a tasting session as they know the list perfectly. Across the way is Scarfes Bar, a brilliant, brilliant bar gladly shaken free from all the stuffiness usually found in hotel bars. The drinks are stunning, theyve often live music, it gets wonderfully busy and crackles with laughter. Go a little later and its busier, people drink more, everything is better. Bar Americain 20 Sherwood St, W1F 7ED, brasseriezedel.com
As the name suggests, this is a classic American bar, and done near perfectly. One can become very fond of Bar Americain and very quickly: passing through Piccadilly Circus, it acts as a magnet a quick negroni becomes a temptation impossible to resist. Its a very beautiful place, calling to mind grand Parisian hotels of the 20s and 30s, bottles winking from the bar, staff floating through with their finery and litres of charm. Youre here to drink the classics: theyve a killer Clover Club and a straight-down-the-line Manhattan. But ask: the bartenders know their stuff and bring their A-game to any challenge tell them what you like, and theyll bring you something new. They often have specials on, as well. Top marks for the attentive staff, bringing plenty of water and bowl after bowl of popcorn both essential after a few here. Oriole Smithfield Markets, E Poultry Ave, EC1A 9LH, oriolebar.com
The team behind Nightjar took their winning formula, gave it a bit of a shake up and created Oriole. Theyve live music throughout the week from Wednesday to Saturday, theres a charge per person, so watch out for that which gives any night here a bit of zip. This is a strictly seated spot, so be sure to book: once inside, its a whirlwind tour of the world, with fine details from across the globe, both in the styling and the drinks and so much cheaper than booking a holiday. Drinks are excellent, whether youre into New Orleans style classics or something from the depths of Asia: explore the menu (split into Old World, New World and The Orient) and expect something unusual and faintly brilliant, with a touch of the Tiki. Put it this way: Oriole is ideal whether you prefer drinking from a crystal tumbler, a teacup or, er, a silver crocodile. Piano Works 113-117 Farringdon Road, Farringdon EC1R 3BX, pianoworks.bar
Full credit to this fun Farringdon spot: theyve worked hard to make the place better and better since opening, which is pretty good going for what was already a decent spot to begin with. The Piano Works sounds like a quiet jazz bar but instead is a hell-raising house of sound, splendidly raucous, where a house band take requests and belt out your favourite songs. The more you get involved, the more fun it is, and the place heats up the later it gets. Wine starts at 16, house cocktails are 8, but they've tons of terrific deals during the week including cocktails for a fiver (!!) Drink lots, dance lots and leave in the early hours with someone you shouldnt do. Thats what we did. Hawksmoor, Spitalfields 157A Commercial St, E1 6BJ, thehawksmoor.com
Its hardly surprising the bar snacks are a highlight here have the oxcheek nuggets with a side of chips, then call the waiter over to order them over again given how good the steak upstairs is. The drinks and setting, though, match them pound for pound. The old tube tiles on the walls, the beautiful parquet floor, the copper tops and silvery black ceiling make the large space a place to settle in for the night no matter your seat, while the cocktails come with oodles of thought in each one: the new menu has homemade bitters, shrubs and syrups, and its bloody obvious everyone behind the bar is more than a little nerdy about building drinks. Shaky Petes Ginger Brew is the classic, so have it, but follow up with the Shadow Boxer, a mix of scotch, sherry and Fernet-Branca. Odd, oddly delicious. Its also a cracking place to sit for a bottle of wine. Andrew Edmunds 46 Lexington St, W1F 0LP, andrewedmunds.com
Perhaps better than its ever been, Andrew Edmunds recently won The Good Drinking prize in our Restaurant Awards, and for good reason. Its a small spot, cramped to the point that coming here on a first date feels like youre being very forward indeed , with the best tables upstairs and not much to look at just settle for being distracted by someone beautiful. The food, French-ish/English-ish, is fine, but its the wine that's extraordinary. And youre here for wine: forget cocktails, they have. What a list, and so quietly marked up that youre getting a steal with almost every bottle indeed, the more expensive the better the deal. Having been going 30 years, those who knew old Soho say its one of the last bastion of such things. Drink too much gorgeous wine and come back often. The Connaught Bar Connaught, Carlos Place, W1K 2AL, the-connaught.co.uk
A bar for the impossibly beautiful, a bar of high heels and glimmering lights, of perfume and leather. Aside from oddly thumping music, the Connaught is wonderfully detached from the world a place of its own, cosy and winter warm when it needs to be, light and summer when desired. The drinks, naturally pricey, are well put together and while classic in tone, come with crackles of theatre: washes in perfume bottles, branches as garnishes, smoke, the lot. Still, the martini trolley is what theyre famed for, so its only right to indulge. Afterward, head to the Champagne Room: sadly the law stops it being the cigar haven it once was, but it's still gorgeous: romantic and charming with its fireplace, dramatic with its glass ceiling and sculpture swan diving. Treat yourself to the Ruinart blanc de blanc. Damned good olives, too. Milk & Honey 61 Poland St, W1F 7NU, mlkhny.com
You know a bar is good when local bartenders love it, and Milk & Honey has long been a Soho favourite for those in the know. Hidden in plain sight this terrific bar has been doing its thing for just shy of 15 years. The talent hasnt diminished, and neither has the care put into the drinks. Cocktails are strong and proper and happily, they're updating the list soon to freshen things up. At around 10 a drink, M&H is also a bargain for central London, and the quality outstrips the price. It functions as a members bar, but non-members can book up until 11pm though going earlier in the week means youre more likely to score a table. Milk & Honey is civilised, without the crushing formality. Next door is the Blind Pig, another top 'hidden' spot. Mark's Bar HIX Soho, 66- 70 Brewer St, W1F 9UP, hixrestaurants.co.uk
The bad: you might not get in. If its busy, they dont squeeze people into this basement, so either be there early, or bamboozle them with charm, or dazzle them with your brilliant wit. Were kidding: just take someone hot. The good: pretty much everything else. Naturally, the bar snacks are distractingly tasty, but the drinks list is excellent, and unusual too, with a few historical recipes brought back to life. Attention to detail is everything here, so if youre not sharing one of the big old Chesterfields, head to the bar and sit and watch theres something about it thats like seeing a cardmaster turn tricks. And have a Hix Fix, just to say you have. The Beaufort bar and the American Bar at The Savoy The Savoy, Strand, WC2R 0EU, fairmont.com
Glitz, glamour and lots of gold: both Savoy bars are wonderfully opulent. The world-famous American bar, recently revamped, is still up there as one of the best bars on our humble planet. The bartenders bible, Harry Craddocks The Savoy Cocktail Book, was written here, and the cocktails served today remain as finely tuned as they ever were. Whereas as other bars try to recreate the glamour of such places, The Savoy neednt pretend: everything is genuine. The palatial Beaufort is absurdly romantic, and drinks are extravagantly presented: it works for the most special of special occasions, and theres something undeniably grand about sipping away in the same place Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel and Ernest Hemingway all did. If youre planning a few drinks, either be rich or take someone rich seriously. Artesian 1C Portland Pl, W1B 1JA, artesian-bar.co.uk
Artesian won its accolades for its team, Alex Kratena and Simone Caporale, who ran the place for eight years and earned its reputation as the best bar in the world. Theyve sadly departed, but have left the place in capable hands, and the feel is much the same as it ever was, which is chic, glamorous, and not taking itself too seriously. While the beautiful and the rich rub shoulders, the bartenders are mixing up excellent but often slightly silly drinks but its their mischievousness that makes them so winning. Seriously impressive. Les Compagnie Des Vins Surnaturels 8-10 Neal's Yard, WC2H 9DP, cvssevendials.com
Call it CVS and your night becomes considerably easier to pronounce. Sat in Neils Yard, it is one of Londons finest wine bars. Thoroughly French, of course: New World wines barely get a sideways glance, while even Italys finest is only begrudgingly given a little space on the considerable menu. This doesn't mean there is a lack of choice to the contrary, it is almost overwhelming, though they have a short by-the-glass list, and the charming staff are both well informed and passionate about what to have. In the summer, sit outdoors, in the winter, cosy up by the bar. Wherever you are, try the mystery wine; if you guess it, youll win a bottle. Have food small plates made to share, and terrifically good and drink plenty, so the bill doesnt hit as hard. The Shrub & Shutter 336 Coldharbour Ln, SW9 8QH, theshrubandshutter.com
This Brixton bar felt new in the area, taking a little of east London and bringing it down south. Theyve a pleasingly patchwork approach to decor: there are jars and bottles and shakers everywhere, which gives the place a kitchen feel. The cocktails, lovely to drink on their own, are made better with the food, which is designed to match what youre drinking. The pairings initially sound a little gimmicky crayfish with vodka, venison on the side of The Deerhunter (an old fashioned, basically) but they work, so drop that sceptical streak for a moment. It gets busy, so book up, get in early, and stay late. Theyve a license until 3am, so itd be rude not to. Sky Pod at the Sky Garden 1 Sky Garden Walk, EC3M 8AF, skygarden.london
The truth of it is, you come for the view, but good God it's a great view, and 360-degrees at that. Up 35 floors, if you can think of a London icon, you can probably see it. When the weather's good, get outside for some fresh air. With completely free entry and minimal security fuss, its worth making a reservation, though if youre ok to queue, theyll have you in. Cocktails arent torturously expensive, at around 11.50, and are very enjoyable the cognac-chocolate-caramel-port mix that is Black and Gold is particularly good so it doesn't feel like they're relying on the sights.
Theres a sense of special occasion, and all the more so with live music on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays. Theyre hoping for jazz on Wednesdays, too. If youre tempted to eat, Fenchurch and the Darwin Brasserie are well worth trying Fenchurch is particularly good for veggies. The Gilbert Scott St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, Euston Rd, NW1 2AR, thegilbertscott.co.uk
Given the golden hue here, where luxury hangs in the air like perfume, its remarkable that wine starts at as little as 5 a glass. Wine is its strong point, and likeable head sommelier Joris Beijn is a man worth knowing: he is passionate about his list, knowledgeable and accommodating. The bar is flexible, in that it is by turns ideal for a date, or a catch up with old friends, or a pre/post dinner drinks. The room is a stunner: high painted ceilings, dramatic red walls, great big bells as art, marble bar top and crystal glasses catching the light. Cocktails come in at around 14, and err on the light side: lots of gin and floral concoctions. The restaurant, next door, isnt to be missed, either, just be prepared to get an Uber home: invariably, youll stretch and tease out the evening to stay just a little longer. Gerry's Club 52 Dean Street, W1D 5BJ, gerrysclub.com
A word of warning: this is technically a member's club, but you'll probably be fine if you flirt enough and don't ask for Gerry, he's long since passed. Michael looks after this place now. We've only been once very late, very drunk and with very good friends. Most old-school Soho drinking dens are dead, but this hub of actors and writers is what remains of 'Old Soho'. If you're boring, steer clear: it is a place to drink wine and beer and tell stories, to laugh uproariously and to give yourself a monumental hangover in a faintly discreet way. 68 and Boston 4-5 Greek St, Soho, W1D 4DD, 68andboston.com
Boston, the bar upstairs, looks like glamorous train carriage from the golden age of cocktails but plays it a little bit safe. Wine bar 68, downstairs, is the real gem, with a wonderful way of pricing: every bottle on the list is 20, so choose what you like, not what you can afford. Better yet, if you don't fancy a bottle, they're served by the carafe (14) or glass (5.50). Wines are well picked and Denise Medrano, wine blogger and lover found behind the bar, is always working to update the list so go back to try something new. Youll probably end up getting drunk here: the pull of another bottle at just 20 is monumentally hard to resist, but hey, thats what Soho is for. If you fancy drinking something more upscale, ask theyve a few hidden wines kept hidden away for those in the know. Thats you, now. The Pink Chihuahua at El Camion 25-27 Brewer St, W1F 0RR, elcamion.co.uk
Forget house infusions and drinks that take half an hour to make: sometimes a good night needs tequila and dancing. The Pink Chihuahua is built for it: theyre providing the tequila more than 300 different types of it, in fact youre there to drink it down and dance it up. Theyve all sorts of twists on Margaritas and Daiquiris, and, given youre downstairs from Mexican restaurant El Camion, plenty of bar food to indulge in too. Lots of fun, and if youre feeling more in the mood just to sit back and sip something slowly, ask about their choice of Mezcal. There's real talent here, but fun too. The Gibson 44 Old St, EC1V 9AQ, thegibsonbar.london
Given the dearth of decent cocktails in Farringdon, the tiny Gibson is a God-send. Its a parlour pitched somewhere between Edwardian and Art Deco, and drinks arent simply poured here, theyre tended to, built, thought about, adored. All unsurprising, really, given the team learnt their trade at the likes of Nightjar and The Connaught.
This place is doing more creatively to push bartending forward than any bar that's opened up in a while, so ask the team for recommendations and youll be presented with something magic. Youll need to ask, actually, as the menu is a novel and theres the risk of wasting the evening reading instead of drinking, and that simply wouldnt do at all. Peg+Patriot Patriot Square, E2 9NF, talentedmrfox.com
The Talented Mr Fox, Matt Whiley, offers is a nice blend of things here: while the menu takes a sophisticated trip around London, with each cocktail a column of flavour, some managing chameleonic taste all within the space of a sip, the actual bar is surprisingly spare and understated. The effect is such that while drinks are upmarket, one doesnt feel obliged to sit demurely to enjoy them. Relax, have a few you might want to, as the serves arent huge. It should be said that these cocktails are among Londons most interesting, rather than Londons best: they are talking points, oddities, they put flavours together in a way that isnt available elsewhere. If youre big on trying new things, different experiences, seeing what a cocktail can do, come, its a must. If its just something reliably delicious you fancy, elsewhere may be better. Worship Street Whistling Shop 63 Worship St, EC2A 2DU, whistlingshop.com
One presumes the staff here have night vision, otherwise its a complete and utter mystery how they see customers, let alone their ingredients. Still, they must do, for the output is pretty much excellent through and through at this dark spot. Its Victorian-inspired, which sounds tired and not a little tacky, but the gang from Purl have done it properly. Drinks are busy lots of fusions, blends, gasses and pressure and all sorts so its appropriate they come out of a lab. Still, all this engineering seems to be worth it, as the drinks slip down easily, the alcohol often hidden away. Make sure to take a seat in the Dram Shop, and pop in to the Gin Closet too, which operates as an honesty bar. Kansas Smitty's 63-65 Broadway Market, E8 4PH, kansassmittys.com
Below bar Off Broadway a long way off, its Mexican sits this glorious den of jazz and juleps. It is a speakeasy for 2016: that is to say, it has none of the contrived mannerisms of bars which proclaim to be speakeasies, it just happens to actually be one: youll need to knock to get in, the music raves loud and hot, and the place is so crowded strangers become family after a drink or two. The house band, for which the place is named, have envy-inducing talent, and the bar has fairly recently overhauled its drinks list, and the results are good. Youll be absorbed by the music, and stay afterwards to ride the buzz of the crowd. GONG 52, Shangri-La Hotel, the Shard, SE1 9QU, .gong-shangri-la.com
Gong is in the Shard, so youre there for the view alone. View it certainly does: at 52 floors up, its by far Londons highest spot to drink: consequently, sipping on a martini, one feels a little like a Bond villain pondering all thats below. Its not a huge bar, but that somewhat adds to the sense of exclusivity. Prices are, naturally, sky high: expect to pay at least 18. The drinks have plenty about them to compete with the view: presentation is everything. Theyve not skipped on the spirits making the mix, either: expect the likes of Zacapa 23 rum (heavenly stuff), Talisker scotch and Tanqueray 10 for the gin. All top drawer stuff. If this all sounds a bit intimidating, bear in mind they operate a no reservations policy, so youve as good a chance of getting in as anyone else. Mr Fogg's Salon 58 St Martin's Lane, Theatreland, WC2N 4EA, mr-foggs.com
Downstairs is a pretty decent pub, busy from theatreland. Upstairs, the salon is quieter, but only a little. The walls are a glittering ballgown of 19th century curiosities, unsubtle nonsense winking away. Head to a chaise longues with a couple of friends or a date and take in something from each one of the five acts which split the menu. Drinks seem to smell especially good here, rich, relying heavily on the likes of rum, cognac and sherry. Gin lovers need not despair: theyve a room with 300 different types next door. Come elegantly dressed. Bar Termini 7 Old Compton St, W1D 5JE, bar-termini.com
Do Bar Termini right and youll love it: do it wrong, and you may be underwhelmed. Tony Conigliaro, cocktail chap par excellence, and coffee maestro Marco Arrigo have built a revolving-door of a place: dont come here to linger. Expect a night of cocktails and youll leave disappointed: instead, love it in the day for the 1 espressos, and swing by in the evening for a negroni (6). Theyre small, but some of the best in the capital. One swishes in and out here, and that way, it adds a touch of Italian glamour to any evening. Trisha's (New Evaristo Club) 57 Greek St, Soho, W1D 3DX
Drinks dont make a bar, and thank goodness, as the stuff served at Trishas named for its owner is uniformly pretty awful: red and white wine youd consider an insult if a friend served it at supper, prosecco wildly overpriced, terrible spirits ecetera ecetera. At more than 70, the club is Sohos oldest, and while nobody who goes there can ever remember anything changing its often quite hard to recall much about Trishas in crystal detail, as it happens nothing needs to. The bad wine and expensive mixers and paint stripper spirits are all part of the point: its a glorious drinking den, and marvellous, marvellous fun. There are characters here: the last time we were in, we sat being scared witless by an old East End gangster who said hes known the Krays. Tremendous. Long may this place live. The Fumoir Claridge's, 49 Brook St, W1K 4HR, claridges.co.uk
The Fumoir will confuse you, as youll be torn between shouting about it and keeping it all to yourself. This plush purple and leather spot, deco decadence with a touch of welcome pomp, is hidden away behind a secret door at Claridges. Tiny and glitzy enough to feel like a Hollywood dressing room from the Golden Age, its little surprise the likes of Christina Hendricks adore it. For such a small place, they squeeze an awful lot in: plenty of wines, classic cocktails given a stern shake up, buckets of gin, a lovely choice of armagnac and a magnificent scotch list, gleaming with rarities. 69 Colebrooke Row 69 Colebrooke Row, N1 8AA, 69colebrookerow.com
Once known as the bar with no name, henceforth they shall be called the bar with Bernards watch, as there is no other explanation for the speed with which their finely mixed cocktails arrive. Another bar from Tony Conigliaro, its earned its reputation for turning out hit after hit: the drinks list is endlessly tempting. The piano is a nice touch; that is gets played a much nicer one, and make sure to order the Prairie Oyster fun to drink, and one even for those who cant eat seafood. Bear in mind its a small spot, so youre close to your neighbours, and if you dont like strong drinks where the booze kicks, this wont be for you. Happiness Forgets 8-9 Hoxton Square, N1 6NU, happinessforgets.com
Dont expect frills and fuss or the rest of it here: Happiness Forgets is cocktail bar distilled down to its very essence, and done very well their tag High End Cocktails/Low End Rent sums it up best. The bartenders are all top drawer, and their creations impeccable. Unsurprisingly, this Hoxton space has its regulars, so the crowd is always good. Tables can be booked, but half are always kept for walk-ins: try your luck, its worth it. Dry Martini by Javier de las Muelas Melia White House Hotel, Albany Street, NW1 3UP, melia.com
Come to this one to brag: Dry Martini is known as Barcelonas best cocktail bar, and has been rated the fifth best bar in the world by the Worlds 50 Best Bars panel. Renowned bartender Javier de las Muelas has bought over his concept to us lucky Londoners, and with it, finely mixed and classic cocktails. No prizes for guessing that the Dry Martini is the house special if you dont think you like them, heres a place to change your mind. With more than 80 gins on the list, you could easily lose a week here. Gordon's 47 Villiers St, WC2N 6NE, gordonswinebar.com
Gordons seems to get more and more crowded with each passing day, but perhaps rightly so: the beloved Embankment institution is made for knocking back bottles of wine in. Eat a few cold bites and chat into a long, unwinding evening. The wine list is good enough, but youre really here for the atmosphere: in summer, the terrace, buzzing, in winter, the caves indoors, crammed with noise, spilt wine, and joy. Social bar at City Social 25 Old Broad St, EC2N 1HQ, citysociallondon.com
Youd think youre at City Social, up 24 stories of Tower 42, to eat, but if you stop in the bar, theres a good chance you wont make it to your table. The drinks come as something of a surprise: theyre so much better than one expects from a restaurant bar, inventive, put together carefully but not staidly, retaining a sense of fun. And, crucially, damned tasty. Its a dark room, and full of city types, but perfect for a few late night cocktails soaking up the view, which is really quite wonderful. Bloody pricey, but thats part of it. Ladies and Gentlemen 2 Highgate Rd, NW5 1NR, twitter.com
William Borrells bolthole transcends its gimmick (which, if you hadnt guessed, is that its a converted public loo), with the help of some very handy bartenders, and its house-brewed gin, Highwayman, of which twelve bottles a day get distilled. Ladies & Gents manages well as a place for a quiet drink, or better yet, a place to quietly get roaringly drunk. Convenient indeed. The drinks are strong, very interesting, and theres plenty of odd sods on the wall to keep your conversation up. It maintains a veneer of being somewhere faintly upmarket, but youll probably end up reading from one of the books scattered around or trying to dance to the live music. Perfect for a date that gets out of hand. Bull In A China Shop 196 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6LG, bullinachinashop.london
Truth it, youll need to catch this place on a good night, as weve been in often enough to know it has its good nights and its meh nights. But when the place is on, its really cooking, and easily one of the best bars in town. The cocktail list is short, but thought through, and care is taken in even the small things: they even make sure the water glasses are chilled. The chamomile and charcoal Old-Fashioned is a must, and any whisky lovers should get chatting to the bar staff, as theyve bottles which arent available anywhere else in the capital. Sager + Wilde Arch, 250 Paradise Row, E2 9LE, sagerandwilde.com
Wine lovers rejoice, wine bores look elsewhere. Sager + Wilde admirably keep things unpretentious: the exposed brickwork sets the tone: theyre keeping things low key. The specials list changes regularly, and always with interesting choices introduced. Some of the wines are exclusive to this place, so youre all but guaranteed to try something new. Have a SHE + T (sherry with tonic, delicious), and absolutely do not leave without having the grilled cheese sandwich. 7 Tales at Sosharu 64 Turnmill St, EC1M 5RR, sosharulondon.com
Underneath Jason Athertons Sosharu is this sexy, seedy Japanese drinking den, where youll find the hazy, debauched glamour of Tokyo after dark. Unlike so many bars underneath restaurants, 7 Tales doesnt feel like a holding pen, and drinks are precision made, with flavours leaning beyond the usual think rice-washed gin, sake, infusions of sesame, snacks like tempura. Bar snacks are an irresistible must. Callooh Callay 65 Rivington St, EC2A 3AY, calloohcallaybar.com
Eccentric doesnt seem to quite cover it: enter the surreal world of Callooh Callay through an old Victorian wardrobe, catch sight of a throne and order punch out of a gramophone from a menu thats more of a sticker book. It sounds a bit ridiculous, but the bartenders really know their stuff, so for all the quirks, drinks are fundamentally pretty excellent. On the weekends, its a party bar, and DJs spin music to match: youre here for a good time. Any detectives in your gang will find there are two extra rooms in Callooh Callay to explore theyre hidden away, too, naturally. If youre good, you might even get an invite upstairs to the Jub Jub Room, where the 10-long cocktail list changes every three weeks. Fans should also head to their new offering in Angel, Little Bat. Dukes Bar Dukes Hotel, 35 St James's Pl, SW1A 1NY, dukeshotel.com
Dukes is known for one reason: martinis. The St Jamess hotel was a favourite haunt of James Bond author and (very) keen drinker, Ian Fleming, who supposedly came up with the shaken, not stirred line here. Their martinis are exceptionally strong, and very large: theres a reason they wont serve you more than two. But look, break the mould: theyre a classic hotel bar, they serve a fine range of classic cocktails. Theres also a cognac and cigar garden, if youre so inclined. NOLA 1st Floor, 68 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY, nola-london.com
It would be too easy to miss this place, so do your homework and saunter in: its must more attractive than sweatily asking anyone if theyve seen the place. Drawing inspiration from the home of proper cocktails, New Orleans, the bar loves traditional drinks, builds them properly and serves them in a den of music and laughter. Unlike some places specialising in old school serves, NOLA is a place for fun: sure, it seems to say, you could have a quiet drink but why would you want to? Theres a cracking cigar terrace too, small enough that everyone talks before heading back in for one hell of a Vieux Carre. Call Me Mr Lucky 11 Southwark St, SE1 1RQ, twitter.com
All the hidden bars at the Breakfast Clubs around the capital are popular, with perhaps The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town being the best known. Call Me Mr Lucky, on Southwark Street, happens to be our favourite. Once youve flirted with the staff ask to get lucky youre taken through the restaurants kitchens to a lively bar decorated like some twisted take on a kids party. Have a go on the wheel of fortune, where youll really want to get lucky, and win a free shot, and then work your way through the cocktail list. Like any good-time bar worth its salt, this place is big on tequila, and the drinks are light-hearted fun, but here we go getting lucky again along with the quirks comes quality. By the of the evening, before youre porured back onto the street, youll swear tequila is your new favourite drink, and youll be singing the party hits they play all the way home. K Bar at The Kensington 109 - 113 Queen's Gate, SW7 5LP, townhousekensington.com
K bar feels majestic and there is no other word for it because drinking here is a little like being in the captains quarters of the Titanic, albeit without the sinking feeling. There is glamour here: a kind of place to be seduced in. Cocktails wise, bar manager Ben Manchester is the man to ask for, but theres a fine list to choose from. It avoids stuffiness, and just needs to be packed out to really get cooking. Nightjar 129 City Rd, EC1V 1JB, barnightjar.com
Nightjar has fame which means writing about it is redundant: people think it marvellously good, and theyve live music most of the week. Its seating only and worth booking: just be sure not to cancel, or theyll charge a steep 10 per person. They do the speakeasy theme, but well enough that it isnt too tired yet, and have plenty of old school style on the list. Pick up a pack of cards from the bar on your way out. Reverend J W Simpson 32 Goodge St, W1T 2QJ, revjwsimpson.com
Bourne and Hollingsworth run this rather lovely little bar, downstairs from a small doorway on Goodge St. Service is friendly and speedy, it's comfortable, and drinks more than hold their own there's both obscure traditional mixes and modern serves made with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Luckily, with good drinks come good people, and it's a loud, happy place. Albertine 1 Wood Ln, W12 7DP, albertinewinebar.co.uk
Albertine hasnt changed much since the day East Enders was commissioned there. A wine bar through and through, youll struggle to get anything else (though there are a couple of ales on the menu.) Its a place with spirit, which draws a regular, devoted crowd. They sell everything they serve, and its well worth splashing out: the mark-up gets less and less as the bottles get more expensive, meaning you can get an absolute bargain at the top end of the list. Its also the kind of wine bar you go to to overindulge. First Aid Box 119 Dulwich Rd, SE24 0NG, firstaidbox2015.com
This place really is worth travelling to Herne Hill to, which must be saying something. The team behind Shrub & Shutter have thickly laid on the pharmacy theme here, with cure-all drinks. Its not an idea which sounds like it should work, and yet, how much better life would be if they were one of the emergency services. Expect saline drips, syringes, and the likes of plastic lungs their take on thirst aid but rest assured, flavours arent medicinal in the slightest. At 8 - 10 a drink, its reasonable for London, and wonderful to see a bar really trying something new. Bravo. Media Wisdom Photography - Giles Christopher Nam Long Le Shaker 159 Old Brompton Rd, SW5 0LJ, namlong.co.uk
It gained fame for its celebrity fans, which include Mick Jagger and Prince Harry, but Nam Long has held on longer than most A-list haunts: its been going 30 years, and recently was given an overhaul. Its quite possibly the most Chelsea place imaginable there are literally MIC cast members floating about and its a go-to spot to drink far too much and party. The upstairs area is bright, airy, and well looked after by the excellent bartenders, while downstairs "the Opium Den" is as it sounds (though there was no opium available when we asked... ) The drinks upstairs were made with more care, but downstairs is more intimate, opulent, and better for a small groups. Some of those Chelsea types who go really are the very worst, and the drinks are outrageously expensive, but hey, its a laugh. The Vault at Milroy's 3 Greek St, Soho, W1D 4NX, shop.milroys.co.uk
A bar through a bookcase: were sold. Better yet, its underneath one of Sohos finest whisky shops with stiff competition from The Vintage House so if youre taken with something downstairs, buy it on your way out. Its a simple little bar and the service is decidedly so-so, but its usually pretty busy, they play good music and have an excellent range of spirits. The menu is changed regularly, but its a good place to cram into with friends or on a date. You mightnt spend the entire night here, but for a couple of drinks on the way somewhere, or on the way back, it fits the bill perfectly. Bounce 241 Old St, EC1V 9EY, bouncepingpong.com
There are two Bounce bars, one on Old Street and one on Holborn. The Old Street spot is a little more fun, graffiti adorning the walls,the Holborn spot somewhat more upmarket. Still, they both deserve a mention, and for the simple reason theyre damned good fun. Drinks here are good, with a decent spirit selection at both (and a huge number of gins in Farringdon) and a respectable selection of beers. Food is fine, simple. Still, you come to play ping pong. Theyve tables everywhere. Theres little to fault with Bounce: its a laugh, and sometimes thats all somewhere needs to be.
It also won drinks menu of the year for its Modern Botany 3rd Edition list, and Dandelyans Aidan Bowie was named bartender of the year.
The award for new bar of the year went to Swift in Soho, from London bartending favourites Bobby and Mia Hiddlestone and the team behind Nightjar.
Also in Soho, the Negroni Robusto from Tony Conigliaros Bar Termini was named cocktail of the year.
Black Rock in Spitalfields, which focuses on whisky, won specialist bar of the year, while restaurant bar of the year went to Hawksmoor Spitalfields, beating The Blind Pig at Social Eating House.
Bar food menu of the year was won by Oriole in Smithfield, also from the Nightjar stable.
Read all the latest restaurant and bar news and reviews
The nights lifetime achievement award went to Jake Burger, who is behind Portobello Road Gin and the Portobello Star.
The so-called class collective' who voted for the winners featured 85 bar experts from 20 cities across the UK, 70% of whom are based outside of London.
T he cheese glistens. As I take a bite of toastie heaven, melted fat runs down my fingers. Oh, cheese toastie! Enclosed Welsh rarebit! What a joyful piece of plate-fill you are!
A cheese toastie is no culinary moonshot but a comfort blanket, akin to stroking a dog or having a newborn rest on your chest. It is both a soother and a boost to the spirits. And these ones are good. Deserving-of-love-poems-and-panegyrics good. Sell-your-grandma-and-buy-toasties good. And soon, theyll have their own restaurant in Camden Stables, The Cheese Bar.
Its the third baby of Mathew Carver, who started with the Cheese Truck then launched Archies in Deptford, where Ive tried the toastie. On launch day, March 2, Carver is holding a sandwich amnesty, where you can switch your supermarket sarnie for a toastie (the donated sandwiches go to FareShare).
The menu is both a Hobsons choice and the lactose intolerants ninth circle of hell. These are, in the best way, cheese toasties with pretensions of grandeur. The classic toastie uses Keens cheddar and rich Ogleshield, with red onion to give a potent tang and bread from the Bread Bread Bakery. Even the humble gherkin is hifalutin, pickled not in vinegar but in pale ale from Villages Brewery across the road from Archies.
Recipe Series - Baked Camembert cheese with pancetta bread twists
All outlets use British cheeses, including a queso Chihuahua from Gringa dairy in Peckham and burrata from Actions La Latteria, where it is made fresh every morning. Carver, who admits he likes to refer to himself as the big cheese a revelation he is no doubt now regretting studied furniture design at university. However, he hated being stuck in front of a screen so he started working at music festivals selling food. When someone he worked for went bankrupt, owing him money, he was offered an old ice-cream van to settle the debt.
Settled debt: The Cheese Truck started life as an old ice cream van
It was when street food was kicking off, so I thought I should do something, Carver recalls. Its one of those cliched stories: I quit my job, went to the US and looked at street food there. He was particularly inspired by Mission Cheese in San Francisco, so he returned to the UK, painted the ice-cream van yellow, put in toastie makers and got a place at Maltby Street Market. He also started selling at festivals since his original dream was to be a DJ: I have an obsessively large music collection that is the bane of my girlfriends life. Toasties are perfect festival food people love them in the morning when hungover, they love them at 2am when theyre drunk and Carver did 28 last summer: It almost killed me. His cardiologist certainly may worry: during festival season, he eats four toasties a day.
The most popular toastie varies at Wilderness, the goats cheese, honey and walnut was the top seller, while the cheddar and bacon was a Glasto favourite. At the latter, Carver accidentally ended up on a 24-hour stall last year: When the lull came at 1am I sent everyone home bar one person and me. Then at 2am we had a massive queue. It got out of control.
Carver has competition, though. Borough Markets Kappacasein is regularly described as the best thing you can eat in London. The stall is run by William Oglethorpe, who uses Montgomery cheddar, adding onions and leeks to enhance the flavour. Oglethorpe says: Its like anything: if you use the best ingredients and put care into making it, it can be brilliant. Then theres the Scottish stall Deeneys like a highland breeze wafting up your kilt whose haggis toasties are a big hit. After touring Londons many markets, it found a permanent home in Leyton in 2015.
Not your student fare: Mathew Carver's creations are a long way from dodgy university snacks
At the Melt Room in Noel Street in Soho, flavours include pulled pork. Grill My Cheese, which made the famous rainbow cheese toastie, is at Leather Lane Market. And at The Wolseley, the star of the cafe menu has long been the London rarebit.
So what makes the cheese toastie so desirable? In 2015, newspapers reported that cheese was as addictive as crack, as it contained casein. This was, of course, scientific bunk. Its the combo of carbs, salt and fat that prove so compelling. Carver puts it simply: People who like cheese, love cheese.
Cheese toasties are also a blast from your student years. I, like many, was packed off to uni with a Breville. But those made sad, soggy things the new toastie is fetishised.
I think Instagram has made it a bit crazy, Carver agrees. Those gooey cheese shots look so good. Oh, they do. Be still, my deeply congested heart.
A ctor Eddie Marsan is backing a crowdfunding scheme to uncover one of the East Ends lost Victorian gems.
The Ray Donovan star, 48, is supporting attempts to raise 25,000 to restore the chapel in Bethnal Greens Grade II listed Oxford House, where he took some of his first steps on the stage.
Built in 1884 as part of the Settlement movement, which encouraged Victorian volunteers to work in areas of great poverty, the building is now home to about 30 charities and community organisations.
Its third-floor chapel has been largely unused for more than a century and was recently badly damaged by flooding. This led Historic England to put the building on its at-risk register but campaigners want to repair the damage and turn it into an intimate venue for gigs and plays.
The campaigners hope to raise 25,000 for conservation and restoration work at the Victorian chapel in Bethnal Greens Oxford House, which is Grade II listed / PR HANDOUT Matt Railton > Sandpit lake functions, characteristics and challenges
>> Managing waters for fisheries
>> Lake management planning
>> Resolving common maintenance problems
>> Toxic algae management and sampling
>> Invasive species
For more information, contact Katie Pekarek at kpekarek2@unl.edu.
International productions and events will be staged in partnership with Bucharest City's theatre houses as part of the 4th edition of the LIKE CNDB festival, March 1-26.
Starring will be artists supported by the Bucharest National Dance Centre (CNDB) who were selected in 2016 based on projects.
The schedule of this year's edition of the festival organised under the "Schimbam idei" (We Are Changing Ideas) slogan comprises 17 shows, public discussions, lectures, running documentaries that competed in the One World Romania International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, a workshop and a one-on-one performance.
"There is a plentitude of events, perspectives and means of expression in the 'Like CNDB 2017, Schimbam idei'. The diversity we are proposing is beneficial to dialogue, as well as encapsulating the diversity of public tastes. This festival is the first wide-ranging event that CNDB dedicates to the public. We are expecting a curious public with a critical mind and we are interested in what people think after the shows," CNDB manager Vava Stefanescu was quoted as saying in a press statement released on Tuesday.
Attending this year's edition of the festival will be artists form Austria, Estonia, Greece, Germany, Hungary and Romania.
The festival opens on March 1 with "The Great Scheme of Things," by/feat. Fierbinteanu and closes on March 26 with "Istoria Cantata a Dansului Romanesc" ( A History of Romanian Dance in Songs) by Paul Dunca and Eduard Gabia, along with concerts by Kepler not Kopernikus and FLUID.
Included among the shows to be staged as part of the festival are "Un minut de dans sau UF!!!" (A Minute's Dance) by Gigi Caciuleanu; "2 femei contemporane" (2 Contemporary Women) by Ioana Marchidan; "lonely lonely", by/feat. Tiina Soot (Estonia) and Dorothea Zeyringer (Austria); "By the way," produced by Marta Ladjanszki/L1 Association - Hungary; "I Am just About," by Andreea David, aas well as a workshop with Linda Kapetanea, founder of the Greek RootlessRoot dance company; running of "My Talk with Florence" (Austria, 2015) and "The Chechen Family" (Argentina, 2015) films, and stage play"Alcool" (Alcohol) directed by Mihai Maniutiu, choreography by Vava Stefanescu at the Notarra Theatre House; "Bucuresti. Instalatie umana" (Bucharest. Human Installation), directed by Radu Nica, choreography by Florin Fieroiu at ARCUB.
Organisers say admission to LIKE CNDB 2017 events will be free for some pupils and students in an attempt to promote contemporary dancing with the Y and Z generations. March 1-5, students of the Gh. Lazar High School and the Faculty of Foreign Languages are invited, followed March 6-12 by students of the Anna de Noailles High School and the Faculty of Foreign Languages, March 13-19 by students of the George Cosbuc High School and the Bucharest National University of Arts, and March 20-26 by students of the Central School and the Bucharest National University of Music.
Tickets and passes are available online on www.kompostor.ro, while the shows to be hosted by the Stere Popescu Hall will be available at the venue as well.
agerpres.
General manager of Romania's National Penitentiary Administration (ANP) Marius Vulpe said on Wednesday that the reintegration of former prisoners is done in society, not in prison. "We have reintegration programs in place, but they must be tailored for re-entry to society, not for prison. (...) If we had more education experts we could have a more personal approach of the prisoners, but no matter how hard we'd try and how many experts we would have, if the minute he steps out of prison the former detainee does not find community leverage, support from private companies with getting a job, all the efforts are cut short at the prison gate," said the ANP head at the meeting for the presentation of the institution's activity in 2016.
On the other hand, Vulpe said that cell repairs will continue and the detention facilities will be equipped with new mattresses, new beds and new sanitary ware, and the weekly hot water schedule will be extended from the current mandatory two days, mentioning that right now some prisons have hot water all the week long, depending on budget allocations and existing infrastructure.
Agerpres
Leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea announced on Wednesday that over 1.4 million signatures have been collected nationwide in support of the government and the governing program. "The Secretary general informed us that the signature campaign we initiated some time ago has raised over 1.4 million signatures in support of the government and the governing program, and the action continues. I said some time ago that I don't want PSD to organize a rally, we preferred to collect signatures through this campaign which will carry on. For us it is important, it's quite a figure achieved in a rather difficult period," Dragnea said at the end of the meeting of PSD's National Executive Committee (CExN) at the Palace of Parliament.
At the meeting the PSD Secretary general also presented a report on resolutions unanimously adopted by the PSD county organizations. The respective resolutions have three points: pledging "unconditional" support to the PSD leadership and to the party Chairman, support to PM Sorin Grindeanu and the Government of Romania and "a decision" in connection with the proposed sanctioning of Iasi mayor Mihai Chirica.
"The Premier presented the CExN a set of proposals to fill several positions in his Cabinet, seeking the organisation's political and confidence vote," Liviu Dragnea also said.
Agerpres
Romania exported, in the first ten months of 2016, footwear worth 1.113 billion lei (rd EUR 246 million), an amount 1.3 pct lower as compared to the similar period of 2015, according to data centralized by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
Footwear imports amounted to 649.3 million euro, 15.2 pct higher against those from January to October 2015, thus registering a surplus of 464.4 million euro on this segment.
According to the Department of Foreign Trade, the total value of Romania's international trade in the first 10 months of 2016 exceeded 103.43 billion euro, up by 5.3 pct over the first ten months of 2015, the exports registered an increase to 47.767 billion euro (+ 4.1 pct) and an increase in imports of 55.67 billion euro (+ 6.4 pct).
In these conditions, Romania's trade balance deficit grew by 23.2 pct, from the level of -6.414 billion euro (31 October 2015) to -7.904 billion euro (31 October 2016).
agerpres.
Bayer signaled that it remains confident about completing its $66 billion takeover of Monsanto Co. by the end of the year, even as it may face delays in winning over regulators.
The German drugmaker will only seek approval for the transaction in the European Union next quarter after regulators there requested more information, Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann told journalists at a meeting in Leverkusen, Germany, on Wednesday. The target timing was previously the first quarter. The company is also responding to a second request from the U.S. Department of Justice, he said.
Bayer shares fell as much as 3.9 percent on concern about setbacks. The German company aims to pull off the biggest, most transformative deal of its 152-year history in 2017 as it attempts to meld its own pesticides with Monsanto's seeds and herbicides. It must also refinance much of a $57 billion bridge loan.
Bayer, which reported earnings Wednesday, also said it's filed to win approval for the Monsanto transaction from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.
The earnings report shows the crops and consumer-care units failed to boost profit last quarter, leaving prescription drugs as the sole engine of growth. Demand for medicines such as the blood thinner Xarelto and the eye treatment Eylea boosted sales and profit. The stock fell 2.9 percent to 105.8 euros at 11:38 a.m. in Frankfurt trading.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and excluding some costs, climbed 14 percent to about 2.2 billion euros ($2.29 billion) last quarter, the company said in a statement.
Unlike Bayer's, Monsanto's agriculture business reported positive earnings last month, pointing to a possible turnaround in the industry. Last year, falling crop prices and a quest for greater efficiency triggered a cascade of deals in the industry. DuPont and Dow Chemical await regulatory approval for their planned union, as do China National Chemical Corp. and Switzerland's Syngenta.
At Bayer, Ebitda before special items will probably grow by a mid-single-digit percentage this year, the company said as it reported earnings, reprising the forecast issued a year ago. The increase will be about the same in earnings per share.
This is Baumann's first full year at the helm. In addition to delivering on the Monsanto takeover to bolster the agriculture business, Baumann, 54, must revive growth at the consumer-health division, which sells over-the-counter products such as aspirin. The unit's earnings dropped last year, stoking concern about brands like Coppertone and Claritin, bought from Merck & Co. in 2014.
A St. Louis native has been named as a Gates Cambridge Scholar for a second time.
Erica Cao, a 2009 graduate of Marquette High in Chesterfield, will attend the University of Cambridge in England to work on a doctorate degree in collaborative music.
She is the daughter of Yong Wei Cao and You Feng Xu of Chesterfield.
Cao is one of 36 students to receive the 2017 scholarships, paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Cao used a Gates scholarship in 2014 to earn a master's degree in music from Cambridge. This came after she had earned bachelor's degrees in music and psychology from Princeton University.
While at Cambridge beginning this fall, Cao will study the crossover between music and the treatment of neuro-psychiatric disorders. To take care of any down time she may find, Cao also is continuing her medical training at Columbia University.
Two pictures on the front page of the Post-Dispatch on Jan. 28 caught my eye.
One was a group of four fourth-grade boys, from different ethnic backgrounds, dancing in a Chinese New Year celebration. They had joined hands and, although their facial features were different, they all shared big smiles. It was an embodiment of carefree childhood.
The second picture, adjacent to the first one, was that of two guided bombs. The accompanying article described the increase in production of the JDAM bomb kit at Boeing. These kits make them more accurate, hence increasing the odds of diminishing civilian casualties.
I cant think of better representations of two paths toward peace than these images.
I reflected on the bombs.
Few can deny the need for a strong military, in order to protect lives. To develop weapons that minimize civilian losses reflects the appropriate use of force as a deterrent in a world wracked by violence and terrorism. Indeed, without our militarys commitment to preserving the peace, and without the proper technological support, there may be fewer scenes of children laughing and dancing together.
Then I reflected on that picture of the boys.
Children have a natural way of making friends. Any suspicion they have of kids different from themselves drops away as they run, laugh and play together.
In his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus would bless such children as peacemakers.
The opening words of that sermon clearly define the characteristics of those peacemakers. They are meek, merciful, pure in heart. The one thing all the descriptions have in common is that you cant be a follower of Christ and at the same time harbor suspicion of those unlike yourself. The bedrock of peacemaking for Jesus is daring to believe that the people who arent like you arent necessarily your enemy. Its impossible to be meek or merciful while assuming the worst in the other person.
In an age in which people can stereotype others as dangerous or evil, it seems increasingly difficult to view those outside ones own group in a positive manner. The harassment of immigrants with Go home and the threats made to Jewish community centers are extreme cases in point.
However, showing respect and hospitality to those outside the mainstream is a core teaching of Christianity as it is also of Judaism and Islam.
I was recently at a Friendship Feast at an area mosque. The gym was filled with a truly diverse assortment of people, and the varieties of ethnic dishes on the serving counter reflected it.
As I sat at my table, enjoying new entrees with names unpronounceable to me, I noted who was sitting with me. Two gentlemen from the mosque who were the epitome of hospitality and warmth. Two women from the community who had no church affiliation but wanted to show solidarity with their neighbors. Two people from my congregation who believed visiting with those from other faiths was an important way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
We all talked and ate under a banner that read, There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.
In any other context, I might have felt a bit intimidated, perhaps as a Muslim would feel walking into my church and seeing a giant cross. However, I was enjoying the warmth and fellowship of our Muslim hosts, a hospitality that transcended differences. That was enough for me to affirm some basic similarities between the God Muhammad called Allah and the One Jesus called Abba.
Unfortunately, the world is not filled with Friendship Feasts. Its filled with political realities. Militaries must stand at the ready. The threat of violence for the sake of peace is still an ingredient.
But violence is not a component of the kingdom Jesus proclaimed. He believed in the vision in which ultimately swords are beaten into plowshares and bombs are defused and used as planters. This vision cost him his life.
The rest of us who may not be quite so brave can still allow a part of ourselves to die, for the sake of peace. We must diminish that piece in us that would treat another person as a potential threat instead of a potential friend.
I dont want to think of strangers as if they are an enemy to keep out or avoid.
I want to think of strangers as having the faces of those boys celebrating the Chinese New Year.
Maybe then we can discover new dance partners and learn a few new steps.
Weeks is senior pastor of Manchester United Methodist Church. He is a regular Faith Perspectives contributor to STLtoday.com/religion.
When an O'Fallon, Ill., police officer saw a man he thought was stealing at an Aldi store, he tried to arrest the man.
But police said the man resisted arrest Tuesday night and tried to disarm the officer, until two customers jumped in to help the officer.
The fracas at the Aldi's in the 1600 block of West Highway 50 ended with Kenneth W.Whitson, 62, of Tipton, Mo., charged with attempting to disarm an officer, aggravated battery to a peace officer, retail theft and resisting a peace officer.
Whitson, who has a long criminal history, was being held in the St. Clair County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Police said store employees recognized Whitson, who was suspected of stealing from the store repeatedly. They called police about 7:30 p.m.
Whitson resisted when the officer tried to arrest him, which was when the other shoppers got involved.
The officer and the other shoppers were not hurt; Whitson was taken to a hospital for a pre-existing medical condition. He was treated and released to police custody.
O'Fallon police said Whitson has spent years in prison for burglary, theft and aggravated battery convictions.
UPDATED at 6 p.m. Wednesday with name of the man killed.
ST. LOUIS A tactical unit officer fatally shot a man who fired at officers who were serving a search warrant at a home Tuesday night, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said.
The shooting happened about 8:40 p.m. Tuesday in the 4000 block of California Avenue near Osage Street in the Dutchtown neighborhood. No officers were hurt.
Police on Wednesday evening identified the man killed as Don Clark, 63. Police said his address is also the 4000 block of California Avenue, although they didn't specify that he was a resident of the house that was raided.
Dotson said that when officers knocked on the door of a home, announced themselves and got no response, they used a battering ram on the door. That was met with a shot from inside. Dotson said the officers then threw a diversionary device called a flash bang through the door and another shot was fired from inside.
One of the tactical officers returned fire, Dotson said. The officers gunfire hit Clark, who was inside. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. No one else was in the house at the time of the shooting, Dotson said.
Dotson said Clark had been named in relation to the search warrant. Police were executing search warrants at three homes in the 4000 block of California after a six-month investigation into drugs and guns, police say. Police say they recovered drugs, two firearms and ammunition in their searches. The man they shot was inside the third house.
Neighbors said Clark was well-known on the block and lived alone. Some of them expressed surprise that he had been the target of a search warrant for drugs.
Lekeysha Tate said he had lived on the block for about 17 years. He didnt bother anybody, Tate said.
She said Clark spent much of his days working on cars and in the evenings could often be seen on his porch having a beer.
Melissa Ford said she had known him for about four years and he had done work on her car.
Everybody called him Pop, Ford said. She also said that the mans son lived next door to him.
The neighbors said they were aware of drug-related issues on the block.
This neighborhood is so bad, damn near everybodys got a gun, Ford said.
But neighbors said they had never seen Clark in possession of a gun.
Dotson said a gun believed to have been the one used to fire at officers was recovered, along with at least one shell casing.
The officer who opened fire is 40 years old and has been on the force for about 12 years, Dotson said.
It shows the dangers that officers face going out doing their jobs, the chief said of the incident.
Dotson said the search warrant that police were executing was the third of three being served Tuesday night on the same block for drugs and guns. He said the block had been the focus of an investigation that stretched back months.
He said the search warrants and been approved by a judge earlier in the day and that heroin and marijuana were the drugs mentioned in the warrants.
Dotson said seven other people who were taken into custody after the first two search warrants were served were being interviewed Tuesday night.
Joann Drope, who lives near the shooting scene with her husband, William Drope, said she heard two loud booms that scared the crap out of me and then saw police at the door of the mans home.
The Dropes said they next heard gunshots.
The same block of California Avenue has been in the news at least twice before in the last seven months. In October, a woman was fatally stabbed there. Two months earlier, an unoccupied police car was set fire there.
St. Louis' largest charter school network got a five-year renewal Tuesday even though it has not met state performance expectations in its almost 14 years of operation.
Confluence Academy, a nearly 100 percent minority and low-income charter school network founded in 2003, educates about a quarter of all St. Louis charter school students. Charter schools are independently run, publicly funded schools that require a sponsor usually a university to operate.
According to state standards, only two other current St. Louis charter schools performed worse than Confluence last year: Preclarus Mastery Academy, which is in danger of closing after losing its sponsor last month, and Carondelet Leadership Academy. Confluence has more than six times as many students at its four campuses as Carondelet, and more than 18 times as many students as Preclarus.
Only 17 percent of Confluence students who took state math tests scored proficient or advanced last year, while 32 percent did so for English. The schools' worst score is in science. Only 6 percent of students scored proficient or advanced.
In 2016, the state gave Confluence a school score of 48.3 percent, without factoring in that state tests were changed last year. Confluence has improved its score from 2013, when it got 28.3 percent. But that also means Confluence has always performed as poorly as an unaccredited school district.
Confluence's sponsor, University of Missouri-Columbia, bore almost an hour of blows from the Missouri Board of Education at its meeting in Jefferson City Tuesday.
The board hammered Gerry Kettenbach, Mizzou's director of charter schools, for failing to hold Confluence to a higher standard and acknowledge when it's time to close schools that board members say have been failing students for more than a decade. State law gives sponsors, not the state board, the power to close charter schools.
You'd be an unaccredited district today, said state board member Peter Herschend at the meeting. Yet here we are debating about, well, maybe we should let this unaccredited district roll forward for another five years. I don't find that to be a satisfactory position at all.
Kettenbach argued Tuesday that closing Confluence would be too traumatic for its 2,800 children. If Confluence closed, those students might have to attend district neighborhood schools nearby that are even worse than Confluence.
School closures are always the last option, Kettenbach told the board Tuesday. It's a moral issue. And it's a public responsibility issue.
Kettenbach also said he believes that Confluence's new CEO, Candice Carter-Oliver, will be an agent of change for Confluence. Carter-Oliver is a month and a half into her new job and was previously an assistant superintendent at Normandy schools, a similarly majority-minority, low-income district that has showed improvements in the past two years.
The state board voted unanimously to grant Kettenbach's application to renew Confluence's charter, since the application and sponsor satisfied state requirements.
JEFFERSON CITY The Missouri House on Wednesday reaffirmed its commitment to a plan that would cut the amount of time people can claim jobless benefits to one of the shortest periods in the country.
Shell Knob Republican Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick's proposal would shorten the benefits period for laid-off workers from 20 weeks to 13 weeks if the unemployment rate is below 6 percent.
Missouri's number for December 2016 was 4.4 percent and hasn't been above 6 percent since July 2014.
The Missouri Supreme Court blocked a 2015 version of the changes aimed at shoring up the state's unemployment trust fund on procedural grounds six months ago, but House Republicans have remained resolute.
Several representatives said they were trying to avoid a repeat of 2009, when the Great Recession spiked unemployment rates and bankrupted the trust fund. They lamented that Missouri had to borrow more than $1 billion from the federal government, leaving businesses to pay millions in interest on borrowed money.
Democrats called the measure unnecessary and mean-spirited, especially when deep-red states like Alabama and Texas offer 26 weeks of benefits and higher compensation.
"This is going to hurt people," said Rep. Jon Carpenter, D-Kansas City. "I don't understand why other conservative states can pay a lot more for a lot longer, but we can't figure this out."
Fitzpatrick said that those states likely make it harder to qualify for jobless benefits, meaning their money goes further, but doubted Democrats would interested in adopting similar measures.
The proposal has the support of business groups including the National Federation of Independent Business and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and fits right in with Republicans' pro-business agenda this session.
Gov. Eric Greitens signed a right-to-work law earlier this month that bars unions and employers from requiring workers in a bargaining unit to pay dues and Republican legislators have been hard at work pushing measures limiting workers' compensation and civil lawsuits in recent weeks.
Former Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, vetoed Fitzpatrick's measure in 2015, saying Missouri was among eight states paying less than the national norm of 26 weeks.
Under the plan, the maximum number of weeks will rise if the unemployment rate begins creeping above the 6 percent level, topping out at 20 weeks if the jobless rate crests over 9 percent.
The legislation is House Bill 288.
Updated at 11 a.m. Thursday to report that investigators still going through surveillance video in the area, but no other progress.
UNIVERSITY CITY Standing on the flatbed of a truck parked at the Jewish cemetery here where more than 150 headstones were knocked over and damaged, Vice President Mike Pence strongly condemned the act on Wednesday but praised the community for coming together to support cleanup efforts.
There is no place in America for hatred or acts of prejudice or violence or anti-Semitism, Pence said.
Relaying words of gratitude from President Donald Trump, Pence also told volunteers who turned out to help clean up the site that they showed the heart of the state and the nation.
I must tell you, people of Missouri are inspiring the nation by your love and care for this place, he said. You make us all proud.
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens joined Pence at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City and denounced the vile act of desecration he said was painful for many families.
We come together today to let those families know that were going to make sure that we preserve the blessed memories of their parents, grandparents and their great grandparents, he said.
Greitens told the crowd of volunteers that, in a phone call, Trump had lauded the residents of Missouri for their response to the vandalism at the cemetery.
He asked me, on his behalf, to personally thank all of you. Thank you for standing up in the fight against anti-Semitism, Greitens said.
And he said thank you for showing the people of the world that what happened here the other night is not who America is. Its not who Missouri is. This is who Missouri is, he said, gesturing to the crowd of hundreds who also had come out to help with the cemetery cleanup.
Trump has been criticized for an initially muted response to a spate of recent threats against Jewish community centers and other Jewish institutions around the country. That came after controversy over a White House statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day last month that failed to mention the Jewish people, the primary victims of the Holocaust. The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect issued a brutal statement against the administration on both issues Tuesday.
Trump ultimately issued a stronger condemnation of the recent threats. Some critics alleged it was too little too late.
At the cemetery, a total of 154 headstones were found toppled on Monday. About nine were damaged, and a few of the oldest marble headstones were beyond repair.
University City police Detective Sgt. Michael Davis said Thursday that there isn't anything new in the investigation. He said investigators were still going over hours of surveillance video to try to find the people who knocked over the gravestones.
Detective Lt. Fredrick Lemons II said Tuesday that "there was nothing to determine it was any type of hate crime."
Cemetery President Alan Simon said he hoped the thousands of dollars raised by various religious and lay groups would help replace those headstones. Hillel and Chabad at Washington University are joining other donors, including Muslim groups and the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, in raising money to help the cemetery.
Pences unannounced visit to the cemetery came after a visit to Fabick Cat in Fenton, where he gave a speech primarily on the administrations economic agenda.
After starting by talking at length about the University City cemetery and the fight against anti-Semitism, he gave a more boilerplate economic speech, hitting familiar themes the need for lower taxes, fewer regulations and repeal of the health law known as Obamacare while touting Trump as a friend to business.
Speaking to the small businesses in particular, Pence said: President Trump is your biggest fan. He touted Fabick Cat as a true American success story and a prime example of the kind of business that will be aided by the Trump administrations policies. The 1,100-employee company, which sells and services Caterpillar equipment, celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
In their visit to the cemetery, Pence and Greitens received resounding applause at many points. But one volunteer said she was disappointed the vice president was there.
To bring Mr. Pence here was a horrible insult, said Overland resident Jeanine Molloff, who said she had many family members buried at the cemetery.
I will not let the Trump administration flip the script, she added, saying she believed Trump placated to Nazis during his candidacy and presidency.
While hundreds of people with rakes, rags, plastic bags and cleaning solution showed up to help out at the cemetery, others, such as University City native Sandy Kaplan, were at the cemetery to check on family plots.
Kaplan stood elated near the undamaged headstone of her late uncle. Another uncle and two sets of grandparents are also buried at the cemetery.
In addition to marveling at discovering her familys resting places unharmed, Kaplan celebrated the number of people coming to show support of the Jewish community. At one point a line stretched from the cemetery entrance to the corner of Olive Boulevard and Hanley Road.
Its really special. Its community. Thats what we have to hold on to, Kaplan said, adding she hoped younger generations would revere their ancestors as older people have.
Threats to Jewish communities and Muslims resonated in talks many at the cemetery expressed. Though hateful rhetoric persists, some said they felt that the outpouring of support demonstrated being unified not by race or religion but by being American.
I think as Americans who are united by the constitution of the United States, we should stand against any hate, any act of vandalism because hate has no religion, no color, no age, no gender, nothing, said Imam Djilali Kacem. Its just something that we should just be against, and it shows that we are Americans more than anything else. Thats why were here today,
Dozens of Muslims from area mosques aided in cleanup efforts. One carried sign that read Palestinian Muslim here to help.
At one point Greitens embraced Imam Mufti Asif Umar, and the two exchanged words briefly. The religious leader said he assured the governor that the St. Louis Muslim community stood in solidarity with the Jewish community. He said Greitens thanked him for his support.
University City councilman Rod Jennings said he began drafting a hate crime proposal in November spurred by national events. He said he planned to present his resolution, which would set up a hate crime offenders registry, at a council meeting Monday.
Activist Marc Daniels thanked Pence personally for paying respects to Jews at the former concentration camp in Dachau, Germany, earlier this week, saying he hoped the administration would help weed out hate in the country.
Daniels, of Springfield and the creator of Weed Out Hate, gave Pence a kippah, or yarmulke, with Trumps and Pences names on top and a prayer inside: Grassroots prayer Muslims, Christians and Jews weeding out hate together.
ST. LOUIS In a city that hasnt had a Republican mayor in almost 70 years, being tapped as the St. Louis GOP mayoral nominee is a mixed blessing.
The winner of the March 7 Republican primary, whoever it is, will go into the April 4 general election with an extremely low chance of victory.
St. Louis hasnt had a Republican in its top city office since Mayor Aloys P. Kaufmann left in 1949. In modern times, its not unusual for the GOP to nominate no candidate at all for mayor, as was the case four years ago.
That hasnt stopped three hardy souls from seeking the GOP nomination this year.
Andrew Jones:
Study all options before acting
Utility executive Andrew Jones says he would bring his business expertise to the office of mayor particularly the private-sector principle of carefully studying all options before deciding on a course of action.
On the topic of crime, for example, he declined to say for certain that the city needs more police officers putting him at odds with most if not all municipal candidates this year. He wants to study the issue first.
We have to make a determination of whether the problem is the number of officers or something else, he said. If we are not deploying our police resources in the most efficient manner, then how can we make the case that we need more police officers?
Similarly, he argues that the citys strategy of offering tax incentives to get businesses to come here might or might not be effective; more study is needed, he believes. And in any case, he said, the city should take a more business-like approach when negotiating those incentives.
We have to stop leading with tax incentives. Those are things that you should pull out of your bag of tricks near the end of negotiations, he said. They constantly lead with some kind of tax incentive. We should use them more sparingly, make that a last resort.
His ultimate pitch to the voters is a classic one for long-time non-incumbent parties: Were going to highlight the fact that the Democratic Party has had exclusive control over the city of St. Louis, and were in the malaise were in because of it, he said. People are looking for a change.
Andy Karandzieff:
Attract businesses, appeal to millennials
The co-owner of the St. Louis institution Crown Candy Kitchen, Andrew Karandzieff filed to run for mayor because, as he bluntly put it recently, it is free publicity for his restaurant. (Not completely free, actually: There is a filing fee of a little over $1,300.)
There are a lot of people who think Im a serious candidate, but this is purely publicity for my business, Karandzieff said, so people have Crown Candy stuck in their head.
He added: Its a little bit fun but my wife says, You better not win!
When pressed to comment nonetheless on the issues, Karandzieff said: It always circles back to the same thing: The city needs more money. We need more police, we need a better school system, and we need more money for that.
One way to generate more revenue, he suggested, is to attract more business, particularly in the cash cow of the redeveloped downtown area. We have to develop business to attract the millennials, with more stuff like on Washington Avenue. Youve got to get people into these buildings downtown paying this earnings tax.
But he noted the continuing competition between downtown and the citys residential neighborhoods for scarce city resources.
Youre going to make somebody mad no matter what, he said. Its a job I wouldnt want to have.
James Osher:
Portray citys diversity as a strength
James Osher certainly isnt the first person to find himself fighting City Hall. Whats unusual is for that fight to spark a mayoral campaign.
Osher, 55, is a businessman in the building-materials industry and an architectural history buff who owned the old Buster Brown Blue Ribbon shoe factory on Jefferson Avenue before the city took it with a recent eminent domain action. The building is part of a 100-acre acquisition north of downtown in advance of construction of the new western headquarters of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
Osher, who is fighting the forced sale in court, says he had planned to restore the historic old building and turn it into a museum.
Its the kind of project that he believes could solve two problems if implemented on a massive scale: making use of the vacant, endangered buildings throughout St. Louis while providing work for residents of the poorest parts of town particularly the north side, where so many of those buildings are situated.
It seems kind of crazy you have so many unemployed people and so many dilapidated buildings, Osher said. If we need to rebuild America, that would be a good place for St. Louis to start.
Osher, who describes himself as a liberal Republican, also is campaigning on a theme of breaking the Delmar divide between white and African-American areas of the city. He said the city should work to portray its multiple racial and ethnic cultures as a strength rather than just a constant source of conflict.
Theres a lot of diversity here, said Osher, who is white. There needs to be more news stories that show St. Louis in a better light.
This is Oshers first attempt at political office, an experience he is viewing as a kind of adventure.
UNIVERSITY CITY The damaging of dozens of headstones at a Jewish cemetery spurred Muslim groups to raise thousands of dollars to help with repairs.
A crowdfunding campaign started by social justice activists Linda Sarsour, of New York, and Tarek El-Messidi, of Cincinnati, raised more than $20,000 within a few hours to help the Chesed Shel Emel Cemetery after up to 200 headstones were toppled during the weekend. As of late Tuesday, the campaign raised more than $40,000.
Locally, Imam Mufti Asif Umar of the Islamic Federation of Greater St. Louis condemned the incident a horrific and disgusting act of vandalism which cannot be tolerated.
The Missouri Council of American-Islamic Relations and the Imam Council of Metropolitan St. Louis, which represents 18 Islamic Centers in the city, also denounced the vandalism.
Members of the council of imams rebuked the deed in a statement Tuesday calling it a cowardly act and its leader saying he was appalled.
"We want the Jewish community to know that the Muslim community stands with you in solidarity as Anti-semitism, Islamophobia and hate in general is on the rise in our nation," Imam Djilali Kacem said.
A statement released by the council echoed concerns over bigotry against religious groups in a "ever polarizing nation."
Missouri Council of American-Islam Relations executive director Faizen Syed said the relatives of many of his friends were buried at the cemetery. He added that the action was not only a threat against the Jewish community, but "against all faiths and the values we hold dear as Americans."
Council members said on Facebook late Tuesday they would join in cleanup efforts at the cemetery Wednesday followed by an interfaith vigil.
The Muslim advocacy group also offered a $5,000 reward for information related to the series of bomb threats to Jewish community centers across the country early this week. Some in the St. Louis region said the vandalism at the Chesed Shel Emel Cemetery heightened anxieties in communities.
Other religious groups were also helping raise money for repairs at the cemetery and many political leaders denounced the desecration.
In University City, council members said they would not tolerate hateful and hurtful acts in the community. People can donate to the cemetery through the website or the Jewish Federation of St. Louis.
Gov. Eric Greitens denounced the vandalism as a "despicable act" in a public post to Facebook late Monday, saying of vandals "from their pitiful act of ugliness, we can emerge even more powerful in our faith."
He is expected to visit the cemetery Wednesday to help with cleanup.
On his visit to the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, United States President Donald Trump denounced anti-Semitic acts and said its going to stop and it has to stop.
Trump said the threats to Jewish communities and centers were a painful and sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.
In the past the U.S. president has drawn criticism for not rejecting anti-Semitic groups who support him.
Until last week, I had only known a certain segment of Donald Trump supporters. They called me on a daily basis often multiple times a day to rant and threaten our newspaper with economic ruin for having backed the wrong candidate on Nov. 8.
Callers yelled. They hurled venom and expletives. Some announced triumphantly that they were canceling their subscriptions, even though it became clear many times that they never were subscribers. Their anger made it impossible to have a conversation.
Newspaper editors and reporters across the country are still trying to figure out how to tell their story. Journalists know that we lost touch with a major segment of American society, but re-establishing that connection is tough when Trump supporters wont stop seething long enough to talk.
I expected the worst when George Culley phoned me recently, but Culley is different. The Pinckneyville, Ill., pastor says he reads the Post-Dispatch every day and totally respects what we do.
Im sorry, what?
He just wanted to know why we didnt publish his letter to the editor. I tracked down the letter, and here are some snippets:
President Donald Trumps Gettysburg Inauguration Prophetic Speech at Washington D.C. got the attention of the United States people! The Muslim/Gay U.S. White House has become the, We The Christian Peoples U.S. White House! The paid protesters Anarchists, Commies, Socialists, Liberal Snowflakes, Hollywood Crybabies, Illegal Aliens and Muslims are rioting against President Donald Trump for their Obamas nation of desolation has ended! Trump Of God will turn the United States back in the right direction.
Its hard to read these words and not think Culley is a racist and homophobe. You dont have to agree with him, but its important to hear out people like him. After all, theyre the ones who put Donald Trump into the White House.
I explained gently to Culley that he had written some pretty inflammatory stuff, and it didnt belong in our letters section. But since Culley was so nice and understanding, it occurred to me: Why not get to know this guy? He agreed to a 75-minute phone interview.
George Culley is a 63-year-old high school graduate who spent most of his adult life working in or around coal mines, like his father. Hes known no other employment than hard-working, dirty jobs, including garbage collector and ditch digger.
At 6 feet 2 inches, he had to hunch down day after day to work a jackhammer in coal mines with 4-foot ceilings, 600 feet below ground level. Hes had two neck surgeries, two back surgeries, one heart surgery and a thyroid removal. He qualified for Medicaid disability, and it helped cover some bills.
Culley describes himself as a conservative Democrat and devout union supporter. He voted for Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, but also for Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. This is a guy whose vote easily couldve been up for grabs on Nov. 8. What turned someone with solid Democratic credentials into a Trump lover?
Culley blames Barack Obama. During the eight years of Obamas presidency, coal mines closed across the country and thousands lost their jobs. Pinckneyville, in the heart of Illinois coal country, had a 2015 poverty rate of 18.6 percent and a median household income of $38,600.
Obama promoted clean forms of energy like natural gas and wind power while turning the country away from coal. Thats what put people out of work and instilled in them a deep sense of bitterness, Culley explains.
Hillary Clinton was just more of the same, a career politician, he said, whereas Trump was a businessman who knows how to bring jobs back.
These days, Culley runs the Alpha and Omega food pantry, open to all people who are down on their luck or who cant afford to feed their families. And there are lots of them.
Culley is a conundrum wrapped in an enigma. Hes a born-again Christian pastor who believes that Trumps a true Christian. Yet, when challenged on Trumps numerous un-Christian deeds divorces, womanizing and crass talk of sexual abuse Culley gives him a pass. Donald Trump is not a perfect man, he admits. Fifty percent of what Trump says is lying.
But Trump will bring coal jobs back, and the news media need to cut him some slack.
The pastor blames Obama for turning the nations attention to issues that simply dont resonate with folks in Culleys world. Obama promoted transgender rights, defended Muslims and fought for undocumented immigrants, but what about white, blue-collar workers? They felt like they were forgotten, Culley says.
Kennedy put a man on the moon, he jokes. Obama put a man in the womens bathroom.
We not just journalists, but America ignored their needs and concerns for years, forcing them to the fringes of society. And when Nov. 8 rolled around, they exercised the only form of power still in their hands. They voted.
Its about time we brought them back into the conversation.
Pakistan on Monday shipped its first-ever vegetable consignment to Dubai via sea. The consignment of nine selected vegetables, weighing seven tons, was shipped on an experimental basis as part of the Agricultural Market Development (AMD) project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Calculations suggest the average per kg cost of air shipment to Dubai is around Rs80 per kg compared to Rs5 per kg through sea route, which is lower by around 94%.
Exporters will use the route commercially to export fruits and vegetables to Dubai, which receives about 35% of total Pakistani vegetable exports.
According to Ahmed, the consignment shipped via sea will reach Dubai within three to four days. He appreciated efforts of the AMD-USAID and the Department of Plant Protection, which works under the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, for striving hard to give a boost to the value chain and marketing of fruits and vegetables.
According to the arrangement, five exporters of Pakistan will receive the consignment in Dubai and display the vegetables at the upcoming Gulf Food Festival.
PM Nawaz Sharif will attend the 5th Session of the Pakistan-Turkey High Level Strategic Cooperation Council. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has left Islamabad for a three day visit of Turkey.
He will attend the 5th Session of the Pakistan-Turkey High Level Strategic Cooperation Council.
The Prime Minister is accompanied by a high-level delegation including Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Tariq Fatemi and some senior officials.
Together with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, the Prime Minister would co-chair meeting of Strategic cooperation to be held in Ankara tomorrow.
The two sides will discuss cooperation in diverse sectors.
A number of Agreements and Memorandum of Understanding are also expected to be signed on the occasion.
Nawaz Sharif would also hold wide-ranging consultations with the Turkish leadership on bilateral, regional and international issues.
During the visit, Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif would be meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Prime Minister will also visit the Turkish Parliament to reaffirm Pakistans unequivocal support and solidarity with the Government and people of Pakistan against the failed coup attempt in Turkey in July last year.
The Prime Minister would pay homage to all those who laid down their lives in defence of the Turkish democracy.
Pakistan hosted a roadshow in China for Quaid-i-Azam Apparel Park Project (QAAP), a flagship project of the Punjab government, reported People's Daily Online. Representatives of 76 Chinese companies participated in the show, hosted by the Embassy of Pakistan.
Ambassador Masood Khalid urged the Chinese entrepreneurs to explore the untapped commercial and business potential of Pakistan due to availability of cheap raw materials and manpower.
He said that the project was pivotal as textile sector is the main segment of business development and Pakistans economy. He informed the show that Pakistans recent economic performance has been lauded by world financial institutions and credit rating agencies.
He said that the government has also taken special measures to provide security to about 19,000 Chinese nationals working in Pakistan on different projects.
The envoy highlighted the geographical importance of Pakistan as being on the confluence of Middle East, South Asia and Central Asia, which has been further enhanced due to CPEC and promoted connectivity.
Shahzad Sheikh, Project Director of QAAP, said that ideal location along with availability of all necessary amenities will lead to the success of this project. The garments produced here will be exported the world over, adding billions to the countrys GDP.
A question answer and networking session between the project representatives and Chinese companies was held, followed by lunch.
Air strikes carried out by Pakistan Air Force in Rajgal area of Khyber Agency killed many terrorists and destroyed their hideouts.
According to ISPR, the PAF engaged terrorists concentration late last night in Rajgal area, Khyber Agency bordering Afghanistan.
Many terrorists killed. Hideout destroyed, ISPR added.
Earlier on Monday, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) conducted air strikes on terrorist positions in the North Waziristan tribal region.
According to ISPR, a terrorist hideout was destroyed in the air strikes killing the terrorists who occupied it.
The terrorists tried to regroup in the Wucha Bibi area of the tribal agency.
Pakistan also closed two key border crossings with Afghanistan blocking trade between the two countries in a move that experts say will further deteriorate ties between the two neighbours.
The move is aimed at putting pressure on Kabul to do more to stop the flow of terror from its soil.
New Zealands first on-road, solar-powered electric vehicle charger - the Electric Station - is now open to the public thanks to the collaborative and community-focused effort of local project partners.
Located on The Strand, Tauranga, the EV charger has two allocated car parks and draws energy from 18 solar panels.
When insufficient solar-power is generated, the grid provides back-up power, with any excess solar power being fed back into the grid.
The Strand was selected as a high-profile location in the heart of the Tauranga CBD where we could prioritize support for EVs and demonstrate the use of solar technology, says Mayor Greg Brownless.
The charger also features a unique display unit, which shows users how much electricity is being generated from the sun, and how much is coming from the grid.
Powerco general manager Andrew McLeod says solar power combined with low-emission vehicles are a win-win for New Zealand.
This is the first roadside PV-assisted charger in New Zealand. Its a great sign of the collaboration of all the partners on this project. Its taken a lot of innovation, dedication, and sheer effort to get this going.
Tauranga MP Simon Bridges was at todays unveiling of the station. As an electric vehicle driver himself, hes understandably thrilled with The Strands new addition.
Im incredibly excited about electric vehicles. I think theyre the future, and the future is here now. Ive found them faster, quieter, and cheaper. Theyre superior in every way.
I think, no doubt, very soon well see all manner of people with EVs wanting to use the charging station.
The total value of the project is around $130,000. Of this $54,000 was donated by the Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust, towards building the solar canopy
The Electric Station will provide free power (capped at $5000) for the first year thanks to Trustpower and free parking (up to 2 hours) thanks to Tauranga City Council.
For more information about the Electric Station, specifications and background, visit www.tauranga.govt.nz and search for electric vehicles.
The cooperation agreement was brought to light in order to highlight the collaborations joint goals of developing an Italian marine synergy. Announced during the IDEX-NAVDEX (Abu Dhabis key business exhibition dedicated to the defense sector), the new joint agreement to both military and yachting.
The agreement was signed by the CEO of Fincantieri, Giuseppe Bono and the CEO of Ferretti Group, Alberto Galassi.
We are very pleased to work together with Ferretti Group because Fincantieri, even though it is continuing with great effort - its internationalization path, does not forget its Italian roots and is keen to network into a system with all the Italian companies that believe to be able to grow together and contribute to their international expansion.
In fact, we strongly believe that this agreement and its future activities - will have significant effects on Italys economy demonstrating, once again, that the entire country system must be the driver for Italys future growth, commented Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri.
Fincantieri, the worlds largest shipbuilding group and number one by innovation and diversification, and Ferretti Group, one of the most globally recognized yachting companies, share a particularly interconnected market view, especially after the foundation of FSD, Ferretti Groups division dedicated to security and defence.
The two companies are now reportedly committed to put the cooperation into work on specific themes and business opportunities as soon as possible. These projects will cover yachting and military sectors at both national and international level.
Interior Minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, has revealed that the number of murders in Spain dropped below the "psychological barrier" of 300 per annum last year, the lowest since records began. In total, 292 people died this way in 2016, just over three per cent less than in 2015. Zoido described the result as "very positive" and explained that Spain has the second lowest murder rate in the EU after Austria, at 0.63 per 100,000 people.
This was "a huge achievement", according to the minister, who was speaking at the presentation of the 2016 crime statistics report in Seville.
Overall, crime in Spain fell 1.2 per cent in 2016. Malaga province had the sixth largest number of offences. Of the 78,365 reported crimes in the province, equivalent to 214 a day, only Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Seville had more, reflecting their larger populations.
Except in Madrid, which saw an increase of 2.5 per cent compared to 2015, and Malaga, where crime grew 2.7 per cent, all these other larger provinces reported a fall in their local crime numbers.
Come and enjoy Read more [...]
Two teachers at colleges in Washington County received Outstanding Faculty Awards from Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
Kevin Hamed, biology professor at Virginia Highlands Community College and Kelly Bremner, associate professor of theater at Emory & Henry College, were among 12 educators from across the state who were honored during a ceremony last week at Richmonds Jefferson Hotel.
Wally Smith, assistant professor of biology at the University of Virginias College at Wise, was also a winner of the award.
Professors must be nominated with an application submitted to state council detailing why he or she deserves the award. Nominees must have a strong record of accomplishment that reflects the mission of their institution, according to the nomination guidelines.
They must also show strong accomplishment in the areas of teaching, discovery, knowledge integration and service.
The professors were each given an award of $5,000 through a grant from the Dominion Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dominion Resources.
This award recognizes all the great work being done [at Emory & Henry] especially the work the college does to engage in the community we are in, Bremner told the Bristol Herald Courier.
Hamed said the award is a testament to the education students receive at VHCC.
I don't think it's anything that I do special, he said. I'm just a facilitator. So much of education is just facilitation.
An off-duty Manlius police officer has been charged after crashing a pick-up in Cicero, leaving the scene and then failing to come back to talk to police, according to arrest records.
Contacted by Cicero police after the 1:15 a.m. crash on Jan. 19, the man three times told police each time he would come right back to the scene, according to arrest records. He didn't return to the scene that night, records show.
More than 10 hours after the crash, the driver - Louis M. Dashno, 27, of Liverpool - met with Cicero police at the department's offices, records show. At the meeting, however, he told investigators that, on the advice of his attorney "he was not going to say anything in regards to the accident,'' records show.
Dashno was charged with leaving the scene of a property damage accident and failure to use designated lane on Jan. 19 in Cicero. The charges are traffic tickets, not criminal charges.
What happened in the early morning on Jan. 17 is outlined in the accident report, tickets and court documents obtained by Syracuse.com following a Freedom of Information request to Cicero police.
The accident report says that Dashno's 2007 Chevrolet pick-up crossed into the opposite lane, left the roadway and hit a mailbox along Guy Young Road in Cicero. The vehicle was found facing westbound in a ditch, the report says.
The first Cicero officer on the scene - Sean Wallace - said he spoke with a witness, Kevin Fear, who reported that a man driving the truck tried to drive it out of the ditch. Wallace's statement said the witness was asked several times to give a written statement, but the witness refused.
In a supporting document, Sgt. James Snell says he was dispatched to the scene of the accident at about 1:30 a.m., where he recognized the name of the registered vehicle owner as Dashno, a Manlius police officer.
Snell called the Manlius police to get a contact number for Dashno, and "a short while later received a phone call" from Dashno saying his dad had picked him up and he was in Bernhards Bay, according to an affadavit given by Snell. Snell said he told him he needed to return to the scene, and Dashno said he "would be right there."
Fifty minutes later, at 2:20 a.m., Snell said he called Dashno back and asked when he'd be back at the scene, the affidavit says. Dashno said he'd be there in 10 minutes.
At 2:54 a.m., Dashno called Snell and said he was on his way. At 3:15 a.m. when Dashno still hadn't arrived, Snell called him but got no answer, Snell said in the report. Snell then stopped trying to contact Dashno, the report says.
Police filed a notice of their intent to use his statement that he would come back to scene as evidence against him in court, according to the documents.
Supporting documents that revealed the details of the phone calls and Dashno's failure to show up were not initially released with other paper work given to Syracuse.com.
When asked for the supporting documents, police initially could not find them. A supervising sergeant said this week that the investigating officers had not completed the document and said he would make sure it was done. It was turned over to Syracuse.com Wednesday.
Manlius Police Capt. Kevin J. Schafer said the department is aware of the crash involving the off-duty officer. He said the officer remains on duty.
"There is an ongoing investigation into the matter,'' Schafer said.
Schafer said no other information would be released at this time. He said department policy prohibits Dashno from commenting on the matter.
The property owner whose mailbox was damaged by Dashno's vehicle said she wrote a letter to the officer, who then stopped by her home with cash to replace the mailbox.
"He was very polite and pleasant, and I'm happy he took responsibility,'' she said.
REMSEN, N.Y. -- An Oneida County man died in a 2-car crash Tuesday when his vehicle went off the road, overturned and hit a pole before catching fire, the New York State Police said.
The crash occurred at 7:36 a.m. on state Route 12 near Dustin Road in the town of Remsen. State police identified the deceased as Melvyn C. Smith.
Smith was driving a Chevrolet Cavalier north on Route 12 behind a Chevrolet Cobalt driven by Michael E. Bartlett, state police said. When Bartlett slowed down to turn onto Dustin Road, Smith hit Barlett's vehicle in the left rear bumper.
Both vehicles spun out and went off the east shoulder of the road. Smith's vehicle overturned, hit a telephone pole and caught fire, state police said.
The Remsen, Forestport and Barneveld fire departments responded along with Prospect Ambulance and state troopers.
Smith, 43, of Camden, died at the scene.
Batlett, 21, of Sauquoit, suffered minor injuries. He was treated at the scene and released. State police said Barlett was issued a ticket for driving with a suspended license, but that it did not contribute to the crash.
The northbound lanes of state Route 12 between Bethel and Dustin roads were blocked off for several hours. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Contact Ken Sturtz: 315-766-7833 | Email | Twitter | Facebook | Google+
Cree Cathers
Jacob Homer
Syracuse, NY -- Two men have been indicted in the fatal attack of an adversary found dead hours later in a gravel lot on the Onondaga Nation.
Jacob Homer, 22, and Cree Cathers, 23, of Syracuse, were each indicted on first-degree manslaughter and assault charges in the past week for the April 2016 death of Carl Kettle, 33, of Salamanca, prosecutor Michael Kasmarek said.
That's a tougher charge than the second-degree manslaughter charge they initially faced. It could add a decade to their punishment, if convicted, and means they are accused of intending to seriously harm the victim, not simply injuring him due to recklessness.
The investigation into Kettle's death dragged on for 10 months as authorities probed what exactly caused Kettle to die: could something else have happened after the initial fight? Homer and Gathers were released from jail last fall on lowered bail as the probe continued.
But Kasmarek said today he's confident that the attack by Homer and Cathers is what ultimately killed Kettle, who was found dead four or five hours later.
"There was no 'boogeyman' in-between," Kasmarek said.
Kettle died from "compressive neck trauma" as a result of the fight, Kasmarek said. Homer and Gathers are not charged with using weapons against Kettle.
Deputies at the time said the victim had been repeatedly struck.
They are charged with manslaughter -- not murder -- meaning that prosecutors don't have proof they intended to kill Kettle -- only seriously injure him.
Homer and Gathers face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
The dispute between the men started at a restaurant nearby, Kasmarek said. It continued at a gravel lot at the intersection of U.S. Route 11 and state Route 11A, just inside the Onondaga Nation from Nedrow. That's where Kettle was found around 6 a.m. the next day.
Homer and Cathers will now be required to return to court for arraignment in the coming days before state Supreme Court Justice John Brunetti. No date has yet been set yet, Kasmarek said.
The Carrier Dome during a Syracuse versus Duke in 2014. Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Much of Syracuse's 100-plus inches of snow this winter have melted and temperatures in the 50s and 60s are expected this week. Just what we all expected for late February, right?
Let's enjoy the good weather while it's here.
1. Syracuse Men's Basketball vs. Duke
With its NCAA Tournament hopes potentially on the line, the Orange will look to end its three-game skid with a win over ACC rival Duke. About 30,000 fans are expected to attend.
Where: Carrier Dome, 900 Irving Ave., Syracuse.
When: Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m.
How much: Tickets start at $50.
The New York Farm Show at the NYS Fairgrounds in 2015.
2. New York Farm Show
Billed as the Northeast's "premier indoor farm event," this three-day expo, which has been operating sine 1985, features more than 400 exhibits showcasing the latest in farm equipment and technology.
Where: New York State Fairgrounds, 581 State Fair Blvd, Geddes.
When: Thursday, Feb. 23 to Saturday, Feb. 25, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
How much: Admission is $5 for adults, or free for children under 18.
Wonderworks at Destiny USA.
3. WonderWorks Science Week
The kids might be home from school, but that doesn't mean they have to stop learning. Children can learn about a range of STEM topics, including weather, animals and computer engineering, watch a science-themed comedy show or even build their own contraption to catch an egg dropped from three stories up.
Where: WonderWorks, Destiny USA, 9090 Destiny USA Drive, Syracuse.
When: Monday, Feb. 20 to Friday, Feb. 24. Check online to see the full schedule.
How much: Admission is $10, or free with VIP Combo ticket.
Sugar & Company, located at 121 W. Fayette St. in Syracuse, celebrates its grand opening on Feb. 23, 2017.
4. Sugar and Company Grand Opening
The Armory Square sweet spot, located in the site of the former Bittersweet, is celebrating its grand opening with free dessert samples, wine tastings and giveaways. The wine bar will offer a menu of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and of course, drinks and desserts.
Where: Sugar and Company, 131 W. Fayette St., Syracuse.
When: Thursday, Feb. 23, from 5 to 10 p.m.
How much: Free to attend.
Ice carvings by Adam Vural spell "Love" at the Clinton Square Ice Rink during the 2016 Winterfest on Sat. Feb. 20, 2016. David Lassman | dlassman@syracuse.com
5. Syracuse Winterfest
Winterfest is in full swing, so naturally temperatures in Syracuse this week are expected to reach 60 degrees. Thankfully no snow is required to enjoy the chili and chowder cook-offs, cosmopolitan, martini and margarita mix-offs and other events.
Where: In and around Downtown Syracuse.
When: Feb. 16 to 26. See the full calendar of events.
How much: Ticket price varies depending on event.
The Log Home & Timber Frame Show will be at the Oncenter from Feb. 24-26.
6. Log Home and Timber Frame Show
Check out the latest in log and timber home style, as well as seminars and demonstrations. Want a crash course in all things rustic living? Attend Log and Timber Home University, a half-day seminar teaching you everything you need to know about planning and building your log home.
Where: Oncenter Convention Center, 800 S. State St., Syracuse.
When: Friday, Feb. 24, from 1 to 7 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 25, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 26., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
How much: Tickets are $12 for adults, or free for children 18 and under. Tickets are good for all three days.
In this 1977 file photo originally released by Paramount Pictures, John Travolta and Karen Lynn Gorney, left, are shown in a scene from "Saturday Night Fever."
7. Saturday Night Fever: The Musical
You'll want to dance along to this stage adaptation of the classic John Travolta flick, which features music by the Bee Gees.
Where: Turning Stone Resort & Casino Showroom, 5218 Patrick Road, Verona.
When: Friday, Feb. 24, at 8 p.m.
How much: Tickets start at $44.
The CNY Glitter Gala has raised more than $35,000 over the last three years.
8. CNY Glitter Gala
Girls and women of all ages can be a princess for the day at the annual CNY Glitter Gala. All the proceeds from the dinner go to Make-A-Wish Central New York and the Cpl. Kyle R. Schneider Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps war veterans and their families, named after a Marine from Baldwinsville who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011.
Where: Drumlins Country Club, 800 Nottingham Road, Syracuse.
When: Saturday, Feb. 25 at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
How much: Tickets for each event are $50 for adults and $40 for children.
Syracuse's Joel Vermin works along the boards vs. Providence at the War Memorial Arena on Oct. 29, 2016.
9. Syracuse Crunch vs. Rochester Americans
The Crunch, currently in first place in the North Division, will face off against rival Rochester twice this weekend--in Rochester Friday night and at the War Memorial Arena on Saturday.
Where: Oncenter War Memorial Arena, 900 S. State St., Syracuse.
When: Saturday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m.
How much: Tickets start at $16.
Peter Coleman pours the first green beer of the day during Green Beer Sunday 2015 in Tipperary Hill. Sam Maller | contributing photographer
10. Green Beer Sunday
The annual kick-off to the St. Patrick's Day season takes place in Tipp Hill. The festivities start with the famous 1 1/2-block parade that ends at Coleman's Authentic Irish Pub, where a tanker of green beer is waiting. Just be sure to bundle up. Temperatures are expected to barely break freezing.
Where: In and around Coleman's Authentic Irish Pub, 100 S. Lowell Ave., Syracuse.
When: Sunday, Feb. 26. Bar opens at 10 a.m. Parade starts at noon.
How much: Bring money to eat and drink.
11. Badfish
This Sublime cover band is bringing its ska punk sound to the Westcott Theater. Funk band Sun-Dried Vibes and Syracuse-based reggae rockers Barroom Philosophers will also perform.
Where: Westcott Theater, 524 Westcott St., Syracuse.
When: Sunday, Feb. 26, at 9 p.m. Doors open at 8 p.m.
How much: Tickets are $20.
The Marshall Tucker Band plays at the Great Chicken Wing Festival at the Syracuse Inner Harbor in 2010.
12. Marshall Tucker Band
The classic southern rockers, best known for hits like "Can't You See" and "Heard it in a Love Song," are no strangers to Central New York. They've played the Stanley Theatre in Utica, the Kallet Theater in Pulaski and the Jamesville BalloonFest, among others.
Where: Turning Stone Resort & Casino Showroom, 5218 Patrick Road, Verona.
When: Sunday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m.
How much: Tickets start at $28.
Find more events at
or leave your recommendations in the comment section.
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- A man formerly from Fulton was killed Sunday when an experimental, home-built plane he was flying crashed in a field in Ohio.
Killed was Jordan A. Spier, 24, of Wilmington, Ohio, according to the Clark County Sheriff's Office and Ohio State Highway Patrol. He was a 2010 graduate of G. Ray Bodley High School in Fulton.
The aircraft, a single-engine Jorgi I monoplane, crashed at about 4 p.m. in a field near a private airstrip on Titus Road near Springfield, Ohio, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Spier, a licensed pilot, worked as a maintenance planner at Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services (AMES) in Wilmington, Ohio, the company told the News Journal on Monday. The company confirmed Spier was originally from Fulton.
Spier had obtained his certificates in air-frame and power plant technology from Mohawk Community College in 2012.
"The Airborne family is saddened to have lost Jordan," Debbie Loveless, AMES Director of Human Resources, told the newspaper. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family."
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the crash.
The aircraft was registered to Ronald B. Spier, according to the FAA.
2015-05-21-dl-street6.JPG
A Vitale concrete mixing truck pours at the corner of South Salina and East Fayette streets, in this 2015 file photo. The Onondaga County Department of Transportation will hold a Public Information Meeting to discuss the rehabilitation project for Electronics Parkway between Old Liverpool Road and Hopkins Road in the towns of Salina and Clay.
(David Lassman | dlassman@syracuse.com, 2015)
TOWN OF SALINA, N.Y. -- The Onondaga County Department of Transportation will hold a public information meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the rehabilitation project for a section Electronics Parkway.
The proposed project includes construction work on Electronics Parkway between Old Liverpool Road and Hopkins Road in the towns of Salina and Clay. The rehabilitation project includes resurfacing Electronics Parkway, with the enhancement of drainage systems, curbing and pavement markings.
The installation of nine coordinated traffic signals will also be conducted, along with new signage, as well as pedestrian and bicycle accommodations.
The meeting will be held at the Salina Town Hall, 201 School Road, Liverpool. A brief presentation will be given and engineers will be available to answer questions and receive feedback from the public.
This project is a locally administered federal aid project. It is being progressed by Onondaga County, with involvement from the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.
Blog_2012-06-20-dl-morse8.JPG
Morse Manufacturing Company in East Syracuse designs and makes drum handling equipment which is shipped worldwide. The company has been run by three generations of the Andrews family. A group of drum saddles with the Morse name.
(David Lassman / The Post-Standard)
Editor's note: This letter has been revised to correct an error. Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney does not control the county industrial development agency. Its members are appointed by the Onondaga County Legislature.
To the Editor:
In 1969, New York state enacted the New York State Industrial Development Agency Act to facilitate economic development in specific localities. Its purpose is to create jobs, yet its record creating jobs is
according to Bob Ward, deputy director of SUNY's Rockefeller Institute of Government. IDAs are known as "public benefit corporations" but they're not. They're business benefit corporations. They've give billions to businesses with marginal public return.
On Feb. 7, the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency awarded Morse Manufacturing of East Syracuse
. This is on top of a $500,000 state grant. This is with no expectation of new jobs. How does this benefit the public? Why do Onondaga County taxpayers have to keep subsidizing sound, profitable businesses? This is an abuse of power and an abuse of the state law's intent.
IDAs empower politicians. Politicians use IDAs to shovel tax exemptions to the businesses of their friends and funders, to the wealthy and well-connected.
County Executive Joanie Mahoney sets the rules of eligibility for OCIDA applicants and the
The Republican-controlled Onondaga County Legislature appoints OCIDA's members and rubber-stamps the applications.
Don't they have a fiduciary responsibility to guard the county's tax base? Not one legislator -- Republican or Democrat -- will speak out against the IDA gravy train. Don't they see it as a government cost?
Our apathy is our scourge. So kudos to the Onondaga County town supervisors and officials who in August 2016 spoke out against tax exemptions for Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists and saved the people of Onondaga County $1.24 million dollars. Yet despite the outcry, OCIDA still awarded the group of doctors
. Granted, most people are indifferent or unaware of this welfare program for businesses. Most people are just happy when their property taxes don't go up. Sadly, nobody attended the Morse Manufacturing public hearing.
The result of OCIDA giving away tens of millions of dollars in tax exemptions over the years to companies like Morse, Welch Allyn, Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists, Cor Development, Destiny USA and the many other profitable businesses, is that it has defunded county government through the erosion of our tax base and now created unemployment. In November, when County Executive Joanie Mahoney couldn't balance her 2017 budget, the legislature
and bought out the early retirement of over 200 employees. How does that help develop our local economy?
Given that Morse isn't creating new jobs, a New York taxpayer might ask, if the taxpayer is investing over a million dollars in Morse Manufacturing, why doesn't that give the taxpayer -- like any venture capitalist -- part ownership in the company? If the taxpayer is funding expansion to increase future profits, shouldn't it share in those future profits? No, we can't do that. That's socialism. Socialism is the public ownership of the means of production. Still, isn't that a kind of socialism? Yes, of course it is, just a peculiar kind--call it Chamber of Commerce Socialism.
Joe Porter
Syracuse
2015-09-15-sdc-flagraising0.JPG
Syracuse's City Hall. The Consensus Commission on Local Government Modernization recommends folding city government into Onondaga County government -- a move that would saddle city residents with legacy debts and dilute the political influence of minorities, writes Interim Corporation Counsel Joe Fahey.
(Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com)
Joe Fahey is the Interim Corporation Counsel for the City of Syracuse. He is a former County Court Judge.
By Joe Fahey
During the past two weeks, our community has been bombarded with news involving the Consensus report and Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget proposal, threatening to withhold $700 million in municipal aid if the Legislature does not enact a new mandate requiring counties formulate consolidation plans voters will have to approve this November.
The report - in its first 70 pages - discusses services offered by the local governments the commission believes can be improved through increased coordination. Yet, experts who have studied consolidated governments opine that benefits and savings intended to be realized are often illusory.
One example of consolidated city-county government held up as a model is Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky. Yet, H.V. Savitch, an urban policy expert and professor at the University of Louisville, has written extensively about that merger. In an article entitled "What Consolidating City and County Governments Isn't a Silver bullet for Waste," he observed:
"People will often speak favorably about consolidation. At first blush, it seems to be a magic bullet" you avoid duplicative services, act with one vision and one voice, and stimulate the economy. But the objective evidence is either not there or contrary to these assertions. Mergers really don't deliver."
In his work "Beyond the Rhetoric: Lessons from Louisville's Consolidation," Professor Savitch declared:
"Officials from central cities should be cautious about assuming that city-county consolidation will be of benefit. As a crucial case that others might consult, our study raises doubt that city-county consolidation can enhance local economic development ... Most scholars would acknowledge that the ability of local government to affect larger economic forces is quite limited. ... In short, we need to be attentive to any possible mismatch between claims and reality."
After its analysis of potential shared services, Consensus goes on to offer a new structure for governance, abolishing city government, transferring its assets, and creating a so-called "debt district," saddling city taxpayers with outstanding financial obligations all while leaving the towns and villages entirely untouched in this new order - for now. It remains unclear whether or not towns and villages would eventually be absorbed as well.
The new proposed governing model would replace the Common Council and Onondaga County Legislature with a legislative body that exceeds the size of both existing entities. Comprising 33 seats - 29 district seats and four elected countywide - nine of the district seats would cross existing city-town boundaries. Such a legislature would dilute an emerging minority voting power in the city of Syracuse and run afoul of the Voting Rights Act. Consensus also recommends the new countywide model be headed by a county executive with an appointed deputy county executive tasked to oversee issues involving the "debt district" (i.e. the city) and other "appropriate issues."
In keeping with the Voting Rights Act concerns, the history of countywide elections is one in which no member of a minority group has ever been elected to countywide office, no matter how well qualified. Moreover, the appointment of a deputy county executive to oversee the issues relating to the "debt district" (which, under the current system would be the charge of the elected mayor - a city resident) hardly improves the emerging political power of minority voters in the city.
Gov. Cuomo's consolidation proposal can be described at best, as opaque. He began by offering a $20 million taxpayer-funded "prize" for the best consolidation idea offered by a county but has evolved into a threat, withholding over $700 million in aid to municipalities if the Legislature does not pass a law requiring the counties to conduct referendums on consolidation plans annually until one passes. This is a political Groundhog's Day.
The governor must now answer critical questions:
Why would the state withhold financial aid to cash-strapped cities with the largest concentration of minority citizens?
What impact will the diminishing effect of minority voting power have across the state as cities are absorbed into the larger, more rural counties?
Will Upstate counties without major cities be required to formulate consolidation plans requiring the abolition of towns and villages?
Experts have long concluded New York state's promises to enact mandate relief are long on talk and short on action. Mildred Warner, Ph.D., of Cornell University, an expert on restructuring local government services, has found New York has the highest level of decentralized fiscal responsibility in the nation, mandating 64 percent of all state and local expenditures are handled at the local level. This is the second-highest rate in the United States. While New York state promised to enact mandate reform in concert with a property tax cap, it has not kept this pledge. Consolidating governments will not address these fiscal issues.
When these critical questions are answered and the promise of mandate relief is fulfilled, we can look at how best to achieve greater savings without waging economic war on our most vulnerable citizens.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- We asked where to find the best burger in Central New York. You answered with 480 nominations, covering 124 bars and restaurants across the region.
The eight places that received the most nominations have advanced to the final poll.
The final poll is open until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1. You can select only one place and can only vote once, so choose wisely!
Our judges will visit the eight finalists and taste the best they have to offer. Be sure to follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #BestOfCNY as the judges travel the region. You can also follow the judges' tour on Snapchat with the username: syracusedotcom.
Once all the burgers have been tasted, we'll announce two winners--the judges' favorite and readers' choice.
So vote in our poll and decide who serves the best burger in Central New York!
The body police pulled from the Erie Canal last week has been identified as missing Ogden teen Joshua Redfield, police confirmed Tuesday.
Joshua Redfield
Police recovered the body from the canal near Rochester on Saturday, when unseasonably warm temperatures in the region may have contributed to the body rising to the surface.
Redfield, 18, was last seen on December 7. Police went public with a search effort, including an aerial search, five days later, WHAM-TV reported. Family members assisted in the search, and two investigators were put on the case full time.
Redfield's body was reported by an unidentified witness, who spotted it on the north bank of the canal and reported it to police.
The cause of death still has not been revealed.
Earlier in the month, the possibility of foul play in Redfield's disappearance was raised due to a possible connection between a relative of Redfield's and an illegal gambling investigation in Rochester. Investigators later said there was no truth to those claims.
CLAY, N.Y. -- U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said members of Congress like U.S. Rep. John Katko -- facing persistent criticism over his unwillingness to hold an in-person town hall -- might consider adopting Schumer's philosophy about visiting constituents.
"You gotta be around. You gotta be visible," Schumer told reporters and neighbors from a Clay home's driveway on Wednesday. "If you're not around and visible, bumping into your constituents, even if it's in the grocery store, you're not doing your job."
Schumer visited Clay and other parts of the state Wednesday to step up his campaign against proposals from the newly confirmed Treasury secretary and Republican members of Congress to eliminate certain, closely held tax deductions for New Yorkers and other Americans.
He spoke at the home of June Baycura, a 44-year resident of the development. A small group of neighbors joined reporters to listen to him speak outside. The senator joked about the unseasonably warm weather, calling it a "beautiful May day in Onondaga County."
U.S.Senator Chuck Schumer has a press conference in the Bayberry neighborhood of Liverpool to say that the reduction in mortgage, state, and local property tax deductions would hurt Syracuse suburbs hard, Feb. 22, 2017. He also weighed in on U.S. Rep. John Katko's refusal to hold an in-person town hall.
Schumer was asked about Katko, R-Camillus, who has said an effort to get him to show up to an in-person town hall is "theatrics." Other Upstate New York Congressional Republicans have made similar comments.
Schumer pointed to his regular attendance to meet voters at the New York State Fair an example. He said he must shake "thousands" of hands there over several hours.
"For me, I choose to go to street fairs. I choose to go to events," Schumer said. "I choose to go to all these things. That would be my criteria."
Schumer's staff later clarified that his comments were general about engaging with constituents and not targeted specifically at Katko.
When Schumer, the Senate's minority leader, finished his thought, a neighbor who gathered to watch him speak shouted, "Thanks for showing up!"
Medallion.jpg
A medallion, like this one, will need to be found by a participant in order to win the treasure hunt.
The Post-Standard and syracuse.com have hidden a medallion somewhere in Onondaga County and will publish daily clues pointing treasure hunters to its location. Solve the clues and find the medallion, and you'll win $2,000. The winner will also be enrolled in the Driver's Village VIP Rewards Loyalty program and win a $200 value towards their next vehicle purchase at Driver's Village. To learn more about the Driver's Village Rewards Loyalty program, visit www.dvviprewards.com
The 2017 Treasure Hunt is underway. Follow the clues each day ...
On syracuse.com at
On the pages of The Post-Standard and the ePost-Standard
On Twitter
On Facebook at
On Snapchat at syracusedotcom
Clue No. 7
Wed. Feb. 22
"Think of a name brand outerwear gear... Head that way and you will be near."
This year's Treasure Hunt has been made possible thanks to Driver's Village. Driver's Village is proud to support the 30th Anniversary of this community event, as the Burdick Family celebrates their 80th Anniversary of serving Central New York.
NOTE: The medallion in not hidden anywhere on Driver's Village Property.
This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon!
Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page?
Thank you for reading!
Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
It's been two months since California's DMV forced Uber's self-driving vehicles off San Francisco's roads after the company refused to register for the correct permits. Now, the fleet of autonomous Volvo XC90s has arrived in Arizona for a new round of testing.
After launching its autonomous vehicle program in Pittsburgh last September, Uber expanded the pilot to San Francisco three months later. But the state's DMV revoked the registration of the 16 SUVs after just one week.
As well as reports of the vehicles breaking road laws and endangering cyclists, the agency was running out of patience with the ride-hailing firm's insistence that it didn't need a permit to conduct self-driving vehicle tests. Uber argued that as there is a person behind the wheel at all times, the SUVs can't be considered fully autonomous. The DMV disagreed. It's suspected part of the reason Uber didn't want to apply for the permit is the requirement to publicize the number of times a human driver has been forced to take control of the vehicle.
After being booted from the Golden City, Uber said it was looking for other testing locations.Now, Tempe, Arizona residents can hail one of its driverless Volvo's with the blessing of the state, which has less strict laws on self-driving vehicles, and its governor, Doug Ducey, who is a long-time supporter of the technology.
Thanks for the smooth ride, @Uber_AZ. Arizona is proud to be home to your autonomous vehicle fleet! pic.twitter.com/AFKci3zZ7R --- Doug Ducey (@dougducey) February 21, 2017
Uber will be hoping the tests move some of the media spotlight away from the accusations of rampant sexism within the company. Former engineer Susan Fowler's recent blog post claims female employees regularly face sexual harassment at the firm, an accusation that has led to several internal investigations.
Intel has unveiled a new LTE modem that some believe could show up on the market as early as this fall in Apple's iPhone 8.
Chipzilla says its new XMM 7560 modem is the first LTE modem to be manufactured on Intel's 14nm process. A direct competitor to Qualcomm's X16 chipset, the XMM 7560 supports LTE Advanced Pro with Category 16 theoretical download speeds of up to 1 Gbps and upload speeds of up to 225 Mbps.
The chip also supports up to 8x4 MIMO and thanks to Intel's SMARTi 7 transceiver, supports up to 35 LTE bands so customers can build devices with global coverage leveraging just one SKU.
Qualcomm the other day took the wraps off its latest Gigabit LTE modem, the Snapdragon X20. That chip, a seemingly more advanced component with Category 18 theoretical download speeds of up to 1.2 Gbps built on a 10nm FinFET process, is currently being sampled to customers but won't ship in consumer-facing products until at least mid-2018.
Intel's fifth-generation LTE modem is to be sampled in the first half of this year and move into production shortly after, we're told.
As PCMag points out, Apple has used Qualcomm chips in its mobile devices for years but is currently suing the company for around $1 billion regarding royalties charged for "technologies they have nothing to do with." Apple's lawsuit came shortly after the FTC filed suit against Qualcomm over unfair patent licensing practices last month.
Can Pluto be brought back to an official planetary status once again?
In 2006, Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet, which excluded it from the solar system's official neighborhood. Caltech researcher Mike Brown, the same scientist who detected another Earth-like exoplanet beyond Neptune, facilitated this demotion.
Now, NASA has released a new manifesto that proposes an entirely different way of defining planets. If this proposal holds true, more than 100 new planets will be added to the solar system, possibly adding the moon and Pluto.
Make Pluto A Planet Again
What does it take to consider a cosmic body a planet? By definition, which is taken from the International Astronomical Union, a planet is celestial body that orbits around the sun, has a nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.
All of that may soon change. A team of NASA researchers led by Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons' Pluto mission, plans to redefine what a planet is in very simple terms.
For them, planets are "round objects in space that are smaller than stars." If this definition gets accepted by the IAU, it means that even the moon can potentially be classified a planet.
The key point that Stern and his colleagues hope to get approved is that cosmic objects in the solar system no longer need to be orbiting around the sun to be classified a planet.
The researchers say scientists should be considering the object's intrinsic physical properties, not its interaction with stars, which they believe holds more merit. They also argue that the current definition of planets is "inherently flawed."
For instance, the definition only classifies cosmic objects that orbit around the sun as planets, excluding those orbiting other stars or those orbiting freely as "rogue planets."
Second, the current definition requires zone-clearing, a criterion that no planet in the solar system satisfies. Stern and his colleagues explained that small cosmic objects constantly fly through planetary orbits.
Lastly, the researchers argue that the zone-clearing means calculations used to confirm if a cosmic object is a planet must be dependent on distance because a neighborhood around its orbit must be cleared out.
"Even an Earth-sized object in the Kuiper Belt would not clear its zone," the authors said.
New Horizons Flyby
In 2015, Stern spoke to Business Insider and said astronomers should not be the ones deciding what can be classified as planets. He said planetary scientists should have the authority over this jurisdiction, because they know more about the subject.
That same year, Stern and his team received incredible data from the New Horizons Pluto flyby.
"When we look at an object like Pluto, we don't know what else to call it," he added.
The team's full proposal can be read online. It has been submitted to the IAU for consideration.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The World Health Organization revealed on Tuesday that China has detected an evolution in the H7N9 avian flu virus that makes the bird flu strain capable of causing severe disease in poultry, which needs close monitoring.
Bird Flu Virus H7N9 Mutations
Analysis of virus samples from Taiwan and China suggested that H7N9 has gone through mutations that include resistance to antiviral class of drugs called neuraminidase inhibitors. Researchers also learned that the virus has become more pathogenic in birds after virus samples collected from two infected humans were injected into birds in laboratory.
Limited Person-To-Person Transmission
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has earlier said that "limited" person-to-person spread of the H7N9 could not be ruled out. "Limited" means that a virus from an animal host is able to infect a person and then spread to that person's close contact but not much further.
"Based on what we know about human infections with other bird flu viruses, it's possible and even likely that there will be some limited person-to-person spread with this virus. The important factor will be to determine whether this virus gains the ability to spread easily from one person to another. Sustainable human to human spread is needed for a pandemic to start," CDC said.
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said that there is no evidence that shows the changes in the virus affect the pathogen's ability to spread between humans.
"Although small clusters of human cases with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus have been reported including those involving healthcare workers, current epidemiological and virological evidence suggests that this virus has not acquired the ability of sustained transmission among humans. Therefore the likelihood of further community level spread is considered low," WHO said in a statement.
Although the mutation does not currently make the virus more infectious to humans, it allows the virus to replicate much faster in birds. The sick birds will shed more of the virus, which could mean more cases in people and possibly other mammals such as pigs. This would provide an opportunity for the virus to adapt to mammals through which it could learn to spread from person to person.
In its last update, WHO said that there were 304 new laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection and 36 deaths in mainland China from Jan. 19 to Feb. 14. Since October 2016, 425 human cases have already been reported in China, which include 73 deaths.
Infection Rates Higher Than Previously Believed
Animal experts said that bird flu infection rates could actually be higher in poultry farms in China than previously believed since the strain of the virus in humans is hard to detect in geese and chicken.
The evolution of the virus though could mean that the disease will be more easier to detect in some flocks once birds start to die off. The spread of H7N9 is often only discovered when people get sick.Those who become ill are often the ones who are most exposed to the virus in live poultry markets.
Bird Flu Vaccine
Virologists said that the only real defense against bird flu is vaccine. WHO has already given its approval to eight vaccine strains of H7N9. China has also launched clinical trials of four strains by a vaccine company owned by the state.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
UPS has announced plans for deliveries via drones, but unlike Amazon's drone delivery schtick, it's not offloading them from a distant outpost or even a blimp: it's integrating them into delivery trucks, perched atop the vehicle, prepared to launch at various points within a route.
UPS Fuses Delivery Trucks With Drones
The Georgia-based package delivery company ran the initial drone delivery service tests Monday in a small town outside Tampa, Florida, claiming to have successfully launched a drone from the top of a UPS delivery truck, which then delivered the package autonomously to its destination, and then finally returned to the truck at a different location.
At present, the Federal Aviation Administration still renders it illegal to operate drones beyond the operator's line of sight, as noted by Recode. Because of this, UPS probably had staff manning the flight of the drones, making sure they functioned correctly.
Drone-Assisted Delivery Service
Employing a drone-assisted delivery service, even at a relatively small scale such as what UPS has demonstrated, could save the company $50 million per year, assuming at least a mile is shaved off on trips taken by the company's 66,000 drivers daily.
What's more, delivery services can be more expensive in rural areas, where drivers typically incur more miles between destinations to deliver packages, because of the sparse population in each of them. Delivery companies, such as Amazon, UPS, and others, are trying to cut the costs of last-mile trips with the help of drones.
"[The drone delivery test] has implications for future deliveries, especially in rural locations where our package cars often have to travel miles to make a single delivery," said Mark Wallace, senior VP of global engineering and sustainability at UPS. "This is a big step toward bolstering efficiency in our network and reducing our emissions at the same time."
UPS ORION
The company's drone-assisted delivery service is made possible by its On-Road Integrated Optimization Navigation, a proprietary routing software. For the initial test, UPS collaborated with Workhorse, which is also the originator of the octocopter drone used in the delivery. Workhorse preset the route for the drone in the first test, but UPS says that ORION could be the primary tool it'll use for future drone-assisted deliveries.
While the initial test was a success, UPS has still a lot more to improve upon. TechCrunch reports that the company's second test of the drone failed, with it suspending its own launch, falling over, and nearly getting destroyed.
There's clearly more work to be done in terms of the technology, but even if UPS polishes that knob, it still has FAA's regulatory hurdle to worry about. Its rules mean that the trucks cannot operate that far from the drone, a rule which, if not lifted, could negate the whole idea of drone deliveries. One may ask what's the point of laboring over finances and man-hours into developing a functional drone delivery system, if the potential gains are abysmal because of regulatory roadblocks.
But companies are extensively flirting with the technology, and that could lead these entities entering a concerted effort to coax FAA into laxing its tight-wrung regulations. Amazon has been, at least by some measure, the mouthpiece of drone delivery systems. It started testing the technology in the UK in 2016, and it has astounding, if a little bizarre plans going forward.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Uber seems to have finally set up its testing program for self-driving cars in Arizona after the company was kicked out of California.
The news comes two months after the ridesharing company was forced to pull out of the Golden State due to a disagreement with its Department of Motor Vehicles.
How Uber Found Its Way To Arizona From California
In mid-December 2016, Uber started deploying self-driving cars in the streets of San Francisco in the form of modified Volvo XC90 vehicles. While the cars utilized driverless technology, they were still manned by a pair of technicians, one of which is a safety driver who can take back control of the vehicle when needed.
However, the move did not sit well with the Department of Motor Vehicles of California, with the regulator ordering Uber to stop testing its self-driving cars in the state as the company was said to have not secured the necessary permits. Uber initially defied the order, but was eventually forced to pull out its self-driving vehicles in San Francisco as the Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the registration of the modified Volvo XC90 SUVs.
Uber then revealed that it will be moving its self-driving program from California to Arizona. The ridesharing company is now set to resume its testing program in the Grand Canyon State.
Uber Launches Self-Driving Cars In Arizona
Uber, through a tweet, revealed that its self-driving cars are now hitting the road in Arizona, ready to pick up passengers. According to a local report, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who joined Uber's disagreement with California by inviting the ridesharing company to bring its self-driving program to his state, was one of the first passengers of Uber's self-driving Volvo XC90s in the state.
Uber's self-driving cars will be available in the city of Tempe, with passengers requesting for UberX rides possibly being matched with the modified Volvo XC90 SUVs according to availability. Pricing will remain the same as a regular UberX ride, with the self-driving vehicles capable of accepting up to three passengers at a time as the two front seats will be occupied by Uber technicians.
With its self-driving program now testing in Arizona, Uber again has two such programs in place, with Tempe joining the city of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania as hosts.
Uber Continues To Face Hurdles
The expansion of Uber's self-driving program into Arizona is another step toward the company's goal of conducting most of the rides that passengers request through self-driving vehicles. However, there are many hurdles to the company's plan, with California proving to be one of them.
Uber is also facing criticism outside its main ridesharing business, with the most recent issue enveloping the company being the allegations by a former Uber engineer that the Uber workplace is sexist. According to a lengthy blog post by Susan Fowler, during her one-year stint in the company, she experienced several sexist incidents.
Travis Kalanick, the CEO of Uber, wrote in an internal memo to employees that he was tapping Eric Holder, the former U.S. Attorney General, to conduct an independent review into Fowler's allegations.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Nokia, if one goes by the rumors, has quite an impressive lineup of smartphones to unveil at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017.
Along with its rumored flagship smartphone Nokia P1, it is also expected to bring back the iconic mobile phone from the 90's i.e the Nokia 3310.
Amid all this anticipation, Withings the French company Nokia acquired in 2016, has tweeted that it will also join HMD at its press event on Feb. 26 at the MWC. In the tweet, Withings also confirmed that it will make a "keynote announcement" at the press conference that one should not miss.
Just under 1 week until we join @Nokia for an exciting Keynote announcement at Mobile World Congressyou won't want to miss it. #MWC17 pic.twitter.com/Ow4xI29Mqp Withings (@Withings) February 21, 2017
Since Withings' acquisition by Nokia in 2016, rumors have been rife that the world would in sometime get to see Nokia-branded health devices or apps, as the former is well known for manufacturing them.
What Can We Expect From Withings?
Withings after its acquisition has been working under Nokia's Digital Health division. Thus it is difficult to zero in on any one device that can be unveiled by the former on Feb. 26.
Known for building health connected devices, Withings has also built a smartwatch. Thus one can expect the exciting announcement to range from a smartphone accessory to a health app exclusive only for Nokia, or even a smartwatch running on Android Wear 2.0.
Moreover, Withings can also launch something related to the smartphones HMD Global has planned to launch at the MWC. It is rumored, that the Finnish company plans to unveil at least three Nokia smartphones at the press conference, namely Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and a modern version of the classic Nokia 3310.
Rumored Nokia Smartphones Poised For MWC Debut
There is a set of rumored Nokia smartphones which are expected to be launched at MWC. Tech enthusiasts and Nokia fans are waiting with bated breath for the launch of Nokia 8, Nokia 6, Nokia 5, Nokia 3 and a remodeled version of the classic Nokia 3310.
Withings Looks After Your Health
The French company after its acquisition by Nokia changed its name from just Withings to "Withings, Part of Nokia." The company basically manufactures connected health devices and apps to track an individual's health and lifestyle for monitoring and improvement.
Along with smartwatches like Active, Active Steel, Active Pop, Steel HR and Pulse O2, Withings has also developed a smart thermometer named Withings Thermo, Withings Go activity tracker, Smart Body Analyzer along with a weighing scale, and many more digital smart health products.
Photo: Sebastiaan ter Burg | Flickr
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Not all prehistoric creatures were monsters, but this one was.
An ancient fossil long-kept in a Canadian museum turned out to be a previously undiscovered primordial monster worm with scary, snapping jaws, a new study revealed.
The creature, which swam Earth's ancient seas about 400 million years ago, has been named after a famous metal musician as well as the scientist who collected the sample at least two decades ago.
Metal Worm
In the study, scientists from the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Canada examined an ancient fossil that has been stored at the Royal Ontario Museum for 20 years, after scientist Derek Armstrong collected samples at a remote exposure in Ontario in 1994.
Now, a few years later, a team from University of Bristol, Lund University, and the museum officially identified the specimen as the remains of an extinct bristle worm and named it Websteroprion armstrongi. The creature was named in honor of Armstrong, who discovered the fossil, and Alex Webster, a "monstrous bass player" from Death Metal band Cannibal Corpse.
Luke Parry, a scientist from University of Bristol and a co-author of the study, said it seemed apt to name the creature after Webster, whom he has admired.
"Alex Webster just seemed like the perfect fit for a giant worm with saw-like jaws," said Parry.
David Rudkin, an assistant curator at the Royal Ontario Museum, said the fossil is an exceptional example of the value of searching in unexplored areas for finding new things, as well as the importance of investigating museum collections to scrutinize overlooked gems.
Gigantism In Animals
Although the fossil investigated by scientists only contained the species' jaws, which were at least 1 to 2 centimeters long (0.39 to 0.79 inches), researchers believe the body of the monster worm was more than 1 meter long (3 feet). Most fossil samples typically require a microscope to be seen, but studying W. armstrongi presented a different case.
In fact, W. armstrongi possessed the biggest jaws ever recorded in this type of animal, with its jaws visible to the naked eye.
"We can tell from the shape of the jaws that it is closely related to other similar [modern-day] worms that can grow to large sizes," said Parry.
Scientists compare this ancient monster worm to Bobbit worms, part of the giant eunicid species, which are fierce and opportunistic predators that use their jaws to seize fish, squid, and octopuses and drag them to burrows.
Mats Eriksson, a researcher from Lund University and the lead author of the study, said such gigantism in animals is ecologically important because of its competitive dominance. However, gigantism is still poorly understood among marine worms, he said.
In this case, W. armstrongi demonstrates a unique polychaete gigantism in the Paleozoic era. Furthermore, researchers added that the fossil shows that gigantism in species with jaws was limited to a certain evolutionary clade within the eunicid species, and has evolved over time.
Details of the study are issued in the journal Scientific Reports.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
If you are a subscriber of Verizon Wireless, then you will be pleased to learn that the carrier is poised to offer the Moto G5 Plus in the United States.
According to new leak from the well-known tipster Evan Blass, who goes by the Twitter handle @evlaeaks, Verizon will be one of the U.S. network operators to offer the Moto G5 Plus in the country.
Blass took to Twitter to share an image of the Verizon variant of the upcoming Moto G5 Plus. The image does not throw much light on the impending handset, except that it seems to resemble the international variant.
Moto G5 Plus for Verizon. pic.twitter.com/XfmzLMc8zn Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 22, 2017
The leaked image shows off the metal body of the smartphone, as well as the round camera housing on the rear of the device. Strangely, one cannot spot the Verizon branding on the Moto G5 Plus' image shared by the leakster. The handset shows off the Lunar Gray option of the device.
Moto G5 Plus: Rumored Specs
Many alleged images of the impending smartphone have leaked online, offering a glimpse into the handset.
Moto G5 Plus, the successor of the Moto G4 Plus, is expected to sport either a 5.5-inch or 5.2-inch FHD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display.
Rumors also suggest that the bigger sibling of the Moto G5 will come with the same SoC as that of the Moto Z Play the octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor, which is clocked at 2 Ghz.
The leaks have also indicated that the smartphone may boast 2 GB of RAM and have an onboard storage of 64 GB.
The handset is likely to come with a 12MP rear-facing camera and a 5MP front-facing camera. The smartphone may also house a 3,000mAh battery featuring TurboPower charging.
According to reports, the smartphone may come pre-loaded with Android 7.0 Nougat and support LTE connectivity. If rumors are to be believed, then the smartphone is also likely to have a fingerprint scanner.
Availability And Pricing
The Moto G5 Plus is likely to debut on Feb. 26 at the MWC. The latest renders leaked on Twitter suggests that Verizon could release the handset on April 3, as clearly seen from the device's home screen.
However, before its arrival in the United States, it may first hit the smartphone markets of other countries such as India and Brazil, where the Motorola handsets are quite popular.
As for the pricing, rumors say that the smartphone may be available with a price tag of around $250.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Average life expectancy is set to rise globally by 2030, both at birth and at age 65, the two points that prove crucial in determining lifespans due to enhanced maternal and child health along with improved adult wellness.
The new findings from the Imperial College London in the United Kingdom as well as the World Health Organization (WHO), however, found that the United States is likely to have the lowest life expectancy among high-income nations by 2030.
One crucial touchpoint is the projected differences in life expectancy between men and women, and if the perceived gender gap in this area is narrowing today and in the future.
Life Expectancy By 2030: Male-Female Differences
In 2015, the average life expectancy across the world was 71.4 years, according to the WHO. South Korea is seen to lead the pack in life expectancy by 2030, where the average woman is expected to have 90.8 years while the average man will live to 84.1 years.
Among top countries trailing South Korea, Spanish women are projected to live to 88.07 years, Portuguese women to 87.52 years, and Slovenian women to 87.42 years. In contrast, South Korean men are on top in their gender group at 84.07 years, followed by Australian men at 84 years and Swiss men at 83.95 years.
Even among bottom countries, women from Hungary are expected to live up to 81.74 years while men from Mexico are forecasted to last until 76.15 years, highlighting gender differences.
The analysis comprised data on mortality as well as longevity patterns collected from 35 industrialized countries, including both high-income and developing economies. It relied on a statistical method used in weather forecasting to create 21 models and produce the results.
Researchers writing in the journal Lancet cited unhealthier lifestyles among men involving higher smoking rates and alcohol intake as the factor behind their shorter life expectancy compared to their female peers.
This gap between the sexes, however, is now considered shrinking as lifestyles become more similar.
Gender Gap In Other Studies
A study published last November pointed to the same tendency of women to live longer than men.
Duke University researchers looked at the data of over 1 million people worldwide from the start of the 18th century to the present, as well as the mortality patterns of monkeys and apes. They discovered that while the last few generations enjoyed the greatest climb in life expectancy, males still trailed behind females in this matter.
A male disadvantage in lifespan measures has remained substantial a result that will resonate with enduring public interest in male-female differences in many facets of life," wrote the researchers.
There have been different speculations as to why this gender gap occurs, including genetics. Male primates, for instance, carry a single copy of the X chromosome while female retain two copies, which means males do not have a second X chromosome that can make up for harmful gene variants in their X chromosome.
While higher levels of dangerous behavior come into play, this disadvantage has deep roots in evolution, according to experts.
2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Arce stressed that "this table has a vital importance to continue giving certainties and solutions, above the whims, subway agreements and political calculations". | Read More
The BBC is to launch a new channel in Scotland which will begin broadcasting in autumn 2018, director general Tony Hall has announced.
The corporation has also announced plans to increase investment in programming in Wales by 50%, with 8.5m of new funding by 2019/20.
The new Scottish channel, BBC Scotland, will have a budget of 30m, comprising existing and 19m in new funding, equivalent to the amount spent on BBC4.
The plans for the channel include a Scottish news hour at 9pm, which will broadcast stories from Scotland, the UK and the world.
Hall also announced an increase of about 20m a year for Scotland to make UK-wide programmes, up from 65m currently.
This brings the total increase in investment in Scotland to nearly 40m.
The move comes after consistent pressure from the Scottish government for the BBC to give its Scottish operation greater control of budgets, staffing and decision making. Back in 2015, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, speaking at the the Edinburgh TV Festival, called for a new BBC Scotland TV channel and a greater slice of the licence fee.
The BBCs 2015/16 accounts showed that 320m came from the licence fee in Scotland, but that only 176.5m was spent on local content and Scottish-made BBC network output.
The new channel, BBC Scotland, will broadcast from 7pm every evening.
The BBC said it will provide a full mix of content to inform, educate and entertain including its own integrated hour-long news programme at 9pm (15 mins at 7pm weekends), edited and presented from Scotland.
This will lead to the creation of around 80 new journalist jobs.
The BBC also said the channel will have its own prominent EPG slot on broadcast channels in Scotland and be available online and in iPlayer in HD in Scotland and across the UK;
Tony Hall, BBC Director-General, said: I said at the beginning of the year that the BBC needed to be more creative and distinctive. The BBC is Britains broadcaster but we also need to do more for each nation just as we are doing more for Britain globally.
"We know that viewers in Scotland love BBC television, but we also know that they want us to better reflect their lives and better reflect modern Scotland. It is vital that we get this right. The best way of achieving that is a dedicated channel for Scotland."
The proposals will be subject to approval by the BBCs new unitary board, and as necessary, by Ofcom.
The BBC said it will shortly be making announcements about what more it will do in Northern Ireland and for Britain globally.
Share this story
Police forced to shoot at protesters as violence erupts - yet PM is in denial
By Kate on February 21, 2017 9:53 AM | 20 Comments Now is the time at SDA when weEmbassy of Sweden US Retweeted Donald J. TrumpWe look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies.cool story ambetsbroder :lol:The scenes took place just hours after the countrys Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, slammed Donald Trump for claiming Sweden was in crisis as a result of its liberal refugee policy.Stockholm police were forced to fire a shot into the crowd in the hard-hit suburb of Rinkeby, after a mob of around 30 began attacking officers with rocks.Violence erupted after the police had tried to arrest a wanted person on the subway.Sylvia Odin, of the Stockholm police, said: There was stone throwing and they were placed in a situation where a number of people jointly attacked and threw stones. They felt vulnerable and threatened.mo
Thanks Trump.Chinese president Xi Jinping has vowed to lead the new world orderChinese president Xi Jinping has vowed for the first time that China should take the lead in shaping the new world order and safeguarding international security, one of the latest moves putting him in stark contrast to Donald Trump and the US presidents America First policy.Xi had on numerous occasions called for China to play an important part in building the new world order. But during a Feb. 17 national security seminar in Beijing, he indicated China should guide the international community in the effort. A Feb. 20 commentary (link in Chinese) by the Chinese Communist Partys central party school, which trains officials, noted the distinction. It has since been widely shared by state-controlled media.News outlets dubbed Xis new approach the Two Guides () policy, with the two referring to the new world order and international security. (China has an obsession with silly-sounding numbered policies.)The overall trend of world multi-polarization, economic globalization, and democratization of international relations remains unchanged. We should guide the international community to jointly build a more just and reasonable new world order, Xi was paraphrased by Xinhua (link in Chinese) as saying during last weeks seminar. In another paragraph, the state newswire paraphrased Xi as saying We should guide the international community to jointly maintain international security.Xis new proposal has profound meaning, as his speech coincided with the annual Munich Security Conference and the G20 finance ministerial meeting, noted the commentary. It added that the Western-dominated world order is near its end as Western countries are showing less willingness and ability to interfere in global affairsas evidenced by Trumps isolationist foreign policy.Xi attended the seminar as head of the National Security Commission, a secretive party organ set up in 2014. Until last week, the body had held just one publicly reported meeting since its establishment. The latest seminar came ahead of the partys 19th congress, a major leadership reshuffle event slated for this fall.Since Trumps election China has emerged as the worlds strongest proponent of globalization. In the past few months, Xi has been busy sending the world messages that are the exact opposite of Trumps.As Trump promised to tear up the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Xi touted his alternative Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, including at last Novembers APEC summit, right in the USs backyard.As Trump threatened to close the borders and back away from global affairs, Xi rebuked Trumpwithout mentioning his namein his keynote speech at the 2017 World Economic Forum in January. As Trump pressed to curb immigration, Xi called to make it easier for foreigners to get Chinese green cards.Xi and Trump appear aligned on one issue: the press. As Trump denounced the media as the enemy of the American people, Chinas state-controlled media marked the first anniversary (link in Chinese) of Xis talk demanding absolute loyalty from the pressan idea that Trump, it would seem, could get behind.
The policy reversal will likely protect single-sex civic groups and institutions including single-sex bathrooms across the nation from lawsuits and will put new pressure on federal judges to preserve the central role of biology in defining whether a person is male or female.The new policy is a big defeat for gay advocacy groups and for progressives, who want judges to declare that people can change their legal sex when their gender identity changes from day to day.The announcement came Tuesday from White House spokesman Sean Spicer, who said, the president has maintained for a long time that this is a states rights issue and not one for the federal government.So while we have further guidance coming out on this, I think that all you have to do is look at what the presidents view has been for a long time, that this is not something the federal government should be involved in, that this is a states rights issue, he added.more
A former Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office employee alleges in a lawsuit she was wrongly fired by Sheriff Louis Ackal for cooperating with the FBI in the investigation against him, including handing over audio recordings of the sheriff referring to a federal prosecutor as a "Jew bastard."
Deborah Lourd, in a lawsuit filed this month in state court, said she was sent a certified letter terminating her employment was sent on Nov. 4, the day a federal jury acquitted Ackal in a sweeping federal investigation of abuse and cover-ups in his department.
Lourd is seeking damages for lost wages and future earnings for what the lawsuit contends was unlawful retaliation against her for cooperating with federal investigators.
Lourd, who was questioned by the FBI in March, gave investigators several secret recordings of Ackal, including one in which, according to federal authorities, Ackal referred to someone believed to be federal prosecutor Mark Blumberg as a "sorry son-of-bitch Jew bastard" and talks of shooting him between his "g*******d Jewish eyes."
Justice Dept: Iberia Sheriff spews hate speech about Jews at prosecutor Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal allegedly called one of the federal prosecutors in his pen
Blumberg, a Washington, D.C.-based Justice Department lawyer, was the lead prosecutor in the federal case against Ackal.
Ackal's attorney said in court filings last year that the sheriff made "made a few inappropriate remarks" after an uncomfortable meeting with Justice Department attorneys and that the sheriff "never imagined his remarks would be broadcast to the public."
Lourd said in the lawsuit that she was demoted and stripped of her job duties after Ackal learned in July that she was cooperating with the FBI.
She also alleges that deputies placed a tracking device on her vehicle.
Lourd remained officially employed by the Sheriff's Office until receiving formal notice of her termination after a federal jury in Shreveport acquitted Ackal in November.
The lawsuit contends that Louisiana's whistleblower laws protect Lourd from any retaliation for cooperating with a criminal investigation.
Ackal declined comment on the lawsuit through Sheriff's Office spokesman Captain Wendell Raborn.
The federal investigation against Ackal dated back to his first months in office in 2008 and included allegations that he turned a blind eye and sometimes encouraged the abuse of inmates and the rough treatment of suspects in street-level narcotics enforcement.
Ackal argued at his federal trial that any abuses were carried out by rogue deputies who worked to conceal their actions from the sheriff.
Ten of his deputies pleaded guilty in the case, and all are awaiting sentencing.
Charges are pending against an 11th deputy.
Another traffic headache awaits drivers in southeast Baton Rouge, as a widely used bridge there went out of commission Tuesday while two heavily trafficked roads in the area are already under construction.
The bridge on O'Neal Lane that runs over Jones Creek was closed Tuesday for safety reasons. The city had already been working on a replacement for the bridge just to the east of the existing one and are speeding up work on it. Officials say they expect for it to be open to drivers by early April.
In the meantime, drivers are being detoured to avoid the closed bridge. Motorists are being directed to take George O'Neal Road to Jones Creek Road to South Harrells Ferry Road.
Jones Creek Road traffic patterns to shift starting week of Jan. 22 For the next couple of months, people who drive along Jones Creek Road will see a shift in t
"It's going to be absolutely terrible," said Metro Councilman Buddy Amoroso, who represents the area.
Both Jones Creek Road and O'Neal Lane are being turned into four-lane roadways, creating other detours for drivers there as well.
The bridge was ordered closed immediately and indefinitely after an inspection on Tuesday revealed that some of the supports holding it up deteriorated, said the city's Chief Design and Construction Engineer Thomas Stephens.
Repair work would have taken at least two to three weeks, Stephens said, so city-parish officials opted instead to speed up the work on the bridge's long-planned replacement.
The bridge closed Tuesday should eventually be demolished once its replacement comes online, Stephens said.
Amoroso said that while he understands the inconvenience and is looking into temporary traffic alleviation, public safety is the top concern.
He urged drivers to give themselves extra time when they leave for work on Wednesday morning, and both Amoroso and Stephens reminded drivers to have patience.
"I know it's inconvenient," Stephens said. "The bridge we closed today was built in 1985. And when we finish the bridge we're working on now, I don't expect any issues with it for another 60 years. We have to get through the next couple of months with these traffic delays, and after that, we'll be done for decades."
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.
Despite Gov. John Bel Edwards attempts to rein in a lucrative tax break, manufacturers were awarded more exemptions in 2016 than ever before.
Edwards, who took office in January 2016, issued an executive order in June to require the state Board of Commerce and Industry to stop automatically exempting manufacturers from paying local property taxes.
Its not happening. Its going to take stronger enforcement of the governors order to get control of the program, Brod Bagert, of Together Louisiana, said in an interview prior to state board gathering Tuesday to consider changes to the rules that would implement Edwards vision and to approve some more exemption applications.
The board is just doing what it has done and that is to approve whatever applications that comes before them, he said.
State government in 2016 forgave $4.9 billion in local property taxes through the Industrial Tax Exemption Program, according to an analysis by Together Louisiana, a coalition of clergy and community groups.
In 2015, the last year Bobby Jindal was governor, the state issued $2.9 billion. The 2016 rate of ITEP approvals was 441 percent of the average rate of approvals from 2000 to 2015, the analysis states.
Together Louisiana used the states formula to calculate the numbers in order to forestall criticisms that their calculations overstated the amounts, which has been usual response from the Louisiana Department Economic Development.
LED Secretary Don Pierson said $4.9 billion was correct but doesnt tell the whole story.
Thats the amount of the exemptions awarded by the state, but that may not be whats eventually used.
Lucrative tax breaks for industrial manufacturers in Louisiana to be clarified A state oversight board approved regulations Friday that codifies Gov. John Bel Edwardss or
Changes in the marketplace could mean some of the projects get downsized or cancelled altogether. More importantly the number fails to include what the states economy received from jobs created and long-term investments made because of program, Pierson said.
Its an exemption that brings in a project that will produce benefits for Louisiana 30 years, 40 years, he said.
Most states have an industrial tax exemption, but Louisiana is the only one that handles the grants without the approval of local governments, which otherwise would be in charge of collecting property taxes. Also unique is that state government pays about half the costs for everyday services police, fire, schools, etc. usually handled on the local level elsewhere.
The state cant even pay for itself, said Robert Adley, a former state senator who is Edwards' representative on the board.
State legislators were meeting a couple blocks away in the State Capitol trying to balance this years budget, which has $304 million less revenues available than bills owed. And lawmakers return to Baton Rouge in April to tackle another projected deficit for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Thats one of the reasons Edwards put the brakes on ITEP. The board is drafting new rules that include requiring firmer evidence that the project will produce jobs before granting the five-year, 100 percent exemption; and stopping the automatic renewal of the exemptions second term, which had been a 100 percent break for five years, but will now be for three years at 80 percent. Among other requirements, include a procedure for local governments to sign off on the exemption.
But the board was also decided that the new rules would only apply to applications filed after Edwards executive order on June 24, 2016. State economic development officials were adamant that changing or cancelling the ITEP applications after they are in the pipeline would damage Louisianas reputation and its ability to attract business in the future.
Most of the $4.9 billion approved in 2016 was underway prior the governors order.
The Commerce and Industry Boards meetings usually are sleepy affairs, largely attended by corporate executives seeking approval of tax burdens. Tuesdays hearing, like several since Edwards order, was standing room only.
This (ITEP) should be suspended immediately without any further actions taken. The state is broke, Russell Honore, the retired U.S. Army general famed for bringing order to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, told the board.
The number is correct. But its important to know that we would not have made those promises but we have to honor these agreements, Adley said.
Board Chairman Steven L. Windham asked for patience as the board approved 117 exemption applications at one time and rejected six that had been filed after the June 24. We are moving. With the work of this board, of this governor, from principles to facts, he said.
The Louisiana House took a few minutes during the last day of special session to honor Good Samaritan Vickie Williams-Tillman and the Baton Rouge Police officer she recently helped, drawing national headlines.
Tillman has been hailed as a hero after she helped thwart an attack Sunday morning on BRPD Cpl. Billy Aime.
Williams-Tillman was driving to do some shopping when she spotted Aime in a physical altercation with a suspect. Thomas Bennett, 28, had grabbed the officer's baton and repeatedly hit him on the head before Williams-Tillman intervened, by jumping on Bennett's back.
House Resolution 13, approved unanimously, notes the "tremendous personal sacrifice to come to the physical aid of one's fellow man."
"Such an act calls for an intestinal fortitude not demonstrated by many, and is thereby worthy of note," it reads.
The House also voted unanimously for a separate resolution honoring Aime's service in law enforcement, House Resolution 14.
Both were sponsored by Baton Rouge Republican Rep. Rick Edmonds.
Trenisha Jackson, the widow of BRPD Cpl. Montrell Jackson, who was one of the three law enforcement officers murdered by a shooter in June, also attended the reading of the legislative commendation.
Photo provided by EBR Sheriff's Office -- A 17-year-old student at Scotlandville High School is in Parish Prison after he was found Monday morning carrying a loaded handgun.
You have permission to edit this article.
Edit Close
With the 4-H Exhibition building and two restrooms on the fairgrounds in need of extensive repairs, Cass County Commissioners and Cass County Agriculture Society members are putting their heads together on creating funding for a replacement building and restrooms.
Ag society president Alan Horn and board member Gary Sickmann addressed commissioners Tuesday morning about initial plans for a new structure.
The old 4-H exhibition building, conference room and old fair board office have bad structural problems, Sickmann told the board. The repairs are price-prohibitive. Were in the process of looking into building a new climate-controlled building like the Expo Center but smaller.
Horn added that they would like to fix the restrooms in the same construction project.
Cass County Board Chairman Dan Henry asked Sickmann if he had cost estimates for the repairs.
Sickmann said he didnt because they were now two-years-old. He introduced Brett Becker, sales consultant and contractor for Morton Buildings, who was accompanied by Sean Marcotte, Morton Buildings design-build manager. The two addressed the commissioners about possible plans for the building.
Becker explained he was contacted by ag society member Kevin Albert. He said ag society members are interested in a design-build structure to replace the exhibition hall.
Morton Buildings is a company with accountability. I was the contact at this stage to try to determine the why and how to move forward with the project, Becker said. He added they needed to find out if the ag society is governed by the same state statutes as municipalities, counties, fire departments and police departments, which are mandated to take bids on projects.
Marcotte described the design-build concept in which the architects, engineers and supervisors all work for the same company on a project. We design with a budget in mind and we have our own architects and engineers, Marcotte said.
Morton Buildings was the only company willing to help with an initial plan for the building, Sickmann said. In order to start the process of replacing the building, Morton Building architects drew up an initial plan that could change as the ag society moves forward on the project.
We have developed some basic plans but they are a bit on the high side. Until you get a plan, you cant finalize the numbers, Marcotte explained.
This initial plan depicts a 72-foot by 126-foot building. It would cover 9,000 square feet with another 2,000 square feet of exterior covered porch area, which could be used by anybody, Marcotte said.
Is this the full size of the building or have you guys cut back on it? asked Commissioner Janet McCartney.
Marcotte said changes would be made based when a finalized budget was established.
Based on the initial plan, the building and restrooms would cost an estimated $1.2 million. The building without flooring, exterior porches, posts in the ground, electricity, heating and air-conditioning, and plumbing is estimated at $382,000. Flooring is estimated at another $70,000.
Horn said they wanted to use the design-build concept in order to save funds on paying separate architectural and engineering fees. Having Morton Buildings draw up some initial plans was the only way we could come up with a ballpark figure, Horn said.
Will the footprint allow for expansion of the interior at a future date? Commissioner Jim Peterson asked.
The gable ends are the easiest place to add more room, Marcotte said.
Horn explained the building would be a clear-space structure. None of the interior walls will be load bearing, he said. Morton Buildings would take care of every aspect of the construction other than site preparation.
The old frame building is there. Were looking for how you want us to move forward, Horn said.
McCartney said they would need to consult County Attorney Nathan Cox.
I think we can visit with the attorney and Morton Buildings, Henry said.
I just want to follow up with Nathan, McCartney countered.
With the bond on the Expo Center and livestock building expiring in 2017, ag society members are considering issuing a $1.2-million bond to pay for the new building and restrooms.
It was $1.8-million that time and we would be way under that, Horn said. We wanted to get this going knowing the current bond would be paid off.
Cox asked the board what the countys responsibility would be on the project. In the past, the board would work with the ag society in issuing the bond, but there are no more joint projects, Cox said.
With the $1.8-million bond in order to have proper collateral, the financing was done with the Louisville bank, Peterson said.
They were the depository for the funds, Horn explained.
Before closing the discussion, Henry told Horn and Sickmann to set up a meeting with Cox and the bond council and find out what our obligations would be.
Henry said Cox will determine all the legal aspects of the project and report back at the next county board meeting, March 6.
The ACT government had to pay $86,000 to fix a $200,000 sculpture five years after it was installed because the sculptor failed to apply a proper primer, it can be revealed
Toku was unveiled in 2010 as a celebration of Canberra's sister-city relationship with the Japanese city.
Policy Officer Debbie Burkevics and director David Whitney of artsACT with a miniature of the artwork in January 2010. Credit:Karleen Minney
Designed by Shinki Kato, it was modelled on Nara's five-story pagoda, built in 725 under the reign of Empress Komyoh.
But while pre-rusted steel plates were part of the design, a failure to apply a proper primer before painting meant there was more corrosion than intended.
The head of Marist Brothers' Australia has acknowledged a failure in governance led to a "cluster" of abuse at their Canberra College.
Brother Peter Carroll was called to give evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Wednesday.
Scenes from the Marist College Canberra healing ceremony last year. Credit:Elesa Kurtz
When cross-examined over how these "clusters" could have occurred at several Marist schools including Canberra's during royal commission proceedings , Brother Carroll said many cases were the work of one perpetrator.
But when was asked if poor governance led to the abuse clusters, he said that "can't be refuted".
Mark Parton has bitten back at Chief Minister Andrew Barr over his jibe that the sales at a Canberra car dealership would suffer for having a Liberal promote their business.
It was revealed this week Mr Parton had sought the advice of the ACT's ethic and integrity advisor over his appearance in ads for Rolfe Honda.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr. Credit:Rohan Thomson
The ads were created before Mr Parton took office, he does not own the copyright to them and he has no current financial arrangement with the car dealership.
In response to questions from Fairfax Media, Mr Barr said local parliamentarians needed to be careful about avoiding actual or perceived conflicts of interest.
There's a new rule emerging for observers of American politics trying to understand a confusing new outburst or claim from President Donald Trump go and check what's happened on Fox News in the past 24 hours.
It was key to understanding his otherwise confounding comments about Sweden at a rally last weekend, when he told a fired-up crowd: "You look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this?"
Sweden's leaders were dumbfounded there had been no terror attack or major incident. But only if you'd watched the conservative pundit Tucker Carlson's show on Fox the night before, would you have any idea what the commander-in-chief was talking about an incendiary segment linking immigration to crime in the Scandinavian country.
This was not a first. In fact, a huge number of Trump's outbursts and falsehoods can be linked to something he saw on television or on one of his preferred websites.
Taxi owners are planning to blockade the Tullamarine Freeway on Monday, creating another needless disruption to the community following the chaotic scene last week when yellow cabs jammed lanes on the Bolte Bridge. Protest action of this type is misguided and will elicit little public sympathy for what are very real challenges to the livelihood of taxi owners challenges over which there is understandable distress.
The protest has been sparked by anger over the deregulation of the taxi industry after the recent onset of ride-sharing services powered by mobile technology. The most recognisable ride-sharing service, Uber, has completely upended the monopoly once enjoyed by taxi owners, who had previously only been allowed to operate under a limited number of licences purchased at great expense.
The taxi industry is hardly alone in feeling the consequences of new technology we in the media know something about that challenge, too. The digital revolution has dramatically transformed, or effectively put an end to, many once-stable businesses. You won't find many shops to process camera films these days, for example, and video libraries are almost extinct.
The advent of new technology has mostly benefited consumers. The ride-sharing pioneers saw an opportunity to offer an alternative to the domain of taxis, where complaints about musty cars or lacklustre service have been common. Ride-sharing allows personal reviews of driver performance, in contrast to the bland anonymity of a homogenous fleet.
Authorities must be prepared for more foreign fighters to seek to return to Australia as advances are made against the Islamic State group in Iraq, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Thursday.
Following talks with new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington, Ms Bishop said gains made by coalition forces in the fight to retake the IS stronghold of Mosul could see more Australians in the region attempt to return home.
"That is likely to be the consequence of military success in Iraq, for the example the retaking of Mosul," Ms Bishop told ABC radio.
"That will mean that a number of foreign terrorist fighters will seek to flee from Iraq and the expectation is a number will seek to return home.
Richard Rugerrio had a heart attack, a triple bypass, a spinal injury, and a mild stroke.
Robyn Abrahams, a former nurse, had polio as a four-year-old but carved out a 46-year-long career in critical care at Box Hill and St Vincent's Hospitals before succumbing to muscular atrophy two years before she was due to retire.
Mr Rugerrio has waited more than two years and three months for his life insurance provider to contact him; Ms Abrahams is "too exhausted to fight them any more."
Submissions like these released on Wednesday to a parliamentary inquiry into the life insurance industry have shown elements of the "worst culture and behaviour" of the industry, according to law firm Maurice Blackburn.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen says the Labor Party will not take a "Buffett rule" to crack down on wealthy tax avoiders to the next election, setting up a showdown with elements of his party who believe such a policy would help counter the rise of populist parties like One Nation.
In a decision that puts Mr Bowen and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten at odds with the Left of Labor, Mr Bowen ruled out supporting the push, revealed by Fairfax Media on Wednesday.
Under the plan, adopted by the national Left faction over the weekend, the highest-income earners in Australia would be forced to pay a mandated minimum rate of tax - most likely 35 per cent for those earning $300,000 or more a year - discouraging the pursuit of tax loopholes and aggressive tax planning.
"This approach isn't the best way to address inequalities in the system. A Buffett rule won't be something we take to the next election," Mr Bowen said.
A war of words has erupted over the nomenclature of Australia's refugee resettlement deal with the US, after Immigration Minister Peter Dutton conceded it could reasonably be described as a "people swap".
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop rejected that characterisation, as did Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's office, as Labor used the stoush to question whether refugees would ever leave Manus Island and Nauru.
Since agreeing last year to take an unknown number of Central American refugees from camps in Costa Rica, the Turnbull government has denied it has engaged in a people swap with the US, akin to Labor's doomed 2011 arrangement with Malaysia.
Upon announcing in November a deal for the US to resettle refugees from Manus Island and Nauru, Mr Dutton bluntly said: "The Costa Rica arrangement had nothing to do with this deal and it's not a people swap."
It was a stinking hot day at Macmasters Beach when Joel Bennetts pulled out his camera and caught a beautiful moment his brother cradling his five-week-old baby in the family's outside shower.
"I was spending the weekend with family among the waves and bushland, my eldest brother and his partner had had their first child, a baby girl, Lily," Bennetts told Fairfax Media. "I remember it was a 39-degree day, so my brother took his baby Lily for a midday shower dad's outdoor shower came in very handy for all of us that day.
Congratulations Joel Bennetts of Sydney, winner of the February Clique Challenge. Credit:Joel Bennetts/Clique
"I couldn't help but capture this moment in time it was beautiful to see them there together."
The candid image is Clique's February winner, which had the theme "water".
Sometimes, its okay to put a pie in your teachers face.
If that sometime includes getting permission from the teacher and raising funds for a good cause.
Elmwood-Murdock Student Councils challenged students at the junior and senior high school and elementary school to raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the University of Nebraska Multiple Sclerosis Center.
By Feb. 17, the elementary school in Elmwood raised $1,290.16 of the total of $2,050.
As a reward, the teachers, paraprofessionals and the principal agreed to some fun-loving antics during an assembly last Friday. For example, kindergarten teacher Emile Cook agreed to wear a mustache all week as long as the principal, Bruce Fredrich agreed to shave his off during the assembly.
Robin Kuhlman did an impressive job of juggling before standing on her head, and Vanessa Drueke and Kori Duntz, first grade teachers, were duck-taped to the schools exterior walls.
Jenny Schroll , Mrs. Lindsay and Kim Rust all enjoyed a whipped cream pie in the face, and the list goes on.
Parents were not out of the loop as Curt and Cindy Backemeyer agreed to taste test jelly beans with unusual flavors.
The assembly started with plenty of laughter and smiles and concluded with the same.
The knife allegedly used to murder Salwa Haydar. "I tried to get in the middle of it, to pull him away from her ... He didn't stop, he kept going." Mr Haydar has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of his wife and mother of his children, Salwa Haydar, a 45-year-old drug and alcohol counsellor at St Vincent's Hospital. Ola with her mother, Salwa Haydar. The defence case is that Mr Haydar warrants a reduction in the charge because was suffering from a substantial impairment due to depression at the time of the killing.
Ms Haydar told the court that her parents had a tumultuous relationship, which worsened after her troubled brother hit her mother and was later jailed for drug matters. The couple had discussed divorce multiple times, the court heard, and had each bought their own places but were living together in the Bexley townhouse owned by Mrs Haydar. On the day Mrs Haydar was killed, Mr Haydar had returned unexpectedly, and without telling his family, from a trip to see his ill mother in Lebanon. The court has heard that, before leaving, Mr Haydar had discovered text messages sent from his wife to a male colleague and he had incorrectly suspected they were having an affair. While overseas, Mr Haydar sent his wife a text message telling her she had made a "grave" mistake.
"You'll turn a grandmother soon and it's a pity that you beg for coffee from this and that, some of whom may take advantage of your weakness while you live in dreams. I say this at the time that my heart broken," the message said. But Ms Haydar told the court she had not heard about her father's suspicions until the day he returned from Lebanon, when she noticed he was in a frantic and tense state. He asked her and her sister whether their mother would ever be unfaithful to him and grabbed a Koran and swore on it that he had always been faithful to her. Ms Haydar said that, later that evening, her parents had an argument that was triggered by her father's refusal to get the cooking oil from the garage. When she heard a scream she ran downstairs to see her mother backed in a corner and her father stab her in the back.
Ms Haydar said she desperately tried to wrench the knife from her father, thinking that if she placed herself between them he would not hurt her. In the process, she suffered two deep cuts to her hand. Mr Haydar is also facing two charges relating to those injuries. "[I was] saying 'What are you doing? Oh my god, you're going to kill her,' " Ms Haydar said. Ms Haydar said she begged him to stop stabbing her mother and when she picked up the telephone he turned and asked what she was doing. "And he would like look back and continue," Ms Haydar said.
The star witness for the case against Gordon Wood acted like a prosecutor and not an impartial expert witness after investigating police "poisoned his mind", a court has heard.
Mr Wood was found guilty in 2008 of the murder of his model girlfriend Caroline Byrne. He spent three years in jail before he was sensationally acquitted by the Court of Criminal Appeal in 2012.
Gordon Wood leaves the Supreme Court, where he is suing the state of NSW. Credit:Daniel Munoz
Associate Professor Rod Cross gave evidence at Mr Wood's trial that Ms Byrne could not have committed suicide at The Gap, in Watsons Bay, in June 1995.
Associate Professor Cross told the jury that, given the short run-up distance available, she could not have propelled herself as far from the cliff as she landed and must have been thrown.
Aussie hip hop act Bliss n Eso will play a tribute show to the Gold Coast stuntman killed while filming a music video for their latest single.
Popular stuntman Johann Ofner died last month while filming an "Asian gangster" scene using prop guns and blanks in an underground Brisbane bar, shocking the industry.
Fairfax Media has been told it's suspected a piece or pieces of debris exited the barrel of a prop shotgun used in the scene and penetrated the performer's chest.
On Friday, the band announced plans to push back its album launch and play a tribute show for the 28-year-old in his hometown.
Work will begin on Brisbane's new $100 million cruise ship port at Luggage Point early in 2018 allowing it to be finished by late 2019.
It will take two years to build the terminal, once it is given the green light by Queensland Treasury and then State Cabinet.
More than 320 cruise ships visited Queensland in 2016, Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology Leanne Enoch said as she toured the $1.3 billion, 347-metre long Ovation of the Seas, which visited Brisbane for the first time on Wednesday.
"We are seeing double-digit growth in the number of cruise liners that are coming into Queensland in the last eight years," Ms Enoch said.
Steve Williams knew for months that his sister Karen Ristevski wasn't coming home.
Speaking a day after confirmation that Ms Ristevski's body had been found at Mount Macedon, Mr Williams said the period since she disappeared had been "totally horrific".
"Knew Karen wasn't coming home. Knew that from a very early stage. Yesterday just confirms what we pretty much thought and knew all along," he said.
Mr Williams, the younger brother of Ms Ristevski, spoke of his heartache in an interview with Channel Nine.
A child and a man were allegedly jabbed with needles in broad daylight in Melbourne, and police are investigating two more reported needle attacks in recent days.
Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward after a 40-year-old man was charged with intentionally causing injury and assault over two incidents in Kew and Fitzroy.
At least two people, including a 12-year-old boy, were 'jabbed' with a needle in Melbourne's inner suburbs. Credit:Jason South
The first alleged assault was on a 12-year-old boy, who was jabbed in the arm with a needle while waiting at a tram stop on Cotham Road in Kew about 9.30am on Saturday February 18, a police spokesman said.
Then on Monday, a 24-year-old man was allegedly jabbed in the hand at about 2.40pm, while on a High Street, Kew tram.
A safe injecting room could still be opened in Richmond after the Andrews government backed the parliament to investigate how it could work.
A day after Premier Daniel Andrews dismissed Coroner Jacqui Hawkins' push for a trial of a supervised drug room, government MPs voted with the Sex Party, Greens and Vote 1 Local Jobs MP James Purcell for a parliamentary inquiry into safe injecting rooms.
Premier Daniel Andrews is resisting calls to trial a safe injecting room. Credit:Rick Stevens
Last year 34 people died of overdoses in North Richmond, with a trial of Sydney-style safe injecting room mooted for the Victoria Street area.
Sex Party MP Fiona Patten had tabled a bill for a safe injecting room so securing an inquiry to report by September is seen as a major win for campaigners.
The Ross River virus risks becoming a global epidemic on the same scale as the Zika virus, Australian researchers say.
An Australian National University and University of Adelaide study has found that Ross River transmitted by mosquitoes could be carried by placental mammals and not just marsupials as previously thought.
"The traditionally accepted thinking and all evidence points to the fact that the virus needs a marsupials reservoir so when kangaroos and wallabies are around - and it then gets picked up by a mosquito which then transmits it to humans," University of Adelaide professor Philip Weinstein told AAP.
"What the new research shows is that it can do this without the marsupials ... you could have dogs, cats and rats playing the role that we thought only marsupials could do."
The move follows revelations in The Age that Mr Languiller used the historic seaside town as his primary place of residence, while maintaining a second residence in Footscray, also outside his Tarneit electorate. The arrangement allowed him to last year claim the generous but little-known "second residence" perk, currently worth $37,678 a year for ministers and senior office holders. Under the rules of Parliament, MPs are entitled to the allowance if they live at least 80 kilometres from the Melbourne GPO and maintain a second residence in Melbourne. On reflection I believe the system which allowed me or others to make a claim of [that] kind should be changed. Speaker Telmo Languiller The decision to nip the looming crisis in the bud by repaying the money follows a string of expense scandals federally and at the state level. Mr Andrews can ill-afford to lose another senior office holder.
The perk is designed to compensate country MPs forced to stay in town when Parliament is sitting. But the guidelines are sufficiently opaque that the reverse is also possible: city MPs such as Mr Languiller who maintain an official "home base" outside their electorates can also claim the allowance. Mr Languiller's use of the allowance is technically within the rules, although the revelations will raise further questions about whether claiming a generous allowance to live more than 80 kilometres from a city electorate is an acceptable use of taxpayers' money. The payment is in addition to Mr Languiller's annual Speaker's salary of $244,547, his expense allowance of $17,785 and a host of other perks such as the use of a chauffeur-driven car. Contacted by Fairfax Media, Mr Languiller confirmed he had claimed the allowance up until November last year. But he said he no longer claimed it. His spokeswoman later said Mr Languiller's primary residence is now in Footscray, confirming he had claimed the allowance for 12 months "but his entitlement ended in November 2016".
Earlier in the week, Premier Daniel Andrews' spokesman said Mr Languiller's primary residence was in Queenscliff. That followed revelations in The Age on Tuesday that one-third of Daniel Andrews' frontbench lives outside the electorates they represent. Mr Languiller is also an avid traveller at taxpayers' expense. During the 2015-16 financial year he spent more than $50,000 travelling overseas six times, including two separate trips to his country of birth, Uruguay. On Thursday morning Mr Languiller told reporters he believed he had the support of the Premier but had not yet spoken to him. "I have intentions of speaking to both party leaders during the day," he said.
He said the allowance system should be tightened. "On reflection I believe that the system which allowed me or others to
make a claim of [that] kind should be changed," he said. Asked if he would stand down, Mr Languiller said he would discuss matters with the Premier and the Opposition Leader. Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said it was MPs entitlement rules were outdated and needed urgent reform, calling on the Premier to change the rules. Mr Guy suggested that entitlement rules be tied to an MP's electorate rather than where they choose to live. "We need to make sure that the rules are tighter, we can't have a situation where a city MP can claim a country member's allowance. I just can't believe that this is somehow allowable," Mr Guy said.
The Liberal leader said he hoped to speak to Mr Languiller to discuss changes to the rules and who signed off on the allowance. Greens leader Greg Barber also called for an entitlement overhaul, including more transparency of payments. Mr Barber backed an independent office, similar to federal reforms, to oversee entitlements. Like Mr Guy, Mr Barber said it was up to the government to act. Treasurer Tim Pallas said a change to rules was not the answer and that MPs should be guided by "common sense".
"I don't believe it is a question of rules. It's a question of people understanding what the right thing to do is," Mr Pallas said. "Quite frankly, there's always a way around rules ... but there is no way around holding yourself to account to good conduct and the public expectation." "I accept his [Mr Languiller's] judgment that he hasn't accorded with community expectation." Emma King, from VCOSS, who was with the Treasurer to launch new social housing policy on Thursday, said $40,000 would go a long way for people in public housing. The issue of MPs' entitlements has been brought into the spotlight in recent months following a string of expense scandals. Federally, Liberal speaker Bronwyn Bishop was forced to resign in August 2015 after it emerged she chartered a helicopter at taxpayers' expense from Melbourne to Geelong for party fundraiser.
Deputy Premier Liza Harvey has criticised the City of Stirling for 'throwing the book' at popular Trigg cafe Yelo. The beachfront cafe has been locked in a battle with the City over an alleged planning breach since November last year. The veranda is believed to only allow 20 patrons and five tables. Complaints about customers parking in front of the cafe and nearby verges sparked an investigation from the council, and it was found a number of patrons stayed longer than 45 minutes at the 'takeaway' venue. Planning officials opted to take business owner Michael Pond to court over the alleged breaches, with a potential $1 million fine on the line if Mr Pond is found guilty.
Ms Harvey appeared on Gareth Parker's Morning Show on Wednesday to criticise the City's decision to commence legal action against the Cafe. "The council have a very heavy-handed approach when they're dealing with small business, and to be honest with you I'm really sick of it," she said. "I'm not saying that the owner of the cafe is without fault here, but he has been trying to work with the city to get some concessions for some of the license conditions to continue to operate the way he's been operating. "What I'm seeing here is the might of the biggest local government in Western Australia... my ratepayer money is being used to prosecute a small business owner who just wants to sell coffee and sandwiches to a community who love him." Loading
The Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce is offering a chance for local residents to meet new and incumbent Nebraska senators, attend a series of educational sessions, and enjoy an evening reception.
The 2017 Northeast Nebraska Day at the Capitol will be held from 2-8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 7th at the State Capitol in Lincoln.
The event is hosted by a group of Northeastern Nebraska Chambers including Fremont, Blair, Columbus, Norfolk, South Sioux City, Wayne, and West Point.
This is something that we have been doing with the other Chambers in Northeast Nebraska for at least five years and it is just a great opportunity to get our members down to Lincoln to kind of hob knob with the whos who, Tara Lea, Executive Director of the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce, said.
Committee hearings will run from 2-3 p.m. and that will be followed by a number of speakers, including Governor Pete Ricketts.
The program will also include informational sessions from Director of NDOR Kyle Schneweis, Speaker of the Legislature Jim Scheer of Norfolk, State Budget Administrator Gerry Oligmueller, and President of the Nebraska State Chamber of Commerce Barry Kennedy.
Senator Scheer will be giving a legislative update, and State Budget Administrator Oligmueller will be speaking about the states budget.
Obviously the state budget is a very important topic this year with the budget shortfall and cuts being made across the board, Lea said.
Following the speakers at the Capitol a reception will be held at the Nebraska Club, located at 233 South 13th Street, Suite 2000, at the top of the US Bank Tower in Lincoln.
The reception will give attendees a chance to meet and speak with state senators.
It is in a very relaxed environment which is nice, there are appetizers and drinks so people can just kind of sit down and have a casual conversation with their state senator, Lea said.
According to Lea, the Chambers invite all of the state senators from the Eastern half of Nebraska, and so far 20 have RSVPd for the event.
We have hard hitting topics and this is a good time to talk to the senators, but it is also just a good time to get to know them in case something comes up down the road so if you need to approach your state senator you already have that relationship with them, Lea said.
Tickets to the event are $20 and include round trip van transportation with refreshments, entrance to the program and reception, as well as heavy hors doeuvres at the reception.
To register for the event visit http://chamber.fremontne.org/events/details/northeast-nebraska-day-at-the-capitol-9726.
Transportation to and from the event will be provide by Moostash Joe Tours of Fremont.
Swinburne University's Hawthorn campus. Swinburne deputy vice-chancellor Duncan Bentley said the university considered Indonesia a "key" long-term partner. "Indonesia is a really important country for us," he said. "Our approach is focused on working with our partners there rather than seeking to establish our own campus there." Swinburne deputy vice-chancellor professor Duncan Bentley said the university considered Indonesia a "key" long-term partner. The Victorian university already has a campus in Malaysia where students from more than 60 countries study. Professor Bentley said this campus, which is located on the island of Borneo, had enabled the university to strengthen its ties with Indonesia through research and education.
"Swinburne encourages students and staff to engage with our South-east Asian neighbours, including Indonesia, through research partnerships, education partnerships, student exchange and industry study tours," he said. A number of smaller universities and TAFEs have also expressed interest. However the Australian Department of Education and Training said that unlike in Singapore and Malaysia, "no Australian higher education provider is able to operate a stand-alone campus in Indonesia". Fairfax Media understands this is for a range of reasons, including concerns about competition for students from local universities and regulations that severely inhibit foreign investment in education and training in Indonesia. "Despite the length and depth of our bilateral education relationship, the great demand for educating and training in Indonesia and genuine potential for mutual benefit, barriers remain to expanding Australian education exports to Indonesia," the department said in a submission to a current parliamentary inquiry into Australia's trade and investment relationship with Indonesia.
The department supported a trade deal that "could open new market access and reduce behind-the-border barriers for Australian education and training providers so that they can help meet Indonesia's need for a skilled and educated workforce". TAFE Directors Australia chief executive Martin Reardon said the proposed changes would benefit Australian TAFEs. He said a recent survey conducted by the organisation and Austrade identified "quite alarming" skills shortages in Indonesia, particularly in the services industry and construction. "We feel quite prepared," he said. "It's a win-win scenario." In China, Australian TAFEs have forged around 90 partnerships with local institutions.
This has led to 45,000 Chinese students undertaking Australian diploma courses every year. "They have no interest to come to Australia but just want to get a better job in China," he said. "The Indonesian ministry of education has been very keen for us to look at similar programs for Indonesian students to do technical qualifications in English and maybe even special academies." The International Education Association of Australia says there are only about 19,000 Indonesian students currently studying in Australia. "The irony is Australia is still the most popular study destination for Indonesian students," said executive director Phil Honeywood.
"There's still a massive potential market if we could provide the benefits of an Australian education in Indonesia," he said. "There is an incredible appetite on behalf of all Australian education providers to enhance delivery into Indonesia." The Australia Indonesia Business Council is also pushing for the trade deal to include provisions to open the university sector in Indonesia to foreign investment. "Despite the criticality of skills for both nations, and the high potential for both to benefit, cooperation in education and training has been fitful," it said in a submission to the inquiry. Council president Debnath Guharoy told Fairfax Media that any major economy should have at least 10 per cent of its workforce university or tertiary-educated. "Indonesia stands at four per cent," he said. "Everybody understands Australia can make a major contribution to economic uplift in Indonesia if the gates are more open."
Mr Lembong, a former trade minister, has previously hinted that Indonesia could allow Australian campuses in special economic zones. This week he said Indonesia considered negotiations on the trade deal had been "very conducive" and they remained confident it could be wrapped up this year. "If we wanted to we could finalise it today," he said. However he said this would be a waste as it was hoped the agreement would be as wide as possible. "This is such a rare opportunity. So we want it to be as ambitious as possible in terms of the coverage of the agreement." Australian Trade Minister Steve Ciobo said there was significant scope in the free trade agreement to build the services relationship between Indonesia and Australia in a number of areas. These included education, financial, professional and mining services.
"Likewise we can secure new opportunities for Australian goods into Indonesia," Mr Ciobo told Fairfax Media. "The Indonesia Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is an historic opportunity to redefine the bilateral economic relationship, by increasing the flow of goods and services and raising levels of investment to new levels," he said. "Australian and Indonesian negotiators are working towards a timely conclusion of a quality free trade agreement with Indonesia and have made good progress in talks this week in Canberra. Both sides are committed to delivering a high-quality deal this year." Loading Despite the geographical proximity between the two countries and the burgeoning middle class in Indonesia, the adjective most frequently used to describe the trade and investment relationship is "underdone".
Dodge Connecting With Fans by Inviting a Limited Number to the Hotly Anticipated Reveal of the All-new 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon in NYC
Dodge's new ultimate performance halo the all-new 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon will be unveiled during New York International Auto Show week in April
A limited number of loyal fans of the brand's social media channels will enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at the all-new 2018 Challenger SRT Demon and meet-and-greets with Dodge//SRT brand team members
AUBURN HILLS, MI - February 22, 2017: First, Dodge started releasing pre-reveal teaser videos, giving its followers rare and unique insight into the all-new 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon across its official social channels. Now, the brand will be inviting a limited number of its loyal social media fans to attend the hotly anticipated ultimate muscle car's reveal during New York Auto Show week this April.
"Our Dodge//SRT fans are among the most enthusiastic and socially engaged in the automotive industry," said Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Cars, Dodge, SRT, Chrysler and FIAT, FCA North America. "They also have an insatiable appetite for any news about Dodge//SRT products. Building uniquely branded content, such as ifyouknowyouknow.com, is just one of the many ways that our enthusiasts can share in the excitement and also gives them the opportunity to customize the content to make it their own. Inviting fans to attend the reveal of the all-new 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon in New York is our way of saying, 'thank you' for being a vital part of Dodge and SRT."
Since January 12, 2017, fans have been given glimpses into the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon through the pre-reveal teasers. The videos have Dodge//SRT enthusiasts buzzing, sharing the content, deciphering clues about the videos' meaning, and creating their own custom content from the teasers. Fans have been invited to check out the ifyouknowyouknow.com website, where they can find weekly updates and can access and share content.
if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi...
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2017 (2083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
After a feasibility study has determined project costs for recreation projects in Blumenort, Grunthal and Mitchell, RM of Hanover council will now have to decide which communitys projector any at allthey will move forward with.
In November 2015, Hanover began working with engineering firm, Stantec, on a recreational facilities feasibility study. The study, which took place from March to September 2016, looked at the feasibility of redeveloping the Grunthal arena, renovating and expanding the Mitchell arena and building a new multi-use recreation centre in Blumenort.
The study outlines a proposed renovation and expansion of the Mitchell arena to support accessibility upgrades, modernize dressing rooms, enhance connectivity on site and improve overall functionality. Cost is projected at $9.1 million plus a future daycare allocation of $1.9 million, with costs to be shared for this regional facility.
The proposed redevelopment strategy for the Grunthal Arena outlines a new arena with multi-purpose space on a green field. Total project costs are estimated to be $11 million, to be shared among various levels of government, neighbouring municipalities, private donors and corporate partners.
The firm recommended increased ice rental rates in Grunthal, with the objective of achieving an average hourly rate of approximately $90 per hour and addressing existing safety concerns, like a fire rating and monitoring program for the ice resurfacer area. The report also said site selection should be completed with consideration for land availability, future growth patterns, access and community connectivity, as well as regional partnership opportunities. Lastly, it was suggested a capital campaign be initiated for the project.
The findings determined a brand-new, multi-use community centre in Blumenort with a modern single gymnasium, multi-purpose rooms, kitchen and supporting amenities would cost a projected $9.2 million.
The company recommended Hanover pursue a broad cost sharing model for this regionally unique facility. They also suggest formalizing the governance transition to an umbrella organization that represents the broad interests in the multi-use development, completing the site selection process with priority given to acquiring lands adjacent to the existing recreation site, and initiating a capital campaign that engages individuals, user groups, the private sector and various levels of government.
The summary noted the Mitchell arena is currently the farthest along in the planning process.
Hanover and Stantec will host a community open house for people to provide input on the projects on Mar. 8 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the municipal office.
After the open house, the municipalitys administration will ask council to give direction on where theyd like to move forward during their strategic planning session in April.
The Dodge County Sheriffs Office has been awarded a highway safety grant to assist in obtaining two mobile radar units.
The mobile radar speed detection equipment provides the agency with a state-of-the-art system that will enhance speed control efforts.
The Nebraska Department of Roads, Highway Safety Office, has awarded $1,800 to the Dodge County Sheriffs Office toward the purchase of the new units.
Norma Palafox She is one of the references of women's football, because she managed to be one of the pioneers in this area, and today she is one of the best players in our country's league. Club Atlas striker and
Please be respectful, Milo Yiannopoulos admonishedan irony that was lost on no one but him.
Ignoring a question about his own disrespectful behavior that he apparently didnt feel like answering, the embattled Donald Trump groupie and alt-right provocateurwho usually baits African Americans, Jews, women, transgender people, and his fellow gay men at his various speaking engagements in a merry tone of preening contemptpresided over a bizarre New York press conference Tuesday afternoon in a low, controlled voice, with a posh English accent that doesnt quite cover his multitude of sins.
Apparently to enhance the earnest gravity of the occasionas opposed to his campy, pearl-necklace and bauble-bedecked insolence on HBOs Real Time With Bill Maher last Fridayhe showed up in a drab navy suit, burgundy tie, and polished black loafers.
After entering the crowded room behind a beefy, earpiece-wearing security man, Yiannopolous, a tall and boyish 33-year-old, removed his wire-rimmed sunglasses and gave his instruction to be respectful in the middle of a somber performance in which he apologized, sort of, for his year-old comments on a podcast that seemed to encourage the idea of adults sexually molesting children.
Im a gay man and a child-abuse victim, he began his presentation, reading from a lengthy statement that attempted to invite sympathy. Yiannopoulous recounted that when he was a boy, two men touched me in ways they should not have.
He subsequently misspent his youth, well into my 20s, in a haze of alcohol and nihilistic partying at night, he testified, never knowing in whose bed he was going to wake up the following afternoon, but also developing a love for black comedy and gallows humor, and a love of shock value [that] never really went away.
He wished to do something good with my life and discovered the path to that laudable goal in my usual blend of sassy gay British sarcasm and provocations.
In what he described as his first, and last, public apologywhich he clearly didnt mean to apply to his unrelenting misogyny and racially charged insults, such as his witless campaign against Ghostbusters star and Saturday Night Live cast member Leslie Jones that got him permanently banned from TwitterYiannopoulous insisted that his self-damaging comments do not reflect my views.
We are talking about 13-25, 13-28, these things do happen perfectly consensually, he had said on an episode of the Drunken Peasants podcast, referring to the appropriate ages of sexual partners. He joked about his own sexual relationship as a 13-year-old with a Catholic priest and added: I wouldnt give nearly such good head if it wasnt for him.
At Tuesdays event, 40-odd reporters were present to hear his complaints and regrets in a rented event space on the 11th floor of a dreary building in Manhattans SoHo neighborhood, and more than dozen television cameras were trained on him (while a local station actually parked a satellite truck on the street below). Yiannopolous said he is horrified by that impression left by those comments that he was advocating pedophilia, and insisted that he is disgusted and horrified by pedophilia.
Yet he seemed to backtrack on that sentiment when he pointed out that such abuse is simply not the worst thing that has ever happened. To go bankrupt is worse, he declaredassuredly not a reference to the troubled business history of President Trump.
Holding forth for nearly half an hour under a surprisingly muted interrogation by the Fourth Estate, Yiannopoulos blamed everyone but himself for the consequences of his recently excavated pedophilia endorsement: the loss of a $250,000 book deal with Simon & Schuster; the loss of a high-profile speaking gig at CPAC, the nations premier conservative conclave; and the loss of his job as technology editor of Trump-friendly Breitbart News.
He described the revelation of his podcast remarks as the result of a politically motivated witch hunt.
Yiannopolous claimed his resignation from Breitbart was voluntary, though several outraged staffers reportedly threatened to resign if he was kept on, and he heaped praise on Breitbart editor in chief Alexander Marlow, who issued a statementcalling Yiannopolous a bold voice[that] has sparked a much-needed debate on important cultural topicsbut didnt respond to a request for comment.
Asked if he might still show up in Washington for CPAC this week as an attendee, Yiannopolous saidagain, without any sense of irony or, for that matter, self-awarenessthat such a visit would be indecorous.
Alas, after four foiled attempts by The Daily Beast to ask Yiannopoulos if he stood by his claim, during an appearance in December at Minnesota State University, that BuzzFeed media writer Joe Bernstein is a typical example of a sort of thick-as-pig shit media Jew, it was clear that he was having none of it.
Given the Trump groupies implacable resistancehe cant stop calling his new president Daddyit seemed pointless to press Yiannopolous on whether he also still believes, as he once opined on Reddit, that black men are notorious for lusting after a well-rounded caucasian butt cheek. I speak from experience; he later elaborated: Racist? Me? Ive had more black dick in me than the entire Kardashian family.
On Tuesday, as the muffled anti-Milo chants of protesters could be heard wafting up from the street (where members of New Yorks Finest were on hand to prevent more aggressive forms of unpleasantness), Yiannopoulos claimed: People who actually come to my shows and read my columns tend to end up liking me.
But people who just read the headlines, he continued, referring to his noisy detractors, are being misled by unfair and inaccurate journalism that, he argued, irresponsibly misrepresents his beliefs and prompts general loathing.
And you guys are responsible for that. Fuck you for that, he complained, respectfully. You did a bad thing.
A pillar of famously liberal Silicon Valley is underwriting Washingtons biggest gathering of conservatives.
Sources with direct knowledge of the matter tell The Daily Beast that Facebook made a six-figure contribution to CPAC, the yearly conference for conservative activists which will feature President Donald Trump, White House advisor Steve Bannon, NRA president Wayne LaPierre, and other right-wing favorites.
Facebooks contribution is worth more than $120,000, according to our sources. Half of that is cash, and the other half is in-kind support for CPACs operations. Facebook will have a space at the conference for attendees to film Facebook Live videos, and will also train people on best practices for using the social network and Instagram.
Matt Schlappchairman of the American Conservative Union, which funds the gatheringtold The Daily Beast his group welcomes Facebooks participation.
We are glad Facebook agreed to be at CPAC and to acknowledge the importance of conservatives to their company, and we continue to work with them on issues important to conservatives, he said.
Facebook participates in events hosted by organizations across the political spectrum, a Facebook spokesperson told The Daily Beast. Our presence allows us to facilitate an open dialogue where people can share their views and create content to engage their audiences, just as we did during other political events such as the Republican and Democratic Party conventions. Our involvement is not an endorsement of any particular position or platform.
Facebook also regularly sponsors Netroots Nation, an annual conference for progressive activists. This isnt the first year it has sponsored CPAC.
But that was before Facebooks political work generated so much controversyboth inside the company and within the broader Silicon Valley community. In September of 2016, The Daily Beast revealed that Palmer Luckeythe founder of the Oculus Rift virtual reality system, bought by Facebook for $2 billionwas meeting with alt-right icon Milo Yiannopoulos and secretly funding a project to attack Hillary Clinton online; activists launched a campaign immediately afterwards to boycott the firm, and Luckey disappeared from public view for months thereafter.
The Wall Street Journal reported in October that Trumps own Facebook posts fueled intense debate within the company about what kind of content was acceptableparticularly his calls for a ban on Muslims from entering the U.S. Mark Zuckerberg himself had to determine that Trumps posts were okay, according to the papers report. And The New York Times reported that after Trump won the election, some company employees worried the spread of racist memes and fake news on the site may have boosted his candidacy.
A fake story claiming Pope Francisactually a refugee advocateendorsed Mr. Trump was shared almost a million times, likely visible to tens of millions, Zeynep Tufekci, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina who studies the social impact of technology, told the Times. Its correction was barely heard. Of course Facebook had significant influence in this last elections outcome.
The American Conservative Union has also been highly critical of Facebook in the past. On May 26, 2016, the group announced it had declined an invitation from Facebook to participate in a roundtable meeting for conservative leaders. That was when Facebook faced significant criticism from the right for its news feed curation practices. Many argued that the social network deliberately blocked conservative outlets stories from widespread distribution, so Facebook held an event to try to quell conservative concerns.
We believe this is more than just a matter of bias; in fact, wed go so far as to say it is a matter of free speech, the ACU said in a statement. And while we appreciated the invitation to attend Facebooks recent meeting with conservative leaders and members of the media, we felt it necessary to decline that invitation in lieu of some real movement by the company to make a change in their practices.
ACU Executive Director Dan Schneider wrote a letter on May 23, 2016, to Sen. John Thune, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, asking his committee to interview Facebook whistleblowers about the controversy and root out existing problems and then work with Facebook to fix them so that the Federal Trade Commission would not have to intervene.
We always believe voluntary compliance is superior to governmental intervention, Schneider added.
CPAC this year will feature a bevy of Trump allies, including boosters of the presidents travel ban executive order. One panel at the event, featuring Republican members of Congress, is titled, If Heaven Has A Gate, A Wall, And Extreme Vetting, Why Cant America?
The event will also feature Breitbart News senior editor Joel Pollak, Citizens United president David Bossie, and Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. Clarke is famous for making incendiary comments, including for predicting that Black Lives Matter activists will team up with ISIS to destroy America.
Its an attitude that might put Clarke at odds with a broad swath of Silicon Valley, which trends left politically.
Coraline Ada Ehmke, a software developer who also works with tech companies to limit on-platform harassment, said Facebooks donation to CPAC is a betrayal of its commitment to diversity.
Theyre betraying every immigrant, every woman, every Muslim, every person of color and every transgender employee that they have, she said.
Facebook has been touting that they got a 100 percent ranking from the Human Rights Campaign. With this, Facebook is talking out of both sides of their mouth, said Ehmke.
You cant tout diversity efforts and simultaneously work to undermine the rights of those you are trying to recruit, she added.
CPAC generated its fair share of controversy this year, when it invited Yiannopoulos, a now-former Breitbart editor, to speak. CPAC promptly uninvited Yiannopoulos after video surfaced of him discussing favorably discussing pedophilia.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has himself publicly gone after Trump for some of his more controversial policies. Zuckerberg criticized Trumps travel ban in a post on the social networking site, for example, saying he was concerned by Trumps executive orders.
We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help, he wrote. Thats who we are.
with additional reporting by Ben Collins
Donald Trump loves gold. His three-story palatial penthouse overlooking Manhattan, valued at $100 million, is bedizened with 24-karat gold finishings, aping the garish stylings of Louis XIV and Saddam Hussein. It even has gold-plated toilets. And, upon moving into the White House, the former reality-TV star channeled his inner Jackie Kennedy, changing the Oval Office drapes from red to gold. He is Auric Goldfinger by way of Lex Luthor. So it makes perfect sense that the tacky, self-aggrandizing billionaire would harbor a deep, abiding love of the OscarsHollywoods tackiest, most self-aggrandizing night replete with a shimmering army of 24-karat gold-plated sentinels.
On Sunday night, in lieu of scanning intelligence reports or bringing jobs back to Americas factory workers, a berobed President Trump will likely be tuning in to the 89th Academy Awardswhile horizontal in a gold-framed bed, noshing on a bowl of fried mac and cheese balls resting on his stomach, and gazing longingly at his Android phone, wishing he could live-tweet the proceedings.
Trump has been live-tweeting and recapping the Oscars for years to hilariously buffoonish effect. In 2012, back when he was hooked on filming brief yelling-into-the-camera videos from his office desk, he delivered a wonderfully ridiculous recap of Tinseltowns big night.
With his hands waving wildly in the air, Trump appeared very, very triggered by what happened to red-carpet interviewer Ryan Seacrest, who had a bucket of ashes dumped on him by Sacha Baron Cohen as a stunt.
This third-rate character named Sacha Baron Cohen thought he was being cute and funny when he threw ashes at Ryan Seacrest. Now, I know Ryan Seacrest, hes a great guy, and you could see he was visibly upset. It was disgraceful, shouted Trump. And the security guard that was standing to the right? He ought to be fired immediately. That guy had nothing. He is not capable. He allowed this guy to get away with so much. Believe me, if that ever happened to somebody with real security, Sacha Baron Cohen would not be in good shape right now. Hed be in a hospital. He would have been punched in the face so many times, he wouldnt have known what happened.
A bit of context: Trump was punked by Cohen on The Ali G Show back in 2003. He later claimed, via Twitter, I never fall for scams. I am the only person who immediately walked out of my Ali G interview. Cohen later claimed Trump was full of it, saying he was there for seven minutes sitting in his chair while Ali G took the piss out of him, which was quite a long time for a bit.I only wish that Ryan took a swing at him, and I only wish the security guard that allowed it all to happen No. 1 gets fired, and No. 2: go to school, learn about being security. You dont know, man, Trump shared during his Oscars review. He proceeded to knock Cohen on HLNwhere he also weighed in on Lindsay Lohans comeback attemptand various other showbiz programs.
In addition to Cohen, Trump used his silly from the desk of Oscar recap to settle a score with Vanity Fair Editor in Chief Graydon Carter, who, during his Spy magazine days, was the first to mock the real-estate magnate for his tiny mitts, branding him a short-fingered vulgarian. Trump has never forgiven Carter for the slight, which is why he next goes full evil Stefon in the video, critiquing the Vanity Fair Oscar afterpartyan A-list event that Trump could never attend.
A lot of people are asking me about the Academy Awards, and whats going on around the Academy Awards, said Trump, stretching the bounds of reality. Well, I hear the absolute worst part of the evening was the Vanity Fair party. It was boring, people were sleeping, nobody enjoyed it, there was no good feeling, and its really, like, symblomatic [sic] of what happened to Vanity Fair. (At the time, Bloomberg trolled Trump by pointing out that he had invented a new word: symblomatic.) It is worth noting that Trump is no movie expert. He is, by most accounts, a Philistine who engages in very little reading or movie-watching. His favorite film is an assorted 45 minutes of the Jean-Claude Van Damme kickfest Bloodsport (he fast-forwards to all the fight scenes), and he once won a Worst Supporting Actor Razzie for the 1989 dud Ghosts Cant Do It. In one cringe-worthy scene, while flirting with the actress Bo Derek, Trump gives a pout that will, in the words of BI, forever haunt your dreams.
While Trump boasts 22 film and television acting credits, he constantly rails against liberal Hollywood elites, even though he used to be one. And boy, does he love the Oscars. Trump upped his Oscar game in 2013, kicking off his live-tweeting of the Academy Awards with the following message:
He then fired off a series of tweets during the Oscars telecast, criticizing the ceremony for being a bore (he had a point). But he saved the bulk of his criticism for the following morning, when he phoned in to his favorite morning show, Fox & Friends ,to whine some more about the swanky evening, and even appeared to advocate for gun control while blasting Quentin Tarantinos spaghetti western Django Unchained.
Well, I thought they were very average. I was not impressed. Django Unchained was probably one of the most racist movies Ive ever seen. I thought it was terrible, and a disgrace. When they talk about guns and gun control, people should watch that [if] you wanna talk about something thats really a problem, said an animated Trump.
If that werent enough, the set was tacky, he was glad to see Argo win Best Picture, and Trump had serious issues with Daniel Day-Lewiss Oscar-winning performance as Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielbergs Lincoln.
First of all, [Day-Lewis] is not from this country. Hes had an accent that I could detectI dont know if other people could detect it. I dont think Lincoln had an English accent, to the best of my knowledge, said Trump. And I said that, you know, Lincoln never sounded like that. I thought he played the role, I thought he was very affected, and I just dont think that Lincoln behaved like that. He talked very, very slowly. I know lots of politicians and I know lots of successful people, and they dont talk like that. They talk with rapidity because they want to get things done.Yes, Trump said that Lincoln never sounded like that because he knows a lot of present-day politicians and successful people and they dont sound like that. Well, Lincolns delivery was measured and his voice was shrill, according to leading Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer, whos written 40 books on Honest Abe. So Day-Lewis actually nailed it.
The 2014 Academy Awards saw Trump really lean in to his live-tweeting fetish. By my count, Trump sent out 32 tweets during the Oscars telecast, including ones where he crudely criticized Kim Novaks plastic surgery, took a shot at Bette Midler (sucked!), and wrote, I should host the #Oscars just to shake things upthis is not good!
In fact, for all his angry tweets and dial-ins, Trump really does seem to want to host the Academy Awards. He voiced this desire again the following year in one of his signature #TrumpVlogs taken at his desk:
The exhausting Oscars routine continued in 2015, with Trump tweeting that the Oscars are a sad joke, very much like our President, before calling inonce againto Fox & Friends to complain about how there was no glamour, no beauty to me, the set was ridiculous, and the show had a bent against conservatives.
Trump also took issue with how filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman) took home so many of the nights awards, including Best Director and Best Picturebecause he was Mexican.
It was a great night for Mexico, as usual, you know, this country the whole thing is ridiculous, said Trump on Fox & Friends. It was a great night for Mexico. This guy [Inarritu] kept getting up and up and up, and I said, Whats he doing? Hes walking away with all the gold!
Perhaps thats why Trump is so hell-bent on building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico: he wants Mexicans to stop winning so many of those precious, gold-plated Academy Awards.
At the 2006 Academy Awards, after receiving the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for portraying a grizzled CIA agent in the geopolitical thriller Syriana, George Clooney strolled up to the rostrum and delivered an acceptance speech touching on Hollywood elitism.
We are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a while, I think, said Clooney. Its probably a good thing. Were the ones who talked about AIDS when it was just being whispered, and we talked about civil rights when it wasnt really popular. And we, you know, we bring up subjects, we are the onesthis Academy, this group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939, when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters. Im proud to be a part of this Academy, proud to be part of this community, and proud to be out of touch.Of course, McDaniel received that Oscar for her role as Mammy, a compliant house slave, in Gone With the Windand was required to sit at a segregated table in the back of the room on Oscar nightbut Clooney did have a point: Hollywood has historically been ahead of the curve when it comes to tolerance and social-justice issues.
Which brings us to Donald Trump. The 45th president of the United States has consistently characterized Hollywood as out-of-touch elitists who hole up in their gated mansions with their Oscars and personal chefs, blissfully unaware of how the other 99 percent lives. Clooney addressed this misrepresentation (and how hypocritical of Trump it is) in an interview with French journalist Laurent Weil ahead of the Cesar Awardsthe French Oscarswhere Clooney is set to receive an honorary award.
Theres a really interesting argument, this is the part that makes you a little crazy, said Clooney, before touching on Meryl Streeps Golden Globes speech criticizing Trump. When Meryl spoke, everyone on that one side was, Well thats elitist Hollywood speaking. Donald Trump has 22 acting credits in television... He collects $120,000 a year in his Screen Actors Guild pension fund. Uhh? He is a Hollywood elitist.
Indeed, in addition to being the heir to a real-estate magnate who received millions of dollars from his father to help keep his business afloat (and tens of millions more upon his death to help lift him out of debt), his alleged billionaire status, living in a gold penthouse in New York City, and saying that the most dangerous place hes ever been to is Brooklyn, Trump received a $110,228 pension from the Screen Actors Guild, according to his relatively vague financial-disclosure forms he submitted during the campaign. Trump has appeared in everything from Home Alone 2 and Sex and the City to Zoolander, and hosted the reality-TV competition series The Apprenticeand its star-fucking spinoff, Celebrity Apprenticefor close to a decade.
Trumps chief strategist Steve Bannon has some deep Hollywood ties as well. Before he joined the far-right fringe, serving as chief executive of the self-described alt-right platform Breitbart, and before he hired the transphobic, homophobic, racist, hebephilia apologist Milo Yiannopoulos and helped mentor the now-disgraced internet troll, Bannon was a failed Hollywood director who wrote, produced, and directed a string of utterly unwatchable documentaries and features. He did, however, cut a sweetheart deal that granted him a piece of the TV sitcom Seinfeld, which made him very richan ironic twist, given that Bannon has been accused of anti-Semitism.Steve Bannon is a failed film writer and director, added Clooney. Thats the truth, thats what hes done. He wrote a Shakespearean rap musical about the L.A. riots that he couldnt get made. He made a lot of money off of Seinfeld. Hes elitist Hollywood, I mean thats the reality.
Two unrelated serial kidnappers worked the same South Carolina region at the same time, police say. But while one kidnapper allegedly met his victims at a Waffle House, the other allegedly buried his victim behind a different Waffle House approximately 30 minutes down the road.
On Monday, Greenville police charged 28-year-old Markius Yeargin with Henrietta Crawfords kidnapping and murder, one in a series of escalating October attacks, police say. Yeargins alleged crimes bear an eerie resemblance to those of Todd Kohlhepp, an alleged serial killer accused of murdering seven people, including a couple he allegedly met at a Waffle House, and keeping one woman locked in a shipping container on his Spartanburg County property, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her. Kohlhepp and Yeargin allegedly conducted their kidnappings in overlapping regions in fall 2016.
Crawford had been dead for over two weeks when a hunter found her burned remains in a wooded area behind the Waffle House, according to Yeargins arrest warrant. Police charged Yeargin with kidnapping her and burning her body in an attempt to conceal evidence.
The attack, which police believe to have taken place on Oct. 20, was the third in an escalating series of violent assaults, police said. Three days earlier, Yeargin allegedly kidnapped a woman at gunpoint, forcing her into his car, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her, choked her, and told her he would kill her, according to warrants obtained by WYFF. On Oct. 2, he allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted another woman in his car, this time at knifepoint.
On Nov. 18, police arrested Yeargin for the two nonfatal attacks. But it would be two more months before they connected him to Crawfords murder, which they say capped off his month-long crime spree.
Investigators were able to sort through various pieces of evidence and ultimately charged Yeargin with Murder, Kidnapping and Obstructing Justice, the Greenville County Sheriffs Office told The Daily Beast in a statement.
Yeargin was denied bond for his one count of murder, one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of weapons possession, two counts of sexual assault, and three counts of kidnapping.
Allegations of a serial kidnapper are too familiar in Yeargins region of South Carolina. In October, the area made national news when Kala Brown and Charlie Carver, a young couple from nearby Anderson County went mysteriously missing for months, while an unidentified person continued post disturbing messages from Carvers Facebook account. On Nov. 3, two months after the couples disappearance, police found Brown chained by the neck in a storage container on a rural property in Spartanburg County. Brown told officials that Kohlhepp, an area realtor, had lured her and Carver to the property under the pretense of cleaning his house. But when they arrived on the site, Kohlhepp shot Carver, and locked Brown in the metal storage container, where he subjected her to months of sexual assault, Brown alleged.
Days after Kohlhepps arrest, he allegedly confessed to gunning down four employees at a motorcycle shop in 2003, a mass murder that had puzzled police for a decade. Horrific discoveries continued throughout the week as police began excavating the property. On Nov. 7, the same day a hunter discovered Crawfords body in nearby Greenville, police uncovered the bodies of Meagan and Johnny Coxie, a young married couple, who had been missing since December 2015. Like with Brown and Carver, Kohlhepp may have lured the couple to his property with the promise of work, relatives said.
Meagan Coxie worked at a Waffle House in Spartanburg, some 30 minutes from the Waffle House where Crawford was buried. Kohlhepp was a frequent customer at Coxies restaurant, and was known to creep on waitresses, former employees told CBS. But shortly before the couples disappearance, Meagan reportedly told her mother she had another job lined up. Four days later the couple was reported missing.
I know for a fact he didnt just pick her up off the street, he met her there, Meagans former coworker at the Roebuck Waffle House told CBS of Coxies connection with Kohlhepp.
The couple would not be seen again until Nov. 7, when at a different Waffle House 30 miles away, police were working on their second serial-kidnapping case that day.
Transgender kids are a reliable source of controversy. They are also human beings.
Over the past two years, articles and opinion pieces published in The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Pacific Standard, New York magazine, and more have questioned the provision of health care and parental support to transgender childrenespecially the reversible and non-medical practice of social transition, or allowing a child to live and dress as a gender different from the one they were assigned at birth.
With headlines like Why Transgender Kids Should Wait to Transition and Push for Children to Choose Gender Identities Early Could Backfire, these articles paint a picture of a world in which children are being rushed through transition at a young age.
But if you ignore the often-superficial media controversy around this issueand talk to experts who are actually working with the families of transgender and gender non-conforming childrena more boring truth begins to emerge: Helping children transition is nowhere near as ill-advised and irreversible as you may have been warned. In fact, it can be life-saving.
Kristina Olson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Washington and director of the TransYouth Project at UWs Social Cognitive Development Lab, told The Daily Beast that she used to place more stock in the beliefspread by some alarmist commentatorsthat parents are transitioning their kids too early instead of just letting them be boys who like girls toys.
Then Olson researched the families of children who have socially transitioned and her views shifted.
Basically whats changed [for me] is that Ive discovered that many, many of these familiesincluding some of the families I know the bestwent through that, she said, referring to the fact that many parents of transgender children did indeed allow their child to adopt behaviors and preferences that defied gendered expectations without allowing them to transition socially.
For these children, though, parental permissiveness around gender expression didnt address the underlying issue: their gender identity.
They dont feel that that represents who they are, Olson explained. They arent just a boy who likes dressesthey feel that they are, in fact, a girl.
Olsons landmark 2016 study out of the TransYouth Projecta first-of-its-kind longitudinal analysis of the mental health of transgender children aged 3 to 12 published in the journal Pediatricsfound that socially transitioned transgender children who are supported in their gender identity have developmentally normative levels of depression and only minimal elevations in anxiety, suggesting that psychopathology is not inevitable within this group. In fact, their average depression score was almost exactly in line with the national average.
That stands in stark contrast to previous studies of un-transitioned children diagnosed with Gender Identity Disordera now out-of-date term for gender dysphoriawhich found alarmingly high rates of psychopathology, like depression and anxiety.
In other words, although the research is still early, social transition may help transgender children avoid negative mental health outcomes.
Indeed, when then-president of the American Academy of Pediatrics Dr. Benard Dreyer read the Pediatrics study, he wrote in a letter to the medical association, There appears to be no harmand possible benefitfrom such parent-supported early social transitions.
Much of the controversy around gender transition for children stems from a misunderstanding of how that process works.
The first and earliest step, social transition, is completely reversible: Changes to names, pronouns, and dress can all be undone. The second step, taking hormone blockers to suppress the changes of puberty, is also fully reversible, according to the World Professional Association of Transgender Healths oft-consulted Standards of Careand it is only undertaken at the onset of puberty.
Only beyond that point can these children can undergo cross-sex hormone treatmentand even then, the effects of that treatment are partially reversible, per WPATH. Irreversible interventions like surgeries dont even enter the picture until the age of majority.
That leaves plenty of time along the way for children, families, and mental health professionals to make decisions togetherespecially at the early and fully reversible stage of social transition.
The characterization that families are making this decision flippantly, or that it happens with no thought process going into it, isnt the story we hear from families who have already made the decision, Lily Durwood, a UW graduate student and co-author on Olsons study, told The Daily Beast.
Last year, Olson and Durwood wrote a piece together for Slate criticizing the recent media hand-wringing over social transition for transgender kids, which is often fueled by speculation and personal anecdotes.
Despite the recent alarmist calls about movements to persuade parents to socially transition their children to another gender and worry that doing so sets them up for a lifetime of hormone and surgical treatment, we know of no evidence suggesting that this is an issue, they wrote.
One journalist whom the researchers specifically addressed, Debra Soh, has written for The Wall Street Journal and the Pacific Standard about her own experience of being a gender atypical little girl who grew up to be more content with her birth-assigned genderthe implication being that an early social transition might place children like her on the track to unnecessary medical treatment.
But clinicians who work closely with transgender and gender non-conforming children, like therapists Jean Malpas and Benjamin Davis at the Ackerman Institute for the Familys Gender and Family Project, say that the media often misses the nuance and diversity of gender expression and gender identity among childrenand that no ones rushing children through the process.
There are many children, Malpas says, who seem happy to adopt an expansive gender expression without socially transitioningand its no surprise that some of these children would grow up to change that expression later in life. But there are also children who are consistent, persistent, and insistent that they are, in fact, another gender. And thats when transition seems to help.
It is only when a child has been very clear for a long period of time in a way thats consistent in different contexts with their parents, with other people in their families, and with providers when theyre working with professionals that we then support the family in making that decision of doing a social transition, Malpas told The Daily Beast.
Davis said he understands that outside observers with limited experience in the field might be concerned that clinicians are shuttling [children] through transition very quickly.
In reality, thats not at all whats happening, he stated definitively.
It is true, as researchers, clinicians, and medical professionals in this field generally agreeand as critics of social transition for transgender kids take pains to point outthat previous studies have shown that many children who display some symptoms of gender dysphoria will not persist to the age at which medical interventions would take place.
But thats a large pool of children to draw from and lumping all of them together, Davis says, is an example of compressing the folks who are very binary-identified and the gender explorers into a single category.
As Brynn Tannehill wrote for The Huffington Post, its hard to draw conclusions from figures about the percentage of children who do not persist in cross-gender identification because both the numerator and denominator are unknown.
To deny or delay transitionand later, medical treatmentto consistent, persistent, and insistent transgender children simply because there is a larger population of children who are gender non-conforming is, Tannehill argued, to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
And trying to convince transgender children that theyre not really transgenderas medical associations have been clearis unethical.
WPATH, for example, acknowledges that social transition in childhood is a controversial issue in need of future research but the association is adamant that any treatment aimed at trying to change a persons identity and expression to become more congruent with sex assigned at birthalso known as reparative, or conversion therapyis both unsuccessful and no longer considered ethical (PDF).
(With regard to social transition, the WPATH Standards of Care state that [m]ental health professionals can help families to make decisions regarding the timing and process of any gender role changes for their young children and that parents should make it clear to their children that social transition is reversible.)
With this careful approach, the risk of giving children unnecessary medical treatment appears to be very low. The Endocrine Societys 2009 guidelines in this area recommend that hormone specialists help transsexual adolescents by suppressing puberty until age 16 years old, after which cross-sex hormones may be given.
One 2011 study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine followed 70 adolescents who reached the fully reversible stage of taking puberty-suppressing medication. Their findings: No adolescent withdrew from puberty suppression, and all started cross-sex hormone treatment, the first step of actual gender reassignment.
But denying that treatment can have dire consequences. The WPATH Standards of Care state that withholding puberty suppression and subsequent feminizing or masculinizing hormone therapy is not a neutral option for adolescents because it can prolong gender dysphoria and increase psychiatric distress (PDF).
There is no doubt that everyone working in this field wants more information. WPATHs Standards of Care note that research with children who completed early social transitions would greatly inform future clinical recommendations.
And Olson and Durwood, who say that their research on precisely this cohort of children has produced good results, want even more information about long-term outcomes and the role of parental support, provided they can secure funding for this research.
But sounding the alarm bells at this point helps no oneespecially transgender kids.
Our results suggest that kids who are socially transitioning have quite normal, good mental health and they have typical gender development that seems to match pretty well with their peers, said Olson. And we havent seen any results that are worrying or alarming at the average, or mean, level.
ROMEThere is little question that Italy has been slow on the uptake when it comes to recognizing equal rights for the countrys LGBT community. Last year Italy was the last in western Europe to finally pass a same sex union law, though it remains limited. Same sex couples arent considered married and they cant adopt stepchildren.
And there are frequent violent homophobic attacks across the country, often in public places like schools and bars with studies consistently show both a lack of tolerance and understanding on both gender and sexual orientation issues.
With that in mind, perhaps it is not surprising that Italys anti-discrimination office, UNAR, a governmental agency that earmarks hundreds of thousands of euro to companies and organizations that combat discrimination, doesnt have a real clear idea about what constitutes actual support of the LGBT community.
Instead, the groups head Francesco Spano stepped down Monday night after the investigative television show Le Iene (Hyenas) exposed how, under his charge, the government agency had allocated nearly 180,000 in taxpayer money to a variety of associations that run private gay social clubs and saunas across Rome that specialize in sleazy and unsafe prostitution.
Sending a willing gay reporter undercover, Hyenas expose revealed three clubs in the capital that received 55,560 and tax-free status that offered massages and more. One club charged 50 for a basic massage with post-rubdown intercourse or fellatio for a 70 supplement. Another club charged 38 for the massage and 50 for the extra servicesthe transactions, and much of the encounter, caught on grainy videotape.
The clubs sponsored by the Italian government also featured so-called dark rooms, which were actually red-lit orgy salons where Hyenas cameras caught nude men with full erections essentially engaging in random acts of eroticism without condoms between sips of cocktails from an open bar. For the sake of privacy of the club members, no faces were shown in the expose.
Entrance to the clubs requires a membership card, obtainable with a valid identification. One club bouncer told the Hyena reporter as he signed up that the private membership keeps out the police and women.
When asked if the club engaged in any cultural activities, which is a requirement set forth by the Italian government to receive funding and tax-free status, the bouncer can be heard saying, quite clearly, Just open youre ass or mouth and youve got culture cock culture.
Other outtakes from the reportage showed more nude men in a sauna area. Again, the reporter asked about cultural events. Every now and then they put up a stand at the entrance from an association against AIDS, a regular customer whose face was obscured told Hyena. Its there maybe three times a year.
Hyena reporters also followed Spano to his government office and confronted him with their findings, which included a photocopy of club membership in his name to one of the clubs that offered prostitution and dark rooms. On camera, he denied knowing about the club or his membership card, and promised to verify the associations affiliated with the clubs, promising to cancel their funding if anything illicit was found.
But two weeks after the initial confrontation, the clubs were still on the roster, according to the Hyena reporters. When Spano, who did not answer calls for comment, stepped down on Monday, he said it was not an admission of guilt but rather out of respect for the work the office does.
UNAR did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Calls by leaders for the disbandment of the department were met with scorn by legitimate organizations that do provide financial support for both racial and homophobic discrimination. Among the recipients of UNARs government funds are UNHCR, UNICEF and the Italian chapter of the Red Cross.
According to UNARs website, organizations and associations must compete for funds through a bidding process, which is allocated and approved by the director who, when the gay clubs were approved, was Spano. When doorstepped by Corriere Della Sera after his resignation Monday night, he defended his groups work. The association provides for the creation of support centers for victims of homophobic violence, he said, insisting that he had no idea those groups he approved provided prostitution among their services.
Italys consumer group Codacons issued a statement asking for a criminal investigation into the questionable use of public funds, but warned against penalizing legitimate entities that benefit from the program. It is difficult to imagine that positive action could include in any fashion activities which include prostitution, the group said in a statement.
GayLib, an LGBTQ group told AFP that UNARs other sponsorships did work to tackle homophobia in the country. We hope the government intervenes, not to close UNAR, but to verify who receives the money and if necessary demand it be repaid, Daniele Priori, the groups national secretary said. The reputation of Italys gay movement is at stake.
The 26-year-old undocumented woman was in a detention center in Texas when she started complaining of headaches earlier this month.
The pain was caused by a brain tumor and, today, lawyers for the woman who remains in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement fear shell die there without ever seeing or speaking to her family again.
Its a scenario that advocates worry could become far more common under President Donald Trump s new immigration enforcement rules.
According to her legal team, helmed by attorney Marcia Kasdan, the woman who we will identify as Sara to protect her privacy was being held at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, when she started complaining of terrible headaches.
In her court testimony, Sara acknowledged that she illegally crossed the border on Nov. 4, 2015, and border patrol agents apprehended her. A sworn statement from Border Patrol agent Roberto Gonzalez Jr. says Sara told him on Nov. 8, 2015 that she came to the U.S. to work, and not to seek asylum.
She told an immigration judge on Jan. 12, 2016, that she actually did come to the U.S. from her native El Salvador seeking asylum, and that she feared her aunt who she said is gang-affiliated would kill her because she was in a relationship with a Salvadoran police officer. But Sara missed the deadline to file her asylum claim, so the judge ordered her deportation. Her legal team, which began working with her after she missed that deadline and acknowledges that it was missed, appealed. She has been in detention since then.
Earlier this month, according to her lawyers, Saras head started hurting. And on Feb. 10, at the detention center, she collapsed. The detention center staff had her hospitalized at Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Burleson, Texas. And there, according to her lawyers, doctors concluded she had a brain tumor. The lawyers tell The Daily Beast that they expect doctors to perform surgery soon and say Sara told her mother in a 5-minute phone conversation on Feb. 19 that she had been bleeding profusely through her nose, as well as experiencing convulsions and some memory loss.
As of press time, she cant talk to her lawyers or family. Saras lawyers are based in New Jersey, near where some of her extended family lives. They said theyve also been blocked from speaking to her on the phone because of ICE rules limiting communication with hospitalized detaineesdespite what they believe is a situation of medical urgency.
Danielle Bennett, an ICE public affairs officer, provided The Daily Beast with this statement:
Requests by family members to visit ICE detainees who have been hospitalized are permitted but must be approved in advance with ICE and the appropriate consulate, she said. ICE is currently reaching out to the familys attorney to explain the process.
With scant information about her health situation, Saras family members fear the worst: that she could lose consciousness or die before they can get through ICEs process.
In hopes of helping Sara, her lawyers asked Fatma Maroufan attorney who heads Texas A&Ms Immigrant Rights Clinicto try to gather more information about her health. Marouf told The Daily Beast that she went to Huguley Hospital on Tuesday afternoon, where two guards tried to stop her from entering Saras room. The guards told her Sara was on a no-contact list and couldnt communicate with anyoneperiod.
Marouf told The Daily Beast that she entered Saras room over the guards objections.
They couldnt physically stop me from talking to her, Marouf said. I went over to her and I just said, We want you to know that your family is working to get you out, and there are attorneys working on your case.
She then asked Sara how she was doing.
She just said, My head, Marouf said.
Then the guards threatened to call police if Marouf didnt leave.
Shes in this critical window right now, Marouf said. We dont know if shes going to stay conscious.
Marouf added that along with blocking Sara from speaking with her family and lawyers over the phone, she also hasnt been allowed to communicate with the hospital chaplain. Sara is a devout Evangelical Christian, according to court documents.
Marouf added that shes gotten conflicting messages from ICE and the hospital about who specifically is responsible for blocking visits. She said that one ICE official told her it was the hospitals decision not the governments that kept anyone from seeing her in person or speaking with her on the phone.
ICE didnt respond to a question about that statement.
Elijah Bruette, the hospitals director of Business Development and Community Relations, told The Daily Beast, The health, comfort and privacy of each patient we are entrusted to care for are our top priorities. We do not discuss specific patient information in compliance with HIPAA guidelines.
Bruette did not respond to a follow-up question about the hospitals policy regarding undocumented patients access to attorneys.
In the meantime, Saras family and attorneys say they face a Kafkaesque, bureaucratic nightmare: unsure who has the power to let them speak to her and unsure if she will maintain consciousness long enough to tell them what happened. They say her doctors havent spoken to any of Saras family members or anyone on her legal team.
Trumps executive orders on immigration will dramatically expand the number of people facing detention and deportation including people who havent been convicted of any violent crimes, like Sara, and people who have lived in the U.S. for years. Advocates say that means situations like hers will become much more common.
You are bound to see more cases like this if ICE fulfills the governments orders and dramatically expands detention, said Bob Libal, who heads Grassroots Leadership, an activist group based in Austin that opposes immigrant detention and deportation. You are bound to see more stories where people have suffered these kind of medical tragedies in detention.
MARLOW: So here we are: the 89th annual Academy Awards. Much about this years glitzfest seems underwhelming and culturally passe, from Jimmy Kimmel serving as host to La La Land dominating the proceedings with 14 Oscar nominations. But at least theres some much-needed diversity this year, right? Even if a film about a white guy reclaiming jazz will probably take home most of the awards?
KEVIN: The progress is great, but youll have to pry the Academys fetish for whitewashed nostalgia from its cold, dead hands.
MARLOW: And especially when it comes to movies fetishizing Hollywood itself (yes, I am still bitter about Birdman besting the far superior Boyhood). Anyway, in our first series of Oscar back-and-forths, lets address this years controversies. Oscar has a rich history of smear campaigns, from the Drudge Reports bizarre war against A Beautiful Mind to the right to die debate surrounding Million Dollar Baby to a deluge of hit pieces bashing The Wolf of Wall Street as glamourizing finance bro douchebaggery. This year, the knives appear to be out for La La Land, filmmaker Damien Chazelles delightful song-and-dance musical about two dreamersRyan Gosling, Emma Stonereaching for the stars in Los Angeles. Is all the backlash warranted?
KEVIN: My reaction to the backlash is kind of my reaction to the movie: Eh. Is it warranted? No. Is the insane amount of hype La La Land received warranted? Also no. And therein lies the problem: the race to crown movies the BEST EVER kind of poisoned La La Land before people saw it and realized its simply good. And then not loving La La Landbut also not hating it, merely thinking it was OKsuddenly got painted as backlash. And then suddenly the backlash got overblown. Its a vicious cycle, Marlow.
MARLOW: Vicious / You hit me with a flower / You do it every hour / Oh baby, youre so vicious. Dont mind me.
KEVIN: Is it a little tone-deaf to make a film about jazz and make the white guy the savior and the black guy the one corrupting it? Yep! Is the amount of mansplaining Ryan Goslings character does in it a bit much? Sure thing! Could the gap have been bridged more seamlessly between musical homage and emotional drama, and could Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have been a wee bit better at the whole singing thing? Most definitely! But thats not a blanket dismissal of the film. Though the intensity of this backlash narrative might make it out to be that way. Really, though, this all stems from a desire to make the Best Picture race into something interesting. This year, its just not.
MARLOW: I agreeits a terribly boring year when it comes to Best Picture, so people have concocted this La La Land backlash from sheer ennui. And as I mentioned with Birdman, the Oscars are already masturbatory enough without giving the nights big award to movies about Hollywood, whether its The Artist (the history, the glamour!), Argo (Hollywood saves the world!) or Birdman (actors are such tortured souls!). None of those movies deserved Best Picturefar from it. But I quite enjoyed La La Land, even if the achingly beautiful Moonlight is more worthy of the nights big honor. A tighter race, however, is the Best Actor category, with the legendary Denzel Washington (Fences) going up against mopey Casey Affleck in Manchestah by the Sea. Affleck is, as it happens, not without controversy.
KEVIN: Past sexual abuse and harassment allegations, which Affleck has denied, have derailed what was a bullet train heading towards Oscar for the actor. Well debate whether Affleck deserves the award later in the week, but now lets talk about whether these allegations should have any bearing on his Oscar chancesto which I say goddamn absolutely.
MARLOW: I agree. And shameless self-promo: check out our Amy Zimmermans piece on the disturbing Casey Affleck allegations here.
KEVIN: Give me a few drinks and Ill slurrily give my diatribe about the inexcusable race double standard. Nate Parker couldnt take a selfie in front of a Birth of a Nation poster during his press tour without reporters popping out from behind a tree to ask him about his own past scandaleventually burning the films Oscar chances to ashes and sweeping it under the award season rug completelybut Affleck made it through 90 percent of his press commitments with major outlets without being asked once. But for now Ill just say that Afflecks allegations dont need to be compared to Parkers. They should stand on their own, and how they affect voters opinions of his performance and whether it should be rewarded should draw attention to the industrys issues with privilege and predation. The artist vs. art debate is one that will never be settled. And as it rages, the scandal should be a part of the conversation.
MARLOW: Peopleparticularly on the far-rightalways argue that we should separate the art from the artist, which any film theorist will tell you is a patently absurd argument. Film not only holds a mirror to society, but is a reflection of the artists behind it, and as audience members, we view film through the prism of our own prejudices. Playing a grieving father, Casey Affleck is courting our sympathy in Manchester by the Sea; we are meant to feel and empathize with his inner torment, and guilt. It is inherently more difficult to win us over when the man inhabiting this character stood accused of serial sexual harassment and assault by his former producer and cinematographer. This also brings us to Mel Gibson, whose sappy World War II drama Hacksaw Ridge inexplicably received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. That the Academyessentially the creme de la creme of Hollywoodhas chosen to forgive the uncontrite Gibson is, in my opinion, beyond the pale.
KEVIN: I have had conversations with Hollywood industry people who have said its been 10 years, Mel is a good director, hes proven that he should be forgiven, but who have said, with a straight face, Well she shouldnt have said those things when I brought up Katherine Heigl as an example of the gender double standard when it comes to scandal and forgiveness. That said, I knew that Hacksaw Ridge was going to get into Best Picture. The race was missingnot needed, but missingthe jolt of Coors Light machismo that is the bloodline of at least one nominee each year. With its Hallmark card commercial storyline and adrenaline-pumping action scenes, Hacksaw Ridge fit the bill. But I was genuinely shocked to see Gibson get into Best Director. Should Gibson be forbidden from working again forever and forever, Amen? I wont say that. (But I wont stop you from doing so.) But maybe not be included in the most prestigious lineup of filmmakers over the likes of a dozen or so also, maybe even more, deserving helmers? Thats, apparently, too much to expect.
MARLOW: Right. My issue with the Gibson nod wasnt just that hed been forgiven, but also that hes being rewarded for, as you said, a Hallmark card film that is undeserving of the accolades (well save that for a later debate). But the bigger issue here is that Gibson never adequately apologized for his actions, and has shown very little contrition. To recap: Gibson said that the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world (his father is a Holocaust denier); said that his former fiancee deserved to be raped by a pack of niggers; ranted against wetbacks; threatened to kill New York Times reporter Frank Rich; unleashed a homophobic tirade, wherein he said, They take it up the ass [pointing to his butt] this is only for taking a shit (of the comments, he said, Ill apologize when hell freezes over); and, last but certainly not least, punched his ex-fiancee in the face, shattering her teeth. If a woman or a person of color did even one of those things, theyd be chased out of Hollywood. Its bonkers.
KEVIN: Well, Marlow, this is 2017. Vile, horrifying, hateful, harmful things someone has said on record dont matter anymorein Hollywood or in the White House. But lets not give Gibson any more article space. Lets move on to the final controversy, which is one I barely care about but lots of people seem to care about so much that it makes me wonder about them, to be frank: category fraud.
MARLOW: DUN DUN.
KEVIN: This year, that fraud in question is Viola Davis competing in Best Supporting Actress for what is ostensibly a lead performance. This happens every year. People get upset about it every year. That doesnt change anything. Actors compete in the category they are most likely to win, and Davis is most likely to win in supporting. And you know what? Viola Davis should win an award for Fences! If that means taking advantage of the age-old Academy practice of category fraudand there is a case to make that Daviss character is supporting to Denzel Washingtons in the filmthen so be it. I mean, god save all of you if Davis competed in Best Actress and they gave it to Emma Stone instead. Hell hath no fury like me if Davis doesnt get this damn Oscar.
MARLOW: The words fraud and Viola Davis should never be in the same sentence, although thats the Oscars for ya. She is perhaps the best actress alive right now. Viola forever.
Tune in tomorrow for a lively debate on the Best Supporting Actor and Actress categories.
In the days immediately after Donald Trumps surprising electoral win, his aides began to publicly express interest in creating a political operation outside of the White House that would help keep his grassroots support alive. Such an outfit could help push his agendaand potentially help him win re-election in the future.
Two and a half months later, on Jan. 30, six campaign aides who previously worked for President Donald Trump announced the start of that nonprofit group, calling it America First Policies.
But so far in these crowded opening weeks of the Trump administration, America First doesnt appear to be all that active. Its first major potential funder walked away from the project. It has a vague website with little information. If it has concrete plans to support Trump, the founders are keeping them rather closeat least for now. Could the situation change? On a dime. But The Daily Beast spoke with four sources in Trumps orbit. Not one of them seemed to know exactly what the group is up to.
Setting up these independent political groups is not easy. An outfit created from the remnants of the Bernie Sanders campaign has run into headwinds; Organizing for America, the group revived from the Obama re-election effort, was recently called grade A bullshit by one Democratic leader.
Still, its an unfortunate turn for Trump, who could use the support. His approval ratings have gone as low as 40 percent, depending on the polling outfit. His national security adviser Michael Flynn had to resign after three and a half weeks on the job. His choice for labor secretary had to step down, as have a number of less visible picks. The rollout of an executive order temporarily banning travel from seven majority-Muslim countries was so badly botched, it has essentially been withdrawn; a second draft is due later this week. And then there are the steady stream of leaks portraying the White House as ill-prepared and poorly managed.
America First Policies includes Brad Parscale, who worked on digital and data enterprises for the campaign; Rick Gates, a previous deputy campaign manager; Katrina Pierson, a previous spokesperson; David Bossie, another previous deputy campaign manager; and Nick Ayers, a previous adviser to Vice President Mike Pence.
Its early, of course; the group could become a powerhouse as the Trump administration settles in. But in the three months since Trump aides began discussing such an independent political group, there have been no additional details about the functioning of the nonprofit or its plans for the future.
Reached for comment about the nonprofit by phone, Parscale told The Daily Beast that he was not taking questions about the groups activities. He referred The Daily Beast to Pierson and Gates, both of whom have not responded to multiple emails and texts requesting comments.
Multiple sources close to the Trump campaign and familiar with the creation of the nonprofit told The Daily Beast that similarly, they had no idea what was going on with America First Policies.
You got [Nick] Ayers, you got Brad [Parscale], [David] Bossie, Rick [Gates] and Katrina [Pierson], one former Trump campaign source told The Daily Beast. But I dont know what theyre doing.
The problem is that the president has been in office for 31 days and these guys have done nothing to support the presidents campaign, another source told The Daily Beast.
At the start of the nonprofit, there were conversations about Republican super-donor Rebekah Mercer helping fund the endeavor, according to three high-ranking former officials in the Trump campaign. But things quickly fell apart after she began to feud with Parscale.
These officials contended that Parscale, whose digital advertising firm made some $90 million during the course of the campaign, was paid too much for his work.
During a meeting in Trump Tower in December, Mercer allegedly asked Parscale for financial details about the money his firm had earned during the campaign. She was reticent to dive headfirst into the new project without more knowledge of Parscales large financial haul for his previous work.
She asked for his tax return, and he said fuck you and she said fuck you were done, said one source, describing the meeting. Mercer wont have anything to do with Parscale.
Mercer did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.
It was a disaster of a meeting and Bekah walked out and she took her contributors with her, the source continued.
Now it is unclear where the group is getting its moneyor if they are receiving contributions at all.
I havent seen any evidence of any work that theyre doing or any fundraising theyre doing, a previous Trump campaign official told The Daily Beast.
It is unclear whether President Trump is aware of the makeup of the nonprofit but during the campaign at least, he was no fan of Rick Gates, multiple sources told The Daily Beast.
Trump had ordered Bossie to fire Gates about six times, one source told The Daily Beast.
There were a number of reasons as to why Trump reportedly wanted Gates out, who joined the campaign alongside former campaign manager Paul Manafort in the summer of 2016. A Washington Post story from June 2016 detailing a company called Left Hand Enterprises LLC, caught Trumps attention according to sources. The report detailed how the Trump campaign had quickly cut $730,637 worth of checks to the newly-formed LLC over a five day period in May 2016. The payments were initially intended for a direct-mail campaign, specifically in Nebraska and Indiana.
Once it became clear that the two states were no longer competitive, the mail campaign was axed and it remains unclear as to where the money went after the fact.
As for America First Policies other members, they are not without controversy either.
Pierson, a previous Tea Party activist, who became a prominent television face for Trumps campaign often made inconceivable claims on air including that President Obama had started the war in Afghanistan and that Hillary Clinton suffered from the medical disorder dysphasia.
Bossie joined the Trump campaign in September of 2016 and had spent years previously investigating the Clintons including the infamous Whitewater real-estate affair. He left Citizens United to join the campaign after the groups involvement in a historic Supreme Court ruling that ended a number of restrictions on political spending for corporations.
But it was Parscale who was making the most money during the campaignand caused the most unease for America First afterward.
According to a former campaign official, people were very concerned, with how much Parscale was making throughout his time with the Trump campaign. His web firm, Giles-Parscale, received $11 million in August and $8.3 million in July of 2016 alone.
The White House has not responded to a request for comment about America First Policies.
But its future success is uncertain at the moment.
As one source told The Daily Beast, No major donor is going to give them money.
In the final moments before she disappeared, Liberty German turned on her cell phones video camera and recorded a man telling her, Down the hill.
German, 14, and her friend Abigail Williams, 13, were reported missing several hours later after they did not return from a walk on a Delphi, Indiana trail on February 13. The following morning their bodies were found by the nearby Deer Creek. Last week police released a grainy photograph of a person of interest on the trail. At the time, police did not say how the photograph had been captured, leading locals to speculate that the picture came from a trail camera, but on Wednesday cops said the image had come from Germans phone, recovered from her body.
Her quick-thinking might solve her murder, police say.
That young lady is a hero, there is no doubt, Indiana State Police Capt. David Bursten said of German during a Wednesday press conference releasing the audio clip. To have enough presence of mind to activate the video system on her cell phone to record what we believe is criminal behavior is about to occur there is no doubt in our mind that that young lady is a hero.
Police have released a short audio clip from Germans phone. In it, a gravelly male voice tells German down the hill, over what sound like footsteps on grass. Police did not confirm whether the man in the still photograph is believed to be the same man who speaks in the audio clip, although they announced Sunday that they believe the photographed man participated in the girls murder.
In a Tuesday press conference, police suggested they had more information on the suspected killer, but were keeping details close.
Just because we havent released information to the media doesnt mean we dont have more information, Indiana State Police Sgt. Tony Slocum said . Some of the facts we dont release are only known to the person who committed the crime.
Police have not indicated how long German was able to record her suspected killer, or what other clues she was able to capture. In releasing the audio clip, police hope someone might recognize the mans voice. Despite living in a close-knit town of fewer than 3,000, Delphi residents have so far been unable to identify the man in the photograph.
"We don't know if the person's a local or a drifter who came in and left," Indiana State Police Sgt. Kim Riley told the Lafayette Journal and Courier, adding that police were looking for anyone who might have been spotted hitchhiking or walking along the towns highway.
Other mysteries abound in the case, including how the girls were killed, and when.
German and Williams were last seen on Monday, February 13. Their middle school gave students the day off, to make up for unused snow days. One of the girls family members dropped them off at a hiking trail around 1 p.m., and agreed to pick them up several hours later. German and Williams were familiar with the trails, and hiked there often, family said. The Monon High Bridge, an old railroad bridge at the beginning of the trail was a popular hangout among local students, and the girls had previously uploaded pictures of themselves at the bridge to their social media accounts.
But instead of returning for pickup early that evening, the girls didnt show. At 5:30, relatives called police to report the girls were missing. Police and volunteers began a sweep of the densely wooded area around the trail, to no avail. Authorities called off the search until morning, calling it impossible to find the girls in the dark woods. The following morning, a renewed search with diving teams and K9 units discovered their two bodies on private property, approximately a half mile from the trail where they were last seen.
At the girls middle school, students were sent home on Tuesday, as news of the murders spread.
It is our understanding that the two bodies found today were those of our two missing Delphi Community Middle School students, the school wrote in a letter sent to parents.
Even before police released the chilling audio, Germans phone provided a look into her final hours. Shortly into the hike, German posted two Snapchat photos from the Monon High Bridge. In one photo, her Williams walks along the bridge. She is the only person in sight.
The other photo looks down the bridge, where the railroad tracks vanish into thick forest. Within the following hours, an unknown man would order them into those woods and down a hill.
UPDATE: Ten people were arrested, and one protester was injured during confrontation with North Dakota police during evictions Wednesday. Forty-six more were arrested Thursday in a police sweep of the main protest camp.
ALONG THE CANNONBALL RIVER, North DakotaThe following story is brought to you by the taxpayers of North Dakota.
It was a bitter cold night on the Backwater Bridge when Efrain Montalvo got the desperate call from the front line.
The medics were screaming for help, because they were overwhelmed, remembered Montalvo, 25, a member of the International Indigenous Youth Council at Standing Rock. He looked up through white mists of tear gas, cut by screams and shouts on the bridge. Native elders stood motionless in front of barricades of razor wire, clutching feathers, burning prayer bundles of sage, holding their ground. They were unarmed, eyes shut tight against the clouds of pepper spray. Others held up plywood shields or the tops of plastic bins against the spray. Disperse! shouted police, who then unleashed a fire hose, soaking protesters in the sub-freezing temperatures. Icicles formed on their hair. Their winter jackets crunched.
Montalvo moved swiftly toward the front line, carrying bottles of water and Milk of Magnesia (to relieve the tear gas sting) toward the medics. Riot-clad police, ensconced behind concrete barriers and the looping wire, began firing rubber bullets. Montalvo watched an elder fall at his feet, his staff clattering to the pavement of the shut-down state highway. Then police launched a barrage of smoking tear-gas canisters from grenade launchers.
Thats when people started panicking, Montalvo recalled.
A tear-gas canister hit Montalvo squarely in the chest. He inhaled its smoke deeply, then wandered aimlessly, hands over his eyes. Two minutes later, he could see again. Another canister exploded at his feet. He saw a brilliant white light. Then everything went black and silent.
Montalvo began shaking uncontrollably. For 10 minutes, I couldnt remember who I was, where I was. Medics whisked him off the bridge. Days later, he could still taste the tear gas in his mouth.
Montalvo was one of hundreds of unarmed water protectors facing down North Dakota police at the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on that evening of Nov. 20. The clashes had begun after protesters attempted to clear the bridge of two burned-out pickup trucks blocking highway passage since a day of mass arrests three weeks earlier.
Throughout the fall and early winter, the 10-month showdown over the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has been bitter and violent. At least 1,000 Standing Rock protesters, according to camp medics, have been treated for chemical poisoning, hypothermia, rubber-bullet and nonlethal beanbag wounds, and many more serious injuries, all as a direct result of violence from militarized police, who sometimes arrive by the hundreds. On Nov. 20 at the Backwater Bridge, 21-year-old Sophia Wilansky nearly had her arm blown off. Vanessa Dundon, a 32-year-old Navajo, was shot in the eye with a tear-gas canister. In all, some 750 people have been arrested in dozens of confrontations with police. Many have been held in dog kennel-like metal cages, numbers scrawled on their arms.
We are using public and military employees to do the private work of a pipeline company, said North Dakota Democratic State Sen. Tim Mathern. Mathern said the state has borrowed tens of millions of dollars from the Bank of North Dakota to fuel the police presence. Hundreds of state police, county sheriffs deputies from seven states, and the North Dakota National Guard have essentially served as a private security force for the Fortune 500 company Energy Transfer Partnersthus helping its crews lay pipe across North Dakota and to the edge of the Missouri River.
On Feb. 7, the Army Corps of Engineers, on the orders of President Trump, announced its final approval of the project. Construction crews resumed work almost immediately, despite vows by the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes to stop the pipeline in court. Native opponents and their supporters have pledged to block the pipeline to prevent contamination of the Missouri River, a source of water for the Sioux people and at least 10 million others downstream.
But in recent weeks the camp population has fallen well below 1,000, not nearly enough to disrupt construction crews and the police lines protecting them. As many as 200 water protectors, including a contingent of military veterans, have been pouring back into Standing Rock, but mostly to help with a massive cleanup of the main protest camp. Authorities set a Feb. 22 deadline to evacuate the camp. Police, military and private security vehicles are poised on the ridges nearby. Federal law-enforcement officers were swarming in the nearby tribal casino, an apparent staging area for an eviction force. The Trump administration appears eager to crack down.
On Wednesday police descended toward the camp, making ten arrests, including of one man who suffered a hip injury, according to Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier. The man, identified as Native activist Eric Poemz, had been attempting to livestream the days events; activists say police violently slammed him to the ground. Earlier, before police arrived, a 17-year-old girl suffered severe burns during a ceremonial burning of one of the remaining structures in the main protest camp, or what is left of it.
Most of the remaining water protectors left willingly Wednesday. Those from outside North Dakota are being offered one way tickets out of the state. This leaves a core of perhaps 25-50 resisters in camp. They will be given every opportunity to leave" without arrest on Thursday, according to North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Burgum claimed that to be arrested today you really had to be trying. However this was contradicted by independent journalists, including Jenni Monet of Indian Country Today and the Center for Investigative reporting, who said officers targeted and chased them.
In a joint press conference Wednesday with Burgum, North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven praised the joint police force, which he said has shown incredible restraint.
Hours later, Bureau of Indian Affairs police tazed an unidentified Native man in the lobby of the Prairie Knights Casino as Standing Rock. The man had been slow to cooperate with officers, but unaggressive. He was standing still with his hands in the air when the officer fired his taser. He fell to the floor, moaning.
On Thursday morning, militarized police vehicles, including bearcats, humvees, and an "MRAP" built to withstand IED explosions in Iraq, moved down the muddy hillsides and into what is left of the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires camp. Flanked by snowmobiles, bulldozers and a line of advancing police in fatigues, automatic rifles and riot gear, they surrounded tents and teepees, as shown in a livefeed by the Unicorn Riot media collective. Some of the structures were empty; in others, some of the last resisters were believed to be hiding. In at least one case officers livestream video shoed officers pointing assault rifles directly at resisters, on their knees and praying. By Thursday afternoon, Morton County authories said they had cleared the camp and would restore the land to its pre-protest condition. Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier seemed pleased to add: We finally introduced rule of law to the Oceti camp.
North Dakotas taxpayer-funded aggression, with enthusiastic backing from the Trump administration, is now at the center of a federal class-action civil rights lawsuit and a United Nations fact-finding tour to Standing Rock.
Vanessa Dundon is the lead plaintiff in the civil-rights lawsuit accusing North Dakota officials of excessive police force in an increasingly violent campaign to suppress and chill plaintiffs constitutionally protected rights. The state counters that the protesters engage in riots, and that its officers are frequently faced with bodily injury and death. However, the sheer number of protesters injured during the ongoing clashes dwarfs the relative handful reported by the Morton County Sheriffs Department.
More than 100 people, in sworn statements in the civil-rights lawsuit, in testimony before the United Nations working group recently invited to Standing Rock, and in dozens more interviews with me, have corroborated the accounts of Montalvo and others.
Six decades after tear gas, dogs, police batons, and hoses were turned on nonviolent civil-rights marchers in the Deep South, those same tactics are deployed on overwhelmingly peaceful protesters in the Northern Plains. By all appearances, North Dakota has become the Selma of the North.
And in a nod to Jim Crow, North Dakota lawmakers recently passed a package of new bills that would make it a crime to wear a mask during demonstrations, and a felony if you cause $1,000 or more in damages while protesting. Another proposed bill would make it legal for motorists to unintentionally run over and kill protesters in the road.
North Dakota has lost its mind, said Linda Black Elk of the Standing Rock Medic and Healers Council, and a professor at Sitting Bull College on the reservation. They have completely lost it, with the use of their military weaponry and their consistent escalation of violence against peaceful water protectors. They will not stop until they have tanks, and this entire area looks like occupied Palestine.
There is no doubt that law enforcement used life-threatening crowd-control weapons excessively and indiscriminately, said Jamil Dakwar, director of the Human Rights Program of the ACLU, who recently traveled to Standing Rock to facilitate testimonies for the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, which will prepare a report for the United Nations General Assembly.
Eyewitnesses in the civil-rights lawsuit describe being shot in the eye with rubber bullets or watching others shot in the face and head, or get pelted by munitions; they recount watching law enforcement hit people with batons forcefully push[ing] people onto the concrete and spraying them at point blank range with high pressure chemical sprays in the face. In one case, YouTube videos show dogs from a private pipeline security team biting protesters; one video shows blood on one dogs mouth. Others describe Native elders, kneeling or standing in prayer, doused with tear gas, including one man who was sprayed continuously for two to five minutes, but who did not budge. Another young man was soaked for several minutes in sub-freezing temperatures with the high-powered police hose, and he just continued to sit there praying.
In their response to the civil-rights complaint, North Dakota officials admit most protesters are nonviolent, but cite a very active and sizeable minority of protesters [who] take pride in trampling upon the rights of others, and in terrorizing citizens and Law Enforcement through threats and acts of violence. In some cases, protesters have thrown logs or sticks at officers, or tear-gas canisters back across police lines. Police accused one woman of discharging a weapon at a demonstration; her case is pending. Water protectors have chained themselves to construction equipment, and have been charged with burning equipment. During the day of mass arrests on Oct. 27, a protesters truck rammed a pipeline company pickup, forcing it off the road. The driver was a DAPL security employee who was spotted driving toward the main camp with a loaded AR-15.
Police also claimto strong denialsthat protesters have thrown bags of feces at police. Previous police claims, that protesters wielded pipe bombs or bows and arrows, were later shown to be false, as a North Dakota sheriff admitted during a confrontation I recorded in late October. And their idea of aggressive behavior includes protesters who wear goggles for protection against tear gas. Riot-clad police, standing behind barriers of concrete and concertina wire, holding full-length body shields, and flanking military surplus vehicles built to withstand IED explosions in Iraq, hardly appear terrorized.
On Feb. 7, a federal judge in Bismarck denied the protesters request for a preliminary injunction against the police.
The plaintiffs and pipeline protesters had no constitutional right to be present and engage in civil protest on the Backwater Bridge on Nov. 20, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hovland wrote. He agreed that [t]he majority of the protesters are nonviolent, but cited a sizeable minority of protesters who can best be categorized as a group of unlawful and violent agitators who are masked up; terrorize law enforcement officers with taunting, threats, and acts of violence; and whose primary purpose is to simply create chaos and mayhem. To describe these agitators as peaceful and prayerful defies common sense.
Judge Hovland is described as fair-minded by lawyers who have worked extensively in his court. But he has a reputation of standing firmly with the interests of the state against the claims of outsiders. In a move numerous lawyers describe as highly unusual, the judge allowed police and state employees to redact their names from sworn statements, thus fueling the narrative of law enforcement under siege by outside agitators. The case will continue in federal court, likely for at least another year.
North Dakota law-enforcement tactics, meanwhile, have begun to draw criticism across the normally unbreachable blue line. A former commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department called the police actions excessive and criticized the unnecessary use of force by the North Dakota authorities. In a statement filed by the plaintiffs in the civil-rights lawsuit, Thomas C. Frazier accused police of deliberately inflict[ing] physical punishment when the proper action was simply to arrest protesters (PDF).
There is simply no reason to continue using force on demonstrators who are simply nonviolently disobeying a dispersal order once it becomes clear that they are determined to hold their ground until arrested, he said.
Frazier, who reviewed sworn statements and videos in the civil-rights complaint, said he had never seen, in any other American city or county, the use of water hoses or a water cannon against a United States citizen for any reason although I have read about this occurring in the early 1960s against civil-rights marchers. The brute force of the impact of the water jet is a force option that would not be considered appropriate by most modern police chiefs or sheriffs, or tolerated by their citizenry. In this case, the use of this device in sub-freezing temperatures, in my opinion, serves no reasonable purpose and can only be considered a retaliatory and punitive action.
A spokesman for the Morton County Sheriffs Department, Rob Keller, said he could not comment on Fraziers remarks, given the lawsuit. Nor would he comment on queries by the ACLUs Dakwar and others about what kind of protocol Morton County employs for use of force. In a December email, however, Keller wrote that use of force must be objectively reasonable and utilized only to the degree reasonably necessary to accomplish a legitimate law-enforcement purpose.
Dakwar, however, blasted the resounding lack of accountability for law-enforcement agents and commanders.
Thus far, no officer has been charged with excessive use of force, but over 600 protesters, and even journalists have been arrested for excessive and outrageous charges like criminal trespassing, he added. Journalist Jenni Monet, on assignment for Indian Country Today and the Center for Investigative Reporting, was recently arrested while covering a police sweep of a rogue protest camp near Standing Rock. She was charged with criminal trespass and engaging in a riot, and faces an arraignment Wednesday.
Against police claims of riotous and terrorizing behavior stand countless testimonies of peaceful protest.
My hands were raised in the air, said Marcus Mitchell, a 21-year-old Navajo, echoing a common theme. And I was saying: I am an American citizen practicing my First Amendment right to freedom of speech. I am unarmed and I am in peaceful protest. I was then shot in the leg.
For the water protectors, the toll has not only been physical. I could not sleep that night, said Grecia Rojas, 27, of Crescent City, California. I kept having dreams about what happened to me and other people on the bridge. I keep hearing people screaming and the sound of shots being fired when I try to sleep. I am nervous and scared all the time and do not want to be alone.
For protesters, Standing Rock feels like a war zone. Roadblocks prevent travel on state highways. Helicopters and light planes circle over the camps. Police on nearby hilltops scan with binoculars or shoot videos from across concrete barriers. At dozens of confrontations over the last six months, water protectors stand against forces of heavily armed police and National Guardsman, sometimes in the hundreds. Now, documents show that the state has gone into tens of millions of dollars in debt to finance the police aggression.
North Dakota legislators have borrowed a total $28 million from the Bank of North Dakota specifically to fund the police and National Guard presence and other expenses for the pipeline protests. So far, North Dakota taxpayers have borne the entire brunt of the bill, which has included some $4 million for National Guard pay and travel, $2.2 million for the state highway patrol, $503,000 for security supplies, and $354,000 for cameras, according to official state documents, including internal memos, emergency budget requests, and expenditure reports.
The North Dakota taxpayers are at risk for paying the bill of a multinational corporation thats extracting our resources, said Mathern, the state senator. Mathern, a rare North Dakota Democrat, was the lone dissenter in a recent vote to authorize the bank line of credit. Part of this is literally an expenditure directly protecting the private property of a pipeline company. I mean, this just gets more and more difficult to believe, the closer I get to these details.
The new funds may serve to justify an expansion of North Dakotas police force and state-of-the-art military supplies. The expenditure, Mathern said, creates an opportunity for these law-enforcement agencies to gain more support, including more riot gear, and an entire new radio communications system. Its going to cost millions and millions of dollars.
Among the other details Mathern and the documents verify: $1.9 million to the state department of health, in part to increase insurance benefits for National Guardsmen, some of whom were complaining of respiratory problems since being deployed to Standing Rock.
Mathern wanted to know more about what exactly the state was paying for, so he decided to travel to Standing Rock, and the police line just north of there.
I was taken aback by all the machinery, Mathern said of the military and police vehicles. I had never seen so much.
Police would not allow even a state senator to cross their roadblock and head south toward the water protectors camp near Standing Rock. His colleagues had asked him not to go, warning Mathern that he could be injured or killed by protesterssentiments he attributed to a wave of racism that is being accentuated and institutionalized in Bismarck and Mandan.
So Mathern drove across gravel roads, arriving at the main Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) camp, where he met randomly with Natives and other activists. I had a really wonderful time, he recounted. It was just really clear to me that these people needed support and encouragement and help.
Then the senator drove back to Bismarck. It would be wonderful if we could use all this money to help people, rather than just roving the hills there, he said in an interview two days later. When I see the vulnerability of these people living in this area, I cant believe all the military might the state is funding.
Its unclear how much longer the state will find it necessary to fund its militarized backing of the Dakota Access pipeline. With its recent announcement to approve the final stages of the pipeline, the Army Corps of Engineers reversed itself, suddenly declaring it would not conduct an environmental review after all, and abandoning thousands of public comments. This pushes the issue to the courts, and to divestment battles. Recently, Seattles city council voted to divest $3 billion from Wells Fargo because of its investments in the pipeline company.
But as Wednesdays camp eviction deadline looms, and federal and state police surround the camp from three directions, soon the fight may soon be joined at the source. At Standing Rock, water protectors and police may again square off in plain sight of the pipeline and the drill pad at the Missouri Riverthe last stage before the oil begins to flow. Police have given no indication that they intend to stand down.
Physical scars heal, but its the emotional mental and spiritual scars that are the deepest and stay the longest, said Black Elk, the medic. Its those mental, emotional, spiritual scars that are the worst. The elders are getting traumatized. The people are not the same.
North Dakota, Black Elk said, has declared war on us, and created this war zone.
Other investors are pressuring fossil fuel companies to invest more in clean energy, and their numbers are set to grow. The G20 Financial Stability Board's Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosure involves companies with market capitalisation of $1.5 trillion and financial institutions responsible for assets of $20 trillion. It aims to build a market in transition to a sub-two-degree world.
There is a long list of serious efforts like this, across multiple relevant sectors, in most countries. The action list doesn't yet amount to a collective outcome under 2 degrees. But it represents a clear and robust direction of travel. It has caused PWC, among others, to conclude that President Trump's impact on global greenhouse emissions - despite stacking the White House with an unprecedented crew of fossil-fuel defending billionaires and their supporters - will be "pretty small".
I set the global score on the climate dial as slightly positive. It would be more positive, had the scientific news from the climate itself not been so bad in 2016.
Second, energy: 'distinctly positive'
Turning this dial up requires being on course for a clean energy future both in order to address climate change and to escape the multiple ways that fossil fuels err humankind towards societal problems, including mass killers like air pollution, terrorism, and war.
The good news here is that a global energy transition from fossil fuels to clean energy is unfolding before our eyes, and fast, and not just because of serious intent in climate action.
Solar and wind power will be the cheapest option in most countries within just a few years, and in some sectors and countries already are.
Cheap batteries will soon be storing their electricity on a massive scale.
Electric vehicles are on course to knock an entire category of oil use, diesel, out of the markets within ten years.
Meanwhile, as fast as the prospects for clean energy rise, those for fossil fuels fall. China has just cancelled more than 100 coal power plants, dozens of them already under construction. India says it needs no more coal in the next five years.
The oil industry is struggling under a multi-trillion dollar collective debt mountain, with analysts increasingly giving up hope of long term profitability, even if oil prices rise. Investors unconcerned by climate change are abandoning them, and oil-rich Gulf states are drawing up plans for an an end to oil within five decades.
Trump may want to dig coal, but how can he do so when it is uneconomic compared to solar and wind? One in 50 US jobs is now in the solar industry, and the growth rate is accelerating: up a record 25% in 2016. Is he going to axe those jobs somehow? When 73% of his own voters support more solar and wind, according to a recent poll?
Accordingly, I set the dial on energy as distinctly positive. I summarise many more reasons for doing so in my blogs spanning 2016 and my book The Winning of The Carbon War.
Third, tech: 'slightly negative'
Turning this dial up will require artificial intelligence and robotics to be applied with appreciable net benefits for society as a whole.
The development of AI and robotics is evolving even faster than clean energy. On one hand, profound social benefits are in prospect. Medical diagnosis is a good example. Computers machine-learning while using global databases are providing life-saving diagnoses that elude human medical experts.
They are making it less difficult to hold criminals to account. The UK's Serious Fraud Office used a crime-solving robot to plough quickly through the libraries of information necessary to prove systemic corruption in Rolls Royce. Control of electricity demand by AI in data centres is achieving remarkable emissions cuts in what is a large global point source of carbon dioxide. Such examples are plentiful.
But on the other hand tech leaders are openly worrying about the effect of exponential AI and robotics on jobs. In Japan, the government is looking to robotics to boost the national economy, and robots already outnumber humans in the kitchen of one restaurant.
In the UK, banks are preparing to roll out robot tellers aiming to improve customer service via machine-learned empathic responses. In the US, the world's largest hedge fund is working to replace managers with AI, including in HR and strategy roles. Wired, the magazine of choice for many in the digital world, concludes as follows: "The AI threat isn't skynet. It's the end of the middle class."
Concern over job losses is fuelling a significant component of the anger expressed by the populist right. Meanwhile, the potential downsides of AI and robotics when it comes to authoritarian regimes do not need much imagining. In the wrong hands, uncontrolled, they can quickly amount to the perfect infrastructure for police states.
Thankfully, these dangers are being recognised by both scholars and practitioners. In 2016, Prof Steven Hawking and other luminaries published a letter pledging to ensure that AI research benefits humankind. In January 2017, hundreds of AI and robotics researchers developed 21 principles - the Asilomar Principles - for use of the new technologies. Principle 23 involves Common Good, and reads:
"Superintelligence should only be developed in the service of widely shared ethical ideals, and for the benefit of all humanity rather than one state or organization."
To ensure that, a global convention on the use of AI would seem like a good idea. It would offer an opportunity to build on the renewed confidence in multilateralism engendered by the Paris Agreement. The Asilomar Principles would be a good starting point for a draft.
But the fact is that we are wiring the world way faster than any consideration of public policy, legal, ethical, and human rights implications, and doing so just at the time demagogues are on the rise. Even mainstream analysts are pointing out that the demagogue currently occupying the White House could easily morph into a despot, and his early attitude to the US judiciary and press are more than consistent with this.
All this being the case, the net global score for the tech dial should probably be set slightly negative. This assessment excludes the role AI plays in the next theme. Including that would drive the score much higher.
Fourth, truth: 'net severe negative'
Turning this dial up will require tech to be used for improving the processes of liberal democracy, including quality and verifiability of information, and the transparency thereof.
The rise of demagogues has been much assisted by the explosion in 2016 and 2017 of so-called #fakenews, otherwise fairly describable as systemic lying in mass media. Famous examples of the falsehoods pushed on populations include Pope Francis supporting Donald Trump, and the UK Brexiteers' insistence, contradicted by the UK Statistics Authority among others, that Britons "send the EU 350 million a week" that could be spent instead on the NHS.
Analysis of both the UK Brexit vote and the US Presidential election shows how pervasive the problem has become. As Wired put it, in 2016 "the Mainstream Media melted down as fake news festered." By August fake news about the US election was increasingly outperforming the top stories at the 19 major US news outlets.
One of the best forensic analyses of how this happens is by journalists at Scout. They describe four ways in which AI has been "weaponised" by organisations owned by conservative and alt-right interests, such as Cambridge Analytica, and leaders of the far right such as President Trump's chief strategy advisor, Steve Bannon.
The first involves the marriage of big data surveillance and computational psychology. Cambridge Analytica has created a model on this basis that compiles individual predictive personality profiles for entire populations. Predicting a subject's behaviour better than their partner could requires analysis of just 300 Facebook likes, so one expert professes. This before considering many other easily available analyses of online behaviour, and numerous sources of megadata that can be bought.
The second involves automated engagement scripts that prey on human emotions. The practitioners call this 'behavioural micro-targeting' and it allows them to change behaviour on an industrial scale.
In the US election, personally targeted ads were used extensively in key swing areas. These included Facebook 'dark posts', visible only to those targeted. Cambridge Analytica were able to monitor peoples' responses, such as sharing on Facebook, and assess which messages were resonating, tuning advertising accordingly.
The third involves creation of propaganda networks that rapidly accelerate ideas. The purveyors of fake news have spent years building websites, and these now operate on a scale that allows gaming of search engine optimisation, including crucially at Google.
The fourth involves use of an army of bots - computer programs that talk like humans on fake social media accounts - to echo fake news and police public debate, including by intimidating and suppressing the voice of the opposition.
The problem is going international, fast. Brexit-backer and Trump ally Arron Banks plans to launch a 'news' site in the UK that aims to repeat the successes of US lie machines like Breitbart, the news agency founded by Steve Bannon. It will be pro-Brexit, pro-Farage, pro-Trump, anti-establishment, anti-open borders, and anti-corporatism.
In the US, where rightist billionaires outnumber those openly supportive of liberal causes, figures like fossil-fuel tycoon David Koch are funding campaigns to smear prominent potential champions of counter views like Elon Musk.
Meanwhile, it is not as though rightist populism goes unfueled in the editorial suites of the mainstream media. In the UK tabloid press, it dominates. When judges ruled in November 2016 that Parliament should vote on Brexit, the Daily Mail published the judges photographs under the front page headline "Enemies of The People". Believers in functional democracy attack their independent judiciary at their peril.
This is all happening today. Tomorrow? Silicon Valley guru Peter Diamandis warns that within four years - by the time of the next US election - AI will be ten times more powerful, and will be being applied to 50 billion devices and a trillion sensors. Digital avatars will be photorealistic and fully programmable, able to have instant conversations with citizens.
Picture standing in a taxi queue having a conversation with an avatar of a candidate on a screen. The operators of the sensors in the screen, having auto-identified you from facial recognition databases, will know from your profile if you are susceptible to any of their candidate's arguments. They will know more about you than you do yourself. The candidate's avatar will ask you a leading question, targeting your emotions. You respond. The candidate responds back in real time, with libraries worth of machine learning picking the answer used.
All this manipulation will be unfolding in a world becoming inexorably more permissive of mass surveillance. In November, the UK legalised - barely noticed - the most extreme surveillance powers in the history of western democracy.
As Ed Snowden commented at the time, the Investigatory Powers Act goes further than many autocracies. It was passed despite the fact that only a few weeks earlier the Investigatory Powers Tribunal had ruled that UK security agencies have been illegally collecting data for 17 years, in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
So much of this drama focusses on the creations of Silicon Valley, where company founders and employees have tended to favour the Democrats over the Republicans. What is the response there?
The pushback has begun, but it hardly amounts to a resistance consistent with the scale of the problem yet. Over 100 Silicon Valley firms have filed a legal brief opposing President Trump's executive order banning travel from seven mostly Muslim countries.
These include Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Tesla. Employees of tech firms rallied in their thousands against the ban. Customers projected an intense displeasure in the marketplace: tweets protesting Uber's links to Trump pushed competitor Lyft ahead in downloads for the first time. Uber's CEO felt the pressure so strongly that he resigned from Trump's economic advisory council.
But none of this has addressed the process by which Silicon Valley's innovation with megadata is being hijacked by the far right yet.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is aware of the problem. In a 5,700 word Facebook post, he has endeavoured to chart a responsive course for his creation. It was met with scepticism. "Mark Zuckerberg's Answer to a World Divided by Facebook Is More Facebook", Wired concluded. Guardian tech correspondent Alex Hern, wrote a withering paragraph-by-paragraph dissection of it. Nikki Usher, Professor of new media and technology at George Washington University, concluded: "He might be in denial, because a lot of the rest of us are."
All this considered, the global score for the truth dial, as things stand, must surely be set at net severe negative. Already. Far worse is eminently conceivable, in relatively short order, unless resistance can be marshalled effectively.
Fifth, inequality: 'clear net negative'
Turning this dial up will require significant narrowing of the income gap, both within the developed and developing worlds.
Many analyses of the rise of the new demagogues show that rage over a widening income gap strongly influences those prepared to vote for them. The figures are shocking in America. Between 1970 and 2014, average income grew 77%, but almost all of these gains went to the top 1% of earners.
Elsewhere, elites have also allowed disproportionate self enrichment to run rife. Globally, the 8 richest people own the same wealth as the poorest 50% and the richest 1% own more than the other 99%.
Every year at the World Economic Forum, attendees openly worry about the unsustainability of these figures, and the social divisiveness they create. Yet each year they do precious little about it.
Efforts to reduce inequality have seen some limited success at the bottom of the wealth league table. The percentage of people in extreme poverty - those earning under $1.90 a day - is falling in all regions of the world. But it must fall far faster if the World Bank is to hit its target of eliminating extreme poverty by 2030.
The global score for the inequality dial as things stand, must be set at a clear net negative.
Sixth, reform: 'clear net negative'
Turning this dial up will require much more attention to market failures.
The need for significant reform of capitalism has been widely acknowledged since the financial crisis of 2008. The absence of it has been the subject of rage even in the conservative press. One Daily Mail headline in June 2012 exhorted "Put Bankers In The Dock".
The virtual absence of legal redress for financial malfeasance, even in the case of companies and executives with hands caught jammed in the till, has undoubtedly contributed to the rise of the populist right and the demagogues they support.
In the US, the Dodd-Frank Act went some way to introducing checks and balances on Wall Street. Having railed against the excesses of bankers in his campaigning, Trump in office wants to roll back even that.
With the advent of the VW 'dieselgate' scandal, and the prospect of multiple executive jailings for the systemic fraud involved, it may be possible that the tide could beginning to turn. But many of the proposals put forward for re-engineering of modern capitalism in the wake of the financial crisis, even by pillars of the capital markets, have gone by the wayside.
Bonuses in the UK today are even bigger, in real terms, than they were pre financial crisis. World debt has been allowed to balloon to more than $150 trillion, a record. Out of control bonuses and mountainous unsecured debt were two of the main triggers of the 2008 global financial crisis.
The global score for the reform dial, as things stand, must accordingly be set at clear net negative.
Seventh, conflict: 'manifest net negative'
Turning this dial up will require a proliferation of common security in the world.
The superpowers are probing each others' cybersecurity with increasingly sophisticated malware. Pointers to the pervasiveness of this new form of conflict bubble to the fore from time to time.
The extraordinarily sophisticated Stuxnet computer worm, first detected 'in the wild' in 2010, is believed to have been developed by the USA, Israel and the UK as a software weapon to wreak havoc on Iran's uranium enrichment centrifuges. It succeeded in wiping out some 20% of the machines. This audicious attack, in effect an act of war, may be seen in years to come as the thin end of a very broad wedge.
In January 2016, hackers shut down the Ukrainian power grid. Kiev accused Russian special forces. The malware involved had previously infected power suppliers in the US and Europe, without shutting down supply. It is widely suspected that malware sits waiting to be triggered throughout infrastructure in the superpowers.
Given the fragility of US electricity grid infrastructure this should be a particular concern. The three US grids are aged, with large power transformers on average 40 years old. The US suffers more blackouts than any other developed nation. Centcom Commander General Lloyd Austin has said of the grids' susceptibility to attack: "it's not a question of if, it's a question of when."
For their part the Russians have to fear American capabilities too. An attack on Russian bank Sberbank in late 2014, for example, hints at the vulnerability of their capital markets. It spooked depositors into withdrawing $20bn in one week.
Other states would appear to be playing the same kinds of games. Saudi Arabia has blamed Iran for serious cyber attacks on its aviation authority and on four other unnamed bodies.
Dangerously destabilising as these proxy conflicts are, the potential for cyberattack on the world's nuclear weapons, and their aged software support, hardly bears thinking about. The fact that Britain's four nuclear submarines, which carry Trident nuclear missiles, all run on Microsoft's obsolete and unsupported Windows XP, demonstrates just how serious the threat now is.
The reduction in global warhead inventory from around 70,000 in the mid 1980s to some 15,000 today has been a somewhat positive feature of the years since the cold war. Yet both Putin and Trump have recently said they want to "strengthen" their nuclear weapons stockpiles.
The global score for the conflict dial, as things stand, must be set at a manifest net negative.
Coming next: a global plan to tip the dials
This completes my survey of the state of play in February 2017. I will continue to review the evolving drama periodically from here on.
In a subsequent post, I will examine options for an integrated global plan aiming to tip all the seven dials into net positive territory, en route to an appropriate civilization, and away from the new despotism.
I need hardly add that the challenges involved in so doing will be without precedent. But there is nothing in the sum of human affairs that is more important.
Dr Jeremy Leggett is a British green-energy entrepreneur, author and advocate who is founding director of Solarcentury, one of the most respected international solar companies; founder and Chairman of SolarAid, a charity set up with 5% of Solarcentury's annual profits; and Chairman of CarbonTracker, a financial-sector think-tank warning of carbon-fuel asset-stranding risk to the capital markets.
This article was originally published on Jeremy Leggett's website. Some edits by The Ecologist.
An international team of researchers led by Oxford Brookes University has revealed a new species of primate in a paper published by the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
The primate which is the largest known dwarf galago or bushbaby, has been named the Angolan dwarf galago, named after the only country where it is known to occur.
The news comes after primate conservation experts called for urgent action to protect the world's dwindling primate populations last month.
Lead author Magdalena Svensson from Oxford Brookes University said: "When we first encountered the new species in Kumbira Forest in north-western Angola, we heard a distinctive crescendo' call similar to that of a tiny galago, but upon seeing one, we were struck by its remarkably large size.
"Until now, call types have been the most reliable way to distinguish galago species, and to find one that did not match what we expected was very exciting."
Dr Russell Mittermeier of Conservation International said of the report: "This new Galago species is a very exciting discovery. It is only the fifth new primate described from the African mainland since 2000 and only the second species of galago. What is more, it is from Angola, where there has been very little primate research to date."
The team collected photographs, vocalisation recordings and behavioural information on live individuals in the wild as well as conducting more details measurements on museum specimens, and concluded that this species is unique in terms of its loud calls, fur colouration, and body size, which is approximately three times the size than the diminutive 80 g of typical dwarf galagos.
Despite being similar to the genus Galago in size, the structure of its calls and the elongated shape of its skull linked it to the group of tiny West African dwarf galagos (genus Galagoides) - thus making the new species a giant among dwarfs.
The morphology and calls of this new species are so unique that there was no need to resort to genetic techniques to verify it further. Renowned galago taxonomist and co-author Professor Judith Masters of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa said: "The uncovering of this species is characteristic of the return of real biology.
"Although DNA has yielded new and sometimes highly contestable specimens, in the case of this new galago, the differences are obvious for all to see."
Galagos are small nocturnal primates that are widespread over sub Sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last five decades, the number of species recognised has slowly climbed from 6 to 19 species including this new species. Similarly, among lemurs, the primates of Madagascar, the number of species described has risen from less than 30 to more than 100 in the same time.
Team member, Professor Simon Bearder from Oxford Brookes University noted: "We should not be surprised by the discovery of unknown species. Estimates of the number of species on earth vary between 5 million and 50 million, of which less than 2 million have been named, so there is a long way to go."
Until now, civil unrest and the difficulty of working at night have stood in the way of understanding the true nocturnal diversity of the African rainforests, and this species is one example of what lies in wait to be discovered.
Co-author Professor Anna Nekaris of Oxford Brookes University said "It is no surprise to find not only a new species, but one with such distinctive body proportions, making it really a whole new kind of bushbaby. We have been seeing this emerging diversity in Madagascar over the last two decades, yet the nocturnal species of Africa and Asia remain still comparatively unexplored and this giant dwarf galago is just the tip of the iceberg in new discoveries."
The discovery of this amazing primate does not ensure its future protection, according to co-author Elena Bersacola of Oxford Brookes University: "We still know very little about the Angolan galago, what they eat, their social interactions, how and if they are able to adapt to climate and habitat changes.
"We know that they occur in a relative wide variety of habitats and elevation gradients. They are present in dry savannah-woodland habitats, but their numbers are much higher within tall forests at higher altitudes."
Deforestation due to commercial logging is increasingly rapidly throughout the Angolan Escarpment forests. The fact that these are the very forests that harbour a newly discovered, endemic primate highlights the importance of the Angolan ecosystems and sends a clear message about the urgent need for conservation measures in this region.
One of the greatest joys of a happy childhood is the anticipation of a birthday party, but not every child gets to experience that joy. Maggie Mays of Boones Mill knows all too well what its like to feel alienated, stuck indoors and away from other people on her birthday.
Maggies immunity concerns have kept her from having a birthday party with friends previously since her birthday occurs during the heart of cold and flu season, said Maggies mother, Robin Mays.
This birthday will be different, though, because Maggie is being treated to her first birthday party, courtesy of her family and crowdFunnit, an initiative of the nonprofit Cherab Foundation.
The crowdFunnit program strives to improve the lives of those who are bullied and alienated by fostering acceptance, compassion and friendship through open-invite birthday parties, according to Cherab Foundation President Lisa Geng.
Maggie, who was born on Feb. 14, 2001, is looking forward to celebrating her 16th birthday on Saturday, Feb. 25, and everyone is invited.
The festivities are being held from noon to 2 p.m. at Healing Strides of Virginia, a therapeutic riding facility located at 672 Naff Road in Boones Mill.
We are so excited about Maggies crowdFunnit party, Mays said. She is truly a sweetheart and wins over everyone when they meet her.
Maggie was born with Down syndrome and failed her newborn hearing screening, Mays said.
Maggie was diagnosed as being completely deaf at her first audiology appointment, she said. Those who know her understand what she wants or needs, but the communication gap she experiences makes it hard to interact with her peers and make new friends.
Maggie was born with two holes in her heart. One of them has since closed, but the other remains open. At the age of four, she was given the additional diagnosis of autism. She also has no thyroid.
We are still worried about the possibility of Maggie getting sick if she interacts with others, but we are hoping the semi-open environment at Healing Strides will help keep the germs at bay, Mays said.
Maggies family nominated her for a birthday party after Mays read about crowdFunnit and the birthday parties they host for people with disabilities.
We thought it would be a great time to reach out to the community and make some new friends while celebrating her birthday, Mays said. The goal is to help Maggie and others make new friends and educate the community about people with disabilities.
Several deputies from the Franklin County Sheriffs Department plan to attend the party, including Sergeant Joshua Mason and his K9 partner, Spike.
It really means a lot to me to see the joy my dog brings to people so I love to do it, Sgt. Mason said.
A special appearance by Lightning McQueen from the animated Disney Pixar film Cars is planned and he may be accompanied by a few other fun cars, Mays added.
The party will also feature pizza, cookies, cake, ice cream, games and riding demonstrations, along with horses to watch and pet.
There is no charge to attend the party, but an RSVP is requested from those planning to attend.
To RSVP, visit www.facebook.com/events/1265711706856050, or crowdfunnit.org/2017/01/03/maggie-mays-sweet-16-birthday-invitation.
A Go-Fund-Me page has been set up to help support Maggies party. To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/maggie-mays-birthday-invitation.
A birthday wish list is also available on Amazon.com.
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 ...
Mexico signaled Wednesday that it intends to push back hard against the Trump administration's new immigration directives that could have dramatic implications for the United States' southern neighbor, immediately ahead of a visit by top US officials.
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said his country is worried about recent actions that could greatly expand US deportations of undocumented immigrants, including sending non-Mexicans to Mexico.
"I want to make it clear, in the most emphatic way, that the Mexican government and the people of Mexico do not have to accept measures unilaterally imposed on a government by another government," Videgaray said.
He spoke just hours before Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly arrive in Mexico for meetings on security, immigration, trade and the border with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and other officials.
President Donald Trump's rhetoric and policies have cranked up the tension in US-Mexico relations to a high not seen in decades. He's blamed the country for sending rapists into the US, castigated undocumented immigrants from across the border and blasted Mexico for what he says are unfair trade practices. One of Trump's first actions as president was to order the construction of a border wall that he insists Mexico will pay for, despite the country's repeated refusals.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration issued guidance on deportations that could apply to every undocumented immigrant in the US and enable state and local law enforcement to act as immigration officers.
Another change to asylum procedures would make it easier for immigration officers to send non-Mexican migrants to Mexico if they came through the country on their way to the US. The change could potentially send tens of thousands of Central Americans fleeing violence, gangs and drug cartels back into Mexico, an issue Kelly and Tillerson will almost certainly have to address.
A Mexican official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters, said that when Kelly and Tillerson arrive in Mexico City, Pena Nieto, Videgaray and other officials will make clear that Mexico will not take deportees who are not Mexican nationals.
Speaking in Guatemala Wednesday ahead of his visit to Mexico, Kelly said the President has authorized DHS to "protect and gain control" of US borders and "emphasized the mission of intercepting irregular immigrants from many countries on our borders, treat them humanely and return them to their countries of origin as fast as possible."
He also said that Trump has authorized more resources -- detention facilities, border patrol agents and construction of a physical barrier "where it makes sense."
The Mexican official said that his country's senior leaders will also want to see a demonstration of "the respect that the relationship deserves, built over decades."
They'll also be looking for acknowledgment that Mexico is one of the US's biggest trading partners, on which millions of jobs depend, and that the US "is lucky to have such good neighbors."
The official also returned to a point of contention between Trump and Pena Nieto, saying that Tillerson and Kelly will receive a clear message to take back to Washington: Mexico will not pay for the wall.
Anger about that proposal is just one factor fueling consumer boycotts of US brands and goods in Mexico, where lawmakers have introduced a bill to stop buying US corn. Mexicans staged massive anti-US protests Sunday, forming human chains along the border where Trump would like to build a wall. Pena Nieto already canceled a trip to Washington to meet with Trump in apparent frustration over the new US leader's proposals and rhetoric.
That's the backdrop as Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly arrive in Mexico for meetings with Pena Nieto, Mexican ministers and military officials. The trip is meant to allow the new US Cabinet members to establish relationships and coordinate on bilateral issues that range from counterterrorism, border security, immigration and trade that amounts to $1.5 billion a day. But the secretaries make their debut under a cloud.
"Today's rhetoric is forcing Mexicans everywhere to question the unquestionable: Did the country make a mistake 25 years ago by betting its future on North America?" asked Peter Schecter, director of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council. "No relationship is perfect, and there is much to develop and improve in Mexico. But by ostracizing our neighbor, we are in imminent danger of dismantling the North American experiment we've built over the last 20-plus years."
In a reflection of how broad the US-Mexico relationship is, Tillerson and Kelly will meet with the Mexican ministers of Interior, Foreign Relations, Finance, National Defense and Navy.
The trip to Mexico City will represent the first known high-level meetings between the US and Mexican officials since Pena Nieto canceled a visit to Washington on January 27 after Trump declared that there was no point in his coming if Mexico wouldn't agree to pay for a border wall.
"Unless Mexico will treat the US fairly, with respect, such a meeting is fruitless, and I want to go a different route," Trump told GOP lawmakers at a retreat in Philadelphia. "I have no choice."
He went on to say that "border security is a serious, serious issue and a national problem. Most illegal immigration is coming from our southern border."
The issue of illegal immigration was a major campaign theme for Trump, who framed it as an economic and security challenge threatening the US. One of his first acts as president was to sign two executive orders for construction of a US-Mexico border wall and increasing the number of border patrol officers and immigration enforcement officers who carry out deportations.
During the campaign, Trump went to Mexico City to meet Pena Nieto and said he discussed the wall but not who would pay for it -- a claim the Mexican president disputed. Pena Nieto took to Twitter after the meeting to say that "I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall."
Still, the meeting was a political debacle for the Mexican leader, and the nationalist backlash against Trump is bolstering the political fortunes of leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who Schecter noted now leads national polls on the 2018 election.
Trump has also railed against Mexico and the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he has described in tweets as "a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers ... of jobs and companies lost" that has created a trade deficit. He has repeatedly said he wants to renegotiate the deal, which many experts agree wouldn't be a bad thing, given that it was originally written at a time when intellectual property, the Internet and e-commerce weren't major economic drivers.
Schecter pointed out that the economies of the three NAFTA countries -- the US, Canada and Mexico -- are so intertwined that cross-border production chains "mean 40 cents' worth and 25 cents' worth of every dollar we import from Mexico and Canada, respectively, is US content."
"President Trump is right, NAFTA should be updated," said Schecter. "But not in an atmosphere of recrimination."
CNN's Leyla Santiago contributed to this story.
Republicans preferred in Iowas 4 congressional races
Republicans hold an advantage in all four of Iowas congressional districts ahead of Election Day, according to a new Iowa Poll.
We all know about Connecticut's beer and wine trails, but now cocktail lovers have a trail of their own.
Using professional opinions (including our friends over at CT Bites) and social media polling, CTVisit.com has rounded up some of the best cocktail spots in Connecticutand some of them can be found here in southwestern Connecticut.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
NORWALK For the first time in years, Norwalk Community College leaders did not present a legislative agenda as they hosted nearly two dozen state leaders to the college Wednesday morning for the annual Legislative Breakfast.
During the event, college leaders tend to express their priorities to state leaders as they make their way through the legislative session, but this year school leaders simply requested a cut in funding that would be no less than what Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed in his budget at 4.4 percent.
We dont have an agenda today, but we sure have a request, said Moira Lyons, director of government and community relations at the college. Please do not take our system and go below ... what the governors proposal in his budget presented to you. We will have an extremely difficult time swimming in that deep water. Its going to be really hard. So please do not do that.
David L. Levinson, president of the college, acknowledged that there are some challenging times ahead.
Right now if you look at the cut, that 4.4 percent in the governors proposed budget, that would mean for us about a $1.12 million cut, Levinson said. That may not sound like a lot, but it is.
He said that cut would come after others that have forced the college to keep roughly 50 positions vacant and that any more would be something the college could simply not afford.
Comments were made as Norwalk Community College students prepared and served food. State leaders filled the room at circular tables drinking coffee and juice and listening to the speakers take to the podium.
Mark Ojakian, president of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, also made remarks. He said the room was filled with the most legislators of any legislative breakfast event he had been too.
He echoed others remarks of the challenges that lie ahead for the states future.
The deficit is at least $33 million and could rise to $83 million, Ojakian said. This is not something we can take a Bandaid approach to as we move forward.
Vincent Murphy, a member of the Norwalk Community College Foundation Board, illustrated some of the ways the foundation has helped the college overcome some of its financial challenges.
He highlighted the foundations scholarship programs, which he said have helped pay for students to attend NCC as well as their advancement to four-year colleges; college advancement, such as the funding five faculty positions at the college; and its ability to cover the salaries of its own employees.
All of that has been made possible, he said, by private donors.
Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, spoke at the gathering. Among other comments, he spoke on the importance to keep students as the first priority in any future decisions made about the budget.
House Minority Leader, Themis Klarides, R-Derby, made comments, comparing the states budget situation to a household trying to prioritize the limited amount of money it has to spend on what it needs to survive and thrive.
KSchultz@thehour.com; 203-354-1049; @kevinedschultz
The ride-hailing giant employs more than 200 ex-startup founders and CEOs. We asked 10 of them: What lessons have you picked up?
Having your own company is a lot easier than working in-house. Working at Uber is much busier. Its easy to get caught up in the busyness here, but my boss put it very succinctly to me one day: Just focus on the work. -- Peter Markatos, director on brand team (previously cofounder, MM)
Related: Inspiration From 7 Legendary Business Titans
2. Be agressive.
Many others will pursue the same idea as you in parallel. So how fast you move, big you bet, and relentlessly you pursue the mission of your company is likely to be the difference maker. -- Andrew Macdonald, regional GM of India, Southeast Asia, LatAm, ANZ (previously founder, ShopMyClothes)
3. Empower all.
This yields radical results. Giving and encouraging true ownership from everyone, be it the leaders of large teams or individual engineers, generates awe-inspiring hustle and breakthrough innovation. -- Aaron Schildkrout, head of rider/driver product (previously cofounder, HowAboutWe.com)
4. Admit cluelessness.
Its a strength. I used to think good managers always know the answers. Now I know great managers have the courage to admit what they dont know so they can learn from the people who do. -- Wayne Ting, GM, Northern California cities (previously cofounder, CampusNetwork)
Related: 25 Powerful Quotes Entrepreneurs Can Use to Motivate and Inspire
5. Always be disrupting.
At Uber were simultaneously changing transportation and food delivery and freight delivery, reminding me that its possible to think and act even bigger. -- Kim Fennell, business development head (previously president and CEO, deCarta)
6. Ideate inclusively.
Moments of genius occur on a daily basis, but often you will not generate them. Allow anyones epiphanies to make their way into the product. Rotate participation and force those who are quiet to speak up. -- Jahan Khanna, senior product manager, global vehicle solutions (previously cofounder, Sidecar)
7. Ownership is an attitude.
At a small startup, you know that every action you take makes an impact. In a bigger company, its easy to lose sight of that sense of ownership. But if you keep the same attitude, you can make every action count. -- Nuri Kim, product designer (previously cofounder, Gist)
8. Have a purpose.
Weve expanded, but our mission has always been the same: to provide transportation for everyone, everywhere. When you have a clear North Star, its easy to make sure the work everyone is doing maps to the same goal. -- Kate Zhang, engineering manager II (previously cofounder, Fetching Allure)
9. Prioritize!
Its important to prioritize strategic long-term projects. Urgent can get in the way of important in a fast-paced startup. It takes thoughtful prioritization to strike a healthy balance. -- Meron Alon, operations manager, global trust and safety (previously cofounder, Bala Hospitality)
Related: 5 Things the Best Leaders Do Every Day
10. Seek input.
Surround yourself with people who will elevate your work. Im always reviewing mine with other designers at the company. They push me to think differently and teach me new skills. As a result, my craft is constantly improving. -- Sarah Carole, product designer (previously founder, Sidecar Stationery)
Related:
Uber Employs 200 Ex-Founders and CEOs. We Asked 10 for Their Lessons Learned.
How to Get Started in Ecommerce for Less Than $100
What I Learned From Mentoring Startups in the World's Best Accelerators
Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
The crisis in the humanities that we see today does not concern numbers so much as belief. A society dedicated to empiricism and utilitarianism is a society that does not recognize the superiority of philosophic knowledge, or the importance of the aesthetic
It is now a year-and-a-half since I had the opportunity to visit the Russell Kirk Center in Mecosta, Michigan to attend a seminar at which I have the pleasure to meet the late scholars widow, as well as The Imaginative Conservatives Senior Contributor Bruce Frohnen, and many other conservatives from throughout the United States and Latin America. Those who have had similar good fortune will know that one would be hard-pressed to find a more cultured atmosphere, better company, or more intellectually stimulating conversation. Among the topics we discussed was the now much-analyzed decline in the humanities, one of the speakers presenting a lecture on the reduction in numbers of university students pursuing humanities degrees and professors teaching in humanities departments, together with the increase in the numbers of students and professors working in departments dedicated to science, math, technology, and engineering. That lecture put me on to a line of thought to which I have periodically returned since that time, and which I have finally decided to commit to paper.
That the current state of the humanities is far from healthy is a contention that few who frequent this forum of ideas would deny. But such a basic fact is one thing and its nature is another. If we are to understand the current state of the humanities we must be honest about where problems really do lie and where they do not. The numbers alone do not tell even half the story. The most serious factors in this crisis defy numerical analysis. But despite the existence of such a crisis, there remain ways in which the humanities are in a better state than an analysis of statistical shifts occurring over the past half-century would seem to indicate. I would even go so far as to claim that a preoccupation with the statistics betrays a surrender to one of the most serious errors that defenders of humane learning must oppose: the exaltation of the quantifiable and empirical over the philosophic and the aesthetic.
No realistic analysis of the statistics can be made without taking into account the changes in the nature of universities that have taken place over the past century-and-a-half. Universities, when they were first founded in the Middle Ages, educated a small fraction of the population and were centers for humane study. Schools roughly analogous to contemporary high schools provided a more solid grounding in the classics than than do most contemporary graduate degrees in the humanities. But even these schools educated a distinct minority. Most preparation for a profession or trade took place in other contexts, commonly through an apprenticeship. The paradigm of the apprenticeship, however, was not limited to trades. Sons of successful businessmen who intended to follow in their fathers footsteps would serve as apprentices in counting houses. Those going into medicine would study directly under practicing doctors. Those looking to become officers in the army or navy would begin as gentleman volunteers or as midshipmen. In the early United States, law was studied informally under a practicing lawyer or judge, while in England the same studies took place within the professional associations known as the Inns of Court, rather than at Oxford or Cambridge.
Because universities were known to provide a high-level education, at least until sometime in the twentieth century, considerable prestige was conferred upon those possessing a university degree. This led to increases in the number obtaining such degrees and to the positive mania for them which developed in the twentieth century. The resultant nosedive in educational standards is too well known for the point to be belabored. What is often overlooked is the fact that universities ceased to be what they once werea training in the classics and in theology for the relative few. They became instead conglomerates, providing traditional courses of university studies alongside various other forms of professional training and preparation for trades that historically had taken place in other contexts.
One reason why a person today with, say, a bachelors degree in business with have an easier time finding work than one with a bachelors degree in the humanities is that, by contemporary standards, both confer equal prestige, while the business degree shows knowledge of the profession for which someone is being hired. This is not the same situation as, say, that in the eighteenth century; then, the rare person who attained a bachelors degree in the humanities might find himself in competition with someone who spent two years as an apprentice in a counting house. (A contemporary approximation of such a situation would be one in which someone with a doctorate in the humanities is competing with someone who has a bachelors in business.)
During the first period of influx of a large proportion of the population into the universities, many students followed something along the lines of a traditional university course of studies. But the more that attendance at universities became the norm, the more that university degrees lost their unique status. And, increasingly, students sought to pursue a course of employment preparation rather than a traditional course of university studies. The decline within university humanities departments is explained to a significant degree by this development.
It is also necessary to look beyond the confines of the academic world. The ability to earn ones living, say, as a writer, a critic, or an editor is greater today than it has ever been. For most of history, the man who earned his living by his pen was an anomaly, and before the eighteenth century he was usually dependent upon royal or aristocratic patronage. Government funding for writers, musicians, and artists is a contemporary form of the older tradition of patronage. In the eighteenth century it was considered remarkable that Alexander Pope earned a comfortable living from popular sales of his writing. Later in the same century no less a literary giant than Samuel Johnson was barely able to survive by his pen, and still needed a royal pension during his final years. Not until the nineteenth century did it become common for writers to be able to live off sales rather than off patronage; only towards the later part of that century, or early in the twentieth, had living off the sale of ones writing been sufficiently customary to seen as a norm.
The crisis in the humanities that we see today does not concern numbers so much as belief. A society dedicated to empiricism and utilitarianism is a society that does not recognize the superiority of philosophic knowledge (let alone religious knowledge) or the importance of the aesthetic. Such errors are undoubtedly a factor in the declining numbers within the academic humanities. The subjection of studies within the humanities to empiricism and utilitarianism, as well as to Frankfurt critical theory, goes far to explain why study of the humanities has today often been distorted almost beyond recognition.
As long ago as the seventeenth century, the English-speaking world saw academies associated with Puritanism began to place an increased emphasis on practical disciplines, while Roman Catholics and High Anglicans more fully maintained the classical, humane tradition. Today, the dividing line between those who promote humane learning in the university and those who favor a utilitarian program is not a religious one, or even a political one. Within conservatism itself we have the camp of the business-oriented Philistine, concerned with the bottom line and indifferent to high culture; indeed, the American Right today is dominated by the philosophy of classical liberalismeconomically oriented and historically grounded in Puritanism and in the Whig tradition. A revival of the humanities would thus require, among conservatives, a return to the culture and the erudition found among the Southern Agrarians, and such figures as Richard Weaver and Russell Kirk.
Books on the topic of this essay may be found in The Imaginative Conservative Bookstore.
Col. Greg Gadson will give a motivational speech on Tuesday, Feb. 28, during the Aurora Cooperatives annual meeting at the Pinnacle Bank Expo Center at Fonner Park.
Gadsons speech is just one of many events planned during the two-day annual meeting, which will also feature Gov. Pete Ricketts speaking on Tuesday.
Decorated Army commander Gadson will begin his presentation before lunch at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday. Understanding that hard work and determination are key factors in overcoming life-altering setbacks, Gadsons biggest challenge happened in Iraq when an IED attack led to both of his legs being amputated above the knees.
On Monday, Feb. 27, owner profitability workshops will feature Georgia farmer Randy Dowdy.
Dowdy is the 2016 soybean yield record holder after growing 171.8-bushel soybeans. Attendees will have two opportunities on the 27th to hear his secrets to soybean success.
Other workshop speakers on Monday will include Al Dutcher, Extension agricultural climatologist; Daryl Erickson of INTL FCStone; Craig Peitig, AGPs director of export trading; Ryan Sherwood, Aurora Cooperatives vice president of grain merchandising; and Jeff Stolle, Nebraska Cattlemens vice president of marketing.
Registration for Monday will begin at 10:30 a.m. with lunch to be served. The owner profitability workshops will kick off at noon. A reception with cocktails and appetizers will be after the workshops until 7 p.m.
Both days will include a silent auction with funds going to the newly formed Aurora Cooperative Co-worker Crisis Fund. This fund was created to assist employees and their families with serious medical issues.
We are excited to host this two-day event that is focused on our owners, their profitability and how we put their equity to work for their cooperative, said Chris Vincent, Aurora Cooperatives chief executive officer.
Registration for Tuesday will begin at 8 a.m. Aurora Cooperative will have staff on hand from all divisions to visit about products and services throughout the day. The stockholders business meeting will begin at 9 a.m.
Ricketts will give some remarks on property taxes and other agricultural topics before Vincents address.
Aurora Cooperative encourages those interested in attending this two-day event to pre-register online at auroracoop.com or contact member services representative Amanda Buchfinck at (402) 694-2106 or abuchfinck@auroracoop.com.
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
For those looking for good news on the foreign-policy front under President Trump, his selection of Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as national security adviser should be very welcome.
McMaster couldnt be more different from his deposed predecessor, Michael Flynn, in personality and in his likely approach to this key position. Where Flynn was hot-tempered, narrowly focused and prone to conspiracy theories, McMaster is a strategic thinker with a broad grasp of global issues who is comfortable with complexity, consults widely and listens intently.
You cannot be anything but moved by his extraordinary grasp of the security issues facing the United States, says Alan Luxenberg, president of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, where McMaster spoke Friday. What really impresses you is his sense of humility and willingness to listen to other people.
Those qualities strategic thinking, steadiness, a grasp of complexity and integrity are critical for someone whose job is to create a coherent foreign policy process for this president. They are especially vital given the current state of disarray and uncertainty at the National Security Council, where any deliberations may be undercut by presidential tweets.
So McMaster will have his work cut out for him. No one is certain about the role that will be played by Stephen Bannon, the former Breitbart News chairman who is the presidents chief political strategist but was given a permanent seat on the council, a sharp break with tradition. The risk that the process will be politicized is there.
Nor is it yet clear whether McMaster will be able to choose his own deputy and staff without interference from White house operatives an issue that reportedly discouraged Trumps first choice to replace Flynn, retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, from taking the job. One good sign was the fact that when announcing his choice of the general, Trump made no mention of K.T. McFarland, Flynns chosen deputy, who still holds the position. She should go, too.
But heres another quality that may stand the new White House adviser in good stead: His impressive history of challenging superiors on strategies that he felt did a disservice to the military or the country he served.
McMaster first made a name for himself in 1997 when he turned his Ph.D. thesis from the University of North Carolina into the widely praised book Dereliction of Duty. The book harshly criticized high-ranking officers of the mid-1960s for failing to challenge Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and President Lyndon B. Johnson on their Vietnam strategy, even though they knew the strategy wasnt working.
After winning won a Silver Star during the 1991 Gulf War, then-Col. McMaster became famous in the mid-2000s for challenging the refusal of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush administration to recognize the growing insurgency in Iraq. The colonel devised a counterinsurgency strategy that led to victory in the battle for the city of Tal Afar, and later worked with Gen. David Petraeus on broader counterinsurgency operations.
Because of his tendency to argue against the status quo, McMaster was passed over for promotion to general in 2006 and 2007 despite his stellar reputation. His case became a litmus test for whether the best-performing officers in combat would be stymied from advancing. He eventually got his promotion in 2008.
Most recently, the now-three-star general served as head of the Armys training and doctrine command analyzing the role the U.S. military will likely play in the future. In 2014, he was praised in Time by retired Lt. Gen. Dave Barno, who commanded U.S. and Allied forces in Afghanistan in 2003 to 2005, as the 21st Armys preeminent warrior-thinker.
In a statement that also speaks to the present, Barno added: H.R. is also the rarest of soldiers one who has repeatedly bucked the system and survived to join its senior ranks.
It is this latter quality that makes McMaster such an intriguing choice for national security adviser. Many may question the wisdom of Trumps appointing so many military men to key positions, including retired Gen. James Mattis at Defense and retired Gen. John Kelly at Homeland Security.
But, having interviewed McMaster several times (all off the record), I believe his broad grasp of security issues may be just what the White House needs.
The job of national security adviser is to consult with all relevant department secretaries and synthesize their recommendations into options for the president. McMaster, who has the support of key Republican senators such as Tom Cotton of Arkansas, is levelheaded and astute on the Mideast and Iran. He recognizes the importance of NATO and European allies. He has no illusions about Russia. He believes the U. S. still has a key role to play in assuring global stability, but grasps that the nature of that role will shift in a changing world.
At the recent Munich Security Conference, one foreign leader after another expressed dismay at not knowing who spoke for America on foreign policy, as Trump oratory and tweets continued to contradict the reassuring Munich speeches of Mattis and Vice President Pence.
McMasters background obviously impressed Trump. So perhaps he can win the presidents trust and create some order in a now-chaotic foreign policy process at the White House.
One thing I think we can count on: The former general wont hesitate to tell his new boss exactly what he thinks.
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.
The St. Louis Regional Chamber has yet again honored Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in its Arcus Awards program. This year, the Universitys Healthcare Diversity Summer Camp is a finalist in the Inclusion and Talent Attraction category.
The fourth annual Arcus Awards, presented by RubinBrown LLP, will honor companies, organizations and institutions that are operating to make the St. Louis region a better place to live, work and invest. Winners will be announced live on stage. Networking begins at 5 p.m. and the program ceremony is at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23 at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch.
Vote for your business of choice at arcusawards.com. Voting lasts until noon, Wednesday, Feb. 22. Businesses are competing in their respective categories and all nominees compete for the Peoples Choice Award.
The purpose of the camp is to inspire and expose minority high school students in the region to healthcare careers they may have never considered nor thought were attainable, said Lakesha Butler, PharmD, camp coordinator and School of Pharmacy clinical associate professor.
SIUEs Schools of Nursing and Pharmacy, and the SIU School of Dental Medicine (SDM) have been working together for more than five years to offer the summer camp for area minority high school students.
The Healthcare Diversity Summer Camp extends across disciplines, the professions of nursing, pharmacy and dental medicine collaborate to promote the health sciences, added Jerrica Ampadu, PhD, assistant professor, Primary Care/Health Systems in the School of Nursing.
Research shows that minority healthcare professionals are more likely to practice in medically underserved areas, which results in improved access to healthcare, Butler continued. Therefore, the lack of current and future minority pharmacists needed to serve the growing minority population will continue to have a profound impact on the health and well-being of our nation.
We identified a problem of low minority representation in our healthcare professional schools, then we developed a solution in this pipeline program that is significantly promoting a diverse healthcare field in our region and beyond through exposure, education and experience.
The Camp enriches our region by providing a service where we can make a positive change for students to achieve, said Cornell C. Thomas, DDS, assistant dean for Admissions and Student Services at SDM. The camp exposes students to higher education, helps them overcome obstacles, allows them to interact with others and have hands-on experiences. It also allows them to gain insight into what treating patients is really like. The SIU system is a powerful institution and is involved in central and southern Illinois and the metropolitan region of St. Louis. We are making a difference that is good for all.
Participating in summer camp increases access to nursing and nursing opportunities for minority high school students, Ampadu said. By providing access to nursing, pharmacy and dental medicine, we are preparing students to live in a diverse society and to care for the most vulnerable populations.
About the St. Louis Regional Chamber: We are a broad community of leaders united for economic prosperity throughout the entire St. Louis bi-state region. Our aspiration is for St. Louis to be one of the Top 10 US regions in prosperity by 2025 as measured by selected economic indicators. Our one purpose is to inspire a greater St. Louis. Together, we will make St. Louis a more attractive place for people to live, work and invest. We will win on todays regional strengths in focused economic clusters: financial services, health, multimodal logistics and biosciences. We will champion a better tomorrow through community leadership on three priorities: greater educational attainment, inclusion and talent attraction, entrepreneurship and innovation. We will help unite the public and private sectors to advance and secure policy necessary to support our plan.
Todays pharmacists improve patients lives through the medication and education they provide. Dedicated to developing a community of caring pharmacists, the SIUE School of Pharmacy curriculum is nationally recognized as a model that offers students a unique combination of classroom education, research, community service and patient care. The School of Pharmacys areas of excellence include a drug design and discovery core; pediatric practice; chronic pain research and practice; and diabetes research and practice. As the only downstate Illinois pharmacy doctorate program, the SIUE School of Pharmacy is addressing the growing need for highly trained pharmacists in a rapidly growing field.
The SIUE School of Nursings fully accredited programs are committed to creating excellence in nursing leadership through innovative teaching, evidence-based practice, quality research, patient advocacy and community service. Enrolling nearly 1,300 students in its baccalaureate, masters and doctoral programs, the School develops leaders in pursuit of shaping the nursing profession and impacting the health care environment. SIUEs undergraduate nursing programs on the Edwardsville campus and the regional campus in Carbondale help to solve the regions shortage of baccalaureate-prepared nurses and enhance the quality of nursing practice within all patient service venues. The Schools graduate programs prepare nurses for advanced roles in clinical practice, administration and education.
The SIU School of Dental Medicine students manage approximately 35,000 patient visits each year at its patient clinics in Alton and East St. Louis. In addition, students offer oral health treatment, screenings and education to more than 10,000 people annually through a wide variety of off-campus community outreach events. These opportunities provide students the training they need to graduate and become highly skilled dentists. The School of Dental Medicine is a vital oral health care provider for residents of southern and central Illinois, and the St. Louis metropolitan region.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Mayong Suryo Laksono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
Feb. 21 saw the 11th hearing in the blasphemy trial of Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama. There were no TV cameras inside the courtroom during the session, let alone live broadcast, as decided by the panel of judges when the trial began on Dec. 13.
Presiding judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarso told the press back then that live TV coverage was permitted, except during testimony of witnesses.
For freedom of the press campaigners, such a limitation constitutes a violation of peoples right to information, hence a transgression of democracy.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Tri Winarno (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
In 2016, the global economy was shocked by very powerful political earthquakes in the form of the victory of the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom and the election of Donald Trump as the 45th US president.
A political tsunami occurred because the failure of the elites to respond to populist discontent over the political uproar in the prevailing modern democratic system. As a result, the world is facing increasing political, security and economic risks.
Therefore, it is really worrying that the World Bank has revised its 2017 global economic growth forecast to 2.7 percent, far lower than the worlds estimated economic growth of 3.1 percent in 2016.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Melissa Cheok (Bloomberg) Wed, February 22, 2017
Its a hat-trick for Bangkoks Gaggan: The Indian restaurant in Thailand topped the closely watched list of Asias 50 Best Restaurants for the third straight year.
Chef Gaggan Anand opened his eponymous restaurant in the Thai capital in 2010. He first won the top spot in 2015, two years after the crowd behind the 50 Best franchise debuted the Asian version of the rankings.
the year of the coq... quail chettinad roast #gaggan #quail # #asia50best #world50best A post shared by Gaggan (@gaggan_anand) on Feb 15, 2017 at 5:33am PST
The first time I thought I was lucky, but last year I really worked hard, and here I am now today, Anand said by phone, soon after finding out the results. The only thing I wanted was to create that unique experience for every customer in 2016.
Read also: Djakarta Bali: A love story once unrequited
Anands visually creative dishes are described as progressive Indian. The restaurants 25-course tasting menu is written only in emoji-like symbols.
.... new emoji 25 courses menu .. starts Monday .. the most challenging menu so far A post shared by Gaggan (@gaggan_anand) on Jan 13, 2017 at 7:45am PST
This year, Singapore had three restaurants in the top 10, more than any other city, led by Restaurant Andre, which nudged up one notch to second place.
The annual list is compiled based on votes of 300 food writers, critics, chefs and others, who are asked about their best restaurant experience, according to William Reed Business Media, which also publishes the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants list.
The top 10:
1. Gaggan, Thailand
2. Restaurant Andre, Singapore
3. Amber, Hong Kong
4. 8-1/2 Otto E Mezzo Bombana, Hong Kong
5. Nahm, Thailand
6. Narisawa, Japan
7. Nihonryori Ryugin, Japan
8. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, China
9. Odette, Singapore
10. Burnt Ends, Singapore
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Khristian Ibarrola (Inquirer.net/Asia News Network) Wed, February 22, 2017
With technological advancement making human workers more expendable each day, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wants to somehow regulate the inevitable rise of the machines.
The tech mogul, as per Forbes, reportedly wants to impose tax to robot workers in order to offset the impending job losses. By doing so, corporations or even the government could fund training for positions where humans are still needed, including child and senior care.
Read also: Google's latest AI invention lets you duet with computer
Despite its many potential loop holesincluding the probable scenario of worker robots becoming unreasonably expensiveGates is convinced that taxation is key to making the transition more feasible for human workers.
More so, the Windows godfather is also convinced that government should be figuring [policy] out to further prepare the sudden avalanche of unemployed workers.
His suggested initiative, however, was already rejected by the European Parliament, which is reportedly focusing on crafting regulations and establishing ethics when it comes to deploying robots.
This article appeared on the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Qraved (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017 13:09 2083 a291276806121264c0bd211cde1337ad 3 Food qraved,#Qraved,dog-friendly-restaurant,jakarta,food,animals,restaurant,#restaurant,#food Free
What's more fun than enjoying brunch on a Sunday morning? Walking and playing with your pets, of course.
In some places in Jakarta, you can do both. Below are a list of dog-friendly places where diners can experience fun times with their four-legged friend.
Caswell's
A post shared by ApriliAstrid (@astridaprilia_ap) on Feb 18, 2017 at 5:28am PST
Above all else, Caswells is praised by a lot of people because it provides a huge lawn where you can unleash your dogs and let them play on a green field. Better yet, you can do just that while enjoying Caswell's great coffee choices, from their single origin coffees to blends and roasts.
Turning Point
A post shared by Novelia Gunario (@noveliagunario) on Nov 26, 2016 at 5:48am PST
Living in Serpong or find yourself strolling around the area with your dogs on a Sunday morning? Then Turning Point is a must. Minimalist and cozy, this coffee shop is a comfortable place for both you and your dogs. It also carries beans and house blends from local micro-roasters and cafes, such as Morph, Common Grounds and Tanamera.
Read also: Must-try burger joints in Senopati
Por Que No
A post shared by PorQueNo? (@porquenojkt) on Jan 14, 2017 at 10:03pm PST
Por Que No is not only known for its great selection of tapas and cocktails, it also has that welcoming ambiance with a friendly colorful vibe that apparently also applies to dogs. The joint welcomes everyone with dogs looking to chill every Sunday.
HaloNiko!
A post shared by HaloNiko! (@warunghaloniko) on Nov 29, 2016 at 7:51pm PST
Once you visit HaloNiko! in Pasar Minggu you can easily guess that this cafe is dog-friendly judging by the image of the dog owned by joint's owner. Also, don't ignore the fact that HaloNiko! serves a good selection of Greek dishes, so you can enjoy your favorite Greek meatballs and chicken gyros with perfect seasoning.
Antipodean
A post shared by D (@itsdewitob) on Dec 27, 2016 at 8:53pm PST
For those who live around Kemang or in South Jakarta, paying a visit to Antipodean on a Sunday morning might be a routine. With various brunch options to enjoy (the All-Day Breakfast with perfect scrambled eggs is a must-try), this isn't the only reason why people love to visit. The dog-friendly environment makes it easier for people and their canines to make friends with others. (kes)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ni Nyoman Wira (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017 14:52 2083 a291276806121264c0bd211cde137e70 1 Art & Culture setan-jawa,Garin-Nugroho,world-premiere,Australia,black-and-white-movie,movies,#movies,local-movie Free
Setan Jawa (Satan Jawa), the first black-and-white film by Indonesian celebrated director and producer Garin Nugroho, is slated to have its world premiere on the opening night of the Asia Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts at the Melbourne Art Centre, Melbourne, Australia, on Feb. 24.
The screening will reportedly feature a live gamelan orchestra led by Indonesian legendary Javanese gamelan artist Rahayu Supanggah and accompanied by 20 pengrawit (gamelan musicians), who will collaborate with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Iain Grandage.
Setan Jawa by @garin_film world premier at Hamer Hall @artscentremelbourne for @asiatopa with live orchestra by @melbournesymphonyorchestra #asiatopa #setanjawa #artscentremelbourne #silentfilm #filmmuto #liveorchestra A post shared by Setan Jawa (@setanjawamovie) on Feb 20, 2017 at 3:48am PST
Inspired by black-and-white films, Nosferatu (1922) and Metropolis (1927), combined with Javanese mythology, the film is set in the early 20th century at the birth of the industrial era and the poverty it caused in Java. This situation encouraged people to find mythical ways in order to get rich, including pesugihan kandang bubrah (making a deal with the devil). A poor young man, Setio, is no exception. He decides to seek luck through pesugihan kandang bubrah after falling in love a princess from an aristocratic Javanese family named Asih and later having his proposal rejected. However, his decision has its consequences and Setio indeed has to pay for what he has done.
Read also: Garin Nugroho's silent film 'Setan Jawa' to premiere in September
In a press release, Garin says that Satan Jawa is part of his childhood memory during his time in Yogyakarta. Satan Jawa [] is a phenomena of contemporary and visual language experimentation; it combines visual arts, theater, dance, fashion and music within the room of free interpretation, he adds.
Starring Heru Purwanto, Asmara Abigail and Luluk Ari, the film is scheduled to be screened in Holland Festival in Amsterdam in June, Singapore in July and the United Kingdom in November. (kes)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017 13:00 2083 a291276806121264c0bd211cde13309c 1 Lifestyle North-Korea,#NorthKorea,English,teacher,English-teacher,vacancy Free
Considering a big move? Well, you might be in luck, as the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology is currently searching for an English teacher.
The private North Korean university is looking for an energetic, responsible and well-qualified professional teacher with relevant English teaching experience according to the job offer posted on Hey Success, a British requirement website.
Applicants must also have a Masters degree in any subject, as well as at least one years classroom English teaching experience at the high school, college or university level. English teaching qualifications like TEFL/ CELTA/ TESOL are also preferred. Interestingly, most of the eligible candidates' origin countries are non-English speaking ones like Argentina, China and Cambodia.
Read also: Five interesting facts about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
The university is also looking specifically for someone with a long-term mindset who will be willing to stay in North Korea for several years, and who will be able to commit to an entire 15-week semester.
The offer does not mention benefits or salary, but previous English teachers in the hermit country have had to pay a US$1,000 fee that "covers a return air ticket from Beijing to Pyongyang," as well as "a North Korean visa, weekend excursions around the country, all meals and three-star hotel accommodation, as reported by Sputnik News.
The listing reminds applicants that due to the nature of the work and campus-based lifestyle, candidates should also be willing to work as part of a team, submit to authority, and exercise flexibility, cross-cultural sensitivity and perseverance. (sul/kes)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Rasha Madkour (Associated Press) Wed, February 22, 2017
Viet Thanh Nguyen's new book, "The Refugees," is both timely, given the current debate about refugees in America, and timeless in its exploration of universal human struggles.
This gorgeous collection of short stories recalls Jhumpa Lahiri's "Interpreter of Maladies," but with Vietnam as the loose center around which the richly drawn characters orbit. There's Liem, a newly arrived refugee whose "habit of forgetting was too deeply ingrained, as if he passed his life perpetually walking backward through a desert, sweeping away his footprints." There are longtime residents Mr. and Mrs. Khahn, distant from their American-raised children, as well as those who stayed behind, like Phuong, wistful for a different future. And there's Claire, an American transplant with no familial ties to the southeast Asian nation who explains to her incredulous father that she has a "Vietnamese soul."
Read also: Dissecting 'Nirzona', a love story narrated through Aceh's social and cultural contexts
Nguyen convincingly takes on the voices and lives of these myriad characters, whose stories highlight not only the unique horrors that drive people to become refugees, but also the universal experiences that affirm their humanity from the transformation of a 13-year-old "brave enough to say what I had suspected for a while, that my mother wasn't always right" to the heartbreak and turmoil of a woman losing her husband to the fog of dementia.
Nguyen won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his 2015 novel "The Sympathizer." The writing in "The Refugees" is resonant and evocative, abounding with delightful descriptions: "tears of rust streaking the walls," ''a countertop with black veins in the grouting," ''a white Toyota Land Cruiser speckled with measles of rust."
Above all, the mark of a good short story is a reader's investment in the characters within pages of meeting them and sadness at having to let them go shortly thereafter. This reader felt that over and over in "The Refugees." It is a must-read.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin N. Adri (The Jakarta Post) Balikpapan Wed, February 22, 2017
A pesut (Irrawaddy dolphin) that was found trapped in a swamp in Sangkuliman village, Kutai Kartanegara regency, East Kalimantan, is now free after local animal activists facilitated the mammals return to the Mahakam River.
According to locals, the pesut had been trapped in the area for two weeks, said Innal Rachman, an activist from Save the Mahakam Dolphin.
Following up on the report, the Rare Aquatic Species Indonesia (RASI) conservation foundation and Save the Mahakam Dolphin sent five people to check on the condition of the mammal. The East Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) also deployed a team to assist the dolphin.
RASI researcher Danielle Kreb said the dolphin did not immediately return to the Mahakam River after the activists made a way for it to swim. The animal instead played around with the activists.
Kreb said the RASI team would check again on Wednesday to see whether the dolphin had managed to return permanently to the Mahakam River. Activists will lead it to the river if it cannot find its own way back to its habitat.
This is not the first time a dolphin has been found trapped in the village area. In 2002, there was a pesut trapped in Sangkuliman, said Innal. In 2009, Innal added, a dolphin and its baby were also found trapped in the swamp. Villagers and the RASI team were able to save the dolphins and return them to the Mahakam River. (trw)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Severianus Endi (The Jakarta Post) Pontianak, West Kalimantan Wed, February 22, 2017
The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, has issued an early warning for floods in the province ahead of downpours forecast for this week.
The agency issued the warning, which has been circulated via personal messaging applications, about the potential of heavy rains and rainstorms on Wednesday. The forecast is for Sambas, Bengkayang, Landak, Sanggau, Sintang, Kapuas Hulu, Melawi, Ketapang regencies and Pontianak municipalities.
Flooding has hit Sekadau regency, inundating houses near the rivers. Sekadau Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Edy Prestiyo, said Wednesday that on Feb. 19 to 20 the downpours had caused inundation of between 30 centimeters to 1.5 meters.
The water has begun receding and latest report showed only seven houses were inundated, but only for five hours. But if there is more heavy rain, flooding is likely to occur again, Edy said,
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
As female voters are likely to outnumber men, the campaign team of Jakarta gubernatorial candidate pair Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama and Djarot Saiful Hidayat is preparing to attract women in the runoff election slated for April by highlighting welfare programs.
Campaign team spokesman Raja Juli Antoni said during the campaign period, the Ahok-Djarot pair would use welfare programs currently being implemented by the city administration, such as the Jakarta Smart Card (KJP), a program to cover education funds for the poor, to attract voters.
According to our data, women favored Pak Ahok because they were interested in his programs, Raja told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. We will focus our campaigns on programs that people have really benefited from.
(Read also: Ahok, Djarot told to take leave again for runoff campaign)
During the campaign period ahead of the Feb. 15 election, including the final candidate debate earlier this month, Ahok highlighted the KJP and integrated child-friendly public spaces (RPTRA) when asked how he would solve issues facing women in the capital.
For the Ahok-Djarot team, education was a solution to other problems, Raja said.
When womens education improves, early marriage rates will decline. Thus, domestic violence could be minimized, Raja said.
During last weeks election, female voter participation was higher than that of men. In 42 of 43 districts, women surpassed men in the voter turnout, according to the Peoples Voter Education Network (JPPR), an NGO concerned with voter education.
The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU) recorded that 78.5 percent of 3.51 million registered female voters cast their ballots, compared to the mens voter turnout of 74.2 percent. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22 2017
Amid government efforts to develop connectivity in tourist destinations, domestic airlines are calling for more support to open routes to remote destinations to allay profitability concerns.
National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia finance and risk management director Helmi Imam Satriyono said the airline would suffer losses without a proper mechanism for opening new routes to places for which there was low demand, such as areas in eastern Indonesia.
The demand part should also be pushed, he said over the phone on Tuesday.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Indonesia Wed, February 22 2017
European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella is coming to Indonesia, accompanied by a delegation of European officials, with the aim to strengthen European Union-Indonesia and EU-ASEAN dialogues and cooperation on environment, climate change and the governance of a sustainable ocean economy.
Vella and Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar will launch together the first session of the bilateral working group on environment and climate change, set up in the framework of the EU-Indonesia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.
Speaking in a statement ahead of his journey, Vella said, The European Union, like Indonesia, knows that the success of the blue, sustainable ocean economy depends on keeping our oceans healthy. We are also working together to ensure the sustainability of green land-based resources. I look forward to deepening those blue and green ties in the months and years to come.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
The Indonesian Pension Fund Association (ADPI), in cooperation with the Financial Services Authority (OJK), will hold a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about the importance of pension funds.
About 120 million Indonesian workers and college graduates to-be are expected to start investing for their retirement in the next five years, OJK commissioner Dumoly Pardede said during the introduction of the Pension Day event to be held on April 20.
This year, 24 million people are expected to join the pension fund.
Pardede said the total value of assets of all pension funds in Indonesia accounted for Rp 800 trillion (US$ 60 billion) with 70 million participants. The majority of these assets are invested as non-state budget infrastructure funding (PINA).
According to law No.11/1992, there are only two pension funds in the nation: the Financial Institution Pension Fund (DPLK) and Employer-Sponsored Pension Funds (DPPK), which belong to ADPI.
However, there are other types of pension fund such as Workers Social Security Agency (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan), pension insurance Taspen and state insurance Asabri.
ADPIs Pension Day has been three years in the making, with activities including various competitions and roadshows.
The ADPI and Pension Day committee will visit colleges, religious organizations and companies in regions throughout the country. (dra/bbn)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
The Bogor administration in West Java plans to demolish a bridge over Kali Baru River in Bojonggede district because it is deemed to have contributed to flooding in the area.
The bridge that connected Bojonggede and Kemang would be demolished due to the massive amount of trash that was often stuck underneath hampering the flow of water and worsening flooding in the area, an official has said.
Agus Apuy, an official with Bogor's Public Works and Spatial Planning Agency, overseeing roads and bridges, said that his office had allocated Rp 1.7 billion (US$142,109) for the demolition. Afterward, the administration would build a new, higher bridge so there was more space for the water and trash.
"We are entering the tender phase now. We only need approval to demolish the bridge," he said on Tuesday, as quoted by t r ibunnewsbogor.com
He added that his office would communicate with other parties affected by the plan, including state-owned electricity firm PT PLN, which had cables underneath the bridge. (fac/evi)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
The Indonesian government has started the process of converting concessions and plantations in peatlands into conservation areas in its effort to prevent peat fires, which occur every year across the country. The conversion was targeted to cover 2.5 million hectares of land.
The peat conversion plan has been laid out in four ministerial regulations issued as a follow-up of the revision of a government regulation on peatland protection and the governments peatland hydrological area (KHG) map.
Recently completed by the Environment and Forestry Ministrys environmental pollution and damage control directorate general, the map divides Indonesias peatland areas into two categories, namely conservation and production.
According to the map, there should be 12.4 million ha of conservation areas and 12.2 million ha of production areas.
Plantations in peatland that were converted into concessions will be converted back to their original functions, the ministry said.
(Read also: Indonesia, EU to strengthen cooperation on environment conservation)
Signed by Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar on Wednesday, the ministerial regulations stipulate that concession owners are prohibited from planting on areas designated as conservation areas.
For companies already growing commodities on the conservation areas, the government has allowed them to harvest their commodities only once.
After that, they are not allowed to plant in the areas. They are also required to recover [the peat areas] and allow them to be used for conservation purposes, the ministrys sustainable forest management director-general, Ida Bagus Putera Parthama, said.
The plan will affect at least 101 concession owners, but no further details were provided about the number of plantation owners that will be affected by the changes. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Wed, February 22 2017
Thanks to democracy, citizens can exercise their right to assemble and to free speech through demonstrations without having to fear criminal charges. Such a luxury, which eluded us during the New Order era, was what hundreds of people from various Muslim groups capitalized on when they thronged outside the House of Representatives building in Central Jakarta on Tuesday for what they called the second 212 movement.
Traffic congestion on the main roads around the House premises was an unwanted consequence of the rally, and unrelenting heavy rain that started early in the morning contributed to it. The Jakarta Police anticipated the impacts of the huge turnout of people on road users heading to schools and offices, but opening the House of People to the protesters could have eased the gridlock.
Fear of the possibility of the protesters occupying the House the way the anti-government students did in May 1998 apparently was too strong. As was the worry of a hidden agenda to topple the legitimate government.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Ni Kormang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar, Bali Wed, February 22, 2017
Prosecutors at the Denpasar District Court demanded on Tuesday that a British man and his Australian girlfriend be sentenced to eight years in prison for allegedly murdering a local policeman.
In two separate hearings with the same prosecutors, the prosecution asked the panel of judges to declare the couple guilty of violating Article 170 of the Criminal Code for collective assault that resulted in death.
Previously in the indictment, the prosecutors charged David James Taylor, 34, and Sara Connor, 45, under three articles: 338 on murder, 351 on violence and article 170.
However, previous hearings revealed that Taylor and Connor had been involved in a fight with the policeman, I Wayan Sudarsa.
We decided not to use Article 338 on murder as it was revealed that the defendants did not intend to kill the victim. There was a fight, prosecutor Agung Jayalantara said during the hearing.
The prosecutors considered several mitigating and aggravating circumstances for both defendants.
The prosecutors alleged that Taylor had taken the victims life and caused public disquiet. However, Agung said his team considered mitigating circumstances in Taylors case, such as he had never been convicted, he had shown remorse, was cooperative during the trial and had apologized to the victims family.
Meanwhile for Connor, besides alleging that she took part in the crime, prosecutors deemed Connor had been uncooperative and made convoluted statements during trial, Agung added.
Connor became emotional upon hearing the prosecutions demand.
The pair, through their respective lawyers, will deliver their defense statements in next weeks hearings.
Taylors lawyer, Yan Erick Sihombing, questioned the prosecutors demand.
For David, if he has to spend eight years [in prison], that is too much. We will fight in the defense hearing next week, he said.
Meanwhile, Connors lawyer, Robert Khuana, said the demand was baseless. He claimed that it had not been proven that Connor was involved in the crime.
What murder did Sara commit? he asked, adding that Connor had testified that she did not hit the victim but had tried to separate the two fighting men.
Taylor and Connor were arrested at a home stay in Jimbaran on Aug. 19, two days after Sudarsa of the Kuta Police was found dead on Kuta Beach. The couple were accused of causing his death during a fight with the victim on the beach in the early morning of Aug. 17.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
Thirty primary school and five junior high school buildings have been inundated by floodwaters in Bekasi regency, West Java, after rainfall intensified two days ago, according to the regencys education agency. As a result of this, some schools have been forced to temporarily close down.
The school buildings are located in areas prone to flooding such as Kaduwaringin, Cabangbungin, Muaragembong, Tarumajaya, Babelan, Cibitung and Cikarang Utara.
Floodwaters also inundated other public facilities such as houses of worship, Bekasi Education Agency head Aspuri said as quoted by tribunnews.com on Tuesday.
Overflowing rivers and poor drainage systems are blamed for the flooding, Aspuri said, adding that the inundated schools could do little to prevent the water from inundating classrooms.
It is quite impossible to get water out of the school buildings because the water will only recede when the volume of the river decreases, Aspuri said, adding that in several districts, the water level reached 1.5 meters in height, forcing schools to close down.
Some schools moved their classes to unaffected buildings so that students could continue with their studies. (saf/evi)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
As one of the most species-rich countries on earth, Indonesia attracts researchers from around the world to study the archipelagos unique ecosystems, which contain a diverse array of flora and fauna.
Indonesia, for instance, possesses 10 percent of the worlds flowering species, 12 percent of the worlds mammals and 17 percent of the total species of birds, despite occupying only 1.3 percent of the worlds land surface.
However, this rich biodiversity makes Indonesia a haven for biopiracy, a practice where natural resources and traditional knowledge are being exploited without consent.
There are lots of cases weve discovered that have occurred through research and cooperation where we havent realized that our genetic resources were being stolen, said Rosichon Ubaidillah, the head of zoology at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) biology research department.
He cited various examples, including varieties of Indonesian eggplants, the genetics of which have been mapped by the Netherlands. Theres an Indonesian researcher whose study was funded [by the Netherlands]. He unwittingly collected samples of eggplants, which now have now been genetically mapped by the Netherlands. This is very sad, Rosichon said.
Last November, Rosichon requested that his student not accept any scholarships from the German government because it required the student to collect samples of Indonesian insects in order to find new antibiotics.
I told my student that she had two options, to risk [our genetic resources being stolen] or to find another school. She finally applied for an Australian scholarship because Australia doesnt require us to bring samples to the country, he said.
Foreign countries, he added, are also allegedly trying to collect genetic samples through other means, such as cooperation with researchers in Eastern Indonesia, where foreign researchers come to teach Eastern Indonesias researchers.
Rosichon cited an example concerning Khairun University in Ternate, North Maluku. The university once worked with foreign researchers to teach them how to collect and conserve marine biodiversity, but they dont even have marine biology faculty or equipment, said Rosichon.
These incidents are only the tip of the iceberg as many biopiracy cases go undetected with little to no regulation on how to protect genetic resources in the country.
Foreign researchers, for instance, could disguise themselves as tourists and go to national parks to collect samples of tree bark, logs, dried leaves and even soil that contains living microorganisms. The samples would be brought to their countries, isolated, studied and produced as medicine or other products.
As there is no clear regulation protecting genetic resources, the House of Representatives is currently revising Law No. 5/1990 on natural resources and ecosystem conservation.
The current law only regulates information about species and ecosystems. In the latest draft of the revision bill, genetic resources have been included, Indonesian Communication Forum on Community Forestry (FKKM) executive secretary Andri Santosa, who has been involved in the deliberation of the bill, said.
The bill, which is included in the 2017 priority list, will lay out the legal framework for protection of genetic resources in the country, such as sanctions for biopiracy perpetrators, he said.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
The Directorate General of Taxation has reiterated its call to businesspeople to join the tax amnesty before the program ends on March 31, as the government will follow it with strict monitoring and law enforcement.
The call was made by Deputy Finance Minister Mardiasmo during a talk on the tax amnesty on Tuesday attended by businesspeople from various sectors under the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).
We met 250 [representatives of] associations under Kadin to convey the message to all of their members to join the tax amnesty. We have sent letters to all of the business groups, said tax authority spokesperson Hestu Yoga Saksama after the event.
(Read also: Tax office keeps sending emails to taxpayers)
As the clock is ticking toward the end of the program, Yoga said the tax authority would not be able to hold amnesty promotion events for each business association under Kadin, but all of its offices across the country would be ready to hold events if requests were made.
The tax amnesty attracted massive number of big taxpayers during the first phase between July and September last year, but experts say the governments flagship program has lost steam in its second and third phases, which together span from October until the end of March.
The tax authority is slated to hold a tax amnesty campaign event on Wednesday with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and members of Buddhist, Confucian and Hindu groups, following a previous talk for Muslims and Christians. (bbn)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
The government on Wednesday signed a guarantee agreement for the development of four toll road projects worth Rp 37 trillion (US$2.77 billion).
The guarantee was given for the construction of the Jakarta - Cikampek II Elevated toll road in Greater Jakarta, KrianLegundiBunderManyar toll road in East Java, CileunyiSumedangDawuan toll road in West Java and SerangPanimbang toll road in Banten.
The guarantee agreement for the toll road projects is to give security and convenience to investors and at the same time show the commitment of the Finance Ministry to supporting infrastructure development, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said as reported by Antara.
(Read also: Govt warns SOEs not to eat up entire infrastructure cake)
The signing ceremony was attended by Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution, Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono and other relevant officials.
The projects are the result of cooperation between the government and private companies (KPBU). The government is represented by PT Penjaminan Infrastuktur Indonesia (PII), a state-owned company under the Finance Ministry, which is mandated to provide a guarantee to the infrastructure projects.
Sri Mulyani said the guarantee covered political risks caused by law revisions and other government activities that could cause project termination.
Those factors include government policies on tariffs that have caused the halt of tariff increases for more than two years, delayed land acquisition and other factors that could cause termination of projects. (bbn)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22 2017
Its size and its location in the center of the capital have made Istiqlal Mosque the go-to place for Muslims in Jakarta.
The largest mosque in Southeast Asia, which sits on a 9.3-hectare plot of land and can accommodate more than 120,000 visitors, opens its seven gates for Muslims who want to perform their daily prayers or join annual festivities like Idul Adha (Day of Sacrifice) and Idul Fitri.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
Jakarta's assistant to the secretary for administrative affairs, Bambang Sugiono, called on officials at Jakarta's six regional election desks in mayoral and regent offices to provide information related to the current election.
So, the desks are not merely meeting places, but also a place to give information [to voters], Bambang said Tuesday during the desk evaluation, as quoted by beritajakarta.com.
Residents, Bambang continued, would be able to report their problems related to Jakarta's election directly to the desks.
In September, the local administration launched regional election desks for Jakarta located in the five mayors' offices and the Thousand Islands' regent's office.
Jakarta is getting ready for the election runoff on April 19, in which two pairs will contest the gubernatorial seat: Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno. (wnd)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Jon Afrizal (The Jakarta Post) Jambi Wed, February 22, 2017
Officers from the Jambi Police have foiled an alleged attempt by an international drug syndicate to distribute a large number of drugs in the province. Five alleged members of the syndicate were arrested by personnel from the polices narcotics division in an operation on Tuesday.
During the raid, the police confiscated 1.8 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, locally known as sabu-sabu, worth around Rp 3 billion (US$ 224,635.20). They also seized 933 ecstasy pills worth around Rp 300 million.
The crystal meth was from Guangzhou, China, while the ecstasy pills were brought from the Netherlands, said Jambi Police Brig. Gen. Yazid Fanani on Wednesday.
It was planned that the drugs would be brought to Lampung, he went on. Yazid said the police would further investigate the case.
Separately, the Jambi District Courts judge panel sentenced a drug dealer from Muarojambi to 15 years' imprisonment on Tuesday. The dealer, Budi Indrawan alias Budi Puntung, was arrested in an operation in which 1.4 kg of crystal meth was found.
The panel of judges, led by Mararoda Hafat, said the defendant was proven guilty of possessing drugs weighing more than five grams and a firearm. It charged the defendant of violating Article 112 of Law No. 35/2009 on narcotics.
[...] the defendant was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay Rp 1 billion in fines or face an additional four months' imprisonment, said Makaroda.
The panel gave both the defendant and prosecutors an opportunity to consider the ruling. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Jon Afrizal (The Jakarta Post) Jambi Wed, February 22, 2017
The Jambi Health Agency has asked residents to take preventive measures against dengue after it recorded thousands of dengue cases in the past year.
Weve found 1,552 dengue cases based on reports from health agencies in regencies and municipalities across the province, said the Jambi Health Agencys disease control and environmental health department head, Kaswendi, on Tuesday. Fourteen of the total dengue patients died, he added.
Kaswendi said the high number of dengue cases in Jambi was caused by low public awareness on the importance of ensuring a clean house and environment, where mosquito larvae is less likely to rest.
He said dengue outbreaks hit its peak in the beginning of 2016, when rainfall also reached its peak.
Flooded areas are common during the rainy season, causing a rapid spread of mosquitoes, said Kawendi.
There were 530 and 469 dengue cases reported in January and February, respectively, ranking them on top as the months with the highest number of dengue cases.
Kaswendi said all people should protect themselves from the threat of dengue, especially during the rainy season, by among others things maintaining a clean environment.
(Read also: No more 'red' dengue clusters in Singapore)
He said the most effective measure to prevent dengue was by practicing the 3M approach, which comprises burying used cans, draining water tanks and covering water reservoirs to avoid having standing stagnant water open to mosquito breeding.
There should be awareness from society to adopt a clean lifestyle, said Kaswendi. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Corry Elyda (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22 2017
Amid recent floods that have affected thousands of people in the capital and claimed at least one life, Jakartans should brace for more flooding as the peak of the rainy season has yet to end.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has predicted that heavy rain will continue to pour over Jakarta this month.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
The National Police have agreed to let the Foreign Ministry handle the case of Siti Aisyah, the Indonesian citizen who has been named a suspect by the Malaysian police in the assassination of a man believed to be Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
Siti Aisyah, a 25-year-old Indonesian citizen from Serang, was named a suspect alongside three other suspects with Malaysian, Vietnamese and North Korean passports.
The Malaysian Police are hunting for four other North Korean suspects who fled the country.
National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Rikwanto said on Tuesday the National Police, the Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia and the Directorate General of Immigration would publicize developments in the case through the Foreign Ministry.
The National Police have given the information to the Foreign Ministry. The ministry will give the releases and updates, Rikwanto said.
National Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul told The Jakarta Post that Indonesian citizens who live abroad are under the supervision of the Foreign Ministry and will receive legal assistance from Indonesian embassies if they get into trouble. (evi)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
The National Police inaugurated on Wednesday their multimedia division, which will be one of their communication channels with the public.
The new division was established to respond the growing use of social media.
We cannot only communicate through conventional channels. We must implement two-way communication with the public through social media, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said on Wednesday.
Leading the new division, Brig. Gen. Yan Fitri Halimansyah said his new position was a new challenge in his career. Among his tasks is organizing the division and preparing the personnel responsible for handling the polices public relations.
Boy said that in countering the spread of fake news, the police had to ensure that preventive measures were made in addition to dealing with those responsible for propagating misinformation. He added that the police's role was to assess reports suspected to be fake news so they would not mislead the public.
It's important for us as a state body to make clarifications to the public. First, we clarify news and then we investigate it," said Boy.
The police will investigate fake news through their Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) using Law No. 11/2008 on Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE), he added.
On whether the polices tougher measures against fake news would violate the privacy of Indonesian citizens, Boy asserted everyone must be educated about their responsibilities according to the law. "So when it comes to law enforcement, any violation can be charged and legally processed." (dis/ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin I Wayan Juniarta (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar, Bali Wed, February 22, 2017
With seas around the globe facing unprecedented pressures caused by humans reckless endeavors, ranging from exploitative fishing to pollution, prominent international institutions and industry leaders as well as scientists and government representatives are set to convene to discuss the future of a sustainable ocean economy.
The three-day World Ocean Summit on Feb. 22 to Feb. 24 will be held at the Sofitel Nusa Dua Beach Resort. As many as 360 speakers and participants are expected to attend the summit.
Organized by the global media group The Economist and sponsored by influential organizations, including the Environmental Defense Fund, The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund, the summit aims to start a new discussion on how capital and the private sector can drive scalable, sustainable investment in the ocean.
The summit is expected to provide important insights and networking opportunities for Indonesia, the worlds largest archipelagic state, as well as countries in the Asia-Pacific, most of which have significant dependence on the ocean economy. The region has also witnessed growing tensions between economic giant China and a number of its neighbors, triggered by territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla is slated to speak on Indonesias ocean and maritime agenda on the second day of the summit with The Economists editor-inchief Zanny Minton Beddoes as the interviewer.
Meanwhile, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, who is quite popular here due to her fierce crackdown on illegal fishing in Indonesian waters, will speak on the last day of the conference in the What comes next: a call for commitments panel alongside the European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella and Swedens permanent representative to the United Nations, Olof Skoog.
Other speakers include UN General Assembly President Peter Thomson, the World Banks vice president for sustainable development, Laura Tuck, the UN Environmental Programmes executive director, Erik Solheim, and former director general of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy.
Several influential figures from the global financial world, including Credit Suisses Mark Burrows, Citigroups Michael Eckhart, European Investment Banks Jonathan Taylor and Climate Bonds Initiatives Sean Kidney, will also share their thoughts in the summit.
The featured topics include investment framework for the ocean, China and the ocean economy, realizing the oceans investment potential, the global ocean agenda and scaling the response to pollution and plastics.
The last topic will see the appearance of Boyan Slat, the youngest-ever recipient of the UNs highest environmental accolade, Champion of the Earth. He is the founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, which develops advanced technologies to rid the worlds oceans of plastic. Instead of trying to clean up each piece of plastic, Slat devised a system through which, driven by ocean currents, the plastic would concentrate itself, reducing the theoretical clean-up time from millennia to mere years.
Previous ocean summits were held in 2015 in Portugal and in 2014 in the United States.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22 2017
Four political factions at the House of Representatives will press ahead with their proposal to launch an inquiry into the governments decision not to suspend Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama despite his status as a defendant.
The move gained momentum on Tuesday when thousands of conservative Muslims swarmed the Houses building to demand that lawmakers push the government to suspend the Christian governor, who is currently standing trial for alleged blasphemy.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Prima Wirayani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
State-owned port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) III plans to reclaim land at Tanjung Emas Port in Semarang, Central Java, as part of the port's development plan.
"The total reclamation area for this phase is 22 hectares on the east side of the port," Pelindo III Tanjung Emas Semarang office general manager Agus Hermawan said in Semarang on Tuesday, as quoted by Antara news agency.
The company has allocated Rp 150 billion (US$11.2 million) for the project from the port's development investment set in 2012.
(Read also: Government will construct U islet for Patimban seaport: Official)
Currently, the company is in process of arranging required licenses. "We are also in the process of submitting an environmental impact analysis to the Environment and Forestry Ministry," he added.
Port supporting facilities, such as storage tanks, docks, warehouses and storage fields, will be built on the reclaimed land in 2018. These facilities are expected to support customer businesses as they will be able to store and process materials at the port instead of taking them out of the area.
Agus expressed hope that the port expansion would accelerate loading and unloading and thus lower logistics costs.
Currently, the port's unloading time stands at an average of two ships per day. "We are implementing this work to support Central Java's economy and the mushrooming of new industries in Semarang and the local vicinity," he said.
The second phase of the reclamation will encompass 82 hectares (bbn)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
A criminal law expert testified on Tuesday that people who watched the video of Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama referencing a Quranic verse in Thousand Islands regency had a legal standing to report Ahok to the police for blasphemy, refuting an earlier defense from Ahoks lawyers that the report should have been submitted by eyewitnesses.
Ahok was reported to the police by 14 people who only knew of Ahoks speech from the viral video. None of the Thousand Islands residents who listened to Ahok's speech in person reported Ahok.
"The people who have faith in this [Quranic verse] have a legal standing to report Ahok. Their report indicates that they felt aggrieved [by Ahok's speech]," Mudzakir, a criminal law expert with the Indonesian Islamic University (UII), told the judges.
The video of Ahok's speech was uploaded to the internet by his staff members who did not edit the sensitive part, Mudzakir said.
Therefore, people who later watched the video on the internet and knew about it from news had a right to denounce Ahok, he said. (evi)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
In response to mounting public questions, the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) has reiterated that the monitoring of business competition between modern retailers and traditional markets in regions was outside its purview and instead was the domain of local administrations.
KPPU member Saidah Sakwan said that according to the Presidential Regulation No. 112/2007 on the arrangement and supervision of traditional markets and modern retailers, the right to regulate the zoning of traditional markets and modern retailers was exclusively given to regional administrations under the regional autonomy principle.
A number of regional administrations asked us how the KPPU monitors competition between traditional and modern retailers. We, however, told them that it was local officials who actually have the authority to do so through zoning [creation]," Saidah said on Tuesday in Makassar as quoted by Antara.
(Read also: Indonesian retailers eye 10 percent growth in sales this year)
The emergence of modern retailers has been blamed as the main factor behind the declining popularity of traditional markets, in which small traders find it hard to survive the price competition.
Saidah, however, said that some regional administrations, such as the one in Blitar, East Java, had created zoning that was supportive of local traders.
"In Blitar, we can find modern retailers, but they are intentionally located far from traditional markets," she said. (anh/hwa) "In Blitar, we can find modern retailers, but they are intentionally located far from traditional markets," she said.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
Indonesia and the EU held on Wednesday the first Working Group on Environment and Climate Change (WGECC) meeting, an ad-hoc group set up by the EU-Indonesia Partnership and Cooperation during a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, in November 2016.
Held at the Environment and Forestry Ministry in Jakarta, the meeting discussed key issues where the EU and Indonesia share common interests, such as climate change, biodiversity and the green economy.
In my portfolio, there is a lot of common ground on issues between the EU and Indonesia to work toward a green economy, European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella said on the sideline of the meeting.
Vella pointed out that the cooperation between the EU and Indonesia had resulted in some positive things for both sides, such as the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) scheme.
The idea for the FLEGT scheme was raised in 2003 by the EU following the Ministerial Conference on Forest Law Enforcement and Governance in Bali in 2001, where participating countries declared they would collaborate to address illegal logging.
A FLEGT license guarantees that timber has been harvested, processed and exported in accordance with national laws. Indonesia is the first exporting country to mandate that its timber exports comply with certain legal requirements. The FLEGT license is, in effect, a regulatory approach to suppressing illegal logging.
In November 2016, Indonesia and proponents of sustainable forestry management around the world celebrated the first shipment of Indonesian timber under the FLEGT license. (ebf)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22 2017
The governments plan to maintain its ready-to-sell oil production above 800,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) for the next five years has sparked scepticism among business players and experts, who consider the plan unfeasible amid a poor investment climate.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has set the ambitious target despite the countrys depleted oil reserves and the global crude prices slow rise after a startling drop in the past couple of years.
Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar said the ministry was currently preparing a short-term program in order to maintain the countrys level of ready-to-sell oil production, locally known as lifting, above 800,000 bopd, through the introduction of new technology and regular workshops with oil and gas contractors, among other things.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Lancaster County has provided a warm welcome to many refugees and immigrants, but it is not a sanctuary for immigrants who are in the country illegally, regardless of what a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization claims.
That statement deserves emphasis in the wake of an executive order issued by President Donald Trump intended to shut off federal funding for sanctuary jurisdictions.
The federal government has no list of such sanctuary jurisdictions. In the absence of any official designation, some have turned to a list compiled by the Center for Immigration Studies. The organization includes Lancaster, Douglas, Sarpy and Hall counties among 300 communities that it has dubbed sanctuaries.
Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly, in an interview with Journal Star reporter Nancy Hicks, stressed that officials here cooperate with federal immigration officials in every way except one: Local officials will not keep someone in jail simply on the basis of a detainer request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If ICE wants a person held in jail, local officials require a court order or warrant.
The issue is no idle matter in Nebraska. Sarpy County officials mistakenly held a U.S. citizen in jail for four days in 2010 when officials confused him with another man with a similar name. Fortunately for taxpayers, a federal judge concluded that regrettable mistakes were rectified at the earliest opportunity and dismissed a lawsuit filed by ACLU Nebraska.
Kelly believes Lancaster County cannot be considered a sanctuary community under the language of Trumps Jan. 25 executive order, titled Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.
Locally, police, sheriff and jail officials are in regular contact with ICE, and regularly give notice when a suspected foreign-born person is placed in custody. They also give notice when those suspects are near to finishing a jail sentence or posting bond. In fact, jail officials have notified federal immigration officials 77 times since Sept. 4, 2015, when someone was about to be released from jail.
Confusion persists on how Trumps order can be carried out. When San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman asked Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly for a definition of a sanctuary city earlier this month, John Kelly replied, I dont have a clue.
Nebraskans should ignore the aspersions being cast by a poorly researched list published by an advocacy organization with its own agenda.
Its important to remember that protection against unreasonable searches and seizures is a fundamental American right guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Prosecutor Joe Kelly is doing his job responsibly.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung says Saudi Arabia has pledged to give free haj packages to family members of the National Polices Densus 88 counterterrorism squad personnel who die on duty.
The kingdom said it would consider Densus 88 members who passed away to be martyrs, Pramono said.
The official said the deal was secured after the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) attended a recent bilateral meeting between Indonesia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on counterterrorism.
The free haj packages, Pramono said, served as a symbol of the kingdoms appreciation for Indonesias efforts to combat terrorism. In the near future, Saudi Arabia will fly out five family members of late Densus 88 personnel.
BNPT chief [Suhardi Alius] reported that after the agency attended a meeting on counterterrorism and radicalism in Saudi Arabia, it was agreed that annually the kingdom will fly five family members of Densus 88 personnel who died while on duty for free, because they are considered martyrs, Pramono said.
The kingdom made the pledge amid recent criticism for its failure to pay compensation to Indonesian pilgrims who were victims of a crane incident in November last year.
Saudi Arabia had pledged to provide 1 million riyals (US$266,607) in compensation for each dead or permanently disabled victim and 500,000 riyals for those who were less badly injured. However, nothing has been received by the victims.
Twelve Indonesians died and 49 were injured during the incident. (ary)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
Amid tighter competition in the domestic market, state-owned cement maker PT Semen Padang, a subsidiary of Indonesias largest cement producer PT Semen Indonesia, is making inroads into a new export market in Australia.
Semen Padang on Tuesday delivered 22 tons of cement for its first shipment on the Meratus Minahasa V.1705S to Sydney.
Commercial director Pudjo Suseno said that the shipment was made in response to demand from potential Australian buyers revealed at the end of last year.
To follow up that offer, the company sent product samples to Australia and created custom packages to suit their needs.
The realized export to Australia, known as a difficult market to penetrate because of its strict [import] requirements, proves that the quality of Semen Padangs products is something that the company can be proud of, Antara news agency quoted him as saying after he launched the first shipment to Australia from Teluk Bayur Port in Padang, West Sumatra.
(Read also: Semen Indonesia launches new factory construction)
Opening up new overseas markets is one of the strategies of Indonesias oldest cement producer to cope with more intense rivalry in the local market caused by oversupply.
It previously sold its products to a few Asian countries, such as Bangladesh, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Semen Padang exported 396,000 tons of cement and 90,000 tons of clinker last year and targets to deliver 571,000 tons of cement to overseas destinations.
It aims to produce 7.4 million tons of cement this year and sell 8.3 million tons of cement. (win/lnd)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
After a flood on Tuesday, the South Tangerang administration plans to make a shortcut canal in Cibenda River in South Tangerang, Banten, to prevent future floods from reaching the toll road connecting Jakarta to BSD City in Serpong district.
High-intensity rainfall caused the Cibenda River to overflow and inundate the toll road with up to 30 centimeters of floodwater. The flood caused traffic jams on the toll road.
The citys mayor, Airin Rachmi Diany, said the administration would coordinate with PT BSD Tol, the operator of the toll road, and the Ciliwung-Cisadane Flood Control Office (BBWSCC) to make the shortcut canal.
(Read also: 54 areas in Jakarta hit by floods)
I sent a letter to BBWSCC earlier. I still have to send another letter stating that PT BSD Tol will have permission to build the canal, Airin said as quoted by tempo.co.
Heavy rain caused flooding in nine areas in South Tangerang on Tuesday, including the BSD toll road, Jl. Aryaputera in Ciputat and several residential areas in Pondok Aren. The area most severely affected by flooding was Kampung Bulak in Pondok Aren, South Tangerang. (kkk)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22 2017
Desta, 16, was busy serving customers behind a cashier desk. Her eyes were fixed on a desktop screen as she gave a cursory glance at the items just ordered by a customer. Every now and then, she would scribble on a notebook to record items that had yet to be registered in the inventory.
Meanwhile, her friend, Lulu Ekawardany, 16, was carefully arranging merchandise on the shelves according to its respective category.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo stood firm on his decision to continue to allow Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama to keep hold of his post despite criticism saying that the governor should have been suspended due to his status as a defendant.
Speaking before lawmakers from the House of Representatives Commission II overseeing regional administrations on Wednesday, Tjahjo said he would accept all responsibility should his decision turn out to be legally problematic.
The politician from the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) asserted that Ahoks position as governor would depend on the prison term demanded by prosecutors in his ongoing blasphemy trial.
Tjahjo criticized lawmakers who accused him of siding with Ahok, who is running for reelection with the backing of a coalition of parties led by the PDI-P.
(Read also: Ahok apologizes to victims of flooding in Jakarta)
Yandri Susanto of the National Mandate Party (PAN), one of four parties that have demanded Ahoks suspension, for example, had actively been criticizing the government for keeping Ahok at his post despite his status as a blasphemy defendant.
I dont have any business with Ahok. I am defending the President in this case. I am ready to leave my job should my decision prove to be wrong, Tjahjo said. (bbs)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Corry Elyda (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
The floods that hit Bekasi in West Java from Sunday have claimed two lives and damaged hundreds of houses in 10 districts.
The floods occurred after hard rainfall caused the Bekasi and Cakung rivers to overflow.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) reported that the two victims were 15-year-old Jatibening resident Hengky and 16-year-old Pejuang resident Rizky.
They were found dead after being washed away by the flood, BNPB spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a press release on Tuesday.
Sutopo said the downpours during Tuesdays wee hours caused the flooding to expand to several areas, including Jati Asih, Bekasi Selatan, Mustika Jaya, Rawa Lumbu, Pondok Gede, Bekasi Barat, Pondok Melati, Bekasi Utara, Medan Satria and Bantar Gebang.
As many as 14 housing complexes in the area are inundated by floodwater ranging from 120 centimeters to 2 meters in height, he said.
He said the floods had affected 1,314 families. Around 100 families, or 400 people, have taken shelter at three sites Pondok Gede with 20 families, Bekasi Barat with 10 families and Bekasi Timur with 70 families.
The number could increase as local officials are still recording the data, he said.
Sutopo said he advised parents to watch their children during floods.
They should also check the electricity, he said.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017
For the first time in its history, the World Health Organization (WHO) has held a meeting to discuss health concerns on the annual haj.
The discussion was one of the topics in the international consultations on mass gathering preparedness and management being held in Jakarta on Feb. 21-22.
The meeting is being attended by WHO country members in Southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean region: Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Thailand.
We have to look at existing experiences. We have to keep improving our policies and practices. Its because the Health Ministry is responsible for health on the haj, whether before, during or after, the Health Ministrys expert staffer on health technology and globalization, Slamet, said during his opening speech on Tuesday.
WHO eastern Mediterranean regional office representative Mamunur Rahman Malik said that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia had formulated various health policies based on existing evidence.
All countries had to share information on health conditions so that Saudi Arabia could formulate better health policies, he noted. (evi)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Bogor Wed, February 22, 2017
The Hanura Party has inaugurated 17 members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) as its new executives.
Among the new cadres are Bali DPD member I Gede Pasek Suardika, North Sumatras Benny Pasaribu, South Sumatras Abdul Aziz and East Java DPD member Ahmad Nawardi. They only joined the party a few months ago.
The 17 are only part of more than 50 DPD members joining the party following the election of Oesman Sapta Odang, a DPD member from West Kalimantan, as Hanura chairman in December last year.
Oesman said after the inauguration ceremony in Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday that the participation of DPD members in the party would strengthen the DPD, which is striving to get lawmaking powers that currently rest exclusively with the House of Representatives.
"The participation of DPD members in the party won't disrupt their work as [regional representatives], quite the contrary, it will strengthen the DPD, because now the DPD members have a political faction to represent their voice," Oesman told The Jakarta Post.
Ahmad Nawardi told the Post that the party would increase the bargaining power of the DPD vis-a-vis the House.
"Our membership in the party will strengthen the DPD itself. I'm sure it won't create any conflict of interest, because we are willing to follow Oesman, who doesn't show too much ambition for power," Ahmad said. (ary)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, February 23 2017
Indonesia has taken one step forward and two steps back in supporting intellectual property (IP) rights and this may be hampering the growth of its creative economy.
The American Chamber of Commerce recently issued the fifth edition of the United States Chamber of International IP Index this month, with Indonesia ranking 39th out of 45 countries surveyed last year, falling from 33rd place out of 38 countries in 2015.
Indonesias rank was a result of it scoring 9.64 out of 35, much lower than the median index score of 15.39 and the regional average of 17.64, trailing behind neighbors Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, February 23 2017
Indonesia is stepping up its efforts to gain recognition from the European Union for a palm oil product certification amid an intense anti-palm oil campaign in Europe on the back of sustainability concerns.
The government planned to develop a palm oil legality scheme, similar to its domestic timber legality system (SVLK) implemented in 2013, which has gained recognition as the worlds only timber legality scheme acknowledged by the EU. The legality scheme for palm oil is expected to improve the reputation of the countrys palm oil industry, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said.
Because the palm oil industry is constantly protested internationally for allegedly creating problems, we have to find instruments that are internationally accepted, she said on Wednesday.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Liza Yosephine and Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, February 23 2017
Russia has expressed its commitment to strengthening defense and military links while Kuwait aims to maintain an excellent level of bilateral ties with Indonesia, based on two separate occasions held on Wednesday evening.
Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Mikhail Galuzin noted the openness of its military to cooperating with foreign partners and armies, including Indonesia, during a celebration for Russian Armed Forces Day, which falls on Feb. 23.
During a visit by President Joko Jokowi Widodo in May, Russia and Indonesia signed an agreement on defense cooperation.
In a meeting with host President Vladimir Putin, Jokowi expressed an intention to purchase weapons from Russia, including Kilo-class submarines and Sukhoi Su-35 multirole jet fighters.
Currently Indonesia operates older iterations of the jet fighter, the Su-27 and Su-30.
Russia is currently the worlds second-largest arms exporter after the United States, with a portfolio of orders standing at more than US$50 billion, as reported in 2016.
Further, the cooperation agreement between Indonesia and Russia also encompasses intelligence sharing. On this note, Galuzin stated a commitment to further implementing the signed cooperation.
Together with our friends, the Indonesian Military, we will make joint efforts to further expand and develop our defense cooperation, Galuzin said during his welcoming remarks.
Russias Military, Air and Naval Attache to Indonesia Col. Nikolay Nikolayuk noted the strengthened military support provided to Indonesia since its independence. The military links, he added, also increased with the agreement signed last year.
At present, we plan to fulfil the agreement by practical cooperation. And it is necessary to highlight that the Russian Federation is ready to develop this process as deep as Indonesia is ready to do it, Nikolayuk said.
Meanwhile, the Embassy of Kuwait in Jakarta hosted a reception to celebrate its 56th National Day and 26th Liberation Day.
Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin was the guest of honor representing the Indonesian government, complementing a crowd of distinguished guests from the embassies of China, Venezuela, Turkey and the Vatican, as well as luminaries from Arab countries.
Other guests included the Foreign Ministrys director general for legal affairs and international treaties, Ferry Adamhar, former foreign affairs minister Alwi Shihab and former Constitutional Court chief justice Jimly Asshiddiqie.
Lukman reiterated Indonesias firm commitment to enhancing cooperation with Kuwait in various fields, particularly trade and investment, and invited Kuwait to enhance its investments in Indonesias priority sectors such as infrastructure, maritime affairs, tourism, agriculture and plantations, as well as property and real estate.
I fully realize that there are opportunities to explore, and with this awareness, I would like to invite both Kuwaitis and Indonesians, of the private and public sectors, to join hands and work harder so that our existing relations would be more productive and fruitful, Lukman said.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Al-Sager conveyed his optimism about the two countries excellent level of bilateral relations, especially in the political, economic and humanitarian sectors.
Also there will be various [...] awaited visits of high-ranking officials between the two countries that are being arranged this year, with hopes that our relations will further grow, expanding into greater horizons [...] for the best of both countries, Al-Sager said in his speech.
Two-way trade between Indonesia and Kuwait has steeply declined over the past year, with a trade value reaching US$414.8 million in 2016, compared to $912.56 million in 2015, with most losses incurred in the oil and gas sector.
to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content
e-Post daily digital newspaper
No advertisements, no interruptions
Privileged access to our events and programs
Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017 09:02 2083 a291276806121264c0bd211cde124b5e 4 SE Asia bilateral-meeting,Jokowi,#Jokowi,Australia,Indonesia-Australia,Trade,CEPA,trade-agreement,trade-aggreement-talk Free
President Joko Jokowi Widodo will visit Australia in an effort to speed up economic cooperation after a recent row on a military training collaboration.
Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said the Presidents state visit aimed to push the ongoing negotiations on the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) that Jakarta expects to conclude this year.
The state visit to Australia will give emphasis on the completion of IA-CEPA negotiations and step up cooperation in other fields such as cyber security, mining and counterterrorism, Pramono told reporters at The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
The President will be in Australia on Feb. 25 to 26 for a reciprocal visit to meet with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who visited Jakarta on Nov. 12, 2015. Jokowis visit was once scheduled for Nov. 5, 2016 but it was delayed following a violent rally in front of the State Palace in Jakarta on Nov. 4.
The visit to Australia could be clouded by the recent suspension of military cooperation between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and its Australian counterpart and it remains unclear whether the Presidents visit will also touch on the resumption of defense cooperation between the two neighbors.
(Read also: Indonesia, Australia ties intact despite military kerfuffle)
Jakarta has partially suspended military cooperation with Canberra following a brouhaha over allegedly offensive teaching materials at a military training facility last October.
TNI chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo on Feb. 8 accepted an apology offered by visiting Australian Army chief Lt. Gen. Angus Campbell over the incident but Gatot insisted that the suspension remain on the table despite the acceptance of the apology.
Gatot was among the high ranking officials who attended a limited Cabinet meeting held by Jokowi at the State Palace on Tuesday to prepare the presidential overseas visit to Australia.
Tuesdays attendance of Gatot at the meeting raised questions over the possibility of talks on the reactivation of military cooperation between Indonesia and Australia, and whether it would lead to Jokowi inserting it into his agenda when meeting with Turnbull. However, neither Pramono nor Deputy Foreign Minister AM Fachir made any confirmation about it.
TNI spokesperson Brig. Gen. Wuryanto could not be reached for comments on Tuesday evening on the suspension of the military cooperation between Jakarta and Canberra.
Fachir said the upcoming visit of Jokowi to Australia aimed at strengthening bilateral relations between the two neighbors in order to achieve a state of affairs in which the two enjoyed mutual cooperation.
We will apply a people-to-people approach and apart from that we will also step up efforts to increase investment and IA-CEPA [negotiations], Fachir said.
In addition to increasing people-to-people contact between the two countries, Fachir said that during his two-day visit Jokowi would attend several business meetings in Australia.
Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Thomas Lembong said if Indonesia managed to push Australia to finish the IA-CEPA negotiations then it would be the first successful bilateral cooperation on economy and trade done by Indonesia in the past 10 years.
The negotiations on IA-CEPA are running well without any barriers. We expect to see it finished this year. Economic dialogue between Indonesia and Australia are heavy on the economy, Lembong said at the State Palace after attending the limited Cabinet meeting.
Lembong said that during the meeting he reported to Jokowi on the progress of the ongoing investment that both Indonesia and Australia had, especially in the gold mining sector.
President will be in Australia from Feb. 25 to 26 for reciprocal visit
Visit to Australia could be clouded by recent suspension of military cooperation.
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Jessicha Valentina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017 12:57 2083 a291276806121264c0bd211cde1324f9 1 Destinations W-Bali-Seminyak,bali,#Bali,hotels,seminyak,promotion,anniversary,tourism,travel,destination Free
The five-star W Bali - Seminyak Hotel is set to celebrate its sixth anniversary on March 5. The hotel has prepared a wide array of promotions to mark the event.
Join the anniversary party
To kick off the celebration, the hotel is set to host a sunset session at the Woobar on March 5 featuring Dresden-based deep funk maestro Purple Disco Machine.
The free entry party is slated to run from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Explore Bali
Those wanting to explore the island can join the hotels Insider Adventure. W insider is set to take adventure seekers to Balis lush jungles and hidden beaches. Participants will be accompanied by a DJI drone photographer, allowing them to bring home memorable photos.
(Read also: What to do in Raja Ampat beyond diving, snorkeling)
Compose a song
Aspiring musicians may want to check out W Balis recording studio, which allows guests to create their own track and mix it. A masterclass with the hotels music curator Damian Saint is also available starting from Rp 2,000,000 (US$149) for a two-hour session.
Get a special price
For this special month, W Bali is offering a 20 percent discount on its One Bedroom Villa. The rate starts at Rp 5,100,000 per night.
Sunday brunch fix
Starting from March 5 onwards, W Bali is offering a Sunday brunch promotion at its Starfish Bloo Restaurant. Priced at Rp 535,000++ per person, guests can enjoy a wide array of Pan Asian and international delicacies, a glass of bubble and the free flow of non-alcoholic beverages.
Spa treats
Those visiting Bali for work may enjoy swift spa treatments at the hotel. The spa offers quick treatments, starting from five-minutes to one hour. (kes)
Share this article Whatsapp
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin Masajeng Rahmiasri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, February 22, 2017 10:31 2083 a291276806121264c0bd211cde12b6e8 1 News Education,higher-education,exhibition,parents,university,students,#exhibition,#university,#students Free
An education fair focusing on bachelor, postgraduate and doctoral studies will take place on Thursday at the InterContinental Midplaza Hotel in Central Jakarta.
In the free entry EDUEXPOS, students who have registered online can expect to gain information about studying abroad at universities across the world such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Turkey, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Russia, Iran, Cyprus, Malaysia, China and South Korea. Among the information provided are costs and scholarships, the range of programs, special offers, accommodation, visas and the advantages of studying and living abroad.
(Read also: Commonwealth Bank eyes Indonesian students in Australia)
This event offers a good opportunity for Indonesian students and their families to meet directly with universities, language institutes and government representatives so they can find the right choice for their studies, said organizer FPP Edu Media president Julio Ronchetti in a press release.
In addition to with meeting university representatives, visitors can also attend education seminars such as Study in Turkey, Explore Asias Premier Liberal Arts Education by Yonsei University, Study in France and Its Opportunities by the French Institute and French Embassy in Indonesia, and Study in Holland: Open to International Minds by Nuffic Neso Indonesia. (kes)
On Tuesday, Agudath Israel of America hosted Rabbi Chanoch Zeibert, the Mayor of Bnei Brak, who was in America on a brief visit.
Mayor Zeiberts special involvement in chessed projects in Bnei Brak was discussed, with a focus given to Project Refuah, an organization that provides a respite hotel for special needs children in the city.
For the better part of a decade, the Italian American Museum has been trying to sell its building at 185 Grand St. The institution has finally done it. The new owners plan a residential project with ground floor retail and an expanded home for the museum.
Commercial Observer reports that Oved Group and Nexus Building Development Group have purchased the property for $14.8 million. Morris Adjmi Architects has been hired to design a 12-unit residential building with 3500 square feet of retail. There will also be a 6,000 square foot commercial condo unit, primarily below-grade, for the museum, which will be closing for about two years.
Presently, the museum has about 1200 square feet and is open only on weekends. The upper level apartments in the three-story property are now vacant, according to Commercial Observer.
Back in 2015, the museum was embroiled in controversy when it evicted 85-year-old Adele Sarno from one of the apartments. The daughter of Italian immigrants eventually gave up the unit shed held since the 1960s.
The property is made up of three connected brownstones. The oldest sections in the row date to the 1830s. The buildings are not city landmarks (the Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected a plea for designation). In 2013, Joseph Scelsa, the museums director, said he regretted having to sell the property but believed it was the only way to keep the financially-strapped institution afloat. Unfortunately, I dont see another way to do it, he told the Times. If there was another way to do it, I would.
The property once housed Banca Stabile, which lent Italian immigrants money to make the voyage to the United States. The Banca Stabile vault was still in the building when Scelsa acquired it in 2008. Preservationists consider it an important artifact and will be anxious to learn whether it will be preserved as part of the new building construction. In September of 2008, the museum opened a permanent exhibition dedicated to the vault. Heres more from a press release still available online:
The Italian American Museum will debut Banca Stabile Cornerstone of Little Italy Sept. 9 at its new headquarters at Mulberry & Grand Streets in Little Italy. The exhibition resembles the unveiling of a century-old time capsule: a bank office frozen in time along with scores of documents, photographs and artifacts that reveal the daily role the bank played in the lives of Italian immigrants. The unusually well-preserved Banca Stabile (pronounced STAH-bee-lay) storefront, housed for more than 100 years at 189 Grand St., has remained a mystery and curiosity to millions of passers-by over the decades. Now the public will be able to enter the bank for the first time. They will observe tellers windows, a huge safe, contents of safe deposit boxes, period light fixtures, clients bank books, deeds and passports which were recently recovered from the banks basement storage by museum curators.
The museum purchased the building in 2008 for $9.4 million.
by Jenny Holt
Studies suggest that 23% of graduates are now working in non-professional industries including freelancing (now often referred to the gig economy).
Technological developments have fractured traditional employment systems and independent gigs are rising 44% faster than typical payroll opportunities.
This means that students and graduates alike have to be smart, hardworking, and able to meet the flexible demands of an uncertain market. They have to be able to work from home or work from a student room, and there are a lot of challenges in making it work. These are a mixture of psychological and physical hurdles to overcome in order to make it a success.
Lets not forget the upside of working from home
It would not be a complete article on the working from home experience without mentioning the upsides. There are plenty of positives to take from working from home whether you are working remotely, freelance, or run your own from home business. These are the goals and the aspirations that make the whole experience worth it. These include:
Freedom to choose your own work schedule
The ability to get on with your work at your pace
To work wherever you want wearing whatever you want
No more commuting
More time to spend with family and pets
Higher levels of engagement and job satisfaction
The challenges to make it work for you
Working from home sounds comfortable and fun. The ideal is getting up late, doing some work, having lunch, doing some work, going for a job or gym session, hanging with friends or loved ones, and thats it. However, working from home offers profound challenges.
Heres some:
1. Discipline
It is often said the freelance writer is the perfect procrastinator. Write a line? No, the kids need taking to school. No, the cat needs putting out. No, the washing and ironing need doing. No, the food shop needs doing and that cake is so tempting. Working from home blends home life into work life. This is bad if friends and family do not respect your work time and if you cannot isolate yourself from them in an office space.
For students, this means a do not disturb sign and ensuring it is respected. Even then, it is difficult to sit down and concentrate on work with so many online distractions, social media, chat apps, and no boss staring you down and no peer pressure from the office to stop playing Candy Crush Saga. You need to find a work system that is good for you be it a library or your room, be it with music on or total silence.
2. Loneliness and isolation
Less of a problem for students in a hall of residence, but for those living outside, working from home is often incredibly lonely. If you are living alone you will get up alone, spend the whole day working in silence then spend your evening alone - or possibly with friends.
Psychologically this is difficult for some people where others will thrive in the solitude. Regardless of how introverted or solitary you are, it is healthy to socialise sometimes and at a rate that makes you feel good so do hang out with friends for a tea/coffee, drink or meal. Too much loneliness can lead to poor mental and physical health along with a range of associated issues. Another side of this is that relationships are harder to form, it is harder to meet new colleagues, to make new friends, and to meet potential partners.
3. Health and fitness
Staying at home all day sounds nice, and if you have been our working hard for a week, a day of rest is good for you. However, most gig economy work requires someone to stay down for 8-10 or more hours a day. It is important therefore to look into solutions to let you move around more be it a standing desk, regular breaks for exercises, going for long walks before and after your work hours, or hitting the gym. Not doing this can lead to weight gain, heart disease, stress, and other problems which will affect your quality of life.
4. No more 9-to-5
People stuck in 9-to-5 office jobs often dream of working from home. They imagine the same job, same hours, and the same demarcation between work and home life.
However, there is no physical or mental barrier between working from home and living at home. This means it is easy for bosses to foist new work on you at all hours, to be expected to work weekends, and to push yourself to catch up by working evenings. To solve this, close all work social accounts, ignore messages from clients after your stated work time unless you have a major deadline looming, and trick your brain into differentiating between work and home time. This last bit is surprisingly simple, get up, go for a walk in the morning and when you come home, treat it as going to work.
After youve finished your set hours, repeat this walk but in your brain think of it as going home after work, and youll better separate the two functions of your home.
Lack of diversity on the catwalk is extremely prominent issue in the fashion industry.
Who could forget last years' New York Fashion Week, when Marc Jacobs sent white models, including Kendall Jenner, down the catwalk with dreadlocks, only to be accused of appropriating black culture? This London Fashion Week, it's important to look at how diversity has been handled.
Luckily there have been a variety of faces at this London Fashion Week, with many of the black models on the catwalk able showcase their beautiful natural hair - a refreshing change. Its an important demonstration of the fashion industry's continued efforts to become inclusive of all different types and aspects of beauty. Beauty is not one dimensional and never has been, and the industry is taking note.
A post shared by SIMONE ROCHA (@simonerocha_) on Feb 19, 2017 at 5:13am PST
There was also a diverse age range of women in the Simone Rocha show. Rocha focused on timeless beauty and style, including models Marie-Sophie Wilson, Benedetta Barzini, and British model Jan de Villeneuve, who started modelling in the 1960s. The focus was placed on their timeless beauty and grace rather than their age. It was refreshing to see women of all ages at Fashion Week, making it much more enjoyable and accessible to all women.
Two of models who walked in the Teatum Jones show, Kelly Knox and Jack Eyers, are amputees - but they werent used as tokens, and if you didn't already know you wouldn't have realised they were amputees. If the industry continues to behave in this way, it really will open up a new era for inclusivity in the fashion world, a place that has often been so closed off to anyone who didnt fit a particular image or look a certain way.
A post shared by Gigi Hadid (@gigihadid) on Feb 19, 2017 at 7:40am PST
Although the industry is slowly becoming more diverse, blonde haired, blue-eyed 21-year-old Gigi Hadid is still the most photographed and reported on model this Fashion Week. Not that thats necessarily a bad thing - but clearly, the industry still has a long way to go.
Kaziranga National Park, in the Assam province of India, is renowned for its remarkable conservation success. In fact, this UNESCO World Heritage Site has often been credited with saving the Indian rhino population from extinction. While this park is particularly famous for its rhino conservation, it is also home to sloth bears, wild elephants, swamp deer and many other species.
Rhinos at Kaziranga National Park / Wikicommons
Recently, however, it has been in the headlines for a different reason: its ruthless response to poachers. These illegal smugglers can sell these small rhino horns for thousands of dollars in other parts of Asia.
Last week, The BBC published an article asking Has the war against poaching gone too far?
The article refers to shocking figures of poachers being killed by park guards and describes graphic stories about those who have experienced this violence first hand. Some of these stories were from innocent villagers who were mistaken as poachers and injured.
It appears that there is an attitude of shoot on sight amongst the park guards, something that senior officials insist is an exaggeration.
According to The BBC, on average more than 20 poachers are killed per year.
The BBC emphasises that the close relationship between the government and park officials has long been viewed with suspicion.
On the Kaziranga website the ways in which the government has assisted in anti-poaching procedures is listed extensively. In addition to increasing the number of poaching camps and staff, the government has also provided boats and elephants for patrolling, wireless sets and better arms to better protect guards from poachers.
This may seem like a valuable partnership to aid conservation, but this close relationship with the government has given rise to accusations of corruption. The government has given more than just material protection; guards are legally protected no matter what they do within the park boundaries.
Since many of the local people are unable to afford to file for court cases, the deaths of poachers are rarely investigated. Park guards can kill poachers and locals alike, but this is rarely examined by government officials. The BBC article draws attention to the lack of detail and accuracy in park records regarding information about the poachers killed; no one has followed up these cases.
Additionally, there are inconsistent figures across the media regarding conservation efforts for which the park should have official figures.
For instance, the BBC this week reported that there are 2,400 Indian rhinos on the planet. Two years ago, WWF stated that there were approximately 3,500. While National Geographic stated that 20 rhinos were killed in 2007, the BBC reported that 16 were killed in this same year.
These inaccuracies imply a darker world behind this famous conservation effort. In fact, just last year, a Kaziranga divisional forest officer was found with a tiger skin, some ivory and other animal parts; a sign that corruption may be rife in this conservation efforts.
The governmental interest lies in the fact that the park is a major tourist attraction and therefore is responsible for bringing a lot of money into Indias economy. In fact, this is where scenes for Planet Earth II were filmed and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have visited in the past. Perhaps this is why the guards have been granted such immunity; conservation is valued above the local peoples lives.
Whilst it can be easy to condemn Kaziranga as corrupt and brutal, the conservation successes cannot be disregarded. There are ways to prevent poaching that does not harm the local population.
Kaziranga National Park insists that a lot of locals are heavily involved in poaching, helping poachers get valuable information and access to parks.
The tensions between park officials and local people are exacerbating the poaching problem. The park guards are well-known for their brutal killings and so the local people rarely hesitate to assist poachers.
In a report to the Honourable Gauhati High Court, park directors had compiled an extensive list of changes in their poaching strategies: electrocution, trapgun shot indiscriminate firing at a very close range with AK series riflesshooting randomly anytime to mention a few.
This contradicts the community approach which Kaziranga stresses on its website. Highlighting the poverty within this area, Kaziranga claims that poachers take advantage of local people who help them commit their crime. Their solution is to spread awareness of conservation within local communities and to help reduce poverty so locals are less vulnerable to requests from poachers.
This collaborative, community-based approach would be a vital step forward for Kaziranga National Park, rather than fortifying guards with advanced weaponry and legal protection which only serves to increase tensions between locals and officials.
Signs have become a pretty unmistakable form of protest in this day and age, and one placed in New York yesterday was particularly powerful.
A group fixed a Refugees Welcome sign onto the Statue of Liberty a poignant place considering the statues history. On Twitter the group Alt Lady Liberty has claimed responsibility for the sign.
The words they are talking about come from Emma Lazaruss The New Colossus written in 1883, which is engraved on the statues pedestal. In it Lady Liberty speaks to immigrants coming into the country: Give me your tired, your poor,/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
The Statue of Liberty was the first thing that many immigrants saw when arriving in America, so is seen as a beacon of hope. So where better to put a sign protesting Donald Trumps executive orders on immigration?
The banner has since been removed, and according to ABC news the National Park Service is conducting an investigation to find out who was behind the stunt.
Alt Lady Liberty released a statement saying: We have no formal group just private citizens who felt like we needed to say something about the America we believe in.
They say: We wanted to send a reminder about America when were at our best the country thats a beacon of freedom to the world, built by immigrants. Walling off countries or entire religions is against our values.
Even though the banner was only briefly up, that was long enough for people to feel inspired by it.
Damn. I wanna hug whoever put that sign on Lady Liberty. 'Merica at it's finest. #RefugeesWelcome #StatueOfLiberty TON (@NYK_Wrasslin) February 21, 2017
This is literally what the Statue of Liberty stands for. This photo is destined to become iconic. #RefugeesWelcome #Trump #resist pic.twitter.com/mvqCIxc34b Suhail Mohammed (@shadowwraiths) February 21, 2017
There are times when I love New York City so much I wish I could spread my arms and embrace the island in full. #RefugeesWelcome pic.twitter.com/YXpVDe53Oy Sophie Vershbow (@svershbow) February 22, 2017
Its a very simple image, but an unforgettable one nonetheless.
Yesterday at 3.30pm police were alerted to the discovery of a body in a lake at the heart of the University of Birmingham's student village The Vale on Edgbaston Park Road.
While details remain limited, West Midlands police have stated that "the body has not been formally identified at this stage, but it is believed to be a man in his 40s.
"A post mortem will take place but police are not treating the death as suspicious at this stage."
Reports state that dozens of students gathered at approximately 6pm as a specialist police unit removed the body from the edge of the lake in a cordoned off area.
The Vale is home to over 3,500 students living in eight residences.
In an official statement the University has said that it is "deeply saddened to learn that the body of a man believed to be in his 40s and unconnected to the university, was discovered at the vale earlier today" (Wednesday 21st of February).
The Vale
Second year philosophy religion and ethics student Olly Hacker told The National Student: "I'm really shocked in all honesty, you hear of stuff like this happening all the time in Birmingham but never so close to campus.
"At first I thought it was just a rumour that had gone to far, so I was pretty surprised when I saw such a large crowd and police on my way into uni."
While details for now at least remain uncertain, it is clear that the events yesterday have made a noticable impact on the student community. Maths student Charlie Passfield said: "I was out all day, so I didn't really know what was going on when I came back to my flat.
"There were just loads of ambulances, police and a green tent. I checked the news and couldn't really believe it, it's just not something you expect to see so close to campus."
We dont mean to cause alarm, but something a politician has said has caused quite a stir on Twitter.
Nope, its nothing to do with Donald Trump. Its just Icelands president Gudni Thorlacius Johannesson saying he would pass a ban on pineapple as a pizza topping if he could.
local news site Vsir Iceland Magazine According to, which was handily translated by, the president was speaking to high school students in Akureyi last week. One of them asked him a question about what he thinks of pineapple as a pizza topping and he said: I would ban pineapple-pizza if I had the power to set laws.
And whether you personally agree with him or not, theres no denying the love on Twitter for Gudnis pizza preferences.
not only does iceland use entirely renewable energy but their president is also a WOKE BAE pic.twitter.com/EkGbjmwHL1 eva (@myIoveiscooI) February 21, 2017
Politics needs more people like the president of Iceland https://t.co/A8wgGJcwFh Alberto Nardelli (@AlbertoNardelli) February 21, 2017
Well done President of Iceland: let's ban pineapple as a pizza topping Icelandmag https://t.co/ejWDXtFYX6 #icelandmag via @icelandmag Samuele Marcora (@SamueleMarcora) February 21, 2017
The President of Iceland wants to ban pineapple on pizza.
This man should, obviously, be put in charge of the whole world. Amanda (@Pandamoanimum) February 21, 2017
Its a risky business though, sharing your ideas on pineapple as a pizza topping like that.
Because obviously, there are some people out there who seem very much pro-pineapple.
raise your hand if you have ever been personally victimised by the president of Iceland pic.twitter.com/RCANYYhQcK Hannah Thompson (@H_L_Thompson) February 21, 2017
you can all stay in Iceland as well so us pineapple on pizza lovers can live in peace and tastiness pic.twitter.com/UOZ3g5shNp Luke Brooks (@luke_brooks) February 21, 2017
pineapple clearly belongs on a pizza don't @ me Pedro (@PedroReza22) February 21, 2017
pineapple DOES go on pizza. fight me rigs (@esunicarosa) February 21, 2017
Hes really gone and opened up a can of worms here, hasnt he?
Let's poll it: pineapple as a pizza topping? Declan Cashin (@Tweet_Dec) February 21, 2017
Pineapple on Pizza? RT for science. Aaron Pauley (@aaronpauley) February 21, 2017
does pineapple belong on pizza? rt after you answer i'm curious evil queen (@urbandoll) February 21, 2017
Important update: The president has since made a statement which he posted on his Facebook page in English and Icelandic.
In the post, he clarifies his views, saying he does like pineapples, just not on pizza.
The President of Iceland made a statement because he made an offhand comment about pineapple on pizza. What a time to be alive pic.twitter.com/fjhQHK9sdP Anton (@Antonstotle) February 21, 2017
I do not have the power to make laws which forbid people to put pineapples on their pizza, writes Gudni.
I am glad that I do not hold such power. Presidents should not have unlimited power.
I would not want to hold this position if I could pass laws forbidding that which I dont like. I would not want to live in such a country.
He adds: For pizzas, I recommend seafood.
And so the pizza topping debate continues
Tentang Situs Slot Online Resmi MGS88 Nama Situs MGS88 Minimal Deposit Rp. 10.000,- (Sepuluh Ribu Rupiah) Proses Deposit 2 Menit Metode Deposit Bank Transfer, Pulsa, E-Wallet Judi Online Terbaik Slot Online, Judi Bola, Casino Online, Togel Online, Tembak Ikan Provider Slot Gacor Mudah Maxwin Pragmatic Play, PGSoft, MicroGaming, Habanero Slot Gacor Gampang Menang Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza, Wild West Gold, Starlight Princess Win Rate 98%
RTP Live Slot Gacor Tertinggi Hari Ini Terbaru Terlengkap
Selamat datang di halaman RTP live dan informasi soal slot gacor hari ini dari situs MGS88 yang setiap hari selalu update. Berdasarkan RTP Live MGS88, Anda bisa mendapatkan informasi tentang slot online yang saat ini yang sedang Gacor atau onfire dengan persentase yang terbukti akurat, ini bisa menjadi rekomendasi anda sebelum memilih permainan slot online di situs MGS88. Cek RTP Slot sekarang juga bosku
Klik Provider Slot Untuk Mengetahui RTP Slot Secara Real Time
Selamat datang bagi kalian yang sedang mencari situs RTP Live terlengkap dan terkini hari ini. Sangat sesuai jika Anda mengunjungi website MGS88 RTP live untuk informasi tentang permainan slot yang lagi gacor dengan slot RTP yang terupdate. Persentase kemenangan yang kami berikan tentunya diambil dengan data yang sangat valid dan hanya untuk permainan slot yang tersedia di situs MGS88. RTP yang tersedia juga akan selalu diperbarui setiap hari berdasarkan level kemenangan yang diberikan kepada member kami.
Memang sih untuk bermain slot itu tergantung hoki dari setiap pemain, Namun RTP live atau bocoran slot dari yang kami sediakan ini adalah data autentik dari banyaknya pemain yang telah bermain dan mencapai kemenangan tinggi. Sederhananya, kalau banyak pemain yang menang di dalam 1 permainan slot, karena itu permainan slot tersebut akan mempunyai persentase RTP yang sangat tinggi.
Namun kami tegaskan sekali lagi, ini bukan sebuah paksaan kami situs MGS88 untuk anda bermain di game slot yang mana. Ini bisa dijadikan sebagai referensi atau tolok ukur, boleh dicoba kalau anda mempunyai feel yang kuat dalam memainkan permainan game slot. Anda dapat mengakses kapan saja dan di mana saja selama anda siap bermain. Jangan ragu untuk bertanya ya seputar pola putaran terhadap kami, sebab kami juga menyediakannya loh.
Apa itu RTP Live?
RTP Live ialah informasi mengenai persentase tertinggi saat ini dari hasil RTP Live dengan bocoran kemenangan pemain saat ini. RTP Live merupakan singkatan dari Return To Play atau bisa juga diartikan sebagai Return to Player. Karena itu, para pemain slot sekarang jika ingin mengetahui seberapa besar kemenangannya, bisa dengan memainkan permainan yang akan dimainkannya dan bisa untung dengan mudah dan tentunya maksimal.
Apa itu RTP Slot?
RTP Slot juga dikenal sebagai return to player atau pengembalian ke Pemain. RTP slot ialah persentase dari nilai pengembalian semua uang yang dipertaruhkan pemain dari waktu ke waktu. Dengan kata lain, RTP juga dianggap sebagai salah satu fitur slot yang mengembalikan uang pemain saat pemain kalah.
Persentase digunakan untuk menghitung RTP dalam permainan slot. Misalnya, jika slot memiliki RTP 97%, itu berarti untuk setiap 100.000 koin yang hilang di slot, slot dapat mengembalikan 97.000. Jika Anda mengetahui RTP sebuah permainan slot, Anda dapat memutuskan permainan slot mana yang akan dimainkan tanpa kerugian besar.
Apakah Angka Persentase RTP Slot Itu Penting?
Biasanya pemain slot itu tidak memperhatikan RTP dalam permainan yang akan dimainkan, biasanya setelah anda mengisi saldo utama anda akan langsung buru-buru memainkannya. Yang terakhir 90-96% mempengaruhi jumlah kemenangan. Semakin tinggi jumlah RTP yang digunakan, semakin luas peluang untuk mendapatkan keuntungan.
Akan namun itu segala tak secara 100% menjamin kemenangan kau dalam bermain, RTP itu cuma sebagai kalkulasi pengeluaran anda saja selama bermain slot.Dengan adanya RTP, kau dapat mengerjakan pengaturan atas uang yang akan kau pertaruhkan nanti pada ketika bermain.Untuk itu pada ketika kau bermain slot dan telah mengalami banyak kekalahan di satu permainan, direkomendasikan kau pindah ke permainan slot lainnya yang RTP nya lebih tinggi dari permainan yang tadi kau mainkan.
Keuntungan Menggunakan Bocoran RTP Slot Hari Ini
Situs MGS88 Akan dengan senang hati akan beberapa keuntungan yang didapatkan jika anda bermain slot dengan menggunakan RTP Live yang telah disediakan. Berikut Keuntungannya :
Peluang Kemenangan Meningkat Tentu saja, saat bermain slot online, menang adalah hal yang paling penting. Di sinilah RTP berperan sebagai metode atau metode baru yang akan membantu Anda memilih permainan slot persentase tinggi. Mendapat variasi dalam Memainkan Game Slot Pastinya banyak pemain slot online yang hanya memainkan 3-5 permainan slot saja. Namun dengan RTP Live slot akan memberikan banyak game slot lain yang bisa anda coba. Tentunya semua permainan slot memiliki potensi kemenangan yang besar, jadi jangan hanya mengandalkan beberapa permainan saja. Menambah Pengalaman Dalam Bermain Slot Keuntungan terakhir adalah Anda tentu saja menambah pengalaman dan keahlian dalam permainan slot online. Dengan berbagai macam permainan slot yang dimainkan, Anda pasti mengetahui karakteristik dari setiap permainan slot yang Anda mainkan. Akibatnya, Anda pasti bisa dianggap sebagai pemain slot yang andal, yang pasti akan meningkatkan peluang Anda untuk menang besar menggunakan RTP.
Daftar 8 Situs Dengan RTP Slot Live Tertinggi Hari Ini
Ada banyak penyedia mesin slot online di internet. Tetapi tidak semuanya memiliki peluang tinggi atau RTP Live Slot yang sangat tinggi. Tapi jangan khawatir, berikut ini adalah situs slot gacor yang akan memberikan bocoran slot dengan RTP Live Tertinggi:
RTP Live Slot Pragmatic Play (RTP Slot 97.85%) RTP Live Slot PG Soft (RTP Live 96.15%) RTP Live Slot Habanero (RTP Slot 95.89%) RTP Live Slot CQ9 (RTP Live 98.83%) RTP Live Slot Spade Gaming (RTP Live 94.99%) RTP Live Slot Micro Gaming (RTP Slot 95.39%) RTP Slot Live Top Trend Gaming (RTP Live 96.14%) RTP Slot Live JOKER123 (RTP Live 97.45%)
Itulah Daftar 8 Provider Slot Gacor dengan RTP Live teratas diatas tentunya kami analisa terlebih dahulu. Anda bisa membuktikannya langsung dengan mengklik banner atau meprovider game slot yang sudah tersedia di atas. Saran kami yaitu Anda harus memainkan semua penyedia slot di atas untuk mencapai peluang kemenangan terbaik.
Daftar Slot RTP Live Tertinggi Sering Kasih Jackpot
Selain mempertimbangkan RTP Slot Gacor yang ada, sebenarnya ada banyak faktor penting untuk menang dalam permainan judi online. Sebab ada banyak game yang memiliki fitur dan mekanisme unik dan bisa membantu anda meraih Jackpot yang sangat besar.
Berikut ini akan kami ulas daftar 5 game slot paling populer karena sering memberikan jackpot:
RTP Live Gates of Olympus Gates of Olympus adalah game slot teraneh dan terbaik di Indonesia. Karena permainan mesin slot ini paling populer karena kakek Zeus dapat mengizinkan pengganda x500. Selain itu, fitur dan mekanik Gates of Olympus juga sangat menguntungkan untuk memenangkan Grand Jackpot. Secara teoritis, RTP slot langsung Gates of Olympus bernilai 96,50%, yang berarti peluang Anda untuk memenangkan MaxWin cukup tinggi. RTP live Sweet Bonanza Sweet Bonanza adalah permainan slot terpopuler kedua. Game slot bertema buah dan permen yang lezat ini sepertinya akan menarik banyak perhatian karena tergolong slot gacor yang mudah menang. Secara teoritis, slot Sweet Bonanza RTP bernilai 96,48%, yang berarti peluang Anda cukup tinggi untuk memenangkan jackpot. RTP Live Wild West Gold Wild West Gold adalah permainan slot bertema koboi yang juga populer di kalangan penggemar konspirasi. Permainan slot Wild West Gold sendiri kerap menawarkan kejutan jackpot bagi para pemainnya. Selain itu, nilai RTP Live Slot menunjukkan indeks tertinggi hari ini, yang berarti sangat layak dan sangat direkomendasikan. RTP Live Starlight Princess Slot Starlight Princess ini memiliki gaya dan fitur yang mirip dengan Gates of Olympus. Perbedaannya hanya pada desain dan karakter gamenya saja, karena memiliki fitur dan mekanik yang sama tentunya RTP slot teoritis pada game slot ini sama yaitu 96,50%. RTP Live Cash Elevator Mungkin sebagian dari Anda baru mengenal slot Cash Elevator. Namun dari data benchmark yang diungkap, ternyata banyak sekali yang menikmati permainan slot ini. Dengan fitur dan mekanisme unik seperti Lift up and down asli, slot ini juga memiliki slot RTP Live dasar 96,64% yang juga memiliki mekanisme yang sangat menguntungkan untuk memperlancar tingkat kemenangan besar.
Bocoran Jam Main Slot Gacor Hari Ini
Dalam bermain permainan slot online itu tidak bisa dilakukan dengan sembarangan yah. Jadi, Jika anda bermain pada waktu tertentu seperti yang akan kita bahas sesaat lagi, ada kemungkinan anda untuk mendapatkan kemenangan lebih tinggi. Jam RTP Slot Gacor merupakan bocoran jam main slot yang akan memberikan anda kapan waktu yang pas dalam bermain game slot.
Tentu saja seluruh provider slot online memiliki jam tertentu dalam memberikan peluang kepada para pemainnya untuk mendapatkan kemenangan. Disini kami akan memberikan anda Bocoran Jam Slot Gacor yang Paling Akurat Hari ini:
Jam Slot Gacor Pragmatic Play 02:30 WIB - Jam 05:25 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Habanero 14:26 WIB - Jam 17:38 WIB Jam Slot Gacor CQ9 00:45 WIB - Jam 05:53 WIB Jam Slot Gacor PG SOFT 14:25 WIB - Jam 17:35 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Joker123 17:41 WIB - Jam 20:42 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Microgaming 22:30 WIB - Jam 00:35 WIB
MGS88: Situs Judi Slot Online Gacor Pay4D Resmi dan Terpercaya
MGS88 adalah situs game slot online Gacor terbaru yang bermitra dengan Pay4D, Pay4D sendiri merupakan daftar situs game slot online terpercaya dengan berbagai macam permainan judi yang mudah dimenangkan seperti Game Bola, Casino Online, Slot Pay4D, Tembak Ikan dan Pay4D Online Permainan togel seperti Singapura, Hongkong, Sydney dan lain-lain. Tujuan utama kami adalah menjadi situs judi online Pay4D yang menyediakan layanan judi online terbaik di Indonesia.
Kami juga salah satu situs resmi PAY4D di Indonesia yang pasti akan membayarkan semua kemenangan kepada semua member kami, karena kepercayaan dari semua member kami adalah prioritas utama kami sebagai mesin slot 4d Asia terbaik di Asia, khususnya di Indonesia.
Dalam melakukan sistem transaksi sistem simpanan dapat dilakukan dengan mudah melalui mobile banking dan electronic banking berupa bank BCA, BSI, BRI, BNI, Cimb Niaga, Permata dan Mandiri. Selain itu, transaksi e-wallet juga tersedia melalui Dana, Gopay, LinkAja dan Ovo serta dapat digunakan untuk pulsa tanpa dipotong.
Untuk mempermudah dan kenyamanan dalam melakukan registrasi atau melakukan setiap transaksi, MGS88 menyediakan layanan live chat dan Whatsapp terhubung langsung dengan customer service online 24 jam.
Mengenal Istilah Dalam RTP SLOT
Di slot RTP Live Anda akan melihat berbagai fitur yang mungkin tidak Anda pahami masing-masing. Namun jangan khawatir, disini sebagai situs slot gacor MGS88 kami akan memberikan penjelasan lengkap mengenai tentang istilah yang ada di RTP SLOT dibawah ini.
Asset seizures in rice deals begin
BANGKOK: The Legal Execution Department can now seize assets worth B20 billion from former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and five others in the allegedly bogus rice sale scheme during the Yingluck Shinawatra government, says permanent secretary for commerce.
corruptioncrimepolitics
By Bangkok Post
Wednesday 22 February 2017, 09:14AM
A worker picks a sack of rice at a warehouse in Bangkok. Officials will begin seizing the assets of five ex-commerce ministers and officials after the Administrative Court dismissed their injunction requests. Photo: Bangkok Post
Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa said yesterday (Feb 21) that the Foreign Trade Department had submitted last week a document authorising the Legal Execution Department to seize the assets of Mr Boonsong, his deputy Poom Sarapol and four Commerce Ministry officials. The document was sent along asset-tracing information found in the first round.
The six ex-commerce officials are on trial for alleged corruption in government-to-government rice sales with China. The sixth person is still at large.
Mr Boonsong is required to pay B1.77bn in compensation and then deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol B2.3bn for the damage caused by the failed G2G rice sales. The four Commerce Ministry officials were asked to pay B4bn each.
A commerce ministry source said the first round of asset tracing mainly involved the ex-officials salary bank accounts. Authorities will examine further to find if the group had other hidden assets such as land or more bank accounts.
Miss Wiboonlasana said the Foreign Trade Department had asked concerned agencies in the provinces to help in the second round of asset tracing. A working panel comprising those experienced in locating and recovering assets would be formed to help.
On Feb 10, the Central Administrative Court dismissed petitions by Mr Boonsong and four others involved in the scandalous rice sale deal for an injunction against an administrative order demanding they pay compensation for the schemes losses.
It reasoned their assets had not been seized yet so the damages had not been done.
Read original story here.
Man shot in head in heart of Phuket Town
PHUKET: Police are trying to track down the assailant who shot a man in the head in a quiet street in Phuket Town early this morning (Feb 22).
violencepolice
By Eakkapop Thongtub
Wednesday 22 February 2017, 11:46AM
Police have yet to confirm whether a document found in a motorbike parked nearby identified the victim. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub
Somehow the man initially survived the bullet entering his right temple and exiting his left temple. Photo: Eakkapop Thontub
The shooting was in a quiet street in the heart of Phuket Town. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub
Police question local residents in the quiet street in the heart of Phuket Town. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub
The bullet entered the victims right temple and exited his left temple. The victim, who remains unidentified, was rushed to Vachira Phuket Hospital, but hospital staff have declined to confirm whether or not the man is still alive.
Police were alerted to the shooting, in Soi Tummasopa, off Phuket Rd in the heart of Phuket Town, at 3:39am, said Capt Ronnaphum Permpoon of Phuket City Police.
Officers arrived at the scene with Kusoldharm rescue workers to find the man on the ground with blood flowing from his head wounds.
Rescue workers confirmed that the man still had a pulse and his breathing was audible when he was taken hospital.
We have yet to be notified by the hospital of any change in the mans condition, Capt Ronnaphum told The Phuket News this morning.
We didnt find any identification card on him. The man is 170-175cm tall and about 25-30 years old, he said.
Under the seat of a black Honda motorbike found nearby was a document from a motorbike shop issued to a Khajornsak Saeuang, resident of Soi Talingchan in Phuket Town.
However, we are yet to confirm that this is the victim, Capt Ronnaphum said.
Police didnt find any cartridges or bullet casings in the area, he added.
We believe that the man might have argued with someone and later drove the motorbike here, and his assailant or assailtants followed him. Unable to resolve their conflict, the suspects shot him and ran away, he said.
Police are continuing their investigating and searching for the suspects to bring them to justice, he said.
Russian tourist borrows B100k to post bail for feeding fish off Phuket
PHUKET: The 53-year-old Russian woman who spent two nights in police lockup after she was caught feeding bread to fish Racha Yai Island, south of Phuket, has been released on B100,000 bail paid for a by a friend.
Russiancrimeenvironmentmarinepolicetourism
By Premkamon Ketsara
Wednesday 22 February 2017, 05:03PM
Russian tourist Olga Smirnova,53, arrested for feeding fish at Koh Racha Yai, was released after a 'friend' posted B100,000 bail for her. Photo: DMCR
Olga Smirnova was released on bail by the Phuket Provincial Court yesterday (Feb 21), confirmed Lt Sakkarin Sangjaroen of the Chalong Police.
She didnt have enough money to post bail, so we had to keep her at Chalong Police Station for two nights until we handed her to the Phuket Provincial Court on Feb 21, he said.
A confused Ms Smirnova was taken into custody on Koh Racha Yai on Sunday (Feb 19) for the heinous act of feeding bread to fish close to a coral reef, then taken to Chalong Police Station to be charged. (See story here.)
Unable to post bail, she was incarcerated in the police cells at 7:30pm.
Ms Smirnova was presented to Phuket Provincial Court at 3pm yesterday, when Ms Ratree Raksaart, who nominated herself to the court as a friend of Ms Smirnova, arrived with Tourist Police and posted bail on the Russian womans behalf.
Ms Smirnova is not permitted to leave the country while waiting for her trial to begin, Lt Sakkarin said.
She must report herself to the court on March 6, he added.
On Demand
We have a new story every day on the front page of thephuketnews.com. Also like us on our Facebook page (facebook.com/thephuketnews) and be the first to watch all the new stories. Finally you can watch any segment, any time by going to thephuketnews.com/tv where all the stories are listed for you to enjoy. All our programs can be enjoyed in High Definition when watching on the internet.
In-Room VDO
What county auditors want voters to know ahead of the midterm election
Forty-one South Dakota county auditors spoke with the Argus Leader about the sanctity of elections in the state.
VENTURA | About 25 attendees from across Iowa learned a little about American history and a lot about modern wildlife management Oct. 17 during a beginner trapper seminar hosted by the DNR and the Iowa Trappers Association.
The event included lectures and field demonstrations. Participants received traps, snares and other trapping-related equipment and informational material.
DNR Furbearer and Wetland Biologist Vince Evelsizer opened with a historical perspective. Trapping was an early driver for exploration and settlement in North America, he noted, but was sometimes carried out in an unsustainable manner.
Evelsizer said modern trapping is regulated and monitored to keep predator populations in a healthy balance. This reduces both stress on prey species and the risk of disease while also utilizing a renewable resource and offering public recreation.
Our goal is to make sure we provide fair trapping seasons that give trappers a good opportunity without creating an over-harvest situation, Evelsizer said. Trapping a lot of times can help keep those (predator) populations in check.
DNR Conservation Officer Ben Bergman discussed the importance of behaving legally and ethically in the field.
He noted regulations are intended to limit suffering for target animals, reduce catches of non-target animals and minimize conflicts between trappers, other outdoor recreationalists and the general public.
Requirements vary, Bergman explained, depending on whether a trap is placed on public or private land, on dry ground or underwater, and in an open area versus near a residence among other considerations.
As such, trappers need a thorough understanding of the rules, Bergman said.
There are lots of exceptions in our laws, he said. Keep going back to those regulations. Really, trapping comes down to ethics and being smart about what you do.
Bergman also encouraged attendees to contact a conservation officer with any questions or concerns.
Trapper Roy Hennagir of Mason City discussed the bottom-edge set used to catch muskrat and mink in creeks and small rivers.
Both animals tend to travel along the bottom of such waterways near the waters edge, often undercutting the bank on sharp bends and points.
Traps placed along these corridors will catch both species without the need for bait and will remain effective even if the water level changes, Hennagir said.
Success with this and most trapping techniques requires an understanding of your target, Hennagir said.
Have a good working knowledge of what the animal does, he advised.
Todd Humberg, a fourth-generation trapper from Clear Lake, donned waders and rubber gauntlets to demonstrate making a baited pocket set for mink and raccoon.
His tips included keeping the pocket no wider than the trap, making sure the trap is firmly bedded and the chain hidden, and digging the pocket deep enough for the animal to enter completely.
That gives you four chances to catch him, Humberg said. Four legs coming in and four legs going out.
Trapper Derek Lonneman of Garner discussed setting snares.
You can catch any furbearer in snares, he said, although his presentation focused on techniques for coyote, fox and raccoon.
Lonneman stressed the importance of using snares and stakes heavy enough to handle the target animal, particularly with coyotes. He also discussed varying the loop size and set height depending on the animal being targeted.
In response to a question, Lonneman encouraged participants to select set locations carefully to minimize the risk of catching non-target animals, particularly household pets.
Just because you can (legally) do something doesnt mean you should, he said.
DNR Conservation Officer Ken Lonneman demonstrated skinning and fleshing techniques while emphasizing the importance of appropriate fur care.
Proper handling and processing greatly increases the value of a trappers catch, he said. With the fur market currently depressed due to economic conditions overseas, he added, having quality fur may be necessary just to make a sale.
If you bring in a frozen ball of fur full of cockle burs, the fur buyer might not even want to buy it, Lonneman said.
Madisyn Ries, 16, of Rockwell, accompanied DNR Conservation Officer Jordan Hansen on his trap line last year. Shell likely do so again, but is also considering trying some trapping on her own.
I might get a couple of my friends to go with me, she added. Im excited.
The equipment and information Ries received will help her get started, she said.
My favorite thing was when they set the traps in the ditch," she said. "That was super cool.
Bergman, who coordinated the event along with Evelsizer, was pleased with the turnout and the enthusiasm.
Keeping people outdoors and providing education is what this is about, he said. If someone took away a technique, thats a success.
FOREST CITY AnDa Union, a world-renown ensemble from Chinas Inner Mongolia, will be in Forest City Feb. 20-24, as part of the Arts Midwest World Fest.
AnDa Unions music comes from the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia where various ethnic nomadic tribes have lived for centuries. AnDas music includes a combination of instruments, like horsehead fiddles, and vocal styles, like throat singing. Formed in 2000, the nine-strong band unite tribal and music traditions from all over Inner Mongolia.
While AnDa Union is in Forest City, the group will host workshops and performances for all ages at the Forest City and North Iowa Schools districts, Waldorf University, Good Samaritan Center and the Forest City YMCA. Forest City Community Schools, Grow Forest City, Waldorf University and several local volunteers have partnered to coordinate and host the ensemble.
The public is invited to a community concert at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Forest City. This performance is part of Waldorf Universitys Community Artist Series. Tickets will be available at the door, or can be purchased prior to the event at the Forest City Chamber of Commerce or Waldorf Universitys Music Department. Ticket price for adults is $10, and youth are free.
Forest City is fortunate to have AnDa Union, and the prior artists with the Arts Midwest Fest Partnership, come to our community, said Waldorf University President Bob Alsop. Its not often smaller communities like ours have the chance to host international ensembles at all let alone a full week. The music and culture AnDa Union will share is so different from what we normally experience. You wont want to miss this incredible opportunity."
Arts Midwest, one of six U.S. Regional Arts Organizations, partners with program sponsors like The National Endowment of the Arts and the 3M Foundation to cover a substantial portion of the program costs so that communities throughout the Midwest can enjoy this experience.
Forest City was selected as one of only nine Midwestern cities to host the Arts Midwest World Fest and is the only partner community chosen in Iowa. Its a real honor to be part of this program, Alsop said.
Deepika Padukone, who is flaunting new looks every day, was spotted shooting for a new campaign in Mumbai.
"Deepika has been a long-standing popular face of Lux. Now that she is back in Mumbai, she has shot for a very special commercial for the brand," sources close to her revealed.
The fresh campaign revolves around Deepika Padukone's personality and how she is in real life. It centres around the fact that even though she is an extremely successful actor she is so down to earth, the sources said.
Deepika, who made waves in Hollywood with xXx: Return of Xander Cage would be next seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmavati, which is slated to release later in 2017.
Actor Sanjay Dutt and his wife Maanyata were seen at the monument of love, the Taj Mahal as they celebrated their wedding anniversary belatedly in Agra along with their twins.
Dutt is currently shooting in the popular tourist city for his comeback film, Bhoomi and took some time off from work to go sightseeing with wife and kids.
Agra is the most romantic place in the world. Visiting the Taj Mahal with my family is going to be one of my most cherished memories, said Dutt, after he visited the famed edifice.
Overwhelmed with the response he got from the crowd, Dutt said: This is probably the most important phase of my life and having my loved ones around is a blessing."
Meanwhile, Maanyata too was touched by the crowd's reaction.
"It feels amazing to receive love from the locals, who gather in huge numbers to watch us shoot for Bhoomi," she said.
Actor Akshay Kumar, who is pepping up for his next Naam Shabana, shot a scene at a hospital in Noida.
Director Neeraj Pandey, who is known for shooting on real locations, shot the final scene of the film with Akshay and Tapsee at a hospital.
In an on-set interaction, team Naam Shabana turned a hospital room into a perfect press conference set up.
The team spoke extensively about their journey, whereby Taapsee, who will be seen in an action-packed role, shared insights into the intensive training she underwent to fit into the skin of Shabana.
The actress also shared that it was her co-star Akshay Kumar who imparted his knowledge of martial arts to her, which further helped her play her part to justice.
Akshay Kumar showcased his man on a mission avatar and chalked out the understanding of the film on a board.
Neeraj Pandey's Naam Shabana directed by Shivam Nair is all set to release on March 31, 2017
They call it the Nobel Prize for students and going by the names and prestige involved with the annual Hult Challenge Prize, one would have to agree. Started in 2010, the prize from the Hult International Business School (named after Swedish entrepreneur Bertil Hult, the B-school has campuses in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai) is awarded to a team of college students who come up with unique business solutions for a pressing global problem.
Like every year, 2017s topic Refugees: Reawakening Human Potential was also issued by former US president Bill Clinton, who is a key member of the selection panel.
The prize has several stages local and regional competitions; followed by the Hult Prize Accelerator (six teams attend an intensive six-week programme at the Hult International Business School in July and August); the global finals, which are hosted by Clinton in New York in September and where one team gets a seed capital of US one million dollars to implement their plan via a start-up. The winning team is mentored thereafter by experts for the implementation stage.
It is in this milieu that the all-women Team Visionaries comprising four students from the International Management Institute, New Delhi, will head to Boston for one of the regional rounds (conducted simultaneously in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai, Shanghai and online) on 4 March. The team members 23 year olds, Ayushi Srivastava, Bhanushee Malhotra and Anisha Rajput and 26-year-old Priyesha Modi shared their excitement at getting a chance to showcase their plan in Boston and talked on how the competition would help their start up, SharanAtithi. Excerpts from an interview:
Do elaborate on the selection process for the regional final. Initially, a real life problem concerning the globe was posed by the Hult Challenge Prize 2017.
We were asked to propose a social business plan to improve the conditions of refugees, who are taking shelter in different countries. We had to explain the entire business plan by answering questions posted by the Hult team. Through our primary research, we did justify the questions by providing rational and feasible solutions to the critical problem. Among a pool of over 50,000 applicants, our application was shortlisted for the regional finals to be conducted at the Hult International Business School, Boston.
How have you tackled the chosen topic, Refugees: Reawakening Human Potential?
We interacted with the refugees residing in different areas of Delhi and tried to understand the issues concerning them. On talking to them, we came to know that the major issue that they face in any country, where they take shelter, is the communication barrier. They are unable to converse in the local or regional language of their country of residence. This exponentially increases their hardships. Our aim was clear to eliminate the problem from its grassroots level. Hence, we ensured proper understanding of the local language by the refugees. Providing them social upliftment and instilling a sense of belonging in them towards the shelter country has been our motto. We tried to culturally integrate them with the native citizens of the country and make them feel at home.
What makes your entry different from the rest?
We didnt consider it as merely a competition. Rather, it was our passion that drove us to actually propose a business solution, which can improve the current living conditions of refugees. We began at the grassroots level in order to probe the core reason behind the plight of refugees the problems they are facing, the circumstances that led to their pathetic condition, their emotional connect with their native country et al. Based on the information collected, we devised a plan to address this real life social cause and began a start up called SharanAtithi.
How supportive have your teachers been?
Right from the beginning, our faculty members have been our backbone; be it mentoring about the process, providing guidance on initiating research or completing the administrative formalities. They supported us throughout the entire journey and encouraged us to participate at the international level. In times of difficulty, the entire IMI fraternity motivated us.
How will participating at the regional final in Boston help your future endeavours?
The Hult Challenge Prize is a great platform that encourages young minds to think beyond the horizon and cater to a social cause. It motivates budding entrepreneurs to propose a business solution, which addresses a real life problem and start an organisation of their own. Moreover, this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity would provide us valuable exposure, which will surely widen our thinking horizon. Competing at the international level with teams from the Harvard Business School, Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and many others would enable us to learn about their thought processes and business design.
Exchange of ideas at such a broad level would provide a foundation for our startup, SharanAtithi in the near future.
The United Kingdom on Tuesday clarified that there is no cap on visa for Indian students which means they are free to access world-class education in UKs best universities.
The UK had announced 600 scholarships for Indian students aspiring to study in the UK, British High Commissioner to India Dominic Asquith said while addressing the India launch of the reportUN Secretary General's High Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment.
Asquith said that the UK has no cap on visas for students from India or anywhere else. All are treated same. Whoever comes will join almost half a million international students who come in the UK to access word-class education in the world-class universities.
India has consistently asked the UK to relax student visa rules for better mobility of students.
UK's visa policy requires students to return home after their courses end. This has caused a fall in number of Indian students enrolling in British universities by 50 per cent. As per estimates, the number of study-visas issued to Indian nationals has fallen drastically.
Asquith also said that the UK is participating in several initiatives of the Indian government to promote skilling.
The UK is already investing and supporting about 75 start-up businesses and they also provided access to financial services to women in India, Asquith added.
British companies, on an average, are spending seven per cent of their revenues on training and skilling employees in India and are also creating more opportunities for women.
The move by President Donald Trump to ban citizens of seven Muslim majority countries has created a lot of turmoil both within the US and globally. Caught in the wake of the ban are international students studying in or intending to study. While the legal challenges ensued have put a temporary hold on the ban taking effect, it is clear that the Trump administration will fight and eventually get its way, probably through another executive order, differently worded.
It is quite apparent that the thought leaders do not realise that these moves would harm the US itself, more than those it is targeting. Its companies will be denied the best available global talent and will also distract amongst those whom it seeks to neutralise. The US is an immigrant country and its constitution is clear in the protection it affords all people regardless of colour, creed or religious belief. Despite that, changing the very fundamentals with the discourse will inject into the body politic.
The impact on the rest of the world would be immense and will likely change the way we interact and transact with different countries and cultures. Grappling with Trumps executive order are also the international students from India. The implications of these intended changes that have been in place till now poses uncertainties. For one, they may not have the work options after they graduate from the US universities that they have had till now, or the bar may be raised considerably. This will rob them both of gaining work experience and exposure in the worlds leading economy and innovation-leading companies, but also from gaining some return on their education investment.
However, for students who are from the upper socio-economic strata and others who do not consider it important to work post-study completion, the setbacks are considerably less. They will most likely choose to proceed simply for the great education and the campus experience. In addition to that, Indian students looking for scholarship opportunities will find themselves disadvantaged.
All in all, students looking for a migration prospect will find it tough if the ruling is passed. Those who aim for an overseas education is to use opportunities that are legally available to work after completing their studies or to migrate are already looking at backup options across the world.
These include applying to countries that are still open and welcoming to international students, not just to boost the income of their often cash-strapped universities due to cuts in public funding, but also to fill critical skill gaps within their economies and societies.
Thus, students are applying in increasing numbers to alternative destinations such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany and other European destinations like France, Italy and Spain. Singapore is also a potential beneficiary, as well as Dubai for the undergraduate segment particularly. Among these countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Germany permit students 20 hours of part-time work per week and also grant post-study work opportunities. Often, these lead to immigration opportunities when the student meets the legal parameters set by the particular country. Students are now increasingly planning their overseas studies keeping the legal framework in mind, such as language skills, area of study, work experience, age, etc.
At this point it is too early to weigh in on the impact of the US Visa ban. It will be a wise decision to have a fall back option.
The writer is chairman and founder, The Chopras.
The simplification of Indian laws and regulations towards ease of doing business has drawn "significant" interest from Chinese companies to make investments in the country, China's former Vice Foreign Minister Lu Xinhua said on Wednesday.
"The interest of Chinese companies in investing in India has enhanced significantly following the simplification of laws and regulations and the Indian government's determined stance to attract foreign direct investment (FDI)," Lu Xinhua said.
He was addressing the China-India business meeting for investment and trade organised by industry lobby Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) in association with the Embassy of China in India.
"With globalisation, China and India have emerged as two attractive destinations for FDI. So, it is imperative for the two nations to grab the emerging opportunities," he said.
Lu is leading to India a high-powered business delegation from the Council for Promoting South-South Cooperation (CPSSC).
The delegation comprises representatives from diverse sectors such as finance, investment, railway construction, power generation, electronic products, project coordination, real estate, waste management, commerce, medical equipment, lighting, industrial cable, culture and education.
The aim of the delegation members is to forge beneficial partnerships with their Indian counterparts, the former minister said.
Lu said he hopes that the business to business sessions organised between Indian and Chinese industry leaders would yield fruitful partnerships.
Liu Jinsong, Minister Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission in the Chinese Embassy, said the issue of trade deficit between India and China needs to be addressed and therefore, promoting business, trade and investment is necessary between the two countries.
The bilateral trade between India and China crossed $70 billion during 2015-16, while India's trade deficit with China stood at $53 billion.
Of the total $288.51 billion FDI equity inflows that India received during April 2000-March 2016, China contributed $1.36 billion.
DES MOINES | A bill calling for reorganization of Iowas 99 counties didnt get much support at the Capitol Wednesday, but lawmakers green-lighted it for more discussion and, possibly, an interim study committee.
"We need to have a deep and thoughtful conversation, Rep. Gary Carlson, R-Muscatine, said about House Joint Resolution 7 that would begin county reorganization in 2021.
However, Rep. Mary Gaskill, D-Ottumwa, raised several concerns, many which were shared by lobbyists who attended a subcommittee meeting.
HJR 7 calls for a constitutional amendment, which would have to be approved by voters, which would allow the Legislature to redraw county lines. If that means fewer counties, the Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) isnt interested, Lucas Beenken said.
Outside of the Des Moines bubble, he said, people really appreciate local government being able to go across town, into town or the next town over to renew their driver license or gun permit, to talk to the county engineer about roads and bridges.
Any consolidation that would take away local representation is problematic, he said.
Gaskill, a former county auditor, thought the bill went too far in reducing the scope of county government.
How much home rule is left? she said, pointing to several places in the bill that would disallow some of the things counties now do. The bill would leave only three or four things county government could do.
The bill is far from perfect, Carlson said, but he wants the full Local Government Committee to look at how Iowas relatively small population has changed and how technology has changed the way services can be delivered. Rather than look for ways to cooperate, some county officials seem to be running away from the issue, he said.
We get asked all the time how we can justify 99 counties and how much government do we need, Carlson said.
The focus should be on delivering service, said Gaskill.
Local Government Committee Chairman Jake Highfill, R-Johnston, said he will take up the bill in full committee and ask for an interim study committee.
Constitutional amendments have to be approved by two general assemblies before being submitted for voter approval.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday inspected three mid-day meal kitchens in north Delhi and collected food samples which he sent for examination to a laboratory.
A government official said Jain, along with the officials of health and food safety departments, visited kitchens in Burari and Jagatpur areas of north Delhi where mid-day meal for the nearby schools is prepared.
"The team took food samples and send them to laboratory for examination. Such inspections will continue till February 24," the official
A dead rat was found in a midday meal served at the Government Boys Senior Secondary School in Deoli area on February 16, after which at least nine students were hospitalised.
Jain's inspection came after Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday ordered that all 33 mid-day meal kitchens should be inspected by senior officers.
During the inspection, Jain said: "Annually, we collect around 2,000 food samples of mid-day meal for examination, but now we have set up a target of collecting and testing annually 20,000 mid-day meal samples."
Chief Election Commissioner Naseem Zaidi on Wednesday said the ongoing economic blockade in Manipur will not affect the state assembly elections.
"Economic blockade will not impact poll process in Manipur, all arrangements made to ensure free and fair election" Zaidi said.
The United Naga Council (UNC) had been imposing indefinite economic blockade in the state since November 1, 2016, against the creation of seven new districts the by state government bifurcating the existing ones.
Assuring smooth movement of election officials and security personnel, the CEC said there is a priority and petrol, diesel will be available sufficiently for poll process.
"We have undertaken a very in-depth review with our district officials and also with the state officials. As far as the election process is concerned there is a priority and sufficient availability of petrol, diesel for poll process. There would be no problem regarding it and all poll personnel will assist us" Zaidi said.
"20 general and 20 election-related police observers, 20 expenditure observers and seven awareness observers have been deployed to monitor election-related activities" Zaidi added.
The 60-seat assembly will go to polls in two phases on March 4 and March 8, with 168 candidates in the fray for the first phase in 38 assembly constituencies.
Of the 60 seats, 38 hill and 22 valley constituencies will go to polls on March 4 in the state.
(With inputs from Agencies)
The BSF in a flag meeting with the Pakistan Rangers on Wednesday expressed concern on the issue of tunnels having been dug across the border fence from the Pakistani side to facilitate infiltration of terrorists on the Indian soil.
A spokesman of the BSF said that the flag meeting was held at Suchetgarh border post in the Jammu district on the request of BSF.
PK Anand, commandant, led the eight member team of BSF, while a five member team of Pak Rangers was headed by Wing Commander Lt. Col. Irfan Khan.
During the meeting various issues including recent detection of tunnels and firing in Ramgarh sector as well as return of constable Sohan Lal of J&K police who crossed to Pakistan inadvertantly in 2014 and other routine issues related to management of border were discussed.
The meeting was held in cordial atmosphere, the spokesman added.
Amid serious concerns in India over the Donald Trump administrations proposal to impose curbs on H-1B visas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the United States to develop a balanced outlook towards the movement of skilled professionals.
Welcoming a bipartisan 26-member US Congressional delegation here, Modi on Tuesday underlined the contribution of Indian talent to the US economy and society. He said the US should develop a reflective, balanced and farsighted perspective on movement of skilled professionals.
The PM shared his perspective on areas where both countries could work even more closely, including in facilitating greater people-to-people linkages that have over the years helped in contributing to each other's prosperity, a PMO statement said.
India, in January, had expressed its concern over a bill to change rules on H-1B visas that will impact the IT industry and Indian techies working in the US.
The High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017, introduced in the House of Representatives by California Congressman Zoe Lofgren, calls for doubling the minimum salary of H-1B visa holders to 130,000 dollars from the current minimum of 60,000 dollars ~ a move that could affect Indian techies. At present, the US issues nearly 65000 H-1B visas every year and Indians are the biggest beneficiaries.
Calling the visit a good start to bilateral exchanges following the inauguration of Trump, Modi recalled his "positive conversation with the American President and the shared commitment to further strengthening of ties that have grown deeper in the last two-and-a-half years.
In this regard, he recognised Congress's strong bipartisan support for the India-US partnership.
Despite India expanding its military ties with the US, Europe and Israel, Russia remains New Delhi's number one supplier of weapons with America at a distant second, according to a report on global arms trade in the last five years.
From 2012 to 2016, Russia supplied 68 per cent of India's arms import, as per the survey by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) an international think-tank that researches on conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament.
In the same period, the US supplied 14 per cent of arms to India, followed by Israel (7.2 per cent).
The SIPRI report also foresees Russia maintaining the lead in supplying weapons to India which has emerged as the biggest importer of major arms with overseas procurements exceeding that of China and Pakistan.
"Based on existing orders and weapons, Russia will remain, by far, the main supplier of major arms to India for the foreseeable future," it said.
"However, India expects increasing deliveries due to several major orders from France (another traditional supplier) and from the US, South Korea and Spain all of which only recently became suppliers of major weapons to India," said the report.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been making increasing efforts towards his flagship "Make in India" initiative that also endeavours to modernize the country's ageing military equipment.
Modi has pledged $250 billion for the domestic defence industry to manufacture fighter jets, guns and submarines locally.
But the SIPRI reports hints that India will be overwhelmingly reliant on foreign imports, mainly from Russia, the US and Israel as has been the trend in the last five years.
"A major reason for the high level of imports is that India's arms industry has largely failed to produce competitive indigenously designed weapons," said the report.
According to it, India is also the largest buyer of Russian weapons, taking home 38 per cent of Moscow's exports. It is also the largest buyer of Israel's weapons with a 41 per cent share of its exports.
For the UK, India is the second largest buyer, with 11 per cent share of its exports.
Significantly, India does not figure in the top three buyers of US weapons although Washington has designated New Delhi as its Major Defence Partner.
According to the SIPRI report, 47 per cent of US weapons went to countries in the Middle East.
The five biggest arms exporters were the US, Russia, China, France and Germany, together accounting for 74 per cent of the total volume of trade in weapons in the last five years.
The United Kingdom is believed to have assured India that it was seriously looking into New Delhi's request to extradite liquor baron Vijay Mallya and other Indian fugitives from the law who have taken refuge in the European nation.
The assurance came at a new round of two-day dialogue on matters related to extradition and mutual legal assistance between the officials of India and the UK which concluded here this evening.
According to sources, the UK delegation is learnt to have enquired from their Indian interlocutors about the nature of punishment likely to be awarded to Mallya should he be extradited. Mallya is under investigation for money laundering charges in a case of alleged default of bank loans worth around Rs.900 crore.
The two sides discussed several pending deportation cases involving Indians from the UK.
In November, India had asked Britain to extradite nearly 60 people wanted by it, including Mallya, so that they can face the Indian law for the offences committed by them. Britain also had handed over to India a list of 17 people whose custody it seeks under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty or against whom Letters Rogatory had been issued.
The MEA said the two sides held detailed and fruitful deliberations on the legal processes and procedures in either country and reviewed the requests for extradition and mutual legal assistance pending on either side.
Both sides reiterated their determination to strengthen legal cooperation and expedite the pending requests. It was agreed that the central authorities of both the countries would review further progress in these cases every six month through video conference.
The Indian delegation was led by the Joint Secretary, Consular, Passport and Visa in MEA and had representatives from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Law and Justice and investigating agencies, including CBI, Enforcement Directorate, and the state authorities concerned.
The UK delegation was led by the Head of the UK Central Authority for Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance, the UK Home Office and representatives from the Crown Prosecution Service, and the UK High Commission in New Delhi.
The meeting was held pursuant to the decision taken during the visit of the UK Prime Minister to India in November 2016 whn she and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had directed that the officials dealing with extradition matters from both sides should meet at the earliest to develop better understanding of each countries legal processes and requirements; share best practices, and identify the causes of delays and expedite pending requests so that fugitives and criminals should not be allowed to escape the law.
The ferment in Iraq, festering since the spring of 2003, has flared again with the Iraqi armys offensive to recapture Mosul from the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, prompting the UN to advance a warning on Sunday that many people are at extreme risk, with fuel and food supplies dwindling and drinking water and electricity scarce.
There are an estimated 650,000 civilians trapped in the west of the city, whose eastern theatre was recaptured last October. We are doing everything we can to reach and help people, was the response of the UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande.
Mosul is an enormous operation. Each day, partners are trucking 2.3m litres of water to nearly half of all retaken neighbourhoods, supplementing municipal supplies. The fact that the Iraqi army needed close to six months to formulate a strategy for the western sector is suggestive of the extent to which the Caliphate has entrenched itself in the city. It is an intricate strategy to formulate as the Euphrates river bisects the east and the west.
Mosul in Iraq and Aleppo in Syria are the two nerve-centres of ISIS penetration in the region. Whereas the Syrian forces are being assisted by Russian bombardment from the skies, the recapture of Mosul has been left largely to the devices of Iraqs beleaguered forces, its war-like capability sorely tried since 2003.
Of course US airstrikes have lent support to the initial advance of the Iraqi troops, and reports from the battlefield suggest that such hard fighting has seldom been seen in Iraq.
The immediate target of the Iraqi troops is to gain control of Mosul airport, which they plan to use as a staging base for the main battle. More fierce clashes are expected when troops approach the urban centre, which is believed to have been fortified by the elite fighting units of ISIS.
Yet it would be presumptuous to imagine that ISIS has its back to the wall both in Iraq and Syria, though it could well be seeking a flank further afield, if the recent killings in Pakistan and Bangladesh are any indication, not to forget the outrages in Europe.
No less a matter of concern is the expected exodus of at least several hundred thousand people, indeed another bout of migration that is bound to challenge an already stretched aid network that has provided food, water and shelter for up to 217,000 refugees from eastern Mosul since 17 October.
With the pressure ramped up against the Caliphate, it may not be easy to repeat the terror strikes as witnessed in Baghdad, Brussels, Paris and Nice. But its fanatical fury has not ebbed; the ISIS remains a threat across the world. In the wider perspective, the recapture of Mosul could turn out to be a temporary setback.
In the short period since he assumed power, President Trump has already done much to change the way the US Administration sets about its business. There is the highly personalized style of functioning, the frequent tweets, the prolonged meetings with the media, the unabashed candour, the combativeness, the unpredictability nothing quite like it has been seen before. The campaign mode of reaching out that carried Trump to glory seems to have been retained even after his installation, and there has been little letup in the rush: some setbacks, like the departure of the National Security Adviser, have been taken in stride, and some appointments like those of Cabinet-level officials have run into difficulty without any real loss of momentum. Style and substance have both been amended in the new White House, to the delight of some and the distress of others: either way the world is getting used to the new dispensation.
While Trump puts the particular interests of his country well ahead of any other commitment, which was one of the major themes of his election campaign, like his predecessors he has been unable to detach himself from the inescapable realities of dealing with the rest of the world. There have been many contacts between him and other world leaders who have been quick to reach out and try to establish a good basis for future relations. Some awkward passages have had to be negotiated, like that involving the President of Mexico whose country has been the main target of populist sentiment against immigration into USA, which is a major issue that led to the cancellation of a projected visit by the Mexican leader. Another early exchange that did not play out well was the initial telephone conversation between Trump and Australian PM Turnbull which, according to media reports, led to strongly expressed disagreement between them. This was unexpected for Australia which is regarded as the most steadfast of US allies.
But if there are issues and situations where some diplomatic balm may be needed, there are also some where more favourable indications about the future have emerged, none more striking than the outcome of the conversations between Trump and Putin, which seem to have been cordial and to have put US-Russian relations back on track after a period of strain. Not long ago, the USA imposed sanctions on some aspects of its relations with Russia, and the two countries were conspicuously at odds on matters like Syria and Ukraine. Trump even at that juncture, when he was still a presidential candidate, took a different, less critical view of Russia which he thought could be handled better through deal-making rather than finger-pointing. Now, after two apparently cordial conversations between the leaders, the two countries may be able to establish better mutual understanding. Should these two pre-eminent nuclear powers be able to find sufficient common ground they could move on to renewal of nuclear agreements that have been under question as a result of the recent deterioration in their relations. Trump still has to establish his credentials as a global statesman but strengthened arrangements for nuclear restraint between the USA and Russia would be a good start.
If Russia has reason to be pleased with these developments, others among countries that are long-time US allies may be less content. Trump has been skeptical of the value of advantages of alliances involving his country, preferring an untrammelled ability to pursue the national interest as he sees it without being tied down to collective arrangements. He has expressed disdain for NATO, to the considerable unease of the many members who regard NATO as the bedrock of their security, and its expansion into East Europe as a highly desirable strategic goal. Major European nations have been taken aback and will be keen to see some effort to restore the primacy of NATO in their security affairs. One of the key issues that provoked this observation from Trump is his belief that Europe is not paying its way in NATO and is leaning too heavily on the commitment and investment of USA. This is not the first time that US leaders have tried to chivvy European partners into assuming what they consider to be a fair share in their own defence arrangements. The rights and wrongs of it can, and no doubt will, be debated at some length but Trump's views are now at the centre of the discussion. And as relations with NATO come under the US scanner, so too relations with the EU, whose elaborate procedures and other collective preoccupations are not apparently to Trump's taste. He seems more responsive to the aggressive nationalism of the new crop of political aspirants who are now bidding for power in Europe.
Worth noting, too, among these early indications, is Trump's readiness for conciliatory gestures towards China. Over the previous year there has been plenty of criticism of China for its economic policies, and after being elected Trump spoke to the Taiwan President, to China's predictable annoyance, but he has since reaffirmed the USA's 'One China' policy, which is the essential prerequisite for sustainable relations. The new US Secretary of State, Tillerson, took advantage of the meeting of the Group of 20 (G-20) to affirm US policy on this issue. This affirmation comes after a period of stress in US-China relations when the USA and its allies showed concern at Chinese actions in the South China Sea and what looked like a more aggressive Chinese activism in the region as a whole. The South China Sea will doubtless remain a matter of contention between China and many other actors, including the USA, but for now Trump's One-China declaration may encourage efforts to keep matters under control.
US priorities having shifted as they have, that country's changing relationships with its partners, as well as its antagonists, now require careful assessment. Trump's style of functioning can be disquieting but that should not obscure the substance of his message. India has not been much affected by the changeover in Washington, notwithstanding its concerns about matters like the visa issue, but it has to maintain the tempo and ensure that relations with the USA develop satisfactorily. Modi seeks an early date for his US visit, which is as it should be, for as always, good rapport at the leadership level could be the important key. After establishing conspicuously friendly links with the previous US leader, India's PM will have to begin again with the present incumbent. However, bilateral ties are now well grounded and can be expected to continue to prosper in the future.
The writer is India's former Foreign Secretary.
The good news from the India-Pakistan border is that it is calm. Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar has said in an interview that the temperature has come down on the border. This could mean that India and Pakistan seem to be settling down to a relationship which was expected 70 years ago when partition took place.
If this is the case, both countries should cut down on defence expenditure. We have not introduced the real cut which, at present, is only marginal. Unfortunately, the defence ministers statement of India much better armed than before indicates how much we are still spending on defence. Pakistan, too, has not made any significant reduction in its defence expenditure. This reminds me of cold war era when America made the Soviet Union spend most of its resources on defence. The result was that there was very little left for schools, hospitals and peoples councils.
This led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the country got divided into several parts. For example, Ukraine became independent. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said many a time that Ukraine is a part of Russia. But the independence movement belies his statement. Most of the Russian troops are posted on that front.
The effect on Pakistan has been the dilution of whatever democracy exists there. Now the new Army chief is superior to the elected Prime Minister. The pictures that show Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also depicts that the person in khaki is the real boss. The Pakistan Prime Minister has accepted the arrangement. Islamabads worry is that the Taliban are using the soil of Afghanistan to attack Pakistan. Islamabad is no longer safe. Every second day, one incident of bombing or the other takes place in Pakistan, killing several innocent people. There has been exodus from seemingly secure Islamabad to other parts of Pakistan.
Thanks to UN pressure, China has agreed to declare Hafiz Saeed as a terrorist. Pakistans defence minister Khawaza Asif has admitted that Pakistan faces danger from terrorists like Saeed who is now under house arrest. This has been a sham so far but the numbers at the UN Security Council were predominantly for declaring him as a terrorist.
Now Islamabad has finally realized that Saeed is linked with militancy in some way but it is to be seen how long Islamabad can keep him under house arrest. In fact, in 2008 the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks was placed under house arrest but was freed by a court in 2009. The question before all of us is whether we should read too much into Saeeds arrest or take defence minister Asifs statement seriously?
Observers in Pakistan are well aware that the action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba chief is not a new step or the most serious measure taken against him over the past two decades. Since 2001, the LeT chief has been in and out of detention at least on five occasions. If indeed Pakistan is serious about the UN list, action against Saeed should have been initiated in 2008 itself when he and Jammat-ud-Dawa were put on the UN list of terrorists. The recent action seems to have been timed for the Financial Action Task Forces meeting to be held in Paris where Pakistans terror funding record is likely to come up. Even otherwise, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif must be worried about the decision of US President Donald Trump who has banned travel from seven Muslim countries. For Pakistan, its nationals will be given visa only after a close scrutiny.
Muslims living in America are a worried lot because they could also be sent out if the President decides to include them on the banned list of Muslim countries. In the case of Indian Muslims, there is no apparent danger but the immigration officials may think different and tar them with the same brush. There are sad occasions when top Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan was detained and the Indian embassy had to intervene to get his entry into the US.
I, too, had a tough time some years ago while entering the US from the west coast. I had a diplomatic passport but still they insisted on searching me bodily. The immigration official explained that most of the visas stamped on my passport were from Pakistan and Bangladesh. He could not make out why I should be often visiting these countries.
I wish New Delhi has picked up the thread from where it had left off when Nawaz Sharif met Prime Minister Narendra Modi the last time in China. They were reported to have had a positive dialogue. But things have not moved further because New Delhi asked Islamabad to ensure that Pakistani soil would not be used by the terrorists. But then incidents like Uri and Pathankot attacks have belied hopes.
Now that Pakistan has detained Hafiz Saeed and Defence Minister Asifs admission of the dangers from terrorists like the LeT chief is on record, the dialogue can probably resume between the two countries. To go forward, India may have to dilute its position that it would have no talks unless there was a foolproof guarantee on curbs against terrorists operation from their soil.
Probably, India may wait and watch for a while before moving ahead. Even Israel has wished it. Nevertheless, it is in the interest of both India and Pakistan to sit across and thrash out the issues. Pakistan, on its part, should put the Kashmir issue on the backburner for the time being. They should, instead, address the immediate problems of poverty, hunger and unemployment.
The writer is a noted journalist, columnist and commentator.
In one of his first actions as President of the United States, Donald Trump ordered his country to withdraw from the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP). The reason given for the withdrawal was not anti-trade. Instead, the Trump administration directed the United States Trade Representative to negotiate fresh bilateral agreements, instead of the multilateral TPP.
The biggest disadvantage of a multilateral investment treaty is that it takes too much time to get all the countries on board about a host of issues. The second disadvantage is, like with any other trade agreement, some people will be disadvantaged while some will gain. Smaller businesses will not be able to compete with large companies that have been granted broad access by the trade deal. Therefore, they will lay off workers and cut costs. However, this can also happen in bilateral investment treaties (BITs).
The Trump administration needs to ensure that it pays more attention to labour, environment and investor-friendly clauses while negotiating the BITs. The TPP had garnered opposition not only from Trump but also from Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. This opposition stemmed from the TPPs overly investor-friendly clauses.
Most investment agreements are investor-friendly, whether bilateral or multilateral. The disadvantage of a multilateral treaty is that it gains significant traction in the media due to its sheer size. The TPP for example, included 12 nations that account for 36 per cent of the world GDP. Because it received significant media reporting, potential critics started analyzing particular investor-friendly clauses.
Another misconception that tempted Trump to withdraw was his supposition that the TPP would lead to a loss of US jobs. US industry leaders disagreed with Trump on this point. A study by the Peterson Institute indicated that the TPP would lead to a 9 per cent increase in US exports by 2030. Lastly, apart from increasing trade with Asian countries, the TPP was not only a trade deal. It had clauses on governance, environment, labour and intellectual property. The aim was to highlight these clauses so that other nations, particularly China and India, would be induced to follow.
The US wants a presence in East Asia and presumably doesn't want China to take the lead in the global trade market. Experts have said that Washington will have to be aggressive in negotiating bilateral investments with other Asian countries to maintain its strong presence in Asia.
China is already negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Now that the US has left the TPP, Australia, the repository of the TPP, wants to make it more appealing by including China. But Japan, due to its differences with China, has vehemently opposed including China in the TPP.
The concern for the US should be to make sure it has an active presence. If the US is not involved in East and Southeast Asia as a facilitator of trade agreements, it would lose ground to China. Trump has been quick in this regard. Days after withdrawing from the TPP, the Trump administration began to negotiate a bilateral investment treaty with Japan.
India too has a huge role to play, now that the US is out of the picture. Due to the documented differences between India and China, India ought to either step up its game or make sure that the US does not lose ground to China. A possible area where India can show its strength is at the WTO. India should also pursue other trade deals. It is already a part of the Chinese RCEP. It may try co-lead a multilateral trade deal with Japan. Japan and India together may be able to lure other nations and help counter the weight of China. In addition, India should think about negotiating trade deals with Australia and the EU.
India should also make sure that the WTO remains the pre-eminent global trade agreement. To negotiate bilateral trade agreements, including one with the US, India may have to accept loosening its agricultural norms, which it has vehemently defended at the WTO.
In summary, the USs withdrawal from the TPP will be remembered as a U-turn in trade liberalisation. The plan forward for the US seems to be to negotiate bilateral trade agreements with India and Japan to counter Chinas regional strength. As experts in the US have said, it is going to be more important now than ever that the US has a strong Asian presence.
The writers are respectively professor of law and a student at the Jindal Global University.
Adam Perry, 45, used a juvenile on May 14, 2016, to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of the activity, according to the indictment in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.
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.
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.
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.
The Independent
Speculation is rife over Priyanka Vadras absence from the poll campaign in the family seats of Rae Bareli and Amethi. She has always been active in these two seats during elections, spending several weeks driving through dusty villages and addressing corner meetings. But this time, she has hardly been visible. She has kept a very low profile. She finally appeared on the last day of campaigning in Rae Bareli to accompany brother Rahul on a whirlwind trip through the area.
It would seem Priyanka is unhappy at the way things have turned out with ally SP in the Gandhi family bastion. The ten assembly seats in Rae Bareli and Amethi were a bone of contention between the Congress and SP during seat negotiation. Since the Congress had won only two of the ten in 2012, SP refused to give up this area to its partner. Congress negotiators pleaded on grounds of family sentiment but SP negotiators were firm.
Ultimately, the Congress decided to fight all ten seats. This meant friendly fights with ally SP in eight of the constituencies. SP has not fielded candidates in the two seats held by the Congress.
Priyankas absence from the field is being seen as an indication of her annoyance over SPs refusal to accommodate the Congress in its family bastion. Or is she missing because the Congress is unlikely to do well? In the 2012 election, Priyanka put her heart and soul into the campaign to retain the family strongholds. Her effort yielded just two seats for the Congress.
It was a big blow. This time, with SP pitted against the Congress and no help from BSP to mop up the Dalit vote, Priyanka probably feels its a wasted effort to devote so much time and energy on an election that doesnt seem to be going the Congress way.
Praise for PM
BJP circles were surprised by a recent statement praising the Prime Minister from sidelined BJP leader and Modi bete noir Sanjay Joshi. Significantly, the comments were made in Lucknow in the midst of hectic poll campaigning.
Joshi was speaking at a seminar organized by the RSS and BJP. He declared that Modi is his leader and showered praise on him for getting international recognition for yoga.
The comments in Lucknow are seen as significant in BJP circles because Joshi is an influential voice in UP. He was in charge of the state many years ago and remains in touch with his vast network of supporters and followers. For him to repose faith in Modi in the midst of a tightly contested election is being seen as a boost to the BJP in UP.
BJP circles say that Joshi is desperate to return to the party and active politics. He was removed from the National Executive in 2013 on Modis demand and since then, he has been forced to stay away from BJP activities.
The RSS is believed to have offered to take Joshi into the Sangh and give him responsibility. But Joshi wants a homecoming to the BJP as a matter of honour. His desperation is making him come out with statements in praise of Modi every few months. BJP insiders say that Modi is unlikely to soften despite so much praise. There is too much negative history between the two men who were once close associates.
Shivpals overtime
No one is talking about it but Akhileshs estranged uncle Shivpal seems to be working overtime to damage his nephew in the family belt in the Rohailkhand region. He has put up some 40 candidates on the Lok Dal ticket in constituencies in Mainpuri, Etawah, Farroukhabad, Kannauj and Firozabad. Lok Dal should not be confused with Ajit Singhs Rashtriya Lok Dal. It is a small local party which Mulayam Singh was at one point thinking of taking over. This was when father and son were fighting over the cycle symbol and there was a fear that the SPs trademark would be frozen.
According to reports from the area, Shivpal is canvassing hard for his nominees in the Lok Dal. It may be recalled that Mulayam Singh dropped a bomb recently when he asked for votes for a Lok Dal nominee contesting in the adjacent seat to the family constituency of Jaswant Nagar. That was the first public signal that something is amiss in the family. Mulayam had gone to address a rally in Jaswant Nagar for brother Shivpal who is fighting on an SP ticket.
The LD nominee for whom Mulayam sought votes in his rally is a Shivpal loyalist who was denied a SP ticket by Akhilesh. Will the continuing battle in the family impact the outcome in the Yadav belt? We will know on March 11 when the results are out.
Banking on a split
Why is BSP chief Mayawati soft on Akhileshs estranged uncle Shivpal? In many of her speeches lambasting the family feud in the Yadav clan, she has always portrayed Shivpal as a victim and expressed sympathy for him.
Shivpal, according to her, was betrayed and insulted by his nephew although he had worked hard to build up the party for the family. Knowing Mayawatis strong antipathy for the Yadav clan after the guesthouse incident in Lucknow in 1993 when she was almost killed by Yadav goons, it is surprising for her to show sympathy for any member of the family.
Political circles speculate that she is hoping that the fight will split the Yadav votes, giving her an entry into the Rohailkhand area where she has traditionally been weak.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday decried anti-semitic threats targeting Jewish community as "horrible" and "painful", saying that there is need to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms.
"This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms," Trump said after his maiden visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.
He said the "anti-semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil."
His remarks came in the backdrop of increasing threats against Jewish community and community centers in the US.
"Etched in the hall that we passed today is a quote from Spottswood Rice, a runaway slave who joined the Union Army. He believed his fellow African-Americans always looked to the US as the promised land of universal freedom," Trump said.
"Today and every day of my presidency, I pledge to do everything I can to continue that promise of freedom for African-Americans and for every American. So important, nothing more important," the president said.
Describing his tour to the museum as comprehensive, Trump promised to work for the African-American community.
"We're going to do great things in our African-American communities together," he said with his nominee for Housing and Urban Development, Dr Ben Carson, standing by his side.
"Ben's going to work with me very, very closely. And HUD has a meaning far beyond housing. If properly done, it's a meaning that's as big as anything there is. And then we'll be able to find that true meaning, and the true meaning of HUD as its secretary," he said.
Trump also read out a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1955, King Jr told the world, "We are determined to work and fight until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream," Trump said.
"And that's what it's going to be. We're going to bring this country together. Maybe bring some of the world together, but we're going to bring this country together," he added.
"We have a divided country. It's been divided for many, many years, but we're going to bring it together. I hope every day of my presidency, we will be honouring the determination and work towards a very worthy goal, and for Lonnie and David and David and Ben and Alveda and everybody, I just want to I just have to say that what they've done here is something that can probably not be duplicated," Trump said.
Trump's daughter Ivanka and Senator Tim Scott were also present on the occasion.
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)
Today
Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High 67F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%..
Tonight
Some passing clouds. Low 54F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph.
Domestic abuse assault causing bodily injury -- Brian L. Potter, 41, Mason City, deferred judgment, one year probation, $315 civil penalty.
Domestic assault -- Daniel L. Belt, 35, Meservey, 30 days in jail with all but two days suspended, one year probation.
Violation of no contact order -- Daniel L. Belt, 35, Meservey, 30 days in jail with all but seven days suspended, one year probation.
Domestic abuse assault causing bodily injury -- Thomas B. Hitchcock, 45, Rockwell, 365 days in jail with all but two days suspended, two years probation, $315 fine.
Dismissed -- Thomas B. Hitchcock, 45, Rockwell, violation of no contact order (two counts).
Third-degree theft -- Megan F. Henschen (Stinson), 19, Ames, deferred judgment, one year probation, $625 civil penalty.
Contempt of court -- Madison L. Graney, 21, Mason City, seven days in jail.
Child endangerment -- Barbara M. Lowman, 53, Clear Lake, five years in prison (suspended), $750 suspended fine, five years probation.
Dismissed -- Barbara M. Lowman, 53, Clear Lake, assault causing bodily injury.
Dismissed -- Barbara M. Lowman, 53, Clear Lake, assault while participating in a felony.
Methamphetamine possession, second offense -- Jacob D. Johnson, 29, Northwood, two days in jail, $315 fine.
Driving while revoked -- Taylor E. Koch, 27, Alexander, $1,000 fine.
Driving while barred -- Johnny W. Lee Jr., 49, Mason City, 14 days in jail.
Third-degree theft -- Brianna A. Ayers, 27, Forest City, 10 days in jail, $625 suspended fine, $125 surcharge, $26.39 restitution.
Deferred judgment revoked (third-degree burglary) -- Frederick D. Woods Jr., 21, Mason City, five years in prison (suspended), $750 suspended fine, three years probation.
Dismissed -- Rory S. Prazak, 40, Nora Springs, interference with official acts causing bodily injury.
Morphine possession -- Kai A. Kral, 48, Nora Springs, 18 days in jail, $315 fine, $125 surcharge.
Dismissed -- Kai A. Kral, 48, Nora Springs, possession of prescription drug or device without prescription.
Fourth-degree theft -- Bryan A. Kladstrup, 28, Spencer, 365 days in jail (suspended), $315 fine, $125 surcharge, one year probation.
Assault causing bodily injury -- Victoria M. Cunningham, 47, Mason City, two days in jail, $315 fine.
Fourth-degree theft -- Victoria M. Cunningham, 47, Mason City, two days in jail (to be served concurrently with assault sentence), $315 fine, $125 surcharge.
Carrying weapon (knife longer than five inches) -- Heather L. Query, 28, Mason City, $315 fine.
Probation revoked -- Tony D. Hull, 27, Mason City, 90 days in jail.
Contempt of court -- Jeffrey J. Hargis, 48, Mason City, 15 days in jail.
Driving while barred -- Mark A. Bartz, 49, Mason City, seven days in jail.
Dismissed -- Alisha H. Pruitt, 27, Mason City, driving while barred.
Contempt of court -- Michael Canady, 26, Mason City, 180 days at residential correctional facility.
Absence from custody -- Duane E. Robinson, 55, Mason City, 30 days in jail.
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.
CLEAR LAKE | The tax rate in Clear Lake would fall by about 25 cents under the proposed 2017-18 budget.
The Clear Lake City Council approved a tentative budget Monday night that would have residents pay $9.80 per $1,000 of taxable valuation.
If it the proposal is finalized next month, it would mean the city's share of property taxes has decreased by about 74 cents in the past three years.
The tax rate for the current fiscal year is $10.04 per $1,000 of taxable valuation. That was down from $10.54 the fiscal year ending in June 2016.
City Administrator Scott Flory said a rate that low, in addition to saving residents on their tax bills, is also a tool to attract new businesses into the community.
""There's a lot to be said in keeping a tax rate low and that is a very, very distinct advantage, especially when you look at some of the other communities that we're in company with (that also have) low tax rates and look at the success that they've had. Altoona, for example, with Facebook and us, obviously, with McKesson," he said. "I think there's a lot to be said about having a low tax rate in terms of economic development."
Of the $14 million in expenditures in the budget proposal, about $8 million is for operations and maintenance, $5.5 million is for capital expenses and projects and $635,000 is for debt service.
The projects are headlined by a $1.4-million street resurfacing of 4.4 miles, or 66 city blocks, that will start this summer.
The project will be done in four phases with completion by June 22, 2018.
"I see a really bright future ahead of us with a budget like that," said Councilman Tony Nelson. "Cant say enough how good that is, (and how it) reflects upon our community.
People can comment on the budget proposal a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. March 6 in the council chambers at Clear Lake City Hall, 15 N. Sixth St.
The Council will vote to finalize the budget after the public hearing.
GALT | An Eagle Grove woman whose 2-year-old daughter was found alone and shoeless in the city of Galt in November has pleaded guilty to felony neglect or abandonment of a dependent person.
Ysabel Ceplecha, 24, will be sentenced April 3 in Wright County District Court. She was released Monday under the supervision of the Department of Correctional Services pending sentencing.
Neglect charge for mom of child found alone in Galt GALT The mother of a child found alone and shoeless in the city of Galt has been arrested.
The child was found alone Nov. 22 near the vacant post office in Galt, population 32. She was wearing pajamas and no coat or shoes, according to the Wright County Sheriff's Office.
The weather was windy and raining with a temperature in the 30s, court documents state.
Residents took the child out of the cold and called authorities.
The girl was taken to a local hospital where she was examined by doctors and then placed in protective foster care.
Deputies later removed another child, age 1, from Ceplecha's home. The younger child also was placed in foster care.
The children are still in foster care, according to Wright County Sheriff Jason Schluttenhofer.
Mary Pieper
DES MOINES Roughly 1 in 5 Iowans does not have access to the broadband internet speed recommended by the federal government, and those who are underserved by and large live in rural areas.
In addition to the luxuries afforded by broadband internet streaming movies and music and online video game access to broadband also can be important for education and health care, industry experts say.
Because private internet providers must weigh the profitability of introducing broadband internet to any area, some state and federal lawmakers have in recent years worked on programs, such as tax relief incentives, that aim to encourage broadband expansion.
Home broadband use in Iowa rose 10 percent from 2010 to 2013, according to Connect Iowa, a state program designed to foster broadband expansion.
Despite that progress and more since, 22 percent of Iowa residents in 2015 did not have access to broadband internet at 25 megabytes per second the speed recommended by the Federal Communications Commission, according to Connect Iowa.
All the progress weve made the past few years, we want to keep that moving, said David Daack, community technology adviser for Connect Iowa.
A dozen Iowa counties had less than 40 percent of its residents with access to 25 mbps broadband internet in 2015, the most recent data available to Connect Iowa. Of those 12 counties, 10 are among the bottom half in terms of population.
Most schools have broadband speeds they need to properly educate students with current internet-based technology. But if a town does not have sufficient broadband speeds, students may have difficulty using internet-based learning at home.
You run into a disparity where the educational community could have solid broadband at their school, to where theyre running virtual (education programs) at their school, but when (students) are going home, they dont have enough bandwidth to continue their work, said Ric Lumbard, executive director of the Iowa Communications Network, the states broadband carrier network.
A critical challenge to expanding broadband internet to rural or sparsely populated areas is that private telecommunications companies determine it would not be profitable to offer the service there.
Access to high-speed broadband also can be crucial for small businesses. The Iowa Association of Business and Industry, which advocates on behalf of Iowa businesses, has among its formal positions support for access to broadband internet and programs that promote expansion.
This will enable continuous, uninterrupted access to a host of services all contributing to a vibrant business community and quality of life for Iowans, the organizations position states. "It is critical to economic growth that all areas of the state have access to broadband."
Installing broadband infrastructure is an expensive undertaking, Lumbard said. Telecommunications companies must weight a significant investment of resources against how many people live in an area and whether a sufficient number of residents will pay for broadband service.
Its not true that if you build it, they will come, Lumbard said, referring to the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams. To the private telecomm providers, that requires them to put high-dollar investments in areas that theres not high human density. ...
At the end of the day, its basic math.
Lumbard said methods to foster broadband expansion include program partnerships between government and private industry and tax relief programs that encourage companies to install broadband infrastructure.
Availability is a major piece, Lumbard said. "There has to be other incentives to drive availability."
Iowa has an incentive program that exempts telecommunications companies from paying property taxes for 10 years on broadband infrastructure built in underserved areas. The program reduced Iowas taxable value of telecommunications property by $260 million, $515 million and $479 million in the past three fiscal years, according to an analysis by the states nonpartisan fiscal estimating agency.
There are two federal programs that direct money to broadband expansion projects, according to a December 2016 congressional report.
U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, signed a letter with dozens of other congressional members asking President Donald Trump to include broadband expansion in his national infrastructure plan.
Loebsack serves on the U.S. Houses Energy and Commerce Committee, including a subcommittee that has oversight of broadband issues. He also serves as co-chair of the House Rural Broadband Caucus, a group of Democrats and Republicans that works to improve broadband access in rural areas.
I have hosted roundtables in all 24 counties of my district to discuss expanding broadband access, especially in rural areas, Loebsack said in an emailed statement. "And without fail, at every stop I heard from Iowans about how important broadband access is, but also how difficult it can be to get."
Virgin Atlantic is operating the only direct Heathrow-Barbados flight this winter.
Fares start from 649 per person including tax on this twice-weekly service are on sale from February 25 for flights from December 12.
Passengers can choose from flying Tuesdays or Saturdays as part of the winter 2017 schedule using an Airbus A330.
The new winter seasonal route will be the only direct link between Heathrow airport and Barbados Virgin currently flies from both Gatwick and Manchester to the Caribbean island, while British Airways operates from Gatwick.
Shai Weiss, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic commented:
The Caribbean has always been a core market for Virgin Atlantic and so were excited to announce were offering more choice to our customers with the option of flying from Heathrow, Gatwick or Manchester direct to Barbados.
Other services due to be launched by Virgin Atlantic include flights to to Seattle, Varadero, Boston, New York and San Francisco launching in spring 2017.
Read next: Travel Guide to Barbados, Caribbean
Job Title: Senior Protection Associate
Organisation: United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Position No.: 10027156
Vacancy Notice: 009/2017
Reports to: Protection Officer
Duty Station: Uganda
Post Grade: GL7
About UNHCR:
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was
established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly.
UNHCRs mandate under the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees is to lead and co-ordinate action for international
protection to refugees; seek permanent solutions for the problems of refugees
and safeguard refugee rights and well-being. UNHCR has an additional mandate
concerning issues of statelessness, as it is given a designated role under
Article 11 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Job Summary: The Senior
Protection Associate will entail supervisory responsibilities for protection
staff including community services, registration, resettlement and education
depending on the structure of the Office. The incumbent will monitor protection
standards, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery in line
with international standards and provides functional protection support to
information management and programme staff. The Senior Protection Associate
will expect to coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to
the needs of populations of concern and identify opportunities to mainstream
protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards in operational
responses in all sectors. He/she will contribute to designing a comprehensive
protection strategy and represents the Office externally on protection doctrine
and policy as guided by the supervisor. He/she will also ensure that persons of
concern are involved with the Office in making decisions that affect them,
whether in accessing their rights or in identifying appropriate solutions to
their problems. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain
effective interfaces with communities of concern, local authorities and
protection and assistance partners.
Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities:
Keep abreast of political, social,
economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection
environment.
Consistently apply International and
National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes
of conduct.
Assist in providing comments on existing
and draft legislation related to persons of concern.
Provide advice and guidance on protection
issues to persons of concern; liaise with competent authorities to ensure
the issuance of personal and other relevant documentation.
Provide support in conducting eligibility
and status determination for persons of concern in compliance with UNHCR
procedural standards and international protection principles.
Significantly contribute to measures to
identify, prevent and reduce statelessness.
Contribute to a country-level child
protection plan as part of the protection strategy.
Contribute to a country-level education
plan as part of the protection strategy.
Implement and monitor Standard Operating
Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities.
Manage individual protection cases including
those on SGBV and child protection.
Monitor, and intervene in cases of
refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents.
Assist in promoting durable solutions for
the largest possible number of persons of concern through voluntary
repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement.
Contribute to the design, implementation
and evaluation of protection related AGD based programming with
implementing and operational partners.
Significantly contribute to and facilitate
a programme of results-based advocacy with sectorial and/or cluster
partners.
Facilitate effective information
management through the provision of disaggregated data on populations of
concern and their problems.
Participate in initiatives to capacitate
authorities, relevant institutions and NGOs to strengthen national
protection related legislation and procedures.
Key Performance Indicators:
The protection of populations of concern
is met through the application of International and National Law, relevant
UN/UNHCR protection standards and IASC principles.
Protection activities are guided by the
protection strategy and respect UNHCR policy on age, gender and diversity
(AGD).
The participation of persons of concern is
facilitated through continuous assessment and evaluation using
participatory, rights and community based approaches.
Protection incidents are immediately
identified and addressed
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
The ideal candidate for the United Nations
UNHCR Senior Protection Associate career vacancy should have completed
Secondary education. Certificate/ training in International Law, Political
Science or related field is required.
At least eleven years experience relevant
to the function
Fluency in English and working knowledge
of another relevant UN language.
Excellent knowledge of Madi is an added
advantage.
How to Apply:
All interested Ugandan nationals who wish to join the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the aforementioned capacity are
encouraged to click on the link below and follow the application instructions
after reviewing the job details.
rd February
2017 Deadline: 23February2017
But the tribe has a long way to go
The Congress is optimistic about the fourth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls to be held on Thursday. As many as 53 constituencies spread across 12 districts will go to polls in this phase.
Congress is contesting 25 seats, including its prestigious Raibareili. The party is optimistic to do well in Bundelkhand region where it is fighting in 9 out of 19 seats. Congress has four sitting MLAs from the region.
The fourth phase will witness an interesting electoral battle as candidates from both Congress and the Samajwadi Party, despite being in an alliance, are pitted against each other. Four seats will see a direct fight between these two parties. In fact, these four seats were a bone of contention when the two parties entered into an alliance.
In Sarani, SPs Davendra Pratap Singh is contesting against Congress Ashok Singh, while in Unchahaar assembly seat, SP minister Manoj Pandey is taking on Congress Ajay Pal. Congress Braj Lal and SPs Ramesh Khatik will lock horns in Mehrauni assembly segment. In Bindki seat in Fatehpur district, SPs Rameshwer Dayal is contesting against Congress Abhimanu Singh.
Faced with pressure from opposition Congress and other political and social outfits in Gujarat, the state government on Wednesday agreed to a judicial probe into Naliya gang rape case and the alleged sex racket.
Four local BJP leaders are allegedly involved in the case. They were later suspended from the party.
BJP sources said that the state government is likely to announce the details of the judicial probe in a day or two.
A 24-year-old woman had filed an FIR in which she alleged that nine persons, including four BJP office bearers, had repeatedly raped her and that they had even shot the video of the crime. She had also alleged that the perpetrators were running a sex racket in which many other women were trapped.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said in the state assembly that the government was ready for a judicial probe. CID (Crime) is already investigating the case. All the accused have been arrested and are on police remand.
Aam Admi Party, which is trying to make foothold in Gujarat, was one of the first political parties to raise the issue. Congress too has taken up the issue and has been trying to corner the government.
Patidar leader Hardik Patel had also visited Naliya to meet the victim.
India and Maldives had another occasion to reinforce their ties with minister of state for External Affairs M.J. Akbar's two-day visit to the island nation which concluded on Wednesday. Akbar met with Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom as well as Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamed Asim.
The two countries reviewed the entire gamut of engagements and agreed to give fresh momentum to the relationship. Though Maldives is a small country, it is of importance to India given its location in the Indian Oceanan area over which India is spreading its influence.
Maldives adopted an India First policy last year, which meant that among other things, India would be the first country it would approach whenever there was the need of a developmental project. India has supported Maldives through several recent projects, including a crucial institutional mechanism to address terror and radicalism, for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent a special envoy.
Maldives was among the first countries to sign the agreement for the South Asian satellite, which India will be launching next month.
Maldives' India First policy, however needs to be continuously nurtured, given shifting geopolitics. India has not forgotten how Maldives gave the contract to develop an airport to a Chinese firm after cancelling the deal with the India-based GMR. The island country has on several occasions made it clear that its developmental needs are great and it is free to reach out to any global player which can help it.
Asking displaced Kashmir Pandits (KPs) to pray for peace on Mahashivratri, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said the peace will remain elusive unless and until Pandits feel that they will be able to live in Kashmir Valley again.
"Even after we hold talks (with Pakistan), reopen roads between two sides, Kashmir will remain incomplete and peace in Kashmir is incomplete, unless and until Kashmiri Pandits feel that they are able to live in the valley again," Mehbooba said.
"That is the real test to us," the Chief Minister told KPs at Jagti camp.
"Please pray on holy night of Shivrati to God to create peace in Kashmir so that all migrants could return to their homes and hearths with respect and dignity," she said.
"It is a big need of the time that you return back to your roots with respect", Mehbooba said.
"Kashmir has lagged behind due to your migration from the Valley. You were our assets. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs all are big treasure of brotherhood and composite culture," she said.
"People of different religions live here (in Jammu). People speaking Dogri, Kashmiri, Gojri, Punjabi and Ladakhi live here. But we lost this composite culture in Kashmir," he said.
"I know you have lot of problems. I would have come earlier, but situation worsened last year four to five months passed off very badly," she said.
The Chief Minister said, "You may have many problems but there is huge mental stress among people in Kashmir. You may feel that the difficulty may be due to the barbed wire, but Kashmir is laid with such wires. It is we Kashmiris who are responsible for that. We are responsible for this."
"When we cross Jawahir tunnel towards Jammu, the mind opens and we become free. But in Kashmir, people are under huge stress. We have created the situation ourselves."
Spelling the transition in India - Uganda relations from the dictatorial Idi Amin regime, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni invoked Indira Gandhi in the presence of Vice President Hamid Ansari to embrace Indians living in Uganda as its own citizens and reaffirm that the expulsion of Indians from the country in 1972 was a "mistake" and it had nothing to do with the Indian government .
"Indians in Uganda were Ugandan citizens and the issue was between Uganda and the UK. It had nothing to do with India," said Museveni who was addressing a joint press briefer after bilateral talks with Ansari at the State House building, official residence of the President in Kampala.
Perched on the dais alongside Ansari, Museveni displayed an ease of statecraft when he not only decided to answer this question himself, but said to the Ugandan press media present there, "Why should you bother the Indian vice president with this question. The expulsion was of Ugandan citizens."
Ansari is on a two day official visit on the invitation of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and arrived in the capital city of Kampala on February 21 accompanied by his wife Salma Ansari. A delegation of MPs and officials of the ministry of external affairs is also accompanying Ansari.
"When Indian people were expelled in 1972, the Indian government had nothing to do with it . That was made clear by the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at that time. I was there then, and I'm here now. I can say it was our mistake and when Indians were expelled, it was UK and Canada who benefited from our Indians. We called them back but only the rich came back and the smaller ones did not return as they had become big there. Some others went to India also to explore opportunities."
Forty five years ago, General Adi Amin had ordered the deportation of the country's Asian population largely consisting of Gujaratis from India who had been living in east Africa for more 100 years. Amin's order had created a diplomatic crisis involving Uganda, India and UK where most Indians finally emigrated to.
While answering the question, Museveni looked at Ansari who seemed satisfied with the answer and did not have to add more to it. The issue was already closed between the two countries. Smilingly, both leaders shook hands warmly and walked together for photo opportunities for the waiting cameras.
Meanwhile, during the bilateral talks, Museveni and Ansari agreed cooperation in the fields of vocational training, space technology and peaceful uses of atomic energy.
Museveni also spelled out his plan for a 'make in Uganda' initiative where he said Indian automobiles manufacturers can lap up the opportunity. The trade balance is in favor of India, he pointed out as he explained the need for his country is to create new jobs. "I have already held talks with Volvo to move their assembly plant from Mombasa (Kenya) to Uganda and also initiated talks with Mercedes. I have told the vice President in the bilateral meeting that the Indian automobile manufacturers can come in early," he said.
India exports bicycles, bicycle parts, two-wheelers, tyres and pharmaceuticals among other things to Uganda. The Ugandan president made it clear that there should be no fear of investment in Uganda which has a 30,000 plus Indian community and are part of Uganda's growth story. An Uganda-India business forum meet, organised by members of the Indian community and FICCI was also held later to take the business ties forward.
MASON CITY | The City Council heard a proposal Tuesday that may eventually lead to more recreational activities on the Winnebago River in Mason City.
Bill Angerman, an engineer for WHKS Engineers, told the council removing low-head dams on the river will make it more navigable for kayaks and canoes.
"This is extremely exciting," said Mayor Eric Bookmeyer. "It's going to allow people to go up and down the Winnebago River. It's putting the river back in River City."
There are several steps necessary to make it all happen.
City Administrator Brent Trout said there are three existing low-head dams on the Winnebago River that no longer provide a function and present a drowning hazard to people who frequent the area.
Rescues and drownings have occurred near those dams in the past.
Police in April 2015 rescued two men whose rubber raft was caught in current from the low-head dams, which they say are deceptively dangerous and frequently cause problems for boaters.
The waters near low-head dams are the most dangerous parts of the rivers in Mason City, said Mason City Police Capt. Richard Paulson.
He said the churning water is difficult to swim through and the riverbed on the bottom side of the dam is often eroded, creating deeper water. Theres also a strong current.
Its basically pulling you under and back towards the dam, he said.
Two men drowned in June 1996 after falling off inner tubes near low-head dams in the Winnebago River in Mason City.
Trout also said the dams impede fish passage and limit recreational opportunities.
Trout said the city intends to apply for an Iowa DNR grant that helps cities finance dam removal.
"In order to prepare a competitive grant application, the feasibility of mitigating the dams must first be determined and a preliminary plan must be prepared," Trout said.
"These structures are unique in that each of them has an existing sanitary sewer main running through them. Those mains must remain functional," he said.
The council approved awarding a contract to WHKS for $20,000 to do the feasibility study on the dam removals.
GARNER | Students are taking the lead in Garner-Hayfield-Ventura High School's new, high-tech greenhouse, where hanging baskets were in full bloom earlier this month.
Completed during the same time frame as the high school expansion and remodeling project, the 30- by 48-foot, $120,000 structure became operational earlier this year.
"It's state-of-the-art monitoring, with all the bells and whistles," said ag instructor and FFA adviser Bob Baumgard.
The greenhouse is fully automated and can be controlled from anywhere with an Internet connection, Baumgard said. It has environmental controls and mechanized venting and watering.
Most importantly, it offers a hands-on environment, which Baumgard says provides an ideal way for his 104 ag students to learn.
The school's FFA program has 96 members. Last year, Baumgard said about 60 to 80 percent of members pursued ag careers after graduation.
Although FFA President Josh Chizek isn't planning to go into ag after high school, he says the greenhouse allows students to "get our hands dirty and see what it's like, instead of reading about it in a book or looking at pictures."
Recently, the high-schoolers were planting hydroponic lettuce, which is grown without soil. Soybeans and corn are planned for later, as well as bedding plants, which the school wants to sell to the community as a fundraiser.
"With the bedding plants, we get to see (the growing process) from start to finish," said Chizek, an 18-year-old senior.
FFA Vice President Tucker Datema and FFA Sentinel Grady Umbarger, both seniors, are both planning careers in ag. Datema, who helped pour concrete for the greenhouse foundation is interested in being a John Deere service technician, while Umbarger wants to major in ag business or ag studies.
"Having a greenhouse like this means a lot for collegiate ag classes offered at GHV," said Umbarger, 18. "We can see what we're learning."
Local ag businesses have agreed, donating $75,000 towards the structure, which was initially proposed as a three-way cost share between the FFA, the district and grants/donations.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu used an official dinner during his state visit to Singapore to speak out about Islam and the need for religious and cultural tolerance and diversity. He spoke at a state dinner held at the presidential palace, attended a dinner together with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife Ho Ching. During the event an orchid was named after the Netanyahus.
I think too that we have a great power in the diversity that you mentioned Prime Minister. We brought people from hundred lands and we have a thriving Arab community inside Israel, over a million of our citizens are Arab citizens. They participate in the national life. I opened a school year, this year, in an Arab school in the Galilee and talked to young girls there who want to be doctors and I said: This is your country. Study, learn, thrive.
This culture of diversity and tolerance is the opposite of what we see in many parts of the Middle East and unfortunately in other parts of the world cultural intolerance, cultural tyranny, cultural violence. And I think theres a great battle that is taking place right now in the world in the beginning of the 21st century and we all have a stake in making sure that tolerance, diversity and progress win the day; that modernity wins the day against barbarian medievalism.
I think this is something that is shared by everyone, by our societies, by the countries of the West, the countries of Asia, the Muslim world itself.
I was recently in two Muslim countries, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, and you understand how much they want to seize the future. You understand how much they teach tolerance because I was in a synagogue like the one I was in today and just as today, Jewish children were singing Hebrew songs in a country that is predominantly Muslim.
This is what we want to see. We want to see that tolerance and that acceptance, which I believe will ultimately decide the fate of our region and the fate of peace.
I want to assure you that I am committed to peace and the people of Israel yearn for peace, all of us. We pray for peace because we have experienced, as you said, the cost of war, we lost loved ones. I myself was wounded in battle. Peace is better. Infinitely better. And I believe that the key to peace is the abandonment of the goal of liquidating people, accepting them and working out the various conflicts.
I think theres an opportunity to do this today because I sense a great change in the Arab world in many Arab countries, and I hope, as we discussed earlier, to be able to use that newfound attitude towards Israel to help to solve the Palestinian Israeli conflict as well. This is something that were making a lot of efforts to, most of them are, so we say, not publicized, not public.
Equally, there is one thing that I can say about the exceptional achievements of Singapore. I think that the fact that we are working together, we are cooperating in the economy, in trade, in technology, in medicine, in every field. I think this strengthens both our countries. We have extraordinary reputations in the world but the fact is that when we combine them, we have an even more powerful brand if I can use that jargon term. That brand is very powerful.
We spoke today about collaborating in third countries. Were already doing that in one African case, I think we should do it in many countries in Africa, in many countries in the Pacific. I think we have a lot to offer humanity and our success in not only the betterment of our own societies and our own peoples but we can carry this progress far and wide.
Israel is pivoting towards Asia in a very clear and purposeful way. Next month Ill go to China, somewhat later this year Prime Minister Modi of India will come to visit Israel. Perfectly poised between China and India is Singapore and Im not speaking merely in a geographic sense, Im saying that as a gateway to Asia, Singapore is a perfect partner. Israeli companies already understand that and I hope that after this visit, many more will understand that. We believe in Singapore, we admire Singapore, we admire the consistent leadership and vision that you had and that you continue to exemplify, Prime Minister.
I want to raise a glass to your leadership, to our friendship, to Mrs. Lee, and to the extraordinary bond between the people of Israel and the people of Singapore.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Haim Zach, GPO)
As the result of a new organ donation policy (opt out) adopted in France, almost all of the rabbis of France recently voiced their sweeping opposition to organ donation. There are more than 500,000 Jews living in France.
In order to counter this latest development HODS (Halachic Organ Donor Society) is arranging an educational evening program in Paris that will include a French neurologist who will explain the finality of brain death.
A local transplant coordinator will be in the audience to answer any practical questions as well.
Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, MD of Yerushalayim will also be participating in the event to explain halachic support for organ donation. (There will be simultaneous translation from Hebrew to French.)
Since most Jews in France are Sephardic, HODS will also be translating its Sephardic brochure into French. This brochure shows major Sephardic poskim who support organ donation such as HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef ZTL and HaGaon HaRav Mordechai Eliyahu ZTL.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The head of the Yuvalim community council which is responsible for Kiryat Yovel, Roni Sharon, has come out in support of senior local official Yechiel Levy, who during a Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) interview explained his plan to oust the chareidim from the area. While Levy spoke of choking the chareidim and depriving them of services to force them out, his superior stands firmly behind his words. Sharon explained it was simply a slip of the month, adding that he is likely to be censured for his words but he has no plan to dismiss him from his post.
Not all are as supportive as Ministers Aryeh Deri and Yaakov Litzman along with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat called for Levys dismissal in light of his anti-chareidi statements. Some of his critics referred to Levys remarks as anti-Semitic.
Among the audible critics of his statements was President Reuven Rivlin but the president fell short of calling for his dismissal.
Sharon told Kol Chai Radio Mordechai Lavi that the entire interview was not aired by Galei Tzahal and this was unfortunate, indicating other portions of Levys statements would have shown a different side of the individual in question.
Sharon added he was elected by the community and tensions and problems exist between secular and chareidi residents in many areas, not just Kiryat Yovel. Hence, he has no plans of stepping down or dismissing Levy.
Sharon was asked to address the airing of movies on Shabbos close to chareidi areas. He explained The movies have always been shown in Beit Taylor and this is nothing new. I stand behind my CEO. The problem is not Roni or council members, but the secular and chareidi residents living here. I so wish they would live harmoniously with one another, and stop accusing the other of one thing or another, and cease becoming involved in the lives of the other and the others lifestyle. That means if you wish to go to shul no one will say a word and the same holds true for going to see a movie. I see no reason to stop airing movies on Shabbos.
He concluded I am Shomer Shabbos and mitzvos. This is not a matter of religious. As a religious Jews I have an issue with movies on Shabbos but this is a necessity for this population.
MK (Yahadut Hatorah) backed Mayor Nir Barkats call to dismiss Sharon, accusing him of being a cause of hate and backing the words of his subordinate.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The cause and manner of death of Russias ambassador to the United Nations needs to be studied further, the city medical examiner said Tuesday, a day after the diplomat fell ill at his office at Russias U.N. mission and died at a hospital.
Further study usually includes toxicology and other screenings, which can take weeks. The case was referred to the medical examiners office by the hospital, spokeswoman Julie Bolcer said.
Vitaly Churkin, who died a day before his 65th birthday, had been Russias envoy at the United Nations since 2006. He was the longest-serving ambassador on the Security Council, the U.N.s most powerful body.
The medical examiner is responsible for investigating deaths that occur by criminal violence, accident, suicide, suddenly or when the person seemed healthy, or if someone died in any unusual or suspicious manner. Most of the deaths investigated by the office are not suspicious.
The Security Council held a moment of silence Tuesday in memory of Churkin, whom U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called not only an outstanding diplomat but an extraordinary human being.
Russian President Vladimir Putin esteemed Churkins professionalism and diplomatic talents, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the state news agency TASS. Moscow has not yet given a date for the funeral.
Diplomatic colleagues from around the world mourned Churkin as a master in their field, saying he had both a deep knowledge of diplomacy and a large and colorful personality.
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said that while she and Churkin did not always agree, he unquestionably advocated his countrys positions with great skill.
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, and Power lashed out at Russia for annexing Ukraines Crimean Peninsula and for carrying out a merciless military assault in Syria. Churkin countered that Democratic former President Barack Obamas administration, which Power served in, was desperately searching for scapegoats for its failures in Iraq, Syria and Libya.
Churkin 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 humor and consideration for others, said Thomson, who called for a moment of silence at the start of an unrelated meeting Monday.
Churkin emerged as the face of a new approach to foreign affairs by 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.
In fluent English, Churkin provided little new information about Chernobyl but engaged in a friendly, sometimes humorous, exchange with lawmakers who were not accustomed to such a tone or to a representative in a fashionably well-fitting suit and a stylish haircut from the Soviet Union.
After he returned to the foreign ministry in Moscow, he 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, with political tensions rising and stability elusive in various hotspots. At the time, he looked in good health, reporter Alexey Yaroshevsky tweeted Monday.
(AP)
The threat of cyber attacks and political instability resulting from rising populism are among the biggest worries for businesses around the world, according to a study of companies in 79 countries.
The No. 1 issue for executives working in business continuity and resilience is the threat from hackers, with 88 percent of companies included in the survey saying they are extremely concerned or concerned at the risk.
For the first time, political upheaval ranked among the top 10 threats, following the U.K.s vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump in the U.S., according to the report by the Business Continuity Institute and the British Standards Institution.
Cyber-attacks and data breaches continue to cost organizations billions of dollars annually, a sum that is only likely to go up with the increasing integration of new pieces of technology into daily operations, BCI Executive Director David Thorp said in the foreword to the report. Politics too has been a dominant topic this year, certainly more than in the recent past.
The study comes as governments and businesses seek to strengthen resilience to cyber attacks. Companies on both sides of the Atlantic are also grappling with political uncertainty over changes to commerce policies, from taxes to trade tariffs, being planned in the U.S. and the U.K.
The study is based on responses from 726 organizations in sectors including financial and insurance services, retail and defense. Companies ranged from small businesses, with fewer than 250 staff, to corporations with more than 100,000 employees and annual turnover of more than 50 billion euros, the reports authors said.
After cyber attacks, the threat of a data breach ranked second among global business fears, while an unplanned IT and telecom outage was third. For the first time in the studys six-year history, uncertainty related to new laws and regulations arising from political change entered the list of top 10 business continuity concerns.
(c) 2017, Bloomberg Tim Ross
Today, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, issued the following statement after President Donald Trumps remarks this morning.
Mr. Mark Bane, president of the Orthodox Union, stated: Over the past several weeks, the American Jewish community has been subjected to scores of bomb threats, acts of vandalism and other anti Semitic incidents. We welcome todays statement by President Donald Trump, delivered at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, that the anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community, and community centers, are horrible and painful.
We appreciate that President Trump spoke directly to this matter. The words of a President of the United States carry great weight and it is important that Mr. Trump addressed the American Jewish community and all our fellow Americans at this time.
We appreciate that the FBI and Department of Justice are investigating these incidents and the possible civil rights violations they entail. We also appreciate the work of the Department of Homeland Security that supports the safety of our Jewish community institutions.
Today, Ohio State Senator Matt Huffman (R-Lima), vice chairman of the Senate Education Committee, unveiled a ground-breaking bill to improve upon Ohios existing private school choice programs and provide opportunities to many more students.
Currently, Ohio has five separate scholarship programs. Two of them are for students with special needs while each of the other three programs has its own set of eligibility rules that vary based on income, geography, and assigned public school. Senator Huffmans bill proposes to simplify eligibility by combining those three programs into one and increasing the scholarship amounts. Eligibility would be open to all families across the state earning an income at, or below 400% of the federal poverty level. Current scholarship recipients will remain eligible.
More than 30,000 students across Ohio are currently receiving scholarships worth up to $6000 to attend the private school of their choice, with many parents choosing Jewish day schools said Agudath Israels Ohio director, Rabbi Yitz Frank. The new program, if passed, will significantly expand eligibility to many more students across Ohio.
Agudath Israel has had the pleasure of working with Senator Huffman for the last decade, said Agudath Israels national director of state relations, Rabbi A. D. Motzen. In 2013, then-Speaker Pro Tempore Huffman received the Public Service Award at Agudath Israels Midwest banquet. Within weeks of returning to the General Assembly, Senator Huffman has wasted no time in trying to help all Ohio families choose the school that works best for their children.
Agudath Israel looks forward to continuing to work with Senator Huffman and the Ohio General Assembly to enact this important bill into law, and thereby strengthen our education system for all Ohioans.
For over 60 years, Agudath Israel has served as a liaison between government and the entire spectrum of Orthodox Jewish educational institutions in the United States. Agudath Israel has been a prominent voice in the school choice movement in Ohio and across the country as it believes that one of the keys to educational excellence is parental involvement and that there is no better way to encourage such involvement, and to ensure educational accountability, than to allow parents to choose the school that is best suited for their children, whether public or nonpublic, secular or sectarian.
MASON CITY | Police called to North Iowa Area Community College on Tuesday for a report of a suicidal person took a man to the hospital.
Officials say no one was hurt.
Mason City police said in a statement they were notified about 10:30 a.m. that someone Winnebago County authorities were looking for was at NIACC's campus on the east side of Mason City.
Law-enforcement in Winnebago County was seeking to do a welfare check on that person.
THe person was located walking on the community college's campus and taken without incident to Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa, police say.
NIACC President Steve Schulz said in a school alert that the call was for a campus visitor with a mental health issue.
"The individual was cooperative and has been removed from campus and there is no need for anyone to take additional action," he said via e-mail.
College officials say the campus was not locked down.
Jerusalem Councilman Rabbi Eliezer Reichenberg told Kol Berama Radio on Wednesday 26 Shevat that Kiryat Yovel community council official Yechiel Levy must be ousted from his post following his interview on Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) on Tuesday.
During the interview, Levy explained his systematic plan to embitter the lives of chareidim in Kiryat Yovel towards getting them to leave. Reichenberg explains no apology can be accepted and he must be removed from his post.
The councilmans words are in line with statements heard a day earlier from Minister Aryeh Deri and Yaakov Litzman, as well as Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.
Chareidi party heads sent a letter to Mr. Aviad Friedman, who heads the community councils. Both Yahadut Hatorah and Shas officials in the city government signed the letter.
Levy also sent a letter to Friedman on Tuesday, in which he expresses sorrow and remorse over his statements. There is no justification for what I said and the words do not represent who I am he wrote, adding he has been a faithful public servant for decades.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday 25 Shevat visited the IDFs Northern Command escorted by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gadi Eizenkott.
The senior minister also met with Golani Brigade commanders and troops involved in a training exercise in the Golan Heights, an exercise which also involved combat engineers, tank corps soldiers and artillery personnel in the Barak and Golan outposts.
After observing the forces involved in the exercise he applauded the number of mandatory service and reservist personnel participating, stating Perhaps this is the best response to the many threats facing us across our borders. Anyone that does not see the Golani training exercise would be wise to hide in an underground bunker.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: , )
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]
Bchasdei Hashem a catastrophe was averted on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway near Chemed Interchange eastbound on Wednesday morning 26 Shevat. A van transported disabled persons caught fire. When EMS responders from United Hatzalah arrived on the scene, they quickly evaluated the situation and realized there were disabled persons trapped in the van which was ablaze.
Baruch Hashem, they were able to extricate everyone from the vehicle in time, leaving Beit Shemesh firefighters the task of extinguishing the blaze. As a result of their quick actions there was no loss of life or injuries.
United Hatzalah EMT Micha Shulam explained There is no doubt this was a miracle. If were chas vsholom would not have succeeded in getting everyone out of the vehicle to a safe distance, the incident would have ended with deaths. Seconds after the last person was out the vehicle it went up in flames and was totally engulfed. Traffic in the area was halted as result.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: United Hatzalah & Police spokesman unit)
Yaakov (Jack) Teital, who is serving two life sentences for murdering Arabs, is on a hunger strike. His wife, Mrs. Rivkah Teital has turned to Israel Prison Authority officials to cease the policy of violating her husbands rights, which has had a major impact on her and their daughter.
Teital has been hunger-striking for eleven days after he was suddenly moved from Ayalon Prison to Rimonim Prison and now lives under harsher condition including fewer family visits. Mrs. Teital explains there was no reason for the move, which drastically limits her and her childrens ability to visit. To date they were entitled to three one-hour open visits monthly and now, they may come once monthly for a half hour and they are separated by a glass partition and compelled to speak via a phone.
Mrs. Teital explains this impacts her five children with the oldest being a 12-year-old girl and the youngest a 2-year-old boy. The reduced visitation and condition surrounding the visits she explains to prison officials is having a harsh negative impact on her children. She adds her husband cannot call because he is hunger-striking to demand his basic rights.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The following is via: Breaking911.com
A federal grand jury indicted 214 people on felony rioting charges in connection to the riots that broke out in downtown Washington, DC, on Inauguration Day.
Police arrested 230 people after the rioters smashed storefronts and bus stops, hurled rocks at police and set fire to a limousine.
Six police officers were injured during the riots as they exchanged flash-bangs with protesters throwing firecrackers and debris at them.
Those who have been indicted face a possible sentence of up to ten years in prison and a fine up to $25,000.
The indictment accuses the 209 of using a tactic called Black Bloc to conceal their identities by wearing black clothing and face coverings.
Some of the protesters brought with them hammers, crowbars, bricks, rocks, flares and firecrackers.
Court paperwork from January suggests the group of rioters did more than $100,000 in damage, according to the DailyMail.
(Source: Breaking911.com)
It was a big victory for the Jewish community as the Belgian Wallonia District Court upheld the right of Shechita as the court ruled to forbid it, would be an affront to freedom of religion as well as significantly harming human and religious right, which would be a violation of the law.
A number of local senators have challenged kosher slaughter; claiming animal suffering and seeking to compel the stunning of an animal before shechita.
Belgian Chief Rabbi Avraham Gigi praised the courts decision, which he explains is viewed as a message to neighboring European nations as well.
Rabbi Gigi explains rabbonim met with the president of Machzikei Hadas in Antwerp, Rav Pinchas Kornfeld, together with heads of parties, and they explained the significance of shechita to Jews, asking on the lawmakers to vote against any effort to set shechita restrictions in place.
Rabbi Gigi and Rabbi Kornfeld met again on Wednesday, 26 Shevat with the persons standing behind the bill to once again explain the significance of kashrus and shechita, hoping to win them over. Rabbi Gigi added after the verdict was announced that if efforts continue to pass a law limiting shechita, he and his colleagues not hesitate to take their case to the International Court in The Hague for adjudication.
Belgium is a federation made up of three regions: Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels.
Bologna is composed of residents of the community and Wallonia and 80% of French-speaking Brussels. Region Wallonia has some 3.5 million people or about 33% of residents of Belgium.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The following is via Breaking911.com:
An anonymous bomb threat was called into the Anti-Defamation Leagues headquarters in New York City on Wednesday, part of a rash of bomb threats to Jewish centers throughout the country.
The threat was called into ADLs Murray Hill headquarters at about 11:08 a.m. on Wednesday, according to police.
Today the ADLs national headquarters in New York received an anonymous bomb threat, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. While there is no information at this time to indicate that this is more than a threat, we are taking it very seriously.
Greenblatt said the civil rights group is working with law enforcement officials to determine if the threat is connected to a recent spate of bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers around the nation.
At least 11 JCCs in 10 states received threatening phone calls on Monday. It was the fourth series of such messages this year. About 70 threats have been aimed at almost 60 JCCs in 27 states and one Canadian province since Jan. 1.
It remains unclear who is making the threats or if they are coming from a single person or a group.
The FBI and the Department of Justice have said they are investigating possible civil rights violations in connection with the threats.
The person in charge of the Kiryat Yovel minhelet, the local community council, is working very hard to do everything possible to keep out addition chareidi families and to compel those in the community to back their bags and get out.
The situation for the many frum families in the Jerusalem neighborhood is not an easy one, actually it is quite difficult at times. On Tuesday morning 25 Shevat the director of the local community council, Yechiel Levy, was interviewed on Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) and he used the opportunity to explain his modus operandi. He explained that by making life miserable for the chareidim, they will want to leave the community. This is the method that works today choking them he stated. He explained that deprivation of services will create a level of frustration until they leave the area.
He proudly explained that the Shabbos airing of movies hosted by the local council are held in chareidi areas to show them who is the boss despite the fact there is an understanding between the chareidi and secular families in that area.
Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Yossi Deutsch then got on the air and accused Levy of anti-Semitism as he espoused his hate for an entire tzibur over the air. Deutsch explained that Levys position is funded by the Education Ministry and Jerusalem City Hall and a person such as Levy should not be permitted to remain in his public position, not even for an hour.
Deutsch added If one spoke out like this against any other sector, Ethiopians or Arabs, taking about choking them until they get out, not providing them with services they are entitled to in the hope of ousting them there would be a public outcry as there should be in this case. Everyone would be demanding his dismissal. He should receive a letter [of dismissal] from the Minister of Education and the Mayor within the hour Deutsch added.
Following the interview on Galei Tzahal, Health Minister Yaakov Litzman stated his words representing crossing a red line and he poses a real danger to the welfare of the tzibur and Mayor Nir Barkat and Education Minister Naftali Bennett must act to dismiss him immediately as the man is not suited for the job. His words are echoed by Mayor Nir Barkat and Shas leader Aryeh Deri.
President Reuven Rivlin has also spoken out harshly against Levys statements aired on Galei Tzahal.
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]
An 1,800 year old limestone capital dating to the Roman period that is engraved with two Hebrew inscriptions was discovered during the course of restoration and conservation work being carried out in the ancient synagogue and neighboring Beit Zinati visitor center at Peqiin, in the Western Galil. The work is being conducted by the Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel as part of a heritage project by the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage. The stone was found upside down in the buildings courtyard, and upon discovery of the inscriptions archaeologists of the Israel Antiquities Authority arrived at the site in order to examine the special find. A preliminary analysis of the engraving suggests that these are dedicatory inscriptions honoring donors to the synagogue.
According to Yoav Lerer, the IAA inspector in the Western Galilee, The Talmudic and Midrashic sources tell of the Galilean sages that lived in Peqiin, including Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who hid from the Romans in a cave. However, there are those who disagree with the identification of the location of Peqiin. I believe that these inscriptions will add an important tier to our knowledge about the Jewish settlement in the village of Peqiin during the Roman and Byzantine periods.
In the past year rehabilitation and conservation work was carried out in Peqiins ancient synagogue and nearby Beit Zinati in order to upgrade the visitor center located there. The visitor center will tell the two thousand year long history of the Jews in the village, and the unique story of the Zinati family the villages oldest Jewish family. Until today Margalit Zinati, the last member of the Jewish Zinati family to keep the flame alive, resides in the house next door to the synagogue.
Zeev Elkin, the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage, said Peqiin is one of the most significant sites in the Galilee, and is a place where there has always been a Jewish presence. It is a great honor for me that during my tenure in office such an important discovery has been made that tells this 2,000 year old story of the Land of Israel.
Uriel Rosenboym, director of Beit Zinati says with great excitement This is a historical discovery of unparalleled importance that confirms what the late President Yitzhak Ben Zvi maintained in the early twentieth century about the Jewish settlement at Peqiin. No one can argue with the written artifact. There was an ancient synagogue here and the synagogue was built in its current form in recent centuries. We thank the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage, which aims to preserve the heritage of Peqiins Jews. We are pleased to open the new museum with a historic message about this ancient community. Although the stone itself was taken to be studied by the Israel Antiquities Authority, this unique story of the keepers of the flame in Peqiin is revealed in the renewed museum.
PHOTOS:
1. The 1,800 year old stone. credit: Ritvo, courtesy of Beit Zinati
2. The hand of Margalit Zinati of Peqiin village, resting on the ancient stone. credit: Ritvo, courtesy of Beit Zinati
3. Margalit Zinati of Peqiin village, and the ancient stone. credit: Ritvo, courtesy of Beit Zinati
From right to left: Yoav Lerer, an inspector with the Israel Antiquities Authority, Margalit Zinati of Peqiin village, Adi Livneh, director of the Beit Zinati conservation project on behalf of the Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel, Uriel Rosenboym, director of Beit Zinati and the column capital bearing Hebrew inscriptions. Photographic credit: Nir Distelfeld, Israel Antiquities Authority
4. From right to left: Margalit Zinati of Peqiin village, Uriel Rosenboym, director of Beit Zinati and the column capital bearing Hebrew inscriptions. credit: Ritvo, courtesy of Beit Zinati
5. The entrance to the ancient synagogue at Peqiin. credit: Ritvo, courtesy of Beit Zinati
(YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead at his home in Southern California. He was 34. Representatives for Carters family confirmed the singers death Saturday. They did not provide any immediate further comment. A sheriff's official says deputies responding to reports of a medical emergency found a person deceased at the home in Lancaster. Aaron Carter, the younger brother of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, performed as an opening act for Britney Spears as well as his brothers boy band, and appeared on the familys reality series, House of Carters.
The row of shops in Market Place in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, isn't particularly attractive.
The parade's black cladding and iron railings are a bit shabby and some of the shop fronts could do with a lick of paint.
Even so, the nail salons, take-aways and hairdressers are well-used by the local community.
We all know a shopping parade like this, and probably take it for granted, but it's under serious threat.
Threat: Shops in Market Place in Hatfield, Hertfordshire face massive hikes to their rates bills
As we reveal today, hundreds of stores like those in Hatfield may be forced to shut by a crass review of property taxes.
The problem is these so-called business rates bear no relation to the shopkeepers' income or profit.
Rather, they are based on the rent that the building could generate if it was let to a tenant.
As a result, shopkeepers who happen to trade in areas where the property market has boomed face tax hikes of up to 3,000 per cent.
That means paying thousands more to HM Revenue & Customs even if profits have barely increased for decades.
It won't come as a surprise that these tax hikes are a legacy of George Osborne's final Budget as Chancellor in 2016.
Yet even though Philip Hammond seems keen to distance himself from his predecessor, so far our new Chancellor has been reluctant to cancel the plans.
Since Money Mail launched the Save Our Shops campaign earlier this month, nearly every national newspaper has reported on the business rates furore.
Mr Hammond and his henchman Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary, have repeatedly claimed that the reforms are 'tax neutral', meaning businesses in poorer areas will pay less while those in wealthier areas pay more.
But that won't keep afloat half a million shopkeepers in the Home Counties, Cornwall and parts of Yorkshire where property prices have leapt in the past seven years, but profits have not.
Once again, the ministers responsible for handing out this tax blow are too caught up in their Westminster bubble to realise what they're doing.
It's all very well saying there will be winners, but one High Street bled to death is one too many.
Easing the burden: The Government could turn to the likes of Amazon instead of small shops
So, what can be done?
Short of getting rid of business rates altogether (now wouldn't that be a thing?), the Government could ease the burden on shopkeepers facing the largest rises.
For example, it could raise the threshold at which a firm pays the taxes from 12,000 to 100,000. That would free up money for firms to pay staff and invest in their business.
Even if the threshold was moved to 40,000, all the stores in Hatfield's Market Place would be lifted out of the tax.
For the extra cash needed to pay for this, the Treasury should turn to the likes of Amazon, who employ armies of people to manipulate the tax system to their advantage. As Money Mail reported last week, many online retailers will see business rates fall because their warehouses are in rundown areas.
Business rates are an awful tax that needs a radical rethink in the long term. The tax should really be based on earnings and profits - if it exists at all.
ATM answer
Thanks for the responses to last week's cash machine puzzle.
Jeaneatte Littley, from Kent, raises the prospect that our reader's 200 might have popped out while he was in the branch complaining that the ATM had left him out of pocket.
Around 15 years ago, Jeaneatte went to withdraw cash from an Abbey National ATM in Maidstone and found 100 hanging out.
She waited in vain for the previous customer to return before handing in the notes to the branch receptionist. 'She proceeded to interrogate me as if I had done something wrong,' says Jeaneatte.
'I said I wanted the bank to trace the owner of the money and told her which machine it was and the time I had taken my money, so it would be easy for them to trace.'
Despite leaving her details, Jeaneatte heard nothing until she returned to the branch a few weeks later.
'They said there was no way the owner could be traced, even though they knew the place and time, so they had put the money into a 'special' account. In other words, the bank kept it,' she says.
When I questioned Santander, which now owns Abbey, it said around ten years ago it introduced a 'trace function' that enables the bank to reunite customers with uncollected cash if a passer-by such as Jeaneatte hands it in.
Quite why that couldn't have been done anyway is a mystery.
d.hyde@dailymail.co.uk
Shrewd move? Did Sir Martin Sorrell intervene in Finsbury's Kraft contract?
The involvement of City PR outfit Finsbury, owned by Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP, in Kraft's aborted takeover of Unilever is much discussed.
The firm was advising Kraft on the 115billion deal up until Sunday, when FTI Consulting took over.
Why so? Might it be because the mercurial Sorrell considers Unilever a treasured client and didn't want one of his subsidiaries spinning against them?
If so, it's unlikely to improve his far from fragrant relations with Finsbury boss Roland Rudd.
Bob Diamond's business partner Ashish Thakkar, with whom he set up African venture Atlas Mara, has lost his High Court ruling over his long-running divorce from wife Meera.
Cocky, Leicester-born Ashish, 35, tried to argue he was worth less than 500,000, but Judge Philip Moor informed him: 'I regret to say that I consider the whole thing to be palpable nonsense.'
What size cheque Thakkar must now write will be decided in due course. Some reckon he's worth over 360million.
HSBC's annual report still makes no mention of any succession planning.
Chairman Douglas Flint departs this year, while 9.7million-a-year chief executive Stuart Gulliver is expected to go in 2018.
HSBC have never appointed a boss from outside the bank. My wager's on its ambitious head of global banking Matthew Westerman, a recent hire from Goldman Sachs.
Ryanair is advertising for a senior customer services director. It's a new position, which the budget carrier says 'will help us to continue to drive a first-class customer service to our passengers.'
Say what you like about incorrigible Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary and his brazen cohorts, they retain a lively sense of humour.
There may have been no choice but to bail out and recapitalise the Royal Bank of Scotland eight years ago but there is no escaping the fact that having the Government as its main investor with a 71.3 per cent stake has been a shambles.
In spite of several leadership changes and strategy switches the bank is tomorrow expected to unveil its ninth consecutive loss and faces a string of hurdles to its recovery.
The hopelessness of driving repairs from Whitehall finally is starting to dawn at the Treasury.
It has been a matter of faith that it would be a political disaster for Government if it were to seek to place RBS shares in the market and take some of the 23billion or so of taxpayer losses on the chin.
Constrained: RBS boss Ross McEwan is doing his best but is hamstrung by the political anvil
But running a huge international bank from Whitehall, where every major decision has to be approved by ministers, is folly.
Former Chancellor George Osborne's fall-out with former chief executive Stephen Hester, who had a track record of turning around failing banks, was a mistake.
Hester may have put too much faith in investment banking and been too concerned about his bonus, but no one could accuse him of being hesitant.
His successor, New Zealander Ross McEwan, is doing his best but is hamstrung by the political anvil.
Encouragingly there are indications from the Treasury that it recognises the problem and wants to get rid of its troublesome legacy.
Among the immediate problems is the failed effort to disgorge Williams & Glyn, which has gobbled up some 2.5billion of investor funds.
The other big 'known unknown' is the likely sum which it will have to pay to American regulators over the sub-prime mortgage debacle, with estimates at over 10bn.
The potential exposures including the continuing wrangles over the behaviour of RBS's Global Restructuring Group can be quantified.
What we also know is that RBS has an enormous corporate, SME and retail franchise and banks' customers are very sticky, staying with their lender through thick and thin. And as Lloyds is demonstrating see here can be light at the end of a dark tunnel.
As soon as the chance arose in America the US Treasury lost no time in disgorging the financial stakes it took on in the crisis, returning shares in debt insurer AIG, Citibank and others to the market at a loss.
This may not have gone down well on Main Street but in the end US taxpayers did get their money back and the financial sector there is roaring away.
At the right price there will always be buyers for marked-down assets, especially those that are publicly traded like RBS shares. Philip Hammond has the ideal opportunity in his budget on March 8 to signal a willingness to resume the selling down of RBS shares and absorb the slings and arrows.
Frisky Lloyds
Let the hosannas ring out. The decade-long nightmare at Lloyds, which was once Britain's safest and most reliable bank, looks to be over.
Before anyone is moved to anoint the bank's chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio with laurels beyond his 5.5million pay cheque it is as well to reflect that with a dominant market share Lloyds ought to have a licence to print money.
Instead, it has been burning it with the 17billion payouts on PPI, among other sins.
Nevertheless, a profit of 4.2billion cannot be sniffed at and the long period of misery for shareholders, which began with the shotgun merger with HBOS in 2008, looks to be over.
Horta-Osorio has done a good job in clearing bad debts, securing its balance sheet and coming down hard on the cost-to-income ratio.
But he will find it difficult to shake off his image as the banker who cannot be trusted to behave with propriety when representing his group overseas.
State Kraft
Even unwanted takeovers have their uses. The view among investors is that Unilever chief Paul Polman might have been less threatened by a Kraft Heinz takeover if he didn't spend so much time swanning around the world supporting trendy causes.
He is being forced back to brass tacks with a pledge to hit higher profit margins and a review of the enterprise by April. Nothing is being ruled out.
It should be careful. After Cadbury spun off its underperforming Schweppes soft drinks division it became more vulnerable to a bid, which duly arrived from Kraft.
The rest is history
Construction group Galliford Try gave investors reason to cheer as it hiked its dividend 23 per cent to 32p a share.
Shares soared when the market opened as profit climbed 19 per cent to 63million. Revenue in the six months to December 31 was up 3 per cent to 1.3billion.
Much of the growth came from its house-building business Linden Homes.
Galliford set out ambitious plans for the next four years, targeting profit of 220million.
Shares in Construction group Galliford Try soared when the market opened as profit climbed 19 per cent to 63m. Revenue in the six months to December 31 was up 3 per cent to 1.3bn.
Shares have now recovered past their pre-Brexit levels the stock plunged more than 40 per cent in the weeks after the referendum vote in June to lows of 785p but experts say there could still be further to go.
Yesterday shares finished up a nudge at 0.9 per cent, or 14p, to 1502p.
Infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty has agreed to sell off its joint ventures in the Middle East.
The group is selling its stakes in Dutco Balfour Beatty and BK Gulf for a total of 31million.
Balfour, which has also come out of Indonesia and Australia over the past two years, is focusing its business on the UK, US and Far East. Shares edged up 0.9 per cent, or 2.4p, to 275.5p.
The FTSE 100 finished down 0.34 per cent, or 25 points, to 7274.8.
Among the greatest fallers of the day was Mediclinic International, which tumbled after poor trading in Abu Dhabi hit full year figures.
The private healthcare provider operates across the UK, Switzerland, Middle East and Southern Africa and also has an interest in Spire Healthcare.
STOCK WATCH - ALUMASC Alumasc climbed as it announced three contract wins. The premium building products firm will supply bespoke balcony and balustrading products in deals worth around 5million over the next two years. Alumasc said the contracts, along with other wins, had boosted its order book to a record 32.9million. It comes after Andrew Magson, group finance director, last week acquired 8,667 shares in the business through a long-term incentive plan. Shares advanced 2.2 per cent or 4p, to 182.5p.
Mediclinic said performance had been good in Dubai but patient volumes and performance continued to fall below expected in Abu Dhabi.
The firm has carried out performance reviews and implemented a recruitment programme.
But it now expects a steeper revenue fall and lower earnings in the region for the full year. Shares dropped 6 per cent, or 48p, to 754p.
John Wood Group had its worst day in more than five years after profits plunged at the energy services firm. Revenue fell 15.7 per cent to 3.95billion in 2016 while profit plummeted 62 per cent to 27.6million for the year.
Wood said lower oil prices for much of the year had made for a challenging time and only modest improvements are expected this year.
The group has cut costs further headcount at the firm is down more than a third over the past two years. Shares plunged 7.9 per cent, or 65p, to 753p.
Bacanora surged as it snapped up a 50 per cent stake in a lithium project in south east Germany.
It is buying the interest in the Zinnwald Lithium Project Saxony from SolarWorld, the largest solar panel producer in Europe.
The site is reported to have produced lithium carbonate in the 1950s. Bacanora will pay 4.2million for the stake and contribute 4.2million towards a feasibility study on the project, which should take up to 24 months.
It has the option to acquire the remaining 50 per cent from SolarWorld for 25.4million within 24 months.
Demand for lithium, which is used in electric cars and clean energy, is expected to rise steeply in coming years. Shares soared 9.1 per cent, or 7p, to 84p.
Floor covering firm Airea plummeted as delays hit the business and it warned of uncertainty ahead.
But the carpet firm saw operating profit increase 51 per cent to 1.15million in the six months to December 31, while revenue edged up 100,000 to 12.8million for the period.
Stronger performance was largely driven by product launches aimed at residential properties.
Airea said exchange rates and commodity prices were putting pressure on prices and the long-term effect was difficult to predict. Shares spiralled down 13.5 per cent, or 5.25p, to 33.5p.
It isn't among our priorities for this year's Iowa legislative session and we aren't losing sleep about its chances for passage, but a bill to make the sale, purchase and use of fireworks legal in Iowa isn't something we oppose.
We revisit this issue today because fireworks legislation is progressing through the Statehouse again this session. (A fireworks bill was passed by a Senate committee and is eligible for Senate floor debate.)
We understand both sides of this discussion.
On one hand, we respect opposition by organizations representing firefighters, emergency services providers and health care providers due to dangers associated with fireworks.
On the other hand, we acknowledge majority support of legalized fireworks among Iowans. A Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted in February 2016 showed 66 percent of Iowans favored legalizing fireworks. (Forty-three states allow some or all types of consumer fireworks.)
Also, we appreciate the economic benefits of capturing part of a business Iowa loses to border states (including Nebraska and South Dakota) each year.
As we have said in this space before, we support revisiting the debate about legalized fireworks within these parameters:
1) Lawmakers should listen to and consider input from police, sheriff's and fire departments.
2) Minors should be prohibited from purchasing fireworks.
3) Use of fireworks should be confined to a limited number of days either side of Independence Day. Fines for violation should be stiff, to provide a deterrent.
4) Reasonable boundaries about what is sold should be established. We don't need our state becoming a war zone over the Fourth of July.
5) Local governments should have the power to restrict sales and use of fireworks when public safety might be threatened (for example, during a summer of drought).
Any effort to meet demand in the state for legalization of more fireworks should embrace prudent safety steps and respect for all Iowans.
This editorial appeared in the Feb. 17 edition of the Sioux City Journal, another Lee Enterprises publication.
The Government has refused to intervene in a 21bn German takeover of the LSE
The Government has refused to intervene in a 21billion German takeover of the London Stock Exchange despite growing pressure to investigate the deal.
City minister Simon Kirby last night insisted he could not express a view on Frankfurt-based Deutsche Boerse's bid to seize control of the 216-year-old institution.
His comments were made as MPs demanded better scrutiny of the takeover during a Parliamentary debate.
Both sides insist it is a merger of equals but Deutsche shareholders will get a controlling stake and DB's boss Carsten Kengeter will take over as chief executive.
Tory MP Bill Cash said the deal would hurt Britain's negotiating position as we leave the European Union because it would give Germany power over a major chunk of the City's business.
Sources said the two firms were considering selling more assets to get their tie-up past regulators.
Slump: Asda has suffered its tenth consecutive quarterly decline
Asda has finally unveiled its Christmas trading results which put the US-owned grocer at the bottom of the supermarket league table.
Sales in the three months to December 31 fell 2.9 per cent excluding fuel, handing Asda its tenth consecutive quarterly decline.
However, the figures were an improvement on a 5.8 per cent decline in the previous quarter, and 7.5 per cent in the three months to the end of June.
Boss Sean Clarke, owner Wal-Mart's chief Doug McMillon and US finance boss Brett Biggs all admitted there was 'a lot to do'.
It puts Asda at the bottom of the leader board compared to the UK's other retail giants.
Tesco saw sales increase of 1.3 per cent, Sainsbury's was up 0.1 per cent and Morrisons saw a 2.9 per cent rise.
But Clarke, 49, said Asda's fortunes were improving, with 140,000 customers welcomed back to the store during the last quarter.
HACKING HIT Yahoo is taking a 281million hit on its sale to US telecoms giant Verizon after cyber attacks.
Verizon had agreed to buy the internet firm for 3.6billion in July.
But at the end of last year Yahoo revealed hackers had attacked it in 2013, stealing email addresses, passwords and dates of birth.
It threw the deal into doubt and last week it was reported Yahoo would knock 200million off the asking price, but yesterday Verizon revealed it had struck a better deal.
The two hacks on Yahoo affected 1.5bn accounts and were the two biggest security breaches in internet history.
FLASH SALE Toshiba will make 6billion by selling most of its flash memory chip business as a buffer for any fresh financial problems, sources claim.
The beleaguered firm was pressured to abandon an initial plan to sell just under 20 per cent by its main creditor banks, which are worried about writedowns at its US nuclear unit.
QUARTER JOY Safestore, the secure storage operator, said revenue was up 9.4 per cent in the first quarter, thanks to UK expansion.
It made 29.2million in the first three months of its financial year, up from 26.7million in the same period a year earlier.
Shares fell 1.7 per cent or 6.5p to 382.4p.
POPEYES DEAL Burger King's owner Restaurant Brands is closing on a deal to acquire fried chicken chain Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.
This week Restaurant Brands shareholder 3G Capital failed in its attempt to mastermind a 115billion bid for Unilever by Kraft Heinz.
ENERGY BOSS A former executive at German multinational ThyssenKrupp is joining a UK-based waste-to-energy company.
David Ryan, 55, has been appointed a non-executive director at AIM-listed PowerHouse Energy Group, which converts landfill and other household waste into electricity.
ThyssenKrupp is in talks to merge with Tata Steel's UK business.
BARREL AHEAD Eland Oil and Gas has produced more than 150,000 barrels of oil from its well in Nigeria over the latest three weeks.
The firm has also shipped nearly 120,000 barrels from its Opuama Field in under two weeks after starting shipping to cope with disruption to pipelines.
EXPANSION PLANS Wolseley is expanding further into Switzerland. The Plumb Center owner has agreed to merge its Swiss plumbing and heating business Tobler with local rival Walter Meier.
Plane maker Airbus has had to write off 1.8billion as it wrangles with Nato countries over the cost of a military cargo plane.
Governments have held back payments for the A400M, which the RAF has dubbed 'Atlas', and fined the company after delays caused by mounting technical difficulties.
Yesterday, chief executive Tom Enders said it had struck an 'unrealistic' deal over the planes in 2003 and appealed for governments to ease financial pressure.
'We cannot go on like this,' he said. 'This is unacceptable and puts a huge burden on Airbus and we need to do something about it.'
The A400M was designed as a replacement for the Hercules plane which has been used to transport military personnel and equipment.
A number are in action, with some in Africa, and one already flying for the RAF.
But the production of the aircraft has been beset with difficulties and they are already thought to have cost Airbus around 8.4billion.
Enders' pleas come six years after the company won a 2.9billion bailout for the planes after he threatened to cancel the deal.
The craft are being made for Germany, France, Britain, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg and Turkey.
In 2015 one crashed on a test flight in Seville, Spain, killing four crew. In 2016, Germany grounded two of its three A400Ms due to gearbox issues.
Despite the problems, Airbus yesterday reported a 3 per cent boost in revenues from 53.9billion to 56.5billion, with commercial aircraft sales rising 7 per cent but defence and space revenue falling 9 per cent.
The company has plants in Filton, near Bristol, and Broughton, North Wales, where it makes aircraft parts and develops technology.
Wing sets are transported by road, sea and plane to be put on craft in France. Enders said: 'We have delivered on the commitments that we gave a year ago and achieved our guidance and objectives, with one exception, the A400M, where we had to take another significant charge.
'De-risking the programme and strengthening programme execution are our top priorities for this aircraft in 2017.'
Defence industry analyst Howard Wheeldon said: 'There can be no denial that development, test and production issues have seriously delayed A400M delivery to partner air forces by several years.
'Even so, when all these issues have been finally sorted and implementation is complete, the A400M will undoubtedly provide the European government air forces with the capability that they both want and urgently need.
'To a greater extent, the A400M aircraft is already doing just that in service but there is no denial hangover issues remain.'
He added: 'It is looking more that if the partner governments fail to provide a stronger level of financial support that Airbus could well walk away from being an active participant in providing defence capability.'
The embattled boss of Lloyds has taken a 3.2million pay cut following a year in which he was caught having an affair on a business trip.
Antonio Horta-Osorio took home 5.5million last year, down from 8.7million in 2015.
His bonus fell despite the bank posting its best results for a decade, with profits doubling to 4.2billion.
This performance allowed it to give 2.2billion to investors with a dividend of 3.05p per share likely to be a boon to the 2.5m people who hold the stock after years in which the bank struggled.
The average retail investor with 6,000 shares will get around 183.
Costly: Lloyds boss Antonio Horta-Osorio, pictured with his wife Ana, took home 5.5m last year, down from 8.7m in 2015
But the successful turnaround risked being overshadowed by revelations about 53-year-old Horta-Osorio's private life.
The Portuguese, who is married to wife Ana, made headlines last summer after he was joined on business trips to Singapore and San Francisco by top academic Dr Wendy Piatt, 46.
Horta-Osorio racked up 3,276 during his Singapore stay, with 550 spent at the hotel spa, and Piatt was seen entering and leaving his suite with her own key.
Yesterday, Lloyds chairman Lord Blackwell tried to draw a line under the scandal.
Asked if he wanted to discuss the board's response, he said: 'No. We dealt with that at the time.
'Antonio didn't breach any company rules, he didn't breach the company expenses policy and the matter is now closed.'
Lloyds said Horta-Osorio's pay cut was chiefly down to share price performance, as the stock plunged after the Brexit vote.
Horta-Osorio was joined on business trips by academic Dr Wendy Piatt (pictured)
His long-term bonus plan paid out 1.6million in 2016, down from 5.2million the previous year.
The boss also took home a 900,000 fixed share award, designed as a salary top-up to beat the European Union's bonus cap.
He pocketed 143,000 in benefits such as life insurance and a car allowance, and 568,000 towards his pension. His annual bonus rose from 850,000 to 1.2million thanks to improved profits.
He also took a 6 per cent rise in his base salary, which increased to 1.1million, Next year it will rise by another 8 per cent more than the 2 per cent given to the rest of the bank's staff.
Bosses said that the chief executive's pay had been frozen for several years as the bank fought to free itself from Government control after its 20.3billion bailout, while other employees' earnings had risen.
Less than 5 per cent of the bank is now owned by taxpayers, and it is likely to be fully back in private ownership by the end of May.
David Hillman, of the Robin Hood Tax campaign, said: 'Lloyds chief Horta-Osorio must be laughing all the way to the bank.
'It's high time the Government did something about this flawed and unfair culture of rewards.'
Lloyds' bonus pool for staff rose 11 per cent to 393million and it set aside 2.1billion to compensate for bad behaviour.
This included 1billion to cover PPI mis-selling, taking its bill for the scandal to 17billion.
Traders welcomed the profit figures yesterday, sending shares up 4.4 [per cent, or 2.9p, to 69.7p.
Laith Khalaf of Hargreaves Lansdown said: 'Lloyds is returning to full health after being knocked for six by the financial crisis, since which time the bank has become safer, more profitable, and a good source of dividends for shareholders.'
Buy-to-let mortgage rates are falling but only if you have a big deposit.
The average two-year rate for borrowers with a 40 per cent deposit has dropped from 2.59 per cent to 2.27 per cent in the past 12 months.
Last month, Santander launched a top two-year deal at 1.44 per cent. Platform, part of the Co-operative Group, also has a new deal at 1.54 per cent.
New deals: The average two-year deal for borrowers with a 40% deposit is 2.27%
Monthly repayments on a 150,000 loan would be 596 and 603 respectively. The total cost with Santander is 16,295, and Platform 16,464 both include a 1,999 fee.
But if you have less than a 40 per cent deposit, rates are starting to creep up. If you have a 30 per cent deposit, the average rate has risen from 3.02 per cent to 3.17 per cent in the past month alone.
David Hollingworth, of broker London & Country, says: 'Forthcoming tax hikes and tougher criteria for loans means some landlords are desperate to switch to a better rate.
'Lenders are fighting over themselves for the best customers those with bigger deposits.'
Fraudsters are hacking the email accounts of people moving home to steal their cash, Money Mail can reveal.
The crooks are targeting property owners and tenants who are owed money from the proceeds of a house sale or a returned deposit.
After gaining access to the victims emails, the fraudster sends messages to a solicitor or estate agent posing as the customer owed cash.
Hacked: Fraudsters are hacking the email accounts of people moving home to steal their cash, Money Mail can reveal
They provide details of where to send the proceeds of a house sale or tenancy deposit that is due to be returned.
Unless the firm realises the email is fraudulent, the solicitor or estate agent will send the money to the crooks bank account.
The fraudster will quickly move the money to another account, where it cant be traced.
The scam victim often has no idea this has happened until they ask about the missing funds and find vast sums have disappeared.
In one case seen by Money Mail, fraudsters stole 309,000 from a couple in their 70s whod just sold their flat.
In another, an estate agent sent cash to a bank account owned by someone called Jihad.
Until now, fraudsters have typically posed as solicitors and estate agents to trick customers into sending cash to the wrong place.
Now they have started impersonating customers, too. It took Christine and Roger Wilkinson, from Maidenhead, Berkshire, more than 12 months to claw back 250,000 of the 309,000 lost to the scam.
Crooks at play: Unless the firm realises the email is fraudulent, the solicitor or estate agent will send the money to the crooks bank account
The retired couple had hired solicitor firm The Partnership, based in Guildford, to help them sell their flat in Teddington, Middlesex, in 2015.
But a week after their sale completed they still hadnt received the money. When they called their solicitor, they were told the 309,000 had been transferred into their TSB bank account.
But they didnt bank with TSB. The Wilkinsons then discovered emails sent to their solicitor asking for the money to be transferred into an account that wasnt theirs. The fraudsters had posed as Christine and sent fake bank statements with the couples names on as evidence that the new account was genuine.
When the solicitor asked for a new Transfer Of Funds to be signed, the crooks forged Christine's signature from another document they had found in the couple's email account.
It was reported to the police, who believe the Wilkinsons are the victims of an international organised crime syndicate.
Christine, 71, says: We were in complete shock. Its frightening that someone was able to do this so easily and take the lot.
It took Christine and Roger, retired market researchers, until last November to agree a payout with the solicitors insurers for 82 per cent of the sale price just over 250,000.
Peter Ambrose, of The Partnership, says: While The Partnership was not found guilty of any negligence or dishonesty, we have the greatest sympathy for the Wilkinsons plight and are so sorry they were targeted by such devious individuals.
A spokesman for TSB says: When a bank account application is received, its carefully checked.
'But financial crime can be sophisticated and complex. Unfortunately we cant prevent all frauds.
Lisa Kingdon was left 685 out of pocket after her letting agent paid her deposit to fraudsters.
The problem began last March, when Lisa, 29, decided to move back in with her parents in Shepperton, Middlesex, while she saved to buy her own home nearby.
Fake signatures: When the solicitor asked for a new Transfer Of Funds to be signed, the crooks forged Christine's signature from another document
Having left her London flat in good condition, Lisa did not expect any problem getting her deposit back from her letting agent, Winkworth.
But weeks went by and, after emails back and forth, the money still had not arrived. It emerged that Winkworth had paid the deposit to a fraudster.
The email account of Lisas former housemate had been hacked and criminals used the information from correspondence with Winkworth to create a fake email address similar to Lisas housemate's to contact the letting agents.
The hackers sent an email to Winkworth requesting her money be paid to a bank account under the name of Jihad Hassan Elhassanie.
Despite having Lisas housemate's correct email address and phone number in its records, the landlords failed to spot the fraudster was using a different account.
And no one called Lisa's housemate to check she really wanted the deposit to go to Mr Elhassanie.
Lisa, who works in TV as a senior edit assistant, says: When I realised what had happened I felt panicky.
'I called my dad, because hes the first person I go to with things like this.
Lisas case was reported to Action Fraud and was passed on to Hampshire Police, who investigated the crime.
Winkworth has since repaid the deposit cash to Lisa and her fellow tenants.
A spokesman for Winkworth said: Winkworth did not at any stage dispute the repayment of the tenant's deposit. We took the matter very seriously and followed every procedure advised by the Fraud Squad. It was made clear throughout the entire process that as soon as the situation had been investigated, the tenants would receive their deposit back in full. This is exactly what happened.
Winkworth was in constant correspondence with all of the tenants and as soon as the hack had come to light and reported it immediately to the Fraud Squad and Police. The tenant whose money and email was hacked was extremely understanding and cooperative with Winkworth throughout the entire process.
Last year, the solicitors trade body, the Conveyancing Association, sent a warning to members warning of email fraud.
It urged that email communication be avoided when possible, especially about financial matters, and advised against transferring money online.
Property expert Kate Faulkner, managing director of landlord advice firm, Propertychecklists, says: This kind of scam is scary.
'All parties must be sure to check and check again before sending money. Just one call to verify that an email is genuine can ensure such cases are avoided.
Currys has been forced to ditch a controversial rule that gave customers just 48 hours to return damaged goods.
In a victory for Money Mail, which exposed the retailer's policy last year, the firm admitted it was 'confusing' customers.
The move could open the floodgates to claims from customers who were refused refunds.
According to consumer law, shoppers have 30 days to return goods that are faulty or broken.
Unfair and confusing: Currys has ditched its policy that gave customers just 48 hours to return damaged goods
But the returns policy on the Currys website stated: 'If you unpack your product and find it damaged or incorrect, you can return or exchange the product within 48 hours of purchase or delivery.'
The retailer used this to reject requests for refunds if the customer complained more than two days after delivery.
Some shoppers were fobbed off with a 10 per cent discount instead of a full refund.
Money Mail handed the firm a dossier of complaints from customers left out of pocket because they hadn't opened and inspected goods quickly enough.
Some were on holiday or working away from home when their goods were delivered, while others were decorating and didn't open boxes containing TVs or fridges until the work was finished.
As a result, the damage was only discovered up to two weeks after the goods arrived.
Customers queried why the store's policy appeared to contradict consumer law. Under the Consumer Rights Act, you have 30 days to return faulty goods for a full refund. And after 30 days you are still entitled to a repair or replacement.
If you shop online, you get extra protection under the Consumer Contract Regulations, which state that you can return goods within 14 days of receiving them even if they aren't faulty.
When Money Mail first contacted Currys, it said 48 hours was 'a reasonable period for people to inspect what they've bought'. But when we put all the cases to the retailer, it decided to ditch the policy entirely.
A spokesman for the business explained that Currys used to differentiate between 'damaged' and 'faulty'.
Faulty meant the product didn't work, whereas damage covered cosmetic occurrences such as a dent or scratch. The spokesman said: 'Our 48-hour advice has only ever applied to 'damaged'.
'However, going forward, we will be removing all reference to 48 hours as soon as possible.'
Carys Murphy, a solicitor at Slater and Gordon in Cardiff, says: 'It appears that Currys completely misunderstood the law or was attempting to prevent customers from pursuing refunds they were entitled to.
'In my view, this was a clear breach of consumer law.'
Chris Haan, a solicitor at Leigh Day in London, says: 'We believe that Currys' policy was potentially unlawful and it had to be changed to ensure it was not in breach of the Consumer Rights Act.'
U-turn: When Money Mail first contacted Currys, it said 48 hours was 'a reasonable period for people to inspect what they've bought'
Keith Mansfield, 64, had to fight for two months to get a damaged freezer replaced last year. He'd purchased it online in October, but was working away from home when it was delivered.
When he unpacked it five days later, he found one of the screws holding the handle in place had snapped off in the door. Keith complained to Currys, but was told repeatedly he couldn't have a replacement as he had failed to report the fault within 48 hours of delivery.
In an email, a customer service representative said: 'We are sorry we are unable to exchange your freezer. We need to know of any physical damage to a product within 48 hours of delivery, and this is noted on our website'.
Keith, an accountant living in Pembrokeshire, says: 'The delivery guys were supposed to unpack the freezer and take away the packaging, which they didn't do. If they had, they would have noticed the damage.
'I know my rights. Freezers are supposed to last for eight to ten years, so the 48-hour rule is nonsense.'
Keith exchanged emails with Currys for two months and finally persuaded them to send him a new freezer on December 30.
In another case seen by Money Mail, Currys refused to replace a broken television. The customer was decorating his lounge and hadn't discovered the screen was cracked until he took it out of the box two weeks later. It took weeks of wrangling by phone before the shop would back down.
Another customer was told that he couldn't exchange his faulty printer a week after buying it 'due to policy'.
Both Carys Murphy, at Slater and Gordon Lawyers, and Chris Haan, at Leigh Day, say customers who were refused a refund by Currys in the past might now be able to challenge the decision.
Customers will need to prove they first complained within 30 days of discovering the fault. Those previously refused an exchange or who complained after 30 days should be entitled to a repair or replacement item.
Ms Murphy says complain initially in writing to Currys. If refused, complain to Citizens Advice on 03454 040 506. It will refer the details to your local Trading Standards officers.
v.bischoff@dailymail.co.uk
Small firms hit 'hardest' by business rate hikes later this year will receive 'appropriate relief' from the Government, Prime Minister Theresa May has said.
With the publication of the Budget taking place in just over two weeks time, Mrs May said at Prime Minister's Questions that she had asked the Chancellor and Communities Secretary to soften the blow for the worst-affected businesses.
Mrs May acknowledged the rising costs faced by many businesses as Green-party MP for Brighton Caroline Lucas said small businesses in her constituency's area faced business rate hikes of as much as 400 per cent.
Relief: Theresa May said the hardest hit small businesses will be provided with 'appropriate relief'
Mrs May said: 'If we just stand back, we can see that business rates are based on the rental values of properties.
'Those values change over timethey can go up and downand it is right that business rates change to recognise that. That is the principle of fairness that underpins the business rates system.
'However, we also want to support businesses and we recognise that, for some, business rates will go up when the revaluations take place. That is why we have put significant funding in place for transitional relief.
'I recognise that there has been particular concern that some small businesses will be adversely affected as the result of this revaluation, and that is why I have asked the Chancellor and the Communities Secretary to ensure that there is appropriate relief in those hardest cases.'
A Downing Street spokesman said later that a 3.6billion fund had been set up to ease the transition for businesses that see their rates rise.
The spokesman indicated that Mrs May had not announced any new money for this fund, but had asked the Chancellor and Communities Secretary to ensure it was effectively distributed. He declined to say whether this was a recent request.
Budget: The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, will publish his Budget on Wednesday 8 March
The Government spokesman said: 'We are mindful of the fact that some companies are going to see their rates go up.
'That is why we are introducing this 3.6 billion transitional fund to ease the transition for those most affected. I think the Prime Minister is making sure that that assistance is going to the right areas.'
The Government has come under increasing pressure to alleviate concerns that the business rate reevaluation will adversely affect small businesses, particularly those in the South East where property valuations have risen considerably in recent years.
There is also concern small businesses could be blocked from appealing against rate rises in future.
Earlier this month, thirteen major business groups, including the CBI, British Retail Consortium and the Federation of Small Businesses, have joined four professional groups to sign a letter sent by a law firm to the Government opposing the changes.
Fears: There is concern small businesses could be blocked from appealing against rate rises in future
Despite facing mounting criticism, the Government insists three-quarters of businesses across the country will see their rates fall or stay the same after the reevaluation.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid is expected to use a parliamentary debate on local government finance later today to address concerns over the reevaluations.
The Communities Secretary has been accused of misleading people over the impact of the rate revaluations which look set to increase bills for more than one in four companies.
Mr Javid angered some of his critics by suggesting that a campaign of 'half truths' was behind the attacks on the business rate changes.
The UK's business rate tax system is based on calculations derived from the valuation of a businesses' property.
In April a revaluation is taking place, a process that happens every five years, and changes business rates to reflect price rises and falls in the property market.
Wait: The Government is capping exit penalties at 1 per cent from March 31
Savers who cash in pensions are not being told they can avoid hefty charges if they wait six weeks.
Providers typically charge savers 5 per cent of their pot if they withdraw money before their deal matures. Some charge as much as 30 per cent.
To crackdown on unfair fees, the Government is capping exit penalties at 1 per cent from March 31.
Firms such as LV= and Old Mutual have scrapped or reduced fees ahead of the cap. But others are holding out to the last minute.
Some firms are failing to tell people they could save thousands if they wait. In one case, Aegon reportedly failed to tell a customer they could save around 20,000.
The firm says: 'It's disappointing that it appears on this occasion details of the exit charges weren't communicated at the time.'
Addressing fire safety Living in San Diego County, the threat of fires is constant, that is why I have made fire safety one...
Supporting animals As a trained Project Wildlife Native Songbird Rehabilitator, my experience raising orphaned and injured songbirds and returning them to the...
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- World-renowned brain scientist Dr. Michael Merzenich will deliver a keynote address at the I Can Change My Brain conference at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia on Sunday, February 26, 2017. Dr. Merzenich is Chief Scientific Officer at Posit Science and Professor Emeritus at University of California San Francisco (UCSF).
Dr. Merzenich will speak on how breakthroughs in brain plasticity in his lab (and in the labs of colleagues across the globe) have now entered the final stage of translational research resulting in strategies and products that people can engage with today to monitor and improve brain performance and brain health.
Three decades ago, Dr. Merzenich forever changed the way scientists look at the brain with his seminal experiments showing that the adult brain remains plastic capable of changing chemically, physically and functionally, throughout life, based on sensory and other inputs. Previously, scientists believed that the brain was plastic only in childhood.
Dr. Merzenich realized that plasticity could be harnessed to create tools to benefit humanity. He first applied plasticity in the co-invention of the cochlear implant, which has restored hearing to hundreds of thousands of people living with deafness.
With the wide adoption of personal computers and, then, mobile devices, Dr. Merzenich focused on how to create online (and in app) assessments and exercises that continuously adapt and personalize to monitor and improve individual health and performance.
The exercises in the BrainHQ brain-training platform from Posit Science have been shown to improve performance across a wide range of populations in more than 140 peer-reviewed journal articles.
Studies in healthy mature adults have shown gains in standard and real world measures of cognition (e.g., brain speed, attention, memory and executive function); quality of life (mood, confidence, self-rated health, functional independence); and everyday activities (balance, movement, driving).
Last year, Dr. Merzenich was awarded the Kavli Prize, the highest honor in neuroscience. The prior year, he was awarded the Russ Prize, the highest honor in bio-engineering. He has been elected by his peers to both the National Academy of Sciences and to the National Academy of Medicine in the USA. He also is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters.
Dr. Merzenich frequently appears on television and in the press. He may be best known to Australian audiences for his role in the award-winning television series Redesign My Brain.
Dr. Merzenich is the author of several books, including Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life.
More information about the conference can be found at http://changemybrain.businessbrainmapping.com.
MBABANE - If you want to add some laughter to your life, you better not miss the Swaziland International Comedy Festival.
Over 20 comedians are expected to take part during the first ever three-day comedy festival to take place locally. The festival, which was launched on Monday night at Sibane Hotel, will feature international comedians who come from as far as the United States of America.
The inaugural instalment of the Swaziland International Comedy Festival will be a three-day comedy extravaganza with the comedians performing in multiple shows at multiple venues in the country. The festival will kick off from Thursday, April 27 to April 29, 2017.
The first set will be held at the House on Fire Amphithetare and is themed Juste Pour Rire. The stage is sponsored by Alliance Francaise de Mbabane and House on Fire will feature international comedians in what is expected to be an intimate set-up.
The second set of the festival will be held at Sibane Hotel on Friday, April 28. The Sibane Hotel stage is themed the Deadly Funny stage and will see comedians who pull out all the stops when it comes to jokes in their mother tongue. The English Language will be incorporated for those who find it hard to grasp other languages so that their material will be enjoyed by everyone.
The Deadly Funny stage is an Indigenous comedy performance that celebrates the unique humour of the comedians indigenous language.
The George Hotel will be the place to be to catch the final day of the festival on Saturday, April 29, at The George Hotel in Manzini.
This hotel will host the Ribcrackers stage where it will be comedy without boundaries. The show features top globetrotting and multi-award winning international comedians.
KWALUSENI The closure of the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) has not marked an end to the institutions problems.
Staff members of the higher learning institution yesterday swapped their relaxed lunch breaks and picketed at the administration block over unpaid stop orders.
On Monday afternoon, the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) Senate closed the institution due to a class boycott and disruption of lectures by students. Yesterday, about 100 staff members who are unionised under the National Workers Union of Swaziland Higher Institutions (NAWUSHI) used their lunch hour to picket in front of the institutions administration block at Kwaluseni Campus.
Their main grievance was that management was deducting stop order monies from their salaries but was allegedly failing to remit it to the various service providers, something which was creating unnecessary arrears for them. They alleged this had been going on for over two years. Lee Madzinane, the NAWUSHI First Secretary General, said they were picketing because they were trying to force the university administration to remit deducted stop orders to various service providers on a monthly basis.
Currently, the institution deducts the money from us, but it does not remit it to the service providers and we consider this as an illegal and fraudulent act, which should be corrected immediately, he alleged.
The alleged non-remittal of the money by the institution has caused problems for the staff members resulting in incurring arrears, attracting interest on loans and lapsing of policies in some instances.
Madzinane said the staff members had been patiently waiting for an amicable solution but it was all in vain. He said the workers viewed this as a breach of their employment contracts.
The Manzini street vendors picketing outside the Mu-nicipal Council of Manzini offices as they waited to deliver their co-mplaints to management.
MANZINI About 300 street vendors yesterday stormed the Municipal Council of Manzini offices, demanding an explanation on the 77 per cent hike in rental fees for their stalls.
This took place yesterday morning, where the street vendors from the city left their stalls and marched to the municipality offices to seek answers on what criteria was used to reach a decision to increase rental fees from E35 per month to E150. The increment is supposed to be effective as from April 1, 2017.
At the municipality offices, the vendors had a meeting with the Mayor, Khethokuhle Dlamini and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lungile Dlamini, among other senior staff members, including some councillors.
The vendors said they were tipped about the latest development by a concerned Member of Parliament (MP). They said the MP told them that the municipality had filed a proposal in Parliament where they were proposing to increase their rent from E35 to E150 per month.
They demanded to know what was it that the municipality did for them that could force it to propose such an incredible rental hike.
We do not have shelter over our stalls, we use our own umbrellas. We do not have water; instead we buy it in order to wash the fruits and vegetables we sell. We also pay E0.50 when we want to use the toilets, the vendors said.
They said they were failing to understand why the council wanted to impose the increase.
How much do we get from selling ice water for E0.50 and tomatoes for E2? Does the council really want to take all what we get through rentals? asked some of the vendors during the meeting.
MBABANE He allegedly made court records disappear with ease. Nhlangano Magistrates Court typist Mbhekeni Dlamini was allegedly known to some for receiving amounts of about E500 in order to steal and destroy court records for convicts to avoid paying fines.
This transpired during trial yesterday. He has been charged with contravening the Prevention of Corruption Act of 2006 and the alternative charge was that of defeating the ends of justice or obstructing the cause of justice.
Dlamini is alleged to have stolen a court record containing a charge sheet and record of proceedings, as well as the conviction and sentence of a teacher of Nyamane Primary School, who had been charged with drink-driving.
The teacher, Mfanafuthi Nxumalo, had been sentenced to pay a fine of E2 000 in 2010 and payment of the fine was deferred to the end of January 2011. The file was allegedly stolen between the period of sentencing and January 31 when he was expected to have paid the fine.
However, Nxumalo yesterday told Judge Mbutfo Mamba that after being convicted and sentenced, he met another teacher, Vusani, at the magistrates court, who was from another school.
He said this teacher called him to the toilets and informed him that he knew of an employee within the court who could assist him by stealing and destroying his file at a fee.
Nxumalo said Vusani told him that the exercise would cost him a sum of E500.
Nxumalo agreed to the deal and he said he gave the money to Vusani and he left the court.
MBABANE Will the elderly be getting E400 per month in the next financial year?
This is the figure that got some Members of Parliament (MPs) excited when they heard from some of their colleagues who are members of the House of Assembly Sessional Finance Committee that the Finance Ministry had proposed this figure.
The MPs discussed this proposed figure at the Royal Swazi Sun Convention Centre where they had been gathered for the launch of the Parliament HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan (2017-2022).
It is looking good my colleagues, the figure is E400 for the elderly, said one of the members of the Finance committee.
The elderly are currently paid E240 per month, and following the Kings Speech from the Throne that all social grants for the elderly, disabled and those with disabilities would be increased for the 2017-18 financial year, there has been a lot of speculation on how much they would get.
The MPs who were engaged in a conversation at Planters Restaurant said they were quite pleased with the amount as they had expected government to put in far less. Last time government increased the grants was during the 2014-2015 financial year when only a meagre E20 was added, much to the outrage of the nation.
If indeed the E400 is implemented, this will mean that government will have put in E160 more.
Chairperson of the Finance Sessional Committee Patrick Pha Motsa said he was not in a position to divulge what was discussed during the meeting.
Meanwhile the Deputy Prime Ministers Office had initially proposed an increase of only E60 when it made its budget around October last year, but after the Kings directive, the DPM, Paul Dlamini, said the figure was reconsidered.
MANZINI A man stands accused of attempting to wipe out his whole family through forcing them to drink petrol.
Mvimbi Ginindza is said to have forced his wife to drink the inflammable liquid and had intentions to force it down the throat of his minor.
However, the 18-month-old baby could only watch in trauma as her father, who had drank the petrol, forcefully opened her mothers mouth and forced her to down the liquid in an alleged bid to kill her. The minor was spared from drinking the liquid after the mother raised the alarm and neighbours hurriedly came to their rescue.
As a result, Ginindza, a welder by profession, who is in his late 30s, has been arrested by the police and charged with attempted murder.
The incident is said to have unfolded at Musi, situated at Mankayane last weekend.
Information gathered is that Ginindza had been informed by neighbours and other residents that his wife Bahle Fakudze was involved in adulterous relationships with different men.
Statements recorded by the police also revealed that Ginindza had approached Fakudze about the rumours, however, she flatly denied them.
An argument ensued after the confrontation and Ginindza allegedly grabbed a five-litre plastic container which had the petrol inside, pulled out a box of matches and boldly told his wife that he wanted the three of them, including the child to die.
Relatives revealed that the petrol was used for generators that were used by the family to supply power.
When Ginindza forcefully grabbed Fakudze, who had the child on her back, she tried fighting him and he was overpowered. She immediately pulled the child from the back and threw her out of the house, through the door.
CLEARWATER, Fla., Feb. 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On May 13th, 2017, Broadway and Beyond will revisit the historic Clearwater Building to perform Broadway favorites in a special tribute honoring mothers and families of all generations. Doors open at 6:30pm. Complimentary refreshments will be served. All are welcome. There is no charge to attend, but seating is limited.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/10544957-59ab-4beb-bbad-543bcd5a5637
The singing duo Joanie Sigal and Tom Godfrey of Broadway and Beyond launched their musical career together in the lobby of the Historic Clearwater Building in 1996. Last year, they filled the very same Clearwater Building, commemorating their 20-year anniversary with a concert, A Touch of Broadway.
After the concert, Clearwater resident Susanne Epple said, Thank you for the beautiful evening! It was truly enjoyable. I think you have established a real cultural center for the community with such events.
Their performance on May 13th will reflect the precept Honor and help your parents from The Way to Happiness the non-religious common sense guide for better living written by L. Ron Hubbard.
The pair will perform songs from well-known Broadway plays such as The King and I, Beauty and the Beast, Cats and Phantom of the Opera.
The Historic Clearwater Building is located in Downtown Clearwater on the corner of Cleveland Street and Fort Harrison Ave. The building was erected in 1918 as the first Bank of Clearwater, and was purchased in 1975 by the Church of Scientology. It was fully restored in 2015. Since then it has served as the Scientology Information Center. The Information Center is open to all and provides answers to questions about Scientology through its audio visual displays, exhibits and publications. The Center provides monthly music concerts and events open to the community.
To learn more about the facility or to RSVP please contact Amber at 727-467-6966 or amber@cos.flag.org.
The Church of Scientology:
The Scientology religion was founded by humanitarian and philosopher,
L. Ron Hubbard. The first Church of Scientology was formed in the United States in 1954 and has expanded to more than 11,000 churches, missions and affiliated groups in 167 nations. The Church of Scientology regularly engages in humanitarian programs and community events. Clearwater is the home of the spiritual headquarters for the Church of Scientology.
For more information please visit www.scientology-fso.org.
Finnish English
Espoo, Finland, 2017-02-22 08:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
Aspocomp Group Plc., Stock Exchange Release, February 22, 2017 at 9:00 a.m.
Notice is given to the shareholders of Aspocomp Group Plc. to the Annual General Meeting to be held on Thursday, March 23, 2017 at 10 a.m. (EET), address Keilaranta 1, 1st floor Auditorium, Espoo, Finland. The reception of persons who have registered for the meeting will commence at 9.30 a.m. (EET).
A. MATTERS ON THE AGENDA OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
At the Annual General Meeting, the following matters will be handled:
1. Opening of the meeting
2. Calling the meeting to order
3. Election of persons to scrutinize the minutes and to supervise the counting of votes
4. Recording the legality of the meeting
5. Recording the attendance at the meeting and adoption of the list of votes
6. Presentation of the annual accounts, the consolidated annual accounts, the report of the Board of Directors and the auditors report for the year 2016
- Review by the CEO
7. Adoption of the annual accounts and the consolidated annual accounts
8. Resolution on the use of the profit shown on the balance sheet
The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the parent companys loss for the financial period of EUR 661,980.67 shall be transferred to the accrued earnings account, and that no dividend is paid.
9. Resolution on the discharge from liability of the members of the Board of Directors and the CEO
10. Resolution on the remuneration of the members of the Board of Directors
The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the chairman of the Board of Directors be paid EUR 30,000 and the other members be paid EUR 15,000 each in remuneration for their term of office. The Board of Directors further proposes that EUR 1,000 be paid as remuneration per meeting to the chairman and EUR 500 per meeting be paid to the other members of the Board. The Board of Directors also proposes that the members of the Board of Directors be reimbursed for reasonable travel costs.
11. Resolution on the number of members of the Board of Directors
The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that four (4) members be elected to the Board of Directors.
12. Election of members of the Board of Directors
The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the current members of the Board of Directors Ms. Paivi Marttila, Ms. Kaarina Muurinen, Mr. Juha Putkiranta and Mr. Matti Lahdenpera be re-elected as members to the Board of Directors. In accordance with the Articles of Association of the company, the term of office of the members of the Board of Directors ends at the closing of the next Annual General Meeting following the election. The said director nominees have given their consents to the election.
The nominees' personal details are available on the companys website www.aspocomp.com/investors/governance/agm.
The Board of Directors has assessed the director nominees' independence against the independence criteria of the Finnish Corporate Governance Code. According to the evaluation carried out by the Board of Directors, all director nominees are independent of the Company's significant shareholders. The Board of Directors has also assessed that all nominees are independent of the Company.
13. Resolution on the remuneration of the auditor
The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the auditors fees be paid according to the auditors invoice.
14. Election of auditor
The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy, Authorized Public Accountants be re-elected as the company's auditor. PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy has notified that Mr. Markku Katajisto, Authorized Public Accountant, will act as the principal auditor. In accordance with the Articles of Association of the company, the term of office of the auditor ends at the closing of the next Annual General Meeting following the election.
15. Authorizing the Board of Directors to decide on share issues as well as the issue of options and other special rights
The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that the Board of Directors be authorized to, in one or several installments, decide on the issuance of shares and the issuance of options and other special rights entitling to shares referred to in Chapter 10 Section 1 of the Companies Act as follows:
The number of shares to be issued based on the authorization may in total amount to a maximum of 649,650 shares. The Board of Directors decides on all the terms and conditions of the issuances of shares and of options and other special rights entitling to shares. The authorization concerns both the issuance of new shares as well as own shares possibly held by the company. The issuance of shares and of options and other special rights entitling to shares referred to in Chapter 10 Section 1 of the Companies Act may be carried out in deviation from the shareholders pre-emptive rights (directed issue).
The authorization cancels the authorization given by the General Meeting on April 7, 2016 to decide on the issuance of shares as well as the issuance of special rights entitling to shares.
The authorization is valid until June 30, 2018.
16. Closing of the meeting
B. DOCUMENTS OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The aforementioned proposals of the Board of Directors relating to the agenda of the Annual General Meeting as well as this notice are available on the companys website at www.aspocomp.com/agm starting from February 22, 2017. The annual report of the company, including the companys annual accounts, the consolidated annual accounts, the report of the Board of Directors and the auditors report, will be available on the companys website at www.aspocomp.com/reports as of February 28, 2017. The proposals of the Board of Directors and the annual report, including the annual accounts documents, are also available at the Annual General Meeting.
The minutes of the Annual General Meeting will be available at www.aspocomp.com/agm no later than April 6, 2017.
C. INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
1. The right to participate and registration
Each shareholder who is registered on March 13, 2017 in the shareholders register of the company held by Euroclear Finland Ltd., has the right to participate in the Annual General Meeting. A shareholder, whose shares are registered on his/her/its personal Finnish book-entry account, is registered in the shareholders register of the company.
A shareholder, who wants to participate in the Annual General Meeting, shall register for the meeting within the period February 22, 2017 March 20, 2017. The registration must be available at the company at the latest on Monday, March 20, 2017 by 10 a.m. (EET).
Such notice can be given:
a) by e-mail at the address yhtiokokous(at)aspocomp.com,
b) by telephone at number +358 40 480 3965 on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. (EET), or
c) by regular mail to Aspocomp Group Plc., Keilaranta 1, 02150 Espoo, Finland.
In connection with the registration a shareholder shall notify his/her/its name, personal identification number, address, telephone number and the name of a possible assistant or proxy representative and the personal identification number of a proxy representative. The personal data given to Aspocomp Group Plc. is used only in connection with the Annual General Meeting and the processing of related necessary registrations.
2. Holders of nominee registered shares
A holder of nominee registered shares has the right to participate in the Annual General Meeting by virtue of shares based on which he/she/it on the record date of the meeting, i.e. on March 13, 2017, would be entitled to be registered in the shareholders register of the company held by Euroclear Finland Ltd. The right to participate in the Annual General Meeting requires, in addition, that the shareholder has on the basis of such shares been temporarily registered into the shareholders register of the company held by Euroclear Finland Ltd. at the latest on March 20, 2017 by 10.00 a.m. (EET).
As regards nominee registered shares this constitutes due registration for the Annual General Meeting. A holder of nominee registered shares is advised without delay to request necessary instructions regarding the temporary registration in the shareholders register of the company, the issuing of proxy documents and registration for the Annual General Meeting from his/her/its custodian bank. The account management organization of the custodian bank has to register a holder of nominee registered shares, who wants to participate in the Annual General Meeting, temporarily into the shareholders register of the company at the latest on March 20, 2017 by 10.00 a.m. (EET).
3. Proxy representative and powers of attorney
A shareholder may participate in the Annual General Meeting and exercise his/her/its rights at the meeting by way of proxy representation.
A proxy representative shall produce a dated proxy document or otherwise in a reliable manner demonstrate his/her right to represent the shareholder at the Annual General Meeting. When a shareholder participates in the Annual General Meeting by means of several proxy representatives representing the shareholder with shares at different securities accounts, the shares by which each proxy representative represents the shareholder shall be identified in connection with the registration for the Annual General Meeting.
Possible proxy documents should be delivered in originals to Aspocomp Group Plc., Keilaranta 1, 02150 Espoo, Finland before the end of the registration period.
Proxy template is available at the companys website www.aspocomp.com/agm.
4. Other instructions and information
Pursuant to Chapter 5 Section 25 of the Finnish Companies Act, a shareholder who is present at the Annual General Meeting has the right to request information with respect to the matters to be handled at the meeting.
On the date of the notice to the Annual General Meeting, February 22, 2017, the total number of shares and votes in Aspocomp Group Plc. is 6,496,505. The company does not have treasury shares in its possession.
In Espoo, February 22, 2017
ASPOCOMP GROUP PLC.
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
For further information, please contact Mikko Montonen, CEO,
tel. +358 20 775 6860, mikko.montonen(at)aspocomp.com.
ASPOCOMP GROUP PLC.
Mikko Montonen
CEO
Aspocomp a service company specializing in PCB technologies
Aspocomp specializes in demanding PCB technologies, serving its customers throughout the entire life cycle of a product. Aspocomp sells and manufactures PCBs and also provides related design and logistics services as well as technology solutions. Aspocomp creates value for its customers with unique products and solutions, strong manufacturing and technology expertise, as well as fast and reliable deliveries. A wide network of expert partners together with Aspocomp's own manufacturing enables its customers to cost-effectively buy their PCBs from a single provider over the entire life cycle of a product.
A printed circuit board (PCB) is the principal interconnection method in electronic devices. PCBs are used for electrical interconnection and as a component assembly platform in most electronic applications. Aspocomp's customers are companies that design and manufacture telecom systems and equipment, automotive and industrial electronics, security technology and semiconductor testing systems.
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams
By Gina Martinez
A proposed bill that would ban the sale of flushable wipes is being met with resistance.
New York lawmakers introduced a bill in February 2015 that would prohibit wipes from being labeled as flushable unless the wipes pass a test determined by the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection. According to the bill, any business that sold the wipes would face fines of up to $2,500.
Tom Grech, executive director of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, thinks the bill will directly affect small business owners throughout the city.
Its another one of those things put upon business owners in New York City making it difficult to have a business, he said in an interview. Besides, its ignoring flushing able vs. non-flushable wipes, broad stroking the entire operation. I believe imposing hefty fees on retailers is a big mistake, where theres a will, theres a way. If people want to use flushable wipes theyll just get them online, which is another nail in the coffin for small business. Once you go online youll buy other things, making it more difficult in Queens and citywide to make a living, employ people and have a viable business.
The bill was introduced by Brooklyn Councilman Antonio Reynoso as an attempt to help stop the clogging of the citys sewer system. But David Rousse, president of INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, believes the bill is a misguided effort. According to Rousse, the evidence gathered shows that almost 99 percent of what has been found clogging the sewers are not flushable wipes, but cloth towels, household cleaning wipes, feminine hygiene items, and others, items that are not designed for flushing. He suggest labeling.
Theres a code of practice for labeling, he said. There should be a do not flush symbol on the packaging, not written out and not in English, so everyone who sees it can know. I believe labeling and education is key. A toilet is not a trash can, people should pay attention.
Rousse also said that the test wipes will need to pass to be considered flushable are unrealistic.
The bill is going to mandate that any wipes must pass test determined by the DEP and from our discussions with the DEP it has become clear to us that the test requirements are so rigid that no wipes on the marketplace could meet them, he said. This bill would effectively prevent any wipes from being sold.
The bill is scheduled to go to a hearing committee on environmental protection in City Hall in March.
The wipes industry and the members I represent are a very responsible group of companies, doing the right thing and solving the real problem, Rousse said. I believe education is the solution, not legislation, we are willing to work to solve the problem.
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams
By Kourtney Webb
The United States is home to 61 million immigrants and New York is among the top three states profiting from their contributions, according to the Center for Immigration Studies analysis. While most of Americas issues with immigration rest on cultural insensitivity, the effects of immigration on the overall economy is a positive one.
With President Trumps immigration-policy reform actions likely to affect state economies, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2017s economic impact of immigration by state. WalletHub ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia whose economies benefit the most and least from immigration.
The findings were based on highest percentage of jobs generated by immigrant-owned businesses, highest median household income of foreign-born population, highest percent of foreign-born STEM workers, percentage of foreign-born adults with a bachelors degree, highest percent of Fortune 500 companies founded by immigrants or their children, highest percent of jobs created, percentage of jobs created by presence of international students, and highest economic contribution of international students per capita.
The data collected from the analysis concluded that California, New Jersey and New York are the three states that receive the most advantage from immigrants in their states economy. Mississippi, Kentucky, and South Dakota have least benefitted from immigration. This is because immigrants are more likely to move in order to find jobs. According to a report by the University of California, Berkeley, immigration as a consequence has served to smooth out local booms and busts. By moving away from declining regions and into booming areas, immigrants help stabilize the economy and reduce the mismatch between local demand for labor and its supply. Immigrants willingness to move helps slow wage decline in stagnant regions and contributes to economic growth in booming ones.
Joel Fetzer, a professor of political science at Pepperdine University, said in an interview with Wallet Hub that immigrants, both legal and illegal, have an overall impact on the economy that benefit the well-being of both the companies and citizens there.
If all 12 million undocumented migrants suddenly disappear, many businesses in California and elsewhere would suddenly find themselves critically short of workers, he said. Consumers would also experience a significant price increase in immigrant produced goods and services.
Many people have their opinions when it comes to immigrants living and working in the United States. One of the more common is that immigrants steal jobs from American citizens. But WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said, It is a myth. Immigrants create new jobs much more than anything else.
Immigrants also employ Americans as employees adding to workforce growth and job creation. Among the top ranked states for jobs generated by immigrant-owned businesses were Florida and New York.
American citizens see more competition and better prices on everyday necessities from food to cars because of immigrant-owned business, said Gonzales.
Strong defense, pair of goals from Shaye Bailey hands Freedom WPIAL Class 1A championship
A shutdown defense and a pair of second-half goals from junior Shaye Bailey led the Freedom Bulldogs to a convincing 3-0 win over Springdale Friday.
NASSAU -- State Police investigated a report that someone tried to abduct a boy walking home from school on Tuesday. Troopers determined there was no attempt to abduct the 9-year-old boy.
According to State Police, about 4:53 p.m., they were notified that an hour earlier, a vehicle with four people inside approached the child at an intersection in Nassau and tried to lure him into the vehicle.
Durham, N.H.
New Hampshire's maple syrup producers say they are feeling the impact of climate change, as winters become warmer and frigid nights so critical to their business become fewer.
Producers joined climate experts and Democratic U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire on Tuesday to talk about the state's changing climate and how it is affecting one of the state's most important industries.
Some producers talked of seeing a steep drop in the amounts of sap they are getting, while others are dealing with another trend attributed to warmer temperatures in which the sap goes up to the top of the trees rather than down to taps. Others complained about a drop in the sugar content of their sap.
"When I purchased the farm in 2000, I was getting 75 gallons of sap," said Ray LaRoche of LaRoche Farm in Durham. "With the environmental changes we've been seeing, it's down to 15 gallons. That's a dramatic loss for us. And I don't know what to do about it."
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont produced 3.78 million gallons of syrup in 2016, according to a Northeast maple syrup production statistics service run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Vermont is the clear leader, alone producing more than 47 percent of the country's maple syrup.
Hassan said the state's changing climate can have dramatic effects on the natural resources that "define us as a state and are critical to our economy, our environment, and our way of life in New Hampshire."
"Unfortunately, we are already seeing the real impacts of climate change on our economy including on our maple syrup and ski industries," she said, referring to warmer winters and a decline in snow cover.
The ideal temperatures for sap production are in the 20s at night and 30s and 40s during the day.
Albany
A 21-year-old man was taken to Albany Medical Center on Wednesday for minor injuries after his SUV was struck by a car that ran a red light at Washington Avenue and Ontario Street.
Albany Police said at about noon Wednesday a eastbound vehicle on Washington Avenue failed to stop at the light, hitting the southbound SUV on Ontario Street in the city. The collision caused the SUV to flip, police said.
The driver of the vehicle that ran the red light, a 21-year-old female, was ticketed for running the light, police said. She was not injured.
Both vehicle drivers are from Albany, but police didn't release names.
afries@timesunion.com 518-454-5353 @mandy_fries
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Decades ago, a man pointed a pistol directly at James Keough but the former trooper didn't blink. His partner only had to bare his teeth to make the suspect drop the gun and wet his pants.
His partner was a German Shepherd named Baretta.
"That dog would defend me to the edge of death," Keough said. The 75-year-old was a trooper for three and a half decades, and was one of the first three State Police canine handlers.
Keough signed copies of his book, "The First K-9 Trooper In The New York State Police," Wednesday night at the Altamont Public Library.
The State Police launched their K-9 Unit in 1976 with three dogs. Their first mission was to protect Olympic athletes training in the Adirondacks ahead of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, and then protect everyone at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
"You have to remember, Montreal was the first Olympics after Munich," when 11 Israeli athletes were killed, former Chief Tech. Sgt. John Curry said. Curry supervised the State Police K-9 Unit from its founding until his retirement in 2003, and was also one of the first three handlers.
During the 1976 Olympics, State Police dogs traveled with teams and patrolled Plattsburgh training grounds, Curry said.
Four years later, at the 1980 games, Keough and Baretta were stationed at the mouth of the Olympic Village.
"Everyone who entered went past us," the former trooper said, his voice full of pride.
The first three dogs Crow, Miss Jicky and Baretta were given to the State Police by the Army, which had a surplus of bomb-sniffing dogs when the Vietnam War ended.
When Keough first met Baretta, the German Shepherd puppy had never seen a child or a shopping cart.
"The cart would move and he didn't know what to do with it," Keough said with a chuckle. "Eventually, my four kids could bounce off the couch onto him, and he'd just get up and move,"
All three dogs and their handlers were trained by the Baltimore Police Department, which was experimenting with a new method of canine training focused on socializing police dogs with the public.
"Police dogs were not popular because of Bull Connor," Curry said, referencing the Alabama police chief who would sic vicious, kennel-raised dogs on civil rights protestors. Baltimore handlers wanted to change that stigma.h
"Dogs have to be friendly before they're trained to bite," Curry said. "They have to live with the wife and kids."
Although Baretta was trained to be friendly in calm situations, Keough said the canine was still plenty fierce. He would bite hard when directed and, since heart worm destroyed his teeth as a puppy, had gold-capped chompers as an adult.
Keough recalled one suspect telling him, "That's the meanest-looking dog I've ever seen."
Baretta specialized in tracking and explosives, and Keough said his favorite two stories from their eight years together involved nitroglycerin. The oily, colorless liquid is known to explode with the slightest jolt, impact or friction.
An Amsterdam cop stopped a car driving out of the city late one night in 1976, and discovered the four men inside were professional burglars wanted in multiple states for various heists, Keough said.
All four were wearing two sets of clothing, so they could quickly shed a layer to change their appearance, and the car had a second license plate screwed under the first in case they needed to swap, he said.
The crew was known to use explosives to get inside safes but city police couldn't find any trace of a bomb, Keough said. The State Police were called in, and Baretta discovered the car's carpet was soaked with spilled nitroglycerin, Keough said.
Later that year, another group of professional burglars hit a Long Island bank. They used explosives to blast an exterior wall and free an ATM, which they stole, Keough said.
When police arrived, they found wires leading into the ground outside the bank and feared a second explosive device. So the State Police flew Keough and Baretta down to Deer Park by helicopter in the middle of the night.
On scene, the dog completely ignored the wires they had actually been used to bypass the alarm, Keough said but Baretta alerted twice to a bottle of cough syrup on the tellers' counter.
Inside? Enough nitroglycerin to blow out a second ATM.
"You could drive a troop car through the hole they made," the former trooper said, nostalgic.
Baretta died of an enlarged heart when he was 8, and Keough was transferred out of the Canine Unit. The former trooper said he was a little heartbroken himself to leave a job he loved.
The State Police K-9 Unit has changed a lot since Keough left it decades ago.
"Bomb-wise, we're seeing a lot less hoax devices and a lot more real devices," Curry said. "We get a lot more calls for dogs."
The State Police now employs 90 dogs, which includes 29 explosives teams, 57 narcotics teams and four bloodhound tracking teams. Twenty of the 57 narcotics dogs are also trained to find cadavers and nine of the explosives detection handlers also serve on the Bomb Disposal Unit.
State Police dogs a mix of German Shepherds, Labrador retrievers, rottweilers and bloodhounds are now donated by humane societies, citizens and breeders from all over the northeast.
A dog's sociability, play, drive, aggression, agility and health are tested, and the best candidates are sent to the 20-week Basic Handler School in Cooperstown. There, the new handler and canine train for basic obedience, agility, handler protection, tracking, building searches, veterinary first aid, land navigation, and either narcotics or explosives detection.
Global engineering group Cavotec has secured significant orders to supply its innovative aircraft systems to major airports in the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US. The EUR 11.5 million contract wins, all received and confirmed in the past two months, underline the continued success of the Groups advanced integrated aircraft utility systems at applications worldwide.
With the International Air Transport Association expecting airlines to take delivery of some 1,700 aircraft in 2017, and a 3.7 per cent annual average growth in air travellers, operators are looking for ways to ease bottlenecks and service aircraft efficiently. Cavotecs solutions decrease aircraft turnaround time by integrating utility services into single solutions such as pop-up pits, says Juergen Strommer, Chief Operating Officer of Cavotecs Airports & Industry business unit.
We continue to see robust demand for our aircraft servicing systems at airports worldwide, and its an area on which we continue to focus, adds Gary Matthews, Market Unit Director, Airports.
For Dubai International Airports Concourse C, Cavotec has been awarded a turnkey contract to design, supply, install, test and commission Super Cool DX Pre-conditioned Air (PCA) units.
In the US, the orders include fuel hydrant systems for applications at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and La Guardia Airport.
Cavotec is to also supply its latest Series 2500+ 400Hz converters and hatch pit systems to the VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering Hangar (VTMAE) at Pensacola Internaional Airport in Florida. Deliveries are due to start later this year, and are scheduled for completion by early 2018.
In the UK, Cavotec has secured a major advanced aircraft refuelling order with the end user in the US, deliveries of which are schedulded to be completed in the third quarter of 2017.
Cavotec is a leading systems integrator of advanced ground support equipment in the global airports sector. The Groups in-ground technologies minimise tarmac congestion, improve operational efficiency and reduce environmental impact at terminals, remote stands and hangars at commercial applications worldwide.
ENDS
Media contact: Julia Weinhart
Group Manager, Corporate Communications & PR
julia.weinhart@cavotec.com or +41 795 36 10 10
Cavotec is a global engineering group that manufactures power transmission, distribution and control technologies that form the link between fixed and mobile equipment in the Ports & Maritime and Airports & Industry sectors. To find out more about Cavotec, visit our website at cavotec.com.
The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Cavotec SA under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on 22 February 2017, 12:00 CET.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Jimmy Fallon donated $100,000 to help fund the art program at Saugerties High School, his alma mater.
Some of the money is going toward the Ulster County school's TV studio.
The host of NBC's "Tonight Show," a 1992 graduate of the school, told The Associated Press he's glad to be able to give something back. "And if anyone there wants to return the favor with a statue of me or something, I'm totally cool with that, too," he said.
District Superintendent Seth Turner thanked Fallon for the gift and joked that he's willing to completely eliminate Fallon's disciplinary record in return.
Fallon also attended the College of Saint Rose in the 1990s and received a degree from the school in 2009 after completing requirements for the undergraduate communications program. That year, Fallon also received an honorary doctoral degree and gave the school's commencement address.
Saratoga Springs
After weeks of debate, the City Council on Tuesday night unanimously agreed to fund the charter commission's administrative costs of $46,000 but turned down by a 3-2 vote spending $37,000 that is needed to hold a May 30 referendum on a new charter.
Commissioners John Franck, Michele Madigan and Skip Scirocco voted against funding the vote while Mayor Joanne Yepsen and Commissioner of Public Safety Chris Mathiesen voted for it.
"Let the vote happen in November," said Scirocco. "A special election limits participation by voters. Historically, voters are just not there. It disenfranchises people. This is voter suppression."
A vote to change the city's commission form of government to a city manager and at-large council government would end a 100-year-old tradition in Saratoga Springs.
Madigan said that her decision against the May vote is not political.
"We get to weigh in on the money," she said.
Mathiesen disagreed, saying that Madigan was undermining the 15-member charter commission, an independent political body, by voting against the May vote. He added that moving it to Election Day in November would muddle the charter issue.
"We are talking what is best for the city," said Mathisen.
Yepsen said that the council has a legal obligation to follow state law that requires the city to fund the charter commission, including its decision on when to hold the vote.
"State law is clear," said Yepsen. "We appointed the commission and they should be allowed to do their work. This is not an unreasonable request."
The council heard comments from the public on both sides of the issue. Several people opposed the May 30 date for the referendum, saying a charter change was voted down twice (2006 and 2012) and it is a waste of money to vote on it a third time.
The charter commission members reminded the council and the public that it is an independent body that, by state law, the city must fund for its rewrite of the charter and the referendum before voters. Commission members said the charter should be decided during a special referendum because it would be neglected during a November vote when council members are running for office. The commission members said it is easier to educate the public in the coming months as the issue is receiving a lot of press attention now but it won't in November. Lastly, charter member Ann Casey Bullock, who is also an election inspector, said voters often forget to vote on referendum questions after casting a ballot for candidates.
"I share your concerns about voter turnout," said Bullock. "It will be far less expensive if we don't have to break through the noise in November. I know how hard it is to get voters to turn the ballot over. Voters will get more bang from your buck with a separate vote. More people will vote in May than November."
Commissioner Franck believes the date will be settled in court.
"If there is a special election, even if it's to tweak the charter, I'm against it," said Franck. "If it's November, I won't take a side on the charter vote."
Pat Kane, co-chair of the charter commission, said the commission will continue its work on the charter issue but does not know when the vote will take place.
wliberatore@timesunion.com 518-454-5445 @wendyliberatore
Albany
The University at Albany will pay a top New York City headhunting firm up to $245,000 to help find its next leader.
The firm, Russell Reynolds Associates, was selected by the university's presidential search committee following a competitive selection process and interviews in January. The university agreed to pay the consultants $200,000 plus expenses for a total that is not to exceed $245,000, university spokesman Karl Luntta said.
The contract was recently negotiated and settled, and won't be available for public release for "at least three more weeks," he said Wednesday. The Times Union has submitted a request for the document under the Freedom of Information Law.
The university is on the hunt for a permanent president following the departure of Robert Jones last fall. Jones, who came to the university in 2013, left to helm the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system.
James Stellar, former UAlbany provost, has been leading the university as interim president ever since.
Russell Reynolds Associates has helped find CEOs, presidents and other executives for a number of industries, including higher education, and has helped in leadership searches at Bucknell University, Connecticut College and DePauw University, according to its website.
Consultants from the firm will be on campus Friday to attend an open forum on the presidential search at 11 a.m. in the Campus Center Assembly Hall, and will gather information from students, faculty and staff to help shape a "position profile" for the university.
The hope is to actively recruit candidates this spring and deliver a list of finalists to SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher for consideration before she departs in June, Michael Castellana, chairman of the presidential search committee, said in a letter to the community.
"It is imperative that we adhere to a swift timeframe established for this search to ensure the committee is successful in delivering three to four candidates to the chancellor for consideration," he said.
The chancellor must approve the presidents for each of SUNY's 64 campuses. Zimpher will step down from the public university system on June 30.
UAlbany's last presidential search faltered during a previous transition in SUNY leadership.
UAlbany spent three years searching for a new president after Kermit Hall died unexpectedly in 2006. George Philip came on as interim president, and the university wound up spending more than $300,000 and three years searching for a permanent president before appointing Philip to the role in 2009, the same year Zimpher came on board at SUNY.
Philip announced plans to retire in 2011, and anticipated leaving by fall 2012. The search process took longer, however, with multiple finalists dropping out along the way. It wasn't until January 2013 that Jones came on board.
bbump@timesunion.com 518-454-5387 @bethanybump
Washington
President Donald Trump's choice of an outspoken but non-political Army general as national security adviser is a nod to pragmatism, but Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster will serve a commander in chief with unorthodox ideas about foreign policy and an inner circle of advisers determined to implement them.
McMaster, 54, is an independent-minded soldier widely admired for his leadership skills, but he is short on experience in Washington's trenches. His appointment reinforces the more mainstream approach to security that Trump is getting from Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, who seems to have steered the administration toward stronger support for NATO and allies in Asia, and away from the reauthorization of torture in interrogations.
Still, it's an open question how McMaster, a decorated combat veteran, will fare in a White House that has set up what some call a parallel power structure led by Stephen Bannon and his strategic initiatives group, whose role and reach hasn't been publicly explained. As Trump's chief strategist, Bannon, the conservative media executive with outspoken views about Islam, has a seat on the National Security Council's principals committee in a restructuring that puts him on equal footing with Cabinet members like Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said Tuesday that Trump promised McMaster "100 percent control" over the structure of the NSC.
Peter R. Mansoor, a retired Army colonel who served with McMaster in Iraq during the 2007 surge of U.S. troops, said Bannon's inclusion on the principals committee shows his group "has an outsized measure of importance within the White House." What that means for McMaster and fellow pragmatists Mattis and Tillerson, he said, is unclear. Mansoor said he expects McMaster to be a "voice of reason" and a natural ally to Mattis.
McMaster convened a meeting with senior NSC staff on Tuesday, his first day in the White House. He did not make any immediate changes to the NSC's senior team and most top officials were expecting to stay on, according to an administration official who was not authorized to discuss the internal meeting publicly and insisted on anonymity.
As successor to Michael Flynn, ousted for his explanation of his communications with Russia's ambassador before Trump took office, McMaster continues Trump's reliance on career military officers. Mattis and John Kelly, the homeland security secretary, are retired Marine generals.
Flynn was an Army lieutenant general. McMaster becomes the first active-duty officer to serve as national security adviser since Colin Powell, then a three-star general, assumed the job in President Ronald Reagan's final two years in office.
Powell went on to grab the military's top job as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Robert Harward, a retired three-star admiral, was Trump's first choice to replace Flynn but turned down the offer.
McMaster will advise Trump and serve as his coordinator of foreign and defense policy.
He will approach matters differently than Flynn, who was a contentious figure before Trump appointed him.
After being fired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, Flynn publicly lambasted the Obama administration as soft on Islamic extremism. During the 2016 president campaign, he delivered a harsh, partisan denouncement of Democrat Hillary Clinton at the Republican National Convention.
Trump says he fired Flynn for misleading Vice President Mike Pence on the nature of his pre-Inauguration Day phone conversations with the Russian ambassador in Washington. Flynn unsettled others by asserting that Islamic extremism posed an existential threat to the West and that the Muslim faith was the source of the problem.
McMaster comes into the job without Flynn's baggage or such controversial views. It's unclear if he will need Senate confirmation because he is a three-star general taking on a new assignment.
"He absolutely does not view Islam as the enemy," Mansoor said, adding that McMaster believes that in the war against extremism, "we need to have Muslim nations on our side, on the side of moderation.
"So I think he will present a degree of pushback against the theories being propounded in the White House that this is a clash of civilizations and needs to be treated as such," he said.
McMaster will immediately encounter Trump's proposed ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations, which has been stymied in court.
Both the Pentagon and the State Department are pushing to have Iraq removed from that list of seven, officials say, noting that Iraq is an ally in the fight against the Islamic State group and that Iraqis have long served in support of U.S. forces there.
Albany
In the late summer of 2005, Maj. Chris Gibson of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division was en route to Iraq for his second deployment when he received word that he and his paratroopers would not be returning to Mosul. Instead, they were headed to the northwestern province of Nineveh, where they would be under the command of Col. H.R. McMaster in the Third Armored Cavalry Unit.
When Gibson stepped off the tailgate of the C-130 transport in the beleaguered city of Tal Afar, he was greeted by his operations officer, who had been sent ahead the previous day.
"Sir, Col. McMaster just fired his second battalion commander," the officer said.
Gibson, who hadn't slept much the previous night, asked what the two soldiers had done to get canned.
"Too timid in the approach to the enemy here," the operations officer said.
"I said, 'I think I'm gonna like this guy,'" Gibson recalled Tuesday.
More than a decade later, Gibson is retired from both the Army and three terms as a Republican congressman from Kinderhook. And McMaster is headed into a different kind of challenge: serving as President Donald Trump's national security adviser. So far, the selection has generated rave reviews from those who have described McMaster as the very model of a modern soldier-intellectual.
"I ended up really jelling with him," said Gibson, speaking from his office at Williams College in western Massachusetts, where he's a visiting professor of leadership studies. "He was a courageous guy very focused, soldiers loved him, very mission-oriented."
Gibson had first encountered McMaster at conferences when both men were engaged in military scholarship in the mid-1990s: Gibson on his doctoral dissertation, and McMaster on what became his 1997 book "Dereliction of Duty," a scathing assessment of the leadership breakdowns that doomed the American military effort in Vietnam. Gibson called it "a very powerful analytical piece very tough on senior military and senior civilian" leaders.
A few years later, they overlapped for two years on the faculty at West Point.
But Tal Afar in September 2005 was no classroom or conference hall. The city of some 250,000 had already been cleared once of insurgent forces following the invasion of Iraq two years earlier. Due in part to a reduced U.S. presence, many of the insurgents had re-entered the city to threaten coalition forces and terrorize the civilian population.
McMaster "understood the strategic situation that we were in," Gibson said. "He knew how important it was that the local security forces be accepted ... that the Iraqi people needed to have faith and trust in the Iraqi security forces. That seems elementary, but this was at a time when there was significant ethnic strife."
The U.S. forces put the Iraqi enlistees through training that began with core military values and built up skills such as marksmanship, basic formation and more complex counterinsurgency techniques, Gibson said. At the same time, McMaster was "an awesome commander" who made sure his soldiers had what they needed including tanks and helicopters to root out the enemy.
The operation earned significant media attention included a long account by George Packer in the New Yorker in April 2006 and was cited by leaders up to and including Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and President George W. Bush as the model for how a modern counterinsurgency effort should be conducted.
In many ways, it provided the blueprint that was subsequently followed by Gen. David Petraeus in the years that followed: U.S. forces couldn't merely capture and kill the enemy; they also needed to create the conditions on the ground that would allow a secure civil society to take root. Rice would later sum up the strategy as "clear, hold, and build."
McMaster had a self-deprecating wit to balance the demands of his job. Gibson recalled calling out to him as he exited a briefing without his rifle. "I'm such a terrible soldier," McMaster said with a laugh.
A month after arriving in Tal Afar, McMaster asked Gibson to brief a documentary crew that had been brought in under heavy security. After the briefing, McMaster took Gibson aside.
Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter.
"Chris, they want to walk down Barracuda," he said, using the designation for a particularly perilous stretch of roadway. "... Can you guarantee me their safety?"
Gibson blurted out, "Sir, no: We were just shot at yesterday on Barracuda."
As soon as the words were out, Gibson recalled the two battalion commanders who had been fired just before his arrival.
McMaster looked at him for a moment. "You're right what was I thinking?" he said. "I can't believe I asked you."
"That a moment when he could have said, 'All right, battalion commander, pack your bags,'" Gibson said. "... He took it really well, and I think that's a sign of his character. He's very focused, but he had a sense of humility."
Within an hour, they figured out a way to shift sufficient forces to enhance security in the zone where the crew wanted to film a better solution, Gibson realized later, than an advance plan that might have been leaked and provided a tempting target for enemy forces.
"We walked down Barracuda," Gibson said, "and by gosh, McMaster walked with us."
cseiler@timesunion.com 518-454-5619 @CaseySeiler
Albany
Many people wanted Thomas Smith to beat the long odds that face former prison inmates. Me included.
I spent several hours with Smith. He was friendly. We were on a first-name basis. I drove him around in my car. I visited his small rented room. It was spotless. I checked out his mini-refrigerator. It was filled with fruit juice and water. He was soft-spoken and polite. He was neat and clean and smelled like spring-fresh fabric softener.
He also happens to be 53 years old, African American, an ex-felon, convicted bank robber, sporadically homeless, with a learning disability, mental health issues and addiction to heroin.
It was a heavy weight he bore.
Those of us who got to know Smith trusted and believed in him, none more so than Alice Green, founder and executive director of the Center for Law and Justice. She helped him find work and invited him to join her family's Thanksgiving dinner.
In a letter to Green, he told her: "You're like the only family I ever had."
I got to know Thomas when I wrote several stories about him as he fought back against Walmart, where he was fired on Nov. 6, 2015 for redeeming $2 worth of empty cans and bottles left unclaimed in a shopping cart outside the East Greenbush store.
The articles I wrote went viral spread by social media across the country and internationally and he became a cause celebre. The Washington Post picked up the story. This man had stood up to the world's largest corporation and sued it for firing him without due cause from his $9-an-hour job corralling shopping carts. Walmart charged him with "gross misconduct" and claimed he violated a corporate policy.
Thomas Smith became a galvanic force nationally for low-wage workers, particularly those who worked for Walmart and felt aggrieved by its employment practices. I was flooded with calls, emails, letters and tweets in support of him and in defiance of corporate greed.
Smith became a David-against-Goliath symbol. Activists latched on to him. He was the face Making Change at Walmart, a campaign run by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union aimed at forcing the retailer to improve working conditions for Walmart workers.
Dozens of demonstrators marched and carried signs in support of Thomas Smith in front of the East Greenbush store on Black Friday in November of 2015. Protesters delivered a petition signed by 2,045 people who called for a boycott of Walmart stores.
Community and religious leaders threw their support behind Smith and criticized Walmart for shoddy treatment of its workers. At a news conference, Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard spoke in Smith's defense, along with other clergy members. Assemblymen John McDonald, a Democrat from Cohoes, and Steve McLaughlin, a Schaghticoke Republican, called on state Department of Labor officials to investigate Smith's firing. They did.
Dounya Hamdan of Chicago started a GoFundMe crowd-funding site that raised $22,150 from 995 people, including $1,000 from Suze Orman, the personal finance TV host.
He spent the money on a black Honda Accord, as well as gifts for his two children. He worked briefly for a landscaping company and as a dishwasher at two restaurants. I spoke to his bosses. They said he was a hard worker.
We hoped Thomas Smith was going to rise above all the demons that pulled him down.
We hoped that the nearly 14 years he spent in prison for a 2002 armed robbery of a KeyBank on Route 9 in Latham had not doomed him. They call it corrections, and community supervision is the other half of that state agency's name. But neither title seemed especially apt to describe the brief, troubled months of freedom for Thomas Smith.
Albany attorney Donald Boyajian, who was Smith's lawyer in the 2002 case, agreed to represent him against Walmart. "He made a mistake and paid for it," Boyajian said about his prior conviction. "He never made excuses."
I counted myself among those who thought Thomas Smith could beat the grim statistics of recidivism. About 40 percent of prisoners released from New York state's prisons return to prison within three years. Nationally, about three-quarters of inmates are rearrested within five years of their release.
Heroin addiction is a scourge that does not discriminate. In the past few years, I have written about numerous heroin addicts predominantly young, white and suburban, both men and women who have committed crimes, served time, been rearrested, failed numerous treatment programs, devastated their communities, torn apart families and in many cases died of heroin overdoses. They started with far more privilege than Thomas Smith, but addiction took them down a similar path.
Each day after he was released from prison, Smith ran the gauntlet of addiction. He lived above Pauly's Hotel on Central Avenue in a single-room occupancy unit rented by alcoholics, drug-addicted and mentally ill men. On the corner outside, drugs are openly sold.
A few months after the spotlight left him, he slipped back into addiction. And so Thomas Smith did what he knew how to do to support his habit. He robbed four banks in Albany between last July and September. He wore disguises and got away with $7,720. And then the cops caught him and shot out the window of his Honda and tackled him in the roadway on South Pearl Street. Nobody was seriously injured.
Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter.
When Green and her staff at the Center for Law and Justice heard the gunshot right outside their office, they ran out and saw a black man face-down in the street and cops with guns looming over him. Green and her colleagues didn't recognize him at first. Their office was where Thomas came almost every day. He'd bring sub sandwiches and soda for the staff. He'd offer to clean up. He felt safe and out of the fray there, Green said.
I visited Smith in jail days after his arrest. He had lost a lot of weight. He looked hard and mean and strung out. He spat out his words. He looked around at the other inmates, tentatively, like he wanted to show he was all gangsta and tough.
Near the end of our 40-minute jailhouse interview, Smith softened. "I was depressed," he whispered to me. "I need help. I'm thankful for the support. I let them down."
It is hard to know how much the heroin or the years of incarceration had made Thomas into this broken man I sat with in the Albany County jail. I wrote a series several years ago about Samuel "Poppy" Baez, a crack-addicted, alcoholic and mentally ill homeless man who later died. I went to a scientific conference to try to understand about the brains of addicts. Researchers showed brain scans and how heavy drug use had rewired the brains of addicts. It doomed them to repeated failed attempts at sobriety. It was a kind of slow-motion death sentence.
Thomas Smith was going to prove them wrong. When Walmart fired him, he had worked three hours after the normal end of his shift on a Friday because the store was short-staffed. The manager told him to pay the few dollars back to the store, but he did not have any cash on him. So he took a one-hour bus ride from Albany to East Greenbush on a Sunday to repay the manager for the unclaimed empty cans and bottles he took.
For Alice Green, Thomas Smith is a mirror held up to our society that reveals deep flaws in the criminal justice system. After all those years in prison, where were the corrections and the community supervision and parole and post-release case workers and drug treatment? Where were they when Thomas Smith the drug addict and recidivist bank robber re-emerged?
Where were we? Where were all those people who made him into a viral sensation for 15 minutes and used him as a stick to poke Walmart?
Did Thomas Smith fail us or did we fail Thomas Smith?
"We all feel bad for Thomas," Green told me. "He was a human being with a disease of addiction who tried to do the right thing. I don't want people to stop helping those in need because of this."
She paused and added, "I don't regret all the things we did for Thomas. My only regret is that we couldn't do more."
Contributing writer Paul Grondahl is the new director of the New York State Writers Institute after a 32-year career at the Times Union. grondahlpaul@gmail.com
The Labour Party in North Tipperary has suffered the second of two high profile losses with the defection of the party's former Munster regional organiser, Adrian Gleeson, to Fianna Fail.
The move will be a particularly hard one for Labour to swallow, and especially for Deputy Alan Kelly, as Mr Gleeson is his cousin and is credited with getting another cousin, Cllr Fiona Bonfield, elected to the council in 2014 at the first time of asking.
Mr Gleeson, from Newport, is the second high ranking Labour member to leave the party in the past six months, with former Nenagh Mayor Sandra Farrell joining the same party late last year.
Mr Gleeson told the Tipperary Star that he came from a big Fianna Fail family and that after the last election he felt there was no drive in Labour locally.
I like working with people on the ground and with people in the local community. I am a man of action, not words, and I felt I wasn't getting anywhere, he said.
Mr Gleeson said that he had spoken to Cllr Bonfield about his decision and she fully understood where he was coming from.
We both respect each other. It's just I support FF, he said. I believe more in the Fianna Fail ethos.
Cllr Bonfield declined to comment on the move.
Ms Farrell had remained silent on her decision to come back into politics, having decided not to contest the 2014 local elections.
However, in a statement to local media this week, she said that joining Fianna Fail last year was the next step in a logical journey for me.
My family have been involved with Fianna Fail since its establishment in the 1920s with my own great-grandfather, Denis Farrell, helping to set up the cumann in Nenagh town.
Ms Farrell won a seat on Nenagh Town Council in 2004 as a member of the Labour Party, and became the town's youngest mayor in 2008.
But, she said, she had discontinued her membership of the Labour Party in 2009.
Since then I have focused on my career and remained a community activist campaigning on issues close to my heart. I am currently self-employed as a nursing home operator while also studying a Master's in Government / Politics at University College Cork.
The former Labour member said that while she had opposed many Fianna Fail policies in the past, including the Hanly Health Reform Report, she said politics was about accepting that mistakes can be made.
But now it's about focusing on whats needed in the future. Fianna Fail is focused on the future of Ireland, investing in our public services and making sure every sector of society benefits, she said.
Ms Farrell said that under Micheal Martins leadership, she had seen the party change, saying it was clear it saw itself on the side of ordinary people.
In Tipperary, the party had grown and developed, and Jackie Cahills election to Dail Eireann last year was an important step in the partys renewal in Tipperary, she said
I want to be part of an organisation that is located in every parish, village and town in Tipperary. I will not always agree with every member on every issue, but thats the value of being part of Fianna Fail you dont have to. Debate and discussion are welcomed, your opinion counts, said Ms Farrell.
Ms Farrell is a niece of Independent Tipperary county councillor Hughie McGrath, a former FF member.
Deputy Cahill said he was delighted that Mr Gleeson had joined the party.
Our door is always open, and an energetic young fellow like Adrian Gleeson is always welcome. He knows the political game and has worked at senior level. He knows the ropes. I have a great team and any improvement is always welcome, he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Cahill has ruled out any thoughts of him running in in the European Parliament elections in 2019.
EU elections: People have been spreading stories that I am going to run in Ireland South in the next EU Parliament elections in 2019, but I have no interest in Europe. My interest is in national politics. It won't be happening, he said.
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.
Revenues for the quarter decreased 23.6%, amounting to EUR 60.2 million (4Q15: 78.8).
Quarterly operating result (EBIT) ended with a profit of EUR 5.9 million (4Q15: 8.8), including non-recurring cost of EUR 2.6 million, corresponding to a margin of 9.8% (4Q15: 11.1%).
Net result for the period ended positive at EUR 4.9 million (4Q15: 7.5).
Order Intake increased by 15.2% in the quarter to EUR 63.1 million (4Q15: 54.8).
Order Book increased 5.0% to EUR 103.3 million (FY15: 98.4)
Book to bill ratio was at 1.02x compared to 0.99x in FY15.
The Board of Directors proposes a dividend of CHF 0.05 per share (2015: CHF 0.03).
CEO`s comment
Strong sales in key markets
In terms of sales, the period was a positive one for Cavotec with a number of major orders registered for the Groups key Airports and Ports & Maritime systems.
As previously announced to the market, Cavotecs Airports unit reported orders for its innovative aircraft ground support systems for applications in Australia, China, Colombia, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy and the US during the period, with a combined value of more than EUR 11 million.
The largest of these orders was for Hong Kong International Airport Midfield Apron Project for which Cavotec is supplying 400Hz power converters, 400Hz electrical pit systems, deck loader power supply pits, fuel vault access covers and fuel hydrant pits.
Also during the period, Cavotec was awarded orders for pre-conditioned air (PCA) and 400Hz electrical power supply pit systems for 15 aircraft stands at Rome Fiumicino International Airport, a long-standing Cavotec customer.
On the Ports & Maritime side of the business, and as also previously communicated to the market, Cavotec is to supply 16 MoorMaster MM400E15 units for two container berths at the Port of Salalah in Oman.
A three-year maintenance contract was also signed a renewal of an existing agreement under which Cavotec provides onsite support at all five berths at Salalah that are equipped with MoorMaster units.
MoorMaster units were first trialled at Salalah in 2006, and the technology has successfully reduced excessive vessel motion, common to the port, caused in part by long waves that are especially pronounced during the Khareef monsoon season. The new units are scheduled for installation prior to this years Khareef.
Looking ahead
In our main markets ports and airports projections of macro-economic growth remain positive, on average, at around three to four per cent or above. On January 1, 2017, the new Cavotec Strategic Plan came into effect. The plan clearly sets out a number of key performance targets for the coming five-year business cycle, and introduces a new organisational structure for the Cavotec Group.
The plans two key targets are to achieve revenues of EUR 500M and EBIT of >12 per cent within five years. In terms of structural change, the Group is now organised into two Business Units (BU) Ports & Maritime and Airports & Industry fully responsible for their P&L. This contrasts with the previous geographical organisation, which remains in place only for local follow-up with customers. We also implemented a Supply Chain-specific organisation responsible for engineering and manufacturing in support of the two BU.
With the Strategic Plan in place, Cavotec will be able to focus on its unique strengths and pave the way to be a trusted global systems and solutions provider.
ENDS
This is a summary of the 4Q16 report and full year 2016 summary published today. The complete 4Q16 report and full year summary with tables is available at http://investor.cavotec.com/results.cfm. Investors should not rely on summaries only, but should review the complete reports with tables.
For further details please contact:
Kristiina Leppanen
Group Chief Financial Officer & IR
kristiina.leppanen@cavotec.com
The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Cavotec SA under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on 22 February 2017, 12:00 CET.
Independent Deputy Seamus Healy has slammed the government for what he terms the neglect of vital services in rural Ireland.
Speaking in the Dail today, Deputy Healy called for the retention of bus and rail services in Co. Tipperary.
All citizens have a right to a satisfactory and good-quality public transport service. It is the duty of the State to ensure that such a service provided, said Deputy Healy.
It cannot and must not be left to market forces. Members of the public in my Tipperary constituency and in rural areas generally are entitled to the same standard of public transport as the constituents of the Minister, Deputy Ross, here in Dublin. Yesterday, Bus Eireann proposed the closure of the Clonmel to Dublin bus service among others. This is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Of course, it comes on the back of the closure of the Carrick-on-Suir to Dublin bus service in 2015.
It comes on the back of the proposed closure of the Limerick to Waterford rail service and the Limerick to Ballybrophy rail service. The Limerick to Waterford rail line servicing Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel, Cahir and Tipperary town is being undermined on a daily basis by management regularly and frequently cancelling trains on that line. In addition, the main social and economic corridor across the south of the county, the N24, has been left out of the road capital programme, which is particularly damaging to the Tipperary town and Carrick-on-Suir. Of course, the failure to build the Thurles bypass, which has been overlooked for years, resulting in chaos in the square, turning it into a car park.
County Tipperary is not getting a fair crack of the whip. A Fine Gael led Government already abolished Clonmel Borough Council and the town councils in Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Tipperary town, Thurles, Templemore and Nenagh. A Fine Gael led Government with the help of the Labour Party also closed the St. Michaels 50 bed psychiatric unit at South Tipperary General Hospital.
Now north Tipperary patients must travel to Ennis and south Tipperary patients must travel to Kilkenny to avail of a service that is inadequate and substandard. The abandonment of County Tipperary must stop. I am asking the Taoiseach if he will give an assurance to stop any threat to the Clonmel to Dublin bus service. Will he give an assurance to re-establish the Carrick-on-Suir to Dublin bus service? After 20 years of waiting, will the Taoiseach give the go-ahead for the N24 upgrading, including the bypass of Tipperary town, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir? Also after 20 years, will the Taoiseach give the go-ahead for the bypass of Thurles this afternoon?
TAOISEACH KENNY: I am not in a position to do that, as the Deputy well knows. I agree with him that transport for rural Ireland should not be left to market forces only and it is not. That is why the Minister, Deputy Ross, has pointed out, as I have on many occasions, that the National Transport Authority, NTA, is quite prepared to take up any slack for public transport connectivity between areas that are affected by the dispute between Bus Eireann and the unions. The matter the Deputy mentioned of Clonmel is one of three that have been referred to but there are no decisions taken about any of this because until the dispute is settled nothing is decided. The chief executive pointed out options, hard though they are, and that is why it is important that people go back into the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and use that experience, capacity and facility to bring about a solution and a conclusion to this.
The Deputy asked an omnibus question about the Thurles bypass, the N24 and the south Tipperary hospital and everything else in between and he expects me to answer in the positive here today for him.
SEAMUS HEALY TD:It has been 20 years.
TAOISEACH KENNY For the sake of his constituents, the Deputy will be aware there is a capital review programme about to be carried out on major infrastructure during the course of the year which should be completed by mid-year. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform will look carefully at the ongoing public consultation in that regard at the moment. As I said to Deputy Martin, the European Investment Bank has opened its office here which will allow for major pieces of infrastructure where an income stream might come from them in order for those pieces of infrastructure to be dealt with separately from central Exchequer. I cannot speak for the outcome of the capital review but it is under way.
Last week, Deputy Lowry raised the question of the South Tipperary General Hospital including Our Ladys in Cashel. Those particular problems have been mentioned by the Minister, Deputy Harris. He has been there and wants to address the capacity issues as well as ensuring Our Ladys in Cashel is utilised. I understand a mini-tender will be done in the coming weeks to request proposals for temporary accommodation in Tipperary. The HSE has already been asked to make maximum use of the Cashel campus and is considering every option to support south Tipperary with community and primary care services. The Deputy does not have a definitive answer here but he has an opportunity to work, in terms of the capital review, on the issues and to advise people to go back into the WRC to see whether we can settle this dispute between Bus Eireann and the unions.
The Deputy mentioned Ballybrophy and a few other things about Iarnrod Eireann. He obviously wants the entire budget to be shifted down to Tipperary.
SEAMUS HEALY TD:It takes a lot of money, as the Taoiseach well knows.
TAOISEACH KENNY:It will not happen today but the Deputy has to work on his proposals to advance it piece by piece.
SEAMUS HEALY TD: It sounds very much like live horse and youll get grass. We have been waiting for 20 years for both the N24 upgrade and the Thurles bypass. The Taoiseachs Government and the previous Government starved public transport and road budgets. The road budgets fell between 2007 and 2015 by 1.722 billion. The State subvention to CIE was slashed by 132 million, from 321 million in 2008 to 189 million in 2015. The State subvention to Bus Eireann is down 16.3 million from 49.4 million to 33.1 million. The free travel contribution from the Department of Social Protection is completely inadequate. It has been capped for years despite increased numbers and the fact that 30% of Bus Eireanns passengers are availing of free travel.
In June 2016, the Taoiseach wrote to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, seeking permission to borrow money for infrastructural works. He said at the time that investment in infrastructure in Ireland was at its lowest level for many years, and also represents the lowest level of any member state at present. He got no reply, or none that we heard of, but Italy recently told the President Juncker it will borrow money with or without his permission. I ask the Taoiseach to do likewise. Will he reassert Irish sovereignty and put the right of the Irish people to proper transport infrastructure, and other capital investment such as housing, before the EU and EU diktats?
TAOISEACH KENNY :I had a meeting this morning with Commissioner Timmermans about a range of issues that are about to come up and one of those is the investment capacity for countries throughout Europe to invest in major pieces of infrastructure to improve facilities, provide employment and boost output and growth. I wrote to President Juncker because there was a blockage in the system in terms of the way EUROSTAT was treating the development of and proposals for infrastructure and the European Commission, and we sorted that out. Clearly, there has been a big improvement in the capacity of countries to borrow for infrastructural projects. As I said, the European Investment Bank has opened an office in Dublin which is now open for proposals from local authorities, Government agencies and so on. I hope there will be a big improvement in that in the time ahead.
It is not true to say that the State has neglected everything here. There are some major roads projects going on around the country including the Gort-Tuam project involving 600 million and others that are currently in train.
SEAMUS HEALY TD:They are not happening down in Tipperary. We have wanted them for 20 years.
TAOISEACH KENNY:The Deputy mentioned the N24 and the Thurles bypass. They are not alone in their difficulties. A man in Cork said to me at the Brexit meeting last week that he found me guilty of clogging up the roads with people going to work.
ADEPUTY: Is this a real man?
DEPUTY MICHEAL MARTIN(FF) : Did the Taoiseach see the boys of Fairhill?
The guest speaker at the VFWs 72nd anniversary dinner Tuesday will be SFC Nathan Wilson, who served in the Army and is a native of the Centerville area.
TieTechnology Unveils New Business VoIP Features
By Alicia Young , Web Editor
With business VoIP becoming increasingly important, providers are constantly trying to come up with new ways to improve their offerings. Differences in features and capabilities, no matter how small, can be the deciding factor when it comes to a customer choosing one company over another. Just ask TieTechnology. The company has been picking up steam lately, and has just rolled out new services to further set itself apart from the competition.
The reason business VoIP has become so popular is because it delivers several features at a low cost, making it the perfect fit for a variety of businesses of all sizes. TieTechnology is expanding on business VoIPs already great reputation by adding even more features to its offering, including advanced communications management and lower costs, as well as the ability to communicate from multiple devices, work remotely and relocate operations.
With these new features for mobile apps and business phones, companies are capable of much more than ever before. Business Internet calling can be done from landline phones, desktop computers, tablets or smartphones easily and with high quality now thanks to TieTechnologys new business VoIP capabilities. The ability to communicate from any device also means that employees can work from anywhere an Internet connection is available, since they are no longer tied to their deskphones. With these possibilities, businesses as a whole can become better at mobile collaboration, which ultimately means a better customer experience.
The ability to relocate operations gives businesses the option to relocate their VoIP services easily in case of a move, for instance. And the advanced communications management options include features such as call routing, call forwarding, call waiting, call recording, video conferencing, and voice conferencing. The new business VoIP feature also gives businesses the option to setup and use voicemail to email and fax email. Additionally, employees can manage texts, faxes, email, and instant messaging from a single interface.
Overall, other companies should look at TieTechnologys constant innovation as an example of how to stay one step ahead. Offering new features may seem like a simple idea, but its one thats guaranteed to bring customers in the door.
Please enable JavaScript to view the
Edited by Maurice Nagle
[February 21, 2017] Delos to Open a Well Living Lab in Beijing, China
Today, Delos, a U.S.-based wellness real estate and technology firm, announced plans to build and operate its second Well Living Lab, which is slated to open in Beijing, China in the Fall of 2018. The Well Living Lab (China) will be the first scientific research center in Asia to integrate building science, behavioral science, and health science to help quantify and ultimately improve the impact that indoor environments have on human health, wellness, comfort, and performance. Through this research, the Lab aims to spur innovations that will help address indoor environmental challenges specifically related to the local climate, environment and culture in China. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170221006774/en/ The state of the art facility will be located in the center of Sino-Ocean Group's Yingchuang Wellness Industrial Park in Beijing. "As we look for more efficient ways to address indoor environmental challenges related to human health and wellness, it is important to localize our scientific efforts," said Peter Scialla, Chief Operating Officer of Delos. "China is faced with serious environmental challenges, and we hope the new Well Living Lab in China will pioneer internationalization efforts to find solutions that will help improve the health of building occupants throughout China." In addition to its Beijing location, the Well Living Lab (China) intends to establish several satellite research facilities in major Chinese cities, and will work closely with Chinese research institutions and real estate partners to integrate local research goals into a broader global agenda. The launch of the Well Living Lab (China) follows the May 2016 opening of the Well Living Lab (U.S.), extending its groundbreaking technology platform and human-subject research approach to the Chinese market. The Well Living Lab (U.S.) is a collaboration between Delos and Mayo Clinic, ranked by U.S. News and World Reports as the number one hospital overall as well as number one in more specialties than any other hospital in the United States. "Mayo Clinic offers hope to millions of people around the world who are asking medical questions and seeking answers they can't find anywhere else," states Dr. Brent Bauer, Medical Director of the Well Living Lab and Mayo Clinic Professor and Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program. "The science behind indoor environments that supports people's health and wellness is a new frontier. We are excited to be part of this movement." The Well Living Lab (China) will conduct research on the ways in which air, light, water, thermal conditions, acoustics, occupant behavior, and policy in buildings can impact occupants' health, wellness, comfort, and performance, subject to local conditions, including public health concerns, geographic issues, and economic statuses, as well as local codes, standards and regulations. This will be made possible by the state-of-the-art infrastructure of the Lab, which will feature 25,000 square feet of sensor rich, reconfigurable space where researchers can monitor and test products and systems with human subjects in simulated, real-world environments. The Lab will feature a wide array of sensors, including environmental and biometric sensors, as well as the ability to control environmental conditions with a high degree of precision. The Lab's sensrs and control capabilities will be managed through a custom, state-of-the-art cloud infrastructure, which can be extended for use with other research facilities or real-world buildings for larger studies.
"We are excited to launch a new lab in China and to dedicate our efforts to research how wellness focused building techniques can apply to local conditions, public health concerns, in China," said Dana Pillai, president of Delos Labs and executive director of the Well Living Lab (U.S.). "We look forward to working closely with local experts and our Chinese colleagues in related fields, in the hopes of spearheading new findings that can be applied to improve people's lives throughout China." The Well Living Lab (China) will be located in the northeast quarter of Beijing in China's first wellness-oriented industrial park, which is being developed by Sino-Ocean Group. Delos is also working with Sino-Ocean Group to develop the Well Living Lab (China).
"We welcome the Well Living Lab (China) into Yingchuang Wellness Industrial Park," said Ming Li, chairman and CEO of Sino-Ocean Group. "The Park is a successful result of Sino-Ocean's continuous efforts to promote 'Healthy Building', and is positioned to incubate and nurture the growth of a new sector of wellness-oriented businesses in China, and we believe the Lab will be the driving force and an engine to attract enterprises focused on health, wellness and innovation." A feature story about the Well Living Lab in Rochester, Minnesota was published in the journal Nature, recognizing the Lab's unique, human-centered, simulated environment and contribution to an emerging, important field of research. Through the Well Living Lab Alliance program, the Rochester Lab currently offers collaboration opportunities for organizations that wish to help generate new knowledge and support the Lab's mission of transforming human health in the indoor environment. The highest level of commitment available is the Well Living Lab Founding Alliance Membership. Current Founding Alliance Members include: Arup, CBRE Group, Inc., Essentia, HOK, IBM (News - Alert), IFF, Ketra, Lendlease, Sino-Ocean Group Holding Limited and View Inc. To learn more about membership opportunities, please visit welllivinglab.com/membership-alliance/. View a narrated tour of the Rochester Well Living Lab here. About Delos As the pioneer of Wellness Real Estate, Delos is transforming our homes, offices, schools, and other indoor environments by placing health and wellness at the center of design and construction decisions. Delos helps create spaces that actively contribute to human health, performance and well-being by marrying the best innovations in technology, health, science, and real estate. The Delos platform includes programming, design, consulting, research, and an array of innovative solutions and technologies designed to improve health and well-being. More information on Delos is available at www.delos.com. About the Well Living Lab (U.S.) A collaboration of Delos and Mayo Clinic, the Well Living Lab (U.S.) is the first human-centered research facility dedicated to identifying how buildings-and everything that goes in them-impacts human health and well-being. The purpose of the Well Living Lab (U.S.) is to study these indoor environments and create healthier indoor spaces in which to work, live and play. A world-class, multi-disciplinary research approach guides the work of the Well Living Lab (U.S.), as scientific and medical experts from Mayo Clinic and around the world conduct and translate research that leads to solutions for healthier indoor environments. The Well Living Lab (U.S.) is unique in that research is conducted on real people, in real-world settings. This is made possible by the revolutionary infrastructure of the Well Living Lab (U.S.), which features 7,500 square feet of sensor rich, reconfigurable space where researchers can monitor and test products and systems on human subjects in simulated, real-world, built environments. About Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to medical research and education, and providing expert whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. For more information, visit http://mayoclinic.org, and www.newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org. About Sino-Ocean Group Founded in 1993, Sino-Ocean Group was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on September 28, 2007 and has become one of the top ten Mainland real estate companies listed in Hong Kong. In March 2008 Sino-Ocean Group was selected as a constituent of the Hang Seng Hong Kong Composite Index and the Hang Seng China-Affiliated Corp Index. The Company is mainly engaged in four business sectors which are respectively the development of mid to high-end residential properties, premium office buildings and retail properties, real estate financing and customer services which consisting of property management and senior living business. With "Health and Wellness in Built Environment" as the product concept, Sino-Ocean Group has already set up the "Sino-Ocean" brand awareness in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, northeast China, Central China and Southern China by the consistent high quality projects and service. For more information, please visit: www.sinooceangroup.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170221006774/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Kodak Alaris Furthers Commitment to Channel by Hosting Partner Summit 2017
DUBAI, UAE, 22nd February 2017: Kodak Alaris hosted a Partner Summit for more than 130 Value Added Resellers and Distributors from the Europe, Africa and the Middle East region in early February in Lisbon, Portugal. Channel partners from across the region attended the two-day kickoff event, which was a clear demonstration of Kodak Alaris commitment to its partners as the primary vehicle for delivering information management solutions that simplify and improve the way customers work.
In this age of data chaos, we see tremendous opportunities to help customers accelerate digital transformation, remove complexity and unlock the power of information, said Mr. Rick Costanzo, president and general manager, Kodak Alaris Information Management. Our partners play a critical role. They are our extended team. Their efforts reflect directly on our bottom line. So its important to host these events and share our vision, strategy and product roadmap for 2017 and beyond. The summit included a mix of presentations by Kodak Alaris senior executives and sales teams, breakout sessions and technical workshops where delegates were given a recap of 2016 business results and a preview of sales and marketing initiatives designed to help partners grow together with Kodak Alaris. There was also a series of demos where partners could test drive the latest technologies.
In addition, Kodak Alaris hosted an awards ceremony as part of a gala event to recognize the achievements of its highest performing partners from the region. Kodak Alaris handed out 16 awards to partners in a variety of categories. Marc Jourlait, CEO of Kodak Alaris, made a special appearance to introduce himself and deliver a warm and inspiring welcome address.
One of the highlights of the event was the unveiling of the new and highly anticipated Alaris Partner Program that Kodak Alaris will be introducing this year. The Alaris partner program offers a number of new sales tools, incentives and technical resources designed to support partners and help them expand their businesses.
Scansation is a longstanding Kodak Alaris partner and its existing partner program is probably the best amongst all of our suppliers, said Sid Sutherland, Managing Director, Scansation. The support we receive has always been fantastic and its great to know that Kodak Alaris is committed to making it even better. Attendees took time out for a fun-filled evening, driving GoCars through the streets of Lisbon, exploring the city in tuk-tuks and participating in a treasure hunt. It was important to bring together our regional partners and deliver a first-class experience, from our gala award dinner, to sight-seeing in the beautiful city of Lisbon, to networking and aligning behind our vision and a common set of goals, concluded Costanzo. Based on the enthusiastic response from our partners, the event was a great success. We look forward to hosting it again next year. 2016 Award Winners Best Performance Partner ALOS - Central Scanfabrik - Central Skanserwis Eastern Microfilm Egypt MEAF Data Capture Solutions Ltd Northern iGuana - Western Best Strategic Partner Datapool - Central E-disti Eastern Limeks MEAF Scansation Ltd Northern BM Consultants - Western scanservice Eastern Best Value Added Distributor Ingram DE Central Limeks MEAF Midwich Ltd Northern Database - Western As a community-building service, TMCnet allows user submitted content which is not always proofed by TMCnet editors. If you feel this entry is of inferior quality or wish to report it for some reason, please forward the URL to "webedit [AT] tmcnet [DOT] com" with your comments.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 21, 2017] Red Sky Solutions Set to Redefine Channel Partner Marketing with Hire of Former CIO and Customer Marketing Executive
DRAPER, Utah, Feb. 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Red Sky Solutions is pleased to announce the hiring of Chris Pinckney as Vice President of Marketing, reporting to CEO Chris Barney. A former CIO and Customer Programs Director, Chris brings a new, customer-centric perspective and strategy to the head of marketing role.
Former CIO and Riverbed Technology director, Chris Pinckney, looks to reinvent IT business partner excellence as new VP of Marketing.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/04c9ecac-5fdc-44f4-91ae-ab63dd621ee0
I was attracted by the companys commitment to being a security-led Strategic Business Partner for IT. This is backed by amazingly talented people whose mission is to understand, advise, and implement the best solutions for their customers, Pinckney said. In my experience, there are not a lot of IT business partners that operate in this enlightened fashion. Pinckney comes to Red Sky Solutions with years of experience in both the IT and vendor space. Having spent seven years as Chief Information Officer at Psomas, a leading engineering firm based in Los Angeles, Chris led many transformative efforts for the company and worked to align IT to business objectives and top-line growth. He also spent time at Riverbed Technology, where he directed customer programs, ran the global customer advisory board, multiple technology advisory councils, and managed all facets of customer marketing.
Red Sky is set to host its second-annual security conference in Utah where it will launch new services and continue its focus on finding the best technologies for its customers. With this in mind, the timing was right for the rapidly growing company to evolve its marketing strategy. Chris brings a blend of experience that gives Red Sky a unique perspective on how we should market ourselves to IT and interact with our manufacturing partners. We are excited to take what we have already accomplished and build a strategy that goes far beyond the traditional point-product and events-based marketing typically seen by our competition, said Red Sky CEO, Chris Barney. To me, this position goes way beyond sales enablement, marketing operations and vendor relationships, said Pinckney. It is the thrill of educating IT practitioners on solutions to their business challenges, while reinventing the way Red Sky provides excellence to its customers. About Red Sky Solutions
Red Sky Solutions is a security-led, IT business partner focused on best-of-breed solutions that result in successful business outcomes. They specialize in expert-level consulting and services that unite business leaders and IT departments in a comprehensive manner. Red Sky's skill set includes security, cloud, networking, storage, application delivery, compute, and virtualization technologies with offices in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, and Nevada. Find more info at goredsky.com. Contact Red Sky at [email protected] or 877-553-9665.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 21, 2017] Silver Spring Networks Announces Smart Grid Deployment with AEP Ohio
Silver Spring Networks, Inc. (NYSE: SSNI) today announced its selection for an innovative networking deployment for the second phase of AEP Ohio's smart grid program. The Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) deployment has received regulatory approval from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) and will enable improved energy efficiency, increased grid reliability and provide better access to information about electric usage for nearly 900,000 AEP customers across Ohio. Pre-deployment activities are underway, with the rollout expected to begin in mid-2017. "We're honored to partner with AEP Ohio on its innovative smart grid initiative," said Mike Bell (News - Alert), President and CEO, Silver Spring Networks. "AEP Ohio is a recognized industry leader in its modernization of the Midwest's energy grid and is making critical investments to propel Ohio's continued economic growth and energy efficient future." Silver Spring's platform ensures seamless and system wide connectivity and interoperability, establishing a foundation for multiple Internet of Important Things applications that can be deployed atop a common IPv6 network. Utilities that implement Silver Spring's platform can benefit from improved operational efficiency, greater grid reliability, increased energy efficiency, and the ability to empower customers to better manage their energy consumption. This networking platform can be rapidly scaled across a diverse service territory, allowing operators to quickly and economically expand their IoT services and add new solutions on the same, standards-based platform. For more information, please visit www.ssni.com/solutions/smart-utilities/ Join the Silver Spring Networks Conversation Read more on the SilverSpring Connect blog at www.ssni.com/blog/
Follow @SilverSpringNet on Twitter (News - Alert)
Like Silver Spring Networks on Facebook at www.facebook.com/silverspringnetworks
Learn more about the Wi-Sun Alliance and the value of open standards-based IoT networking at www.wi-sun.org
About Silver Spring Networks Silver Spring Networks enables the Internet of Important Things by reliably and securely connecting things that matter. Cities, utilities, and companies on five continents use the company's cost-effective, high-performance IoT network and data platform to operate more efficiently, get greener, and enable innovative services that can improve the lives of millions of people. With more than 25.5 million devices delivered, Silver Spring provides a proven standards-based platform safeguarded with military grade security. Silver Spring Networks' customers include Baltimore Gas & Electric, CitiPower & Powercor, ComEd, Consolidated Edison, CPS Energy, Florida Power & Light, Pacific Gas & Electric, Pepco Holdings, and Singapore Power. Silver Spring has also deployed networks in Smart Cities including Copenhagen, Glasgow, Paris, Providence, and Stockholm. To learn more, visit www.ssni.com.
Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements about Silver Spring Networks' expectations, plans, intentions, and strategies, including, but not limited to statements regarding the scope, benefits, and timing of Silver Spring's engagement with AEP Ohio. Statements including words such as "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" or "future" and statements in the future tense are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions, which, if they do not fully materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties include the successful implementation and deployment of the engagement, as well as those described in Silver Spring Networks' documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Silver Spring Networks as of the date hereof. Silver Spring Networks assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170221006002/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 21, 2017] Goodix to Unveil World-Leading New Innovations at Mobile World Congress 2017
Goodix, the world leader in human interface and biometric technologies, announced today that it will unveil another world's first technology patented with independent intellectual properties at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. Goodix will debut its new technologies at stand 1F40, Hall 1 from 27 February - 2 March. The new innovations will once again demonstrate Goodix's superior ability to accurately anticipate market trends and address people's needs through technology. Its fingerprint authentication solutions already protect hundreds of millions of mobile phones, tablets and smart wearables. "We're proud to return to MWC in 2017 with such an impressive new innovation," said David Zhang, founder and CEO of Goodix. "From stand 1F40, we will demonstrate to our customers why we continue to lead the global IC design industry." At stand 1F40, Goodix will showcase different smart phones equipped with the CES (News - Alert) award-winning technologies including Live Finger DetectionTM and IFSTM. This time, Goodix's announcement at MWC follows many successful new partnerships and innovations. For 15 years, Goodix has led its industry through an unrivalled commitment to investing in research and development, service support and talent. As the world leader in human interface and biometric technologies, the new Goodix innovations will go to market after their debut at MWC, enriching the lives of people with enhanced security and more convenience around the world.
About Goodix: Goodix, a premier developer and provider of fingerprint and touchscreen solutions for mobile phones, tablets and wearables, currently holds a diversified portfolio of fingerprint authentication solutions that provides excellent flexibility to suit the varying preferences from consumers and partners such as Live Finger DetectionTM , Invisible Fingerprint Sensor (IFSTM), Glass-covered and Coating button sensors. In addition, Goodix has been actively involved in assisting Alipay and China UnionPay with reviewing industry standards for fingerprint authentication. As an increasing number of top-tier handset manufacturers adopting fingerprints solutions from the company, Goodix will continue expanding its partner network to lead innovation in the biometrics authentication market. On October 17, 2016, Goodix was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the stock code is 603160.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170221006748/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 21, 2017] NOTICE TO MORGAN STANLEY CLIENTS: Klayman & Toskes, P.A. Announces Investigation of Morgan Stanley Following $8 Million in SEC Fines for Exchange Traded Fund Violations
The Securities Arbitration Law Firm of Klayman & Toskes, P.A.,(K&T) www.nasd-law.com, announces an investigation into sales practice violations by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) following $8 million in fines levied by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC (News - Alert)) related to Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). On February 14, 2017, the SEC imposed a Cease and Desist Order and Remedial Actions against Morgan Stanley for sales practice violations related to recommended investments in single-inverse ETFs for advisory clients in non-discretionary accounts. According to Morgan Stanley compliance procedures, recommended investments in single-inverse ETFS had two requirements: Advisory clients were required to sign Client Disclosure Notices which detailed the risks associated with the investment; and
Morgan Stanley supervisors were required to review the risky transactions for suitability based on client profile. The SEC examination determined deficiencies were found in the supervisory procedures related to record keeping and the determination of "suitability" in advisory clients' non-discretionary accounts. No Client Disclosure Notices were signed for these risky transactions for nearly 44% of the non-discretionary advisory accounts at Morgan Stanley. The supervisory review was considered "deficient or non-existent" for advisory clients who did not have a signed Client Disclosure Notice. The sole purpose of this release is to investigate MorganStanley's sales practices related to single-inverse exchange traded funds, which were supposed to be monitored on a daily basis and only considered suitable as a part of a hedging strategy. Morgan Stanley's sales practice violations may include misrepresentations and omissions of material facts, conflicts of interest, unsuitable investment advice, and the failure to supervise financial advisor recommendations concerning these risky transactions. Current and former Morgan Stanley customers who have information about the firm's sales practices are encouraged to contact Lawrence L. Klayman, Esq. or Raymond Gentile, Esq. of Klayman & Toskes, P.A. at (888) 997-9956, or visit our website at www.nasd-law.com.
About Klayman & Toskes, P.A. K&T is a leading national securities law firm which practices exclusively in the field of securities arbitration and litigation, on behalf of retail and institutional investors throughout the world in large and complex securities matters. The firm represents high net-worth, ultra-high-net-worth, and institutional investors, such as non-profit organizations, unions, public and multi-employer pension funds. K&T has office locations in California, Florida, New York and Puerto Rico.
Destination: http://nasd-law.com/notice-to-morgan-stanley-clients-klayman-toskes-p-a-announces-investigation-of-morgan-stanley-following-8-million-in-sec-fines-for-exchange-traded-fund-violations/ View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170221006761/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
FORM 8.3
PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY
A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE
Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")
1. KEY INFORMATION
(a) Full name of discloser: Rathbone Brothers PLC (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):
The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:
Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Booker Group PLC (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held/dealing undertaken:
For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 21/02/2017 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?
If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" No
2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE
If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.
(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)
Class of relevant security:
Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 20,425,699 1.15 (2) Cash-settled derivatives:
(3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:
TOTAL: 20,425,699 1.15
All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.
Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).
(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options)
Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:
3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE
Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.
The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.
(a) Purchases and sales
Class of relevant security Purchase/sale
Number of securities Price per unit (p) 1p Ord Sale 14,600 202.2
(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions
Class of relevant security Product description
e.g. CFD Nature of dealing
e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit
(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)
(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying
Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type
e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit
(ii) Exercise
Class of relevant security Product description
e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit
(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)
Class of relevant security Nature of dealing
e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable)
4. OTHER INFORMATION
(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements
Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:
Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"
(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives
Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:
(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or
(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:
If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"
(c) Attachments
Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO
Date of disclosure: 22/02/2017 Contact name: Emma Mulhearn - Compliance Department Telephone number: 0151 236 6666
Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.
The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.
The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
[February 21, 2017] Retailers Ask Supreme Court Not to Revive Disputed Credit Card Swipe Fee Settlement
The National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand an appeals court ruling that struck down a controversial 2012 settlement of a class action lawsuit over Visa and MasterCard's (News - Alert) credit card swipe fees. "This alleged 'settlement' was a backroom deal that would have done nothing to end price fixing or keep swipe fees from soaring in the future," NRF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Mallory Duncan said. "Even worse, it includes a provision that would keep merchants from ever suing over this issue again. The Circuit Court did the right thing in tossing this case out and it should not be revived. There are ways to bring swipe fees under control but this settlement is not one of them." "This is not just a business-to-business dispute," Duncan said. "These fees drive up the price of retail merchandise, costing the average family hundreds of dollars a year in added expenses." The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year struck down a $7.25 billion antitrust settlement approved by U.S. District Court Judge John Gleeson in a 2005 lawsuit brought by a small group of retailers and trade associations claiming to represent the retail industry. Gleeson approved the settlement even though NRF and others argued that it failed to reform the price-fixing system under which Visa and MasterCard set fees for credit cards issued by thousands of banks. Rather than lower the fees, the card companies proposed in the settlement that they be passed along to consumers as a surharge. Major retailers rejected the surcharge proposal, saying it was the opposite of what they sought, while small retailers would have seen as little as a few hundred dollars each. Retailers who rejected the monetary settlement would have still been bound by other restrictions the court would not let them opt out of, including a prohibition on future lawsuits over the fees.
NRF in 2014 asked the 2nd Circuit to overturn the settlement, saying a broad cross section of the retail industry ranging from independent Main Street stores to national chains opposed the deal. The appeals court ruled in NRF's favor last year, saying that merchants "were inadequately represented" in the case. That ruling, however, has been appealed to the Supreme Court by some of the original plaintiffs. "The settlement itself achieved nothing important for merchants that accept credit cards, which is why every prominent group that represents merchants has opposed it," NRF and RILA said in a joint brief filed today with the Supreme Court. "This deal is a bad one, unworthy of resuscitation."
NRF is the world's largest retail trade association, representing discount and department stores, home goods and specialty stores, Main Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers, chain restaurants and Internet retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries. Retail is the nation's largest private sector employer, supporting one in four U.S. jobs - 42 million working Americans. Contributing $2.6 trillion to annual GDP, retail is a daily barometer for the nation's economy. NRF's This is Retail campaign highlights the industry's opportunities for life-long careers, how retailers strengthen communities, and the critical role that retail plays in driving innovation. NRF.com PERMALINK View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170221006795/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 21, 2017] Deputy Inspector of the Royal Malaysia Police Pays Visit to Sangfor HQ
SHENZHEN, China, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At the end of January 2017, Sangfor Technologies, a global leading vendor of IT infrastructure solutions, together with MYI Technologies, a local partner based in Kuala Lumpur, organized a visit for the Royal Malaysia Police to Sangfor HQ located in China. This is the first high-level government visit from Malaysia since Sangfor established its Malaysian subsidiary in 2009. Tan Sri Dato Sri Noor Rashid Bin Ibrahim, the Deputy Inspector of the General Police and its delegation, including members of the Consulate General of Malaysia in Guangzhou honored the visit in Shenzhen, where all the leading high-tech companies are gathered. During th meeting with Sangfor Founder, Mr. River and Co-Founder, Mr. Wilson, the delegate was able to have a better understanding on how they could further secure and optimize their IT infrastructure with Sangfor Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI).
Sangfor HCI allows users to fully converge their data center by integrating computing, storage, networking and NFV functions into a commodity hardware. With this software-defined approach, all resources can now be dynamically provided without the limitations of hardware. IT managers can respond to the growing demand of computing and storage with just a few clicks. During the course of the visit, the Royal Malaysia Police also had the opportunity to participate in the Sangfor China Partner Summit & Company Annual Meeting, where more than 4,000 participants gathered at Shenzhen Nanshan Stadium.
To further promote Sangfor's presence in Southeast Asia, Sangfor will organize its 9th APAC Partner Summit at the end of February 2017. During the event, Sangfor will share its latest solutions and innovations with the market. About SANGFOR Technologies (www.sangfor.com) Founded in 2000 and with more than 17 years of experience, SANGFOR is one of the leading vendor of IT network security, optimization and virtualization solutions. SANGFOR has proudly helped more than 40,000 customers worldwide to increase their IT infrastructure efficiency and productivity while reducing IT costs and make it more secure. For more information, please visit www.sangfor.com or email [email protected]. About MYI Technologies Sdn Bhd (www.monitoryourinternet.com) Founded in 2009, MYI Technologies Sdn Bhd continues to build on a strong reputation for outstanding IT solutions and customer service. It is MYI's mission to help customers achieve their business objectives by delivering and supporting cost-effective IT solutions and services. Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170221/0861701365
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 21, 2017] Nurnberg International Toy Fair Survey: 75% of Respondents Confident About Toy Market
HONG KONG, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In a survey conducted by TUV Rheinland, the internationally renowned testing, inspection and certification organisation, at the Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, more than 75% of the brand representatives interviewed were optimistic about the future growth of the market for toys and other children's products. This finding tallied with market forecasts published by Euromonitor. The global toy market is expected to grow by 3% in 2017. The recent Nuremberg Toy Fair (Spielwarenmesse) ranks alongside the Hong Kong Toys and Games Fair in January and the American International Toy Fair in mid-February as one of the largest toy fairs in the world. TUV Rheinland interviewed brand-name exhibitors at Spielwarenmesse to gather their opinions on the toy market in 2017. The brand representatives interviewed focused on developing the market in Germany, Western Europe and America. They also planned to enter the UK, Canada, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and India. Educational toys are becoming a new consumer favourite. Science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) educational toys have proliferated in recent years, especially in developed countries. The award-winning products at this year's Nuremberg Toy Fair reflected this trend. The prize-winning product in the age 6 to 10 category was a st of smart building blocks that allows primary-school students to build various models and control their movements by writing programs on tablets. Sales of STEAM educational toys have increased rapidly over the last few years, and this trend is expected to continue.
Over half of the interviewed brand representatives named high purchasing costs as their primary concern. As the majority of the world's toys are purchased from China, rising production costs in China and variation in international exchange rates have substantially increased purchasing costs. Suppliers' poor-quality control capability has also caused problems. To ensure that toy products meet quality standards, toy brands cooperate with reputable international product testing and inspection organisations to test and certify the toys they sell. When choosing testing and certification organisations with which to collaborate, 60% of the brands considered the cost of testing and certification to be their top priority, followed by the brand and credibility of the testing organisation, lead time, the presence of a buyer-approval program and the international network of the testing organisation. They ranked TUV Rheinland, which has nearly 150 years of experience, among their top three partners. The respondents also rated TUV Rheinland's brand value and professional service as the best in the industry.
A product-certification mark means that a product has passed type testing and factory production inspection to ensure that the product sold on the market is of the same quality as the samples submitted for testing. Nearly 40% of the survey respondents used product-certification marks to facilitate their entry into the international market by highlighting their brand advantage, increasing their sales and boosting their competitiveness. Another 30% indicated that they were assessing the benefits of product-certification marks at the time of the survey. The keywords featured in the TUV Rheinland product-certification mark can be designed in line with customers' product attributes and requirements to highlight their product strengths. The QR code in the mark links to TUV Rheinland's Certipedia certification database to provide a value-added traceability service for certified products. The use of TUV Rheinland's product-certification mark helps to ensure that a business's products stand out from those of competitors. For more information, please click here to download the full report. Contact:
Simon Hung
Tel: +852-2192-1948
Email: [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20150602/8521503584LOGO
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 21, 2017] Indian Tech Start-up Designhill Takes on Global Players Like Fiverr, Freelancer and Upwork With Launch of its New 'Custom Services'
GURGAON, India and NEW YORK, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- After taking on established design crowdsourcing marketplaces such as 99designs and Designcrowd for the past few years, one of the world's leading graphic design marketplaces, Designhill, recently announced that it is entering the design freelancing space with the launch of its new 'Custom Services' available to a curated set of graphic designers registered on the platform. With this launch, the company aims to directly take on players such as Fiverr, Freelancer and Upwork in the design freelancing space with this new vertical. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160418/10144243 )
It is a one-of-its-kind feature that enables designers to pre-define design jobs that they plan to offer customers on the platform. In simpler terms, graphic designers will now be able to determine what they are going to create, at what price and within what timeframe. "Custom Services is an innovative feature that will allow graphic designers to decide what they are going to do, their fees and the time priod. It is just another way to help designers earn more and provide clients with another option to hire the top freelance designers on the platform," revealed Varun Aggarwal, Co-founder, Designhill.
According to him, "The decision to enter the design freelancing space or the 'Design Gigs' space with the launch of its 'Custom Services' is a strategic one, as the company wanted to create a stronghold in the design crowdsourcing space first while also creating a highly curated community of 38,000+ graphic designers." While all of the incumbent players provide an array of services including writing, development, marketing and design, Designhill is the only platform that is design-only focused and this fact according to Aggarwal is not only a major differentiator but also a game changer.
One of the major differentiators, according to Aggarwal, is that Designhill has been built specifically to suit design collaboration and handover. Custom-built tools, such as 'annotation', are unique to Designhill and allow for seamless communication between clients and designers, whereas on other platforms the lack of such tools makes it extremely difficult for clients to communicate with designers. After achieving great success in the online design crowdsourcing space, Designhill is expected to dominate the online graphic design space globally. About Designhill Designhill is one of the world's leading graphic design marketplaces that connects a thriving community of graphic designers from across the globe with clients looking to source high-quality graphics such as logo designs, banner designs, packaging designs, merchandise designs, web designs and many other designing works at reasonable prices. For businesses, Designhill is the one-stop-shop to get the best graphic designs within their budget and in a very short time. For designers, Designhill is a global stage to showcase their creativity, earn handsome rewards and upgrade skills. For further information please contact:
Varun Aggarwal
[email protected]
Designhill
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 21, 2017] Experts to Discuss Political Choices and Global Trade Issues at the GFRC
HONG KONG, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Political choices are reshaping the world and have an impact on how and where products, including fashion and footwear, are going to be manufactured and sold. Hard earned international trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal which has been abandoned by the new US administration are in jeopardy while new ones are being negotiated. What impact will these decisions have on employment and social situations worldwide? Will consumers benefit or suffer? These issues, as well as tax reforms, new trade and customs regulations and geopolitical influences will be explained and debated at the coming APLF Limited organized Global Footwear Retail Conference (GFRC) due to take place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on 30 March 2017. Thomas Crockett, Director, Government & Regulatory Affair of the Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America (FDRA); Peter Mangione, Managing Director and Founder of the US-based Marketing consulting Global Footwear Partnerships LLC and representatives of international footwear brands will clarify and explain the current situation from the perspective of their respective organisation. GFRC is recognised as one of Asia's leading conferences in the footwear sector and has a track record of attracting the best experts from all segments of the footwear industry and academia, with high quality presentations and discussions on political, commercial and global trade issues affecting the production and the retail of footwear products; innovative retail technologies as well as footwear trends. Disruptive digital technologies Digital technologies have a tremendous impact on various aspects of the product value chain. Speedier wireless communications are giving retailers more bandwidth to tell their stories. HD video, virtual reality, live-streaming and fashion assistant apps are some of the marketing tools that feed omni-channel retail. What about 3D printing? Will we be able to have our shoes 3D printed in stores? Or even at home? These so-called disruptive technologies will also be explained and demonstrated by developers of apps and of innovative manufacturing processes. Claude Eric Paquin, President of the French Federation of Footwear will summarise all these technologies and will explain how they are successfully applied in France. Sergio Dulio, Manager of ATOMLab Research and Innovation unit of the Italian ATOM Group, one of the world's leading companies in the field of shoe machinery, will describe brand new scenarios where the physical and virtual worlds as well as purchasing and manufacturing merge in a whole new format of retail. Shirley Saylor, Vice President of International Business Development, Fashionmii will depict how digital platforms such as fashion mii, can help brands to tell their fashion story. Shirley is a well-rounded business leader in the Footwear industry who has held executive roles with Le Saunda, Mirabell, Skechers China, Caleres and Florsheim hina.
Last but not least, GFRC's experts will demystify new footwear trends from Athleisure to Smart shoes. Featuring 3 main themes
For its third edition, a rich programme has been put together which includes three sessions featuring: Political choices reshaping the world: what impact on the footwear retail industry?
Disruptive technologies in footwear retail: Virtual Reality, Live streaming, 3D printing. Will they bring customers back to the stores or keep them home?
Footwear consumer's preferences: key trends from Athleisure to Smart shoes distilled by GFRC's experts. Please click here for the full programme and speaker profiles. Media registration now open Complimentary registration for members of the press is available here until 27 March. For media enquiries, please contact Ms. Kennise Pang, Senior Marketing Communications Executive at [email protected]. Also while you are there for the conference, take advantage of visiting the two major trade shows for the global leather and fashion industries -- APLF-Leather & Materials+ & Fashion Access held concurrently from 29 - 31 March by registering here for a complimentary press badge. For more information on the 2 trade fairs, please visit www.leatherfair.aplf.com or www.fashionaccess.aplf.com. Supporting partners InvestHK (www.investhk.gov.hk/index.html)
Italian Trade Commission (www.italtrade.com) Notes to Editors About APLF Limited (http://www.aplf.com/)
APLF Ltd is a joint venture between SIC Group and UBM Asia. For over two decades, Hong Kong-based APLF Ltd has been providing the global leather and fashion industries with its most important meeting and trading place. About SIC Group (http://www.sicgroup.com/)
SIC Group has been organising international professional events since 1926 for companies working in the leather sector. Its role is to support businesses in their development and offer them work platforms in areas of the world with high potential. With four shows organised each year, SIC Group and its partners can take advantages of expertise that is unique in the world. About UBM Asia (http://www.ubmasia.com/)
Owned by UBM plc listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organiser in Asia and the largest commercial organiser in China, India and Southeast Asia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has a strong global presence in 26 major cities with 41 offices and 1,600 staff who combine local expertise with a global industry network to provide high-quality events and the best customer experience for event attendees from all over the world. Last year over 1.5m people visited UBM Asia's events. With a track record spanning over 30 years, UBM Asia operates in a wide range of market sectors with 250 events, 28 targeted trade publications, 18 round-the-clock online products for quality exhibitors, visitors, conference delegates, advertisers and subscribers from all over the world. We provide a one-stop diversified global service for high-value business matching, quality market news and online trading networks. UBM Asia was awarded 'Asia's Most Reliable Trade Show Organizer Award' in Hong Kong's Most Valuable Companies Awards (HKMVCA) 2016. About UBM plc (http://www.ubm.com/)
UBM plc is a leading global events-led marketing services and communications company. We help businesses do business, bringing the world's buyers and sellers together at events, online and in print. Our 5,000 staff in more than 20 countries are organised into specialist teams which serve commercial and professional communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to www.ubm.com; for UBM corporate news, follow us on Twitter at @UBM_plc and go to http://media.ubm.com/social for more UBM social media options. For fair details, please contact:
Ms Perrine Ardouin, Director
Email: [email protected] For media enquiries, please contact:
Ms Kennise Pang, Senior Marketing Communications Executive
Email: [email protected] APLF Limited
17/F China Resources Building,
26 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel: +852-2827-6211
Fax: +852-3749-7346
Website: http://www.aplf.com/ Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170221/8521701030-a
Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170221/8521701030-b
Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170221/8521701030-c
Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160323/8521601926LOGO
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Manipal University Launches Virtual Classroom
BANGALORE, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Manipal University's efforts to make technology in lecture halls a more effective tool in teaching, launched the virtual classroom at Manipal Institute of Technology's Sir MV Seminar Hall here on Monday. Launching the online classroom with a live demonstration, Dr. Ranjan Pai, CEO and MD, MEMG Bengaluru urged everyone to make best use of the technology to enrich learning. The Manipal group campuses at Jaipur, Sikkim and Dubai will also be linked soon. Pro Chancellor, Dr. H.S. Ballal said that this technology in the classroom could change the concept of teaching and learning in a classroom and advised all heads of institutions to make good use of the facility. For MIT, celebrating its Diamond Jubilee, this was a significant support to its resources. The MIT Director, Dr. G.K. Prabhu said that the virtual classroom was started in MV Seminar Hall so that other institutions of the University could make use of the facility with immense reach for academic delivery. "Students from remote campuses can join and have a two-way audio, video interaction in real time, with faculty and othe students. Thus making interactive learning fun," he said.
"The online classroom allows participants to communicate with each other, view presentations or videos, interact with other participants, and engage with resources in work groups. The University can leverage the faculty with students of other campuses and students will have access to all classroom sessions," explained Balakrishna Rao, Chief Information Officer, Manipal Global Education from Bengaluru during the live session. Mr. Sathish Kamath, Assistant Director, Information Technology, Manipal University, coordinated the launch. He said, "The content can be accessed at any time by students from any place and that's an added benefit for those who may have missed a class or even may not have understood a lecture the first time." He also added that, "Low cost of online classroom is yet another important factor."
About Manipal University Manipal University is synonymous with excellence in higher education. Over 28,000 students from 57 different nations live, learn and play in the sprawling University town, nestled on a plateau in Karnataka's Udupi district. It also has nearly 2500 faculty and almost 10000 other support and service staff, who cater to the various professional institutions in health sciences, engineering, management, communication and humanities which dot the Wi-Fi-enabled campus. The University has off-campuses in Mangalore and Bangalore, and off-shore campuses in Dubai (UAE) and Melaka (Malaysia). The Mangalore campus offers medical, dental, and nursing programs. The Bangalore Campus offers programs in Regenerative Medicine. The Dubai campus offers programs in engineering, management and architecture, and the Melaka campus offers programs in medicine and dentistry. For more information, visit: http://manipal.edu/mu.html
Media Contact:
Priyanka Bali
[email protected]
+91-9620562361
PR Consultant
Integrated Brand-Comm Pvt Ltd
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Jobs On Sight: Innovative App for Making Employment and Services Search Easy and Lucrative
AHMEDABAD, India, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- - Jobs On Sight is Communicative and Convenient - Best Minds and Technology From India and Germany Unite to Offer Recruitment in 20 Industry Sectors, Widest Horizon of Services and Ad Scope Jobs On Sight is an innovative GPS-based hiring application for all jobs and services, available on iOS and Android. The newest tech-backed platform on the block has already created a lasting imprint in the human resource market, generating excitement. The app utilizes cutting-edge technology deployed to assimilate every kind of blue and white collared jobs, services and advertising opportunities on a single platform. For the first time, all unorganized sector jobs have been listed under a single umbrella as well. What really sets this application apart is Nearby, a unique feature that allows users to build their brand and promote it in over 20 sector industries. "JOS is the result of an ardent desire of our team to bring about a revolution in the human resource market. With limited, trustworthy options in the market today, finding the right job, the best services are indeed difficult. JOS is here to bridge that gap and show users the unlimited opportunities that are actually available," said Avinash Sondhi, Founder & Managing Director, JOS. "We work by the minute, to enable JOS to incorporate the best of differentiating features that jobs and services seekers look out for. For those looking to build their own brand, we now have 'Nearby' to sort out their trouble. We are location-based but that is not a limiting feature. We enable users to look for benefical opportunities near them and across the globe, whichever suits them right. JOS will change the way employers and employees interact with each other," said Guenter Stallecker, Co-Founder & Director, JOS.
One can be an employer looking to fill the vacancies in their office with the best skill sets or one may be a job hunter searching for the best pay package and employer. One may also be online looking for service providers for their daily needs. Be it a plumber, mason, mechanic or a driver, now, everything will be right at their fingertips with a quick swipe on smartphone. By default, the JOS app scans and features jobs and services within a 5 km radius. Also, one is free to search for their needs at any mentioned location, beyond domestic boundaries. Through the JOS app, one is free to upload the curriculum vitae, spot an ideal job, engage with a prospective employer or employee directly, do a video chat or call and fix an appointment at a mutually convenient time. Security and privacy concerns are nil as transmitted data is absolutely secure.
Led by Avinash Sondhi, Guenter Stallecker, Luk Abert and Pirmin Schroff, Jobs On Sight International Pvt. Ltd. was set up in August 2016 and is a subsidiary company of Germany-based JOS International UG, mingling the best minds of both countries. The company already boasts of over a 1200+ subscriptions within a short period of time, mostly in Ahmedabad without any aggressive marketing initiatives. JOS offers wide range of subscriptions in 25 categories and 100s of subcategories. JOS has endless opportunities waiting to be tapped and experienced. To download now please click http://q-r.to/JOSapp Subscription packages For interested users, Jobs On Sight has created packages, separately for employees and service providers as well as employers and service seekers. These are modestly distributed into monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly subscriptions at Rs. 115, Rs. 345, Rs. 690 and Rs. 1380 for the employees and service providers. For employers and service seekers, subscription rates are at Rs. 575, Rs. 1725, Rs. 3450 and Rs. 6900, respectively. Validity of the service packages differ from 30 days to 425 days accordingly for both. About JOS Jobs On Sight is an application available on iOS and Android, designed to provide location-based jobs and services. It utilizes cutting-edge technology to spot lucrative employment opportunities for job hunters within a 5 km radius by default, but job spotting can be done anywhere in the world. For employers willing to hire, the app allows spotting talent. Gauging the nature of available skills or a work ambience is possible through a compulsory rating system done by registered users of the app. Added benefits come with a scope to transfer files, upload the curriculum vitae, connect via video chats and calls, use audio chats and calls, text chat or Skype for convenience. Even a preliminary interview can be done virtually. A smart phone with data connectivity is the only tool required. Media Contact:
Kirtan Chauhan
[email protected]
+91-9099124200
Simulations PR
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] ip.access to Develop Next Generation IoT Small Cells on the Path to 5G in Collaboration with Intel
ip.access has today announced its strategic vision for the development of a new generation of multi-purpose small cells integrating IoT functionality with LTE (News - Alert) access, as part of its Viper2020 platform. Building on the market success of its award-winning Viper product platform, using the Intel (News - Alert) Transcede T3K solutions for LTE access, the company is integrating NB-IoT (Narrow Band IoT) and Cat-M1 (Category M1) capability into the product family within its overall vision. The building blocks of the Viper platform, in terms of virtualization, PaaS, resource sharing and network slicing are key elements of the 5G future. Many in the industry dismiss the need for small cells in IoT, given the improved link budget for NB-IoT and the consequent ability for macro cells to reach further indoors. ip.access maintains that radio coverage is always statistical, and a small cell layer for IoT is essential to provide the quality and continuity of coverage that all IoT applications rely on to make money. As ip.access' CTO, Nick Johnson, commented, "While the coverage of macro networks may be improved for NB-IoT, it will never be perfect. And with the wider bandwidth required by Cat-M1 devices, the coverage improvement will be even less. The industry will rely on a mix of Cat-M1 for wearables, medical and assisted living applications, and NB-IoT for low data rate sensors of many types. Furthermore, the IoT devices may not be as mobile as today's smartphones, and so will be even morevulnerable to network fades and not-spots. Small cell connectivity is one of the essential foundational components for the IoT industry as it scales."
"ip.access has a long track record of small cell innovation and we're pleased to be working together on their next generation of IoT products and services. By taking advantage of NFV and SDN advances they are continuing to augment their portfolio of Intel based 3G and LTE products. This is another important step on the path to 5G where Intel will offer the best end-to-end solutions for the client, network and cloud." said Caroline Chan, Vice President and General Manager, Intel 5G Infrastructure Division. ip.access Viper2020 vision includes Access, Presence and IoT capability for the ultimate in network performance, coverage and analytics. By connecting so many sources of data, ip.access brings a new dimension of monetisation to the Mobile Network Operator's mission. You can find out more about ip.access' Viper2020 here.
ip.access will be exhibiting Mobile World Congress 2017 in Hall 7, Stand C60. To arrange a meeting at the show email [email protected]. - Ends - Notes to editors About ip.access Headquartered in the United Kingdom, ip.access originates the best-in-class wireless solutions that maximise the value of radio and data assets via disruptive business models. The company has products and solutions live in over 100 customers' networks around the world. With its award-winning Viper multi-operator solution, ip.access is helping mobile operators, landlords, MVNOs, enterprises, service providers and integrators to open up a host of new commercial opportunities for the provision of indoor cellular coverage. Viper combines several ip.access products and technologies into an enterprise-focused platform which dramatically simplifies and reduces the cost of small cell deployments. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222005661/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Sajid Ahmed, Prominent Expert in Health Information Technology and Innovation, Joins Safety Net Connect Advisory Board
Safety Net Connect (SNC), a leading provider of innovative healthcare technology for organizations assisting underserved populations, is pleased to announce the appointment of Sajid Ahmed to the SNC Advisory Board. In this advisory role, Ahmed's expertise in the practical application of health information technology (Health IT) will ensure the continued alignment of SNC's health care product and service solutions with real-world needs and promote further expansion across the United States and globally. Ahmed is Chief Information and Innovation Officer of Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital in South Los Angeles, a new startup hospital that has championed the use of Health Innovations and Information technology combining clinical best practices to provide cost-effective, high quality, collaborative care. Ahmed's diligent work over the past four years brought the project to a successful launch in 2015, and the state-of-the-art facility now serves 1.35 million residents. Recently recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as Chief Technology Officer of the Year, Ahmed is a highly respected thought leader, speaker, consultant, and advocate for healthcare innovation. Ahmed holds credentials as a CHIME Certified Heathcare CIO (CHCIO) from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), the leading professional organization for Chief Information Officers and other senior HIT leaders.
"In the growing field of healthcare technology, Sajid Ahmed is the one you want on your team," says Chris Cruttenden, CEO of SNC. "This is the man who led a multi-million Health IT initiative and planning for a community-based innovation hub on the MLK Medical Center Campus. His leadership makes a difference in the lives of millions. We are honored by the presence of this innovative pioneer on the SNC team." Ahmed has had a longstanding interest in telehealth and care coordination going back to his prior position as Senior Director of Health IT and Innovation at L.A. Care Health Plan (L.A. Care), the nation's largest public plan serving more than one million Los Angeles County residents through free or low-cost health insurance programs. At L.A. Care, Mr. Ahmed worked with Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LADHS), Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles, Healthcare LA IPA, and technology partner SNC to launch "eConsult," an innovative store-and-forward telehealth and care coordination system that facilitates virtual consultations and collaboration between primary care physicians and specialists. To date the LADHS eConsult system has completed over 600,000 eConsults - facilitating accessing to specialty care for low-income, underinsured LA residents, reducing waiting times and no show rates.
"Joining the SNC advisory board furthers my personal cause of improving health access across our nation," says Mr. Ahmed. "They are an organization to be respected - with their vast knowledge of HIT, the proven solutions they have developed, and their goal of making quality healthcare a reality for all individuals - SNC is clearly positioned for success. I look forward to the opportunity to contribute to the growth of this mission-driven healthcare technology company." About Safety Net Connect Since 2009, Safety Net Connect (SNC) has been a leading creator of healthcare technology that makes it easier for providers and institutions to increase access to care, streamline care coordination, promote evidence-based practices, and improve quality. With a mission to improve health equity, SNC has helped public and private healthcare organizations across the nation successfully reach over 5 million low-income, underserved individuals with affordable, effective patient-centered care. For more information, please visit www.safetynetconnect.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222005437/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Landis+Gyr Delivers Revenue Growth and Continued Cash Generation
- Year-over-year sales growth expected to be 5% - R&D investments reach USD 160 million - Approximately USD 100 million in cash flow for the year - Balance sheet further strengthened, equity ratio at 65% - USD 550 million of debt reduction by the Group since acquisition, net debt below one year's EBITDA level ZUG, Switzerland, Feb. 22, 2017 /CNW/ -- Landis+Gyr, the global leader in transforming the way energy is delivered and managed, today announced that fiscal year 2016 (ending March 31, 2017) forecast indicates the company is on track for further revenue and profit growth and consistent cash generation. The company, unaffected by Toshiba's challenges, expects revenue to reach USD 1,640m (compared to USD 1,569m in prior year). This nearly 5% year-on-year growth builds on the previous year's 3.3% top line growth rate. Notwithstanding a challenging margin environment in EMEA, the higher sales will also translate into year on year growth in operating profit. "Despite a tough international growth environment and currency impacts, Landis+Gyr has been able to demonstrate the effectiveness of our worldwide operations by continuing to expand sales faster than the global economic growth rate. We expect to deliver approximately 5% top line growth when the current fiscal year wraps up. Coupled with an expected year-end order backlog of USD 2.4 billion, we have great confidence in our future sales performance," Andreas Umbach, Landis+Gyr's President and CEO, observed. Since the business was acquired in 2011 by Toshiba and the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), Landis+Gyr has reduced net debt by USD 550m resulting in a solid balance sheet with an equity ratio of 65% at the end of calendar 2016. Landis+Gyr's net debt now stands below USD 200m, around one year's EBITDA level. The company, as it has for the past five years in a row, expects to generate around USD 100 million in cash flow during the current fiscal year. "Landis+Gyr is unique in our industry. As a profitable, fully independent operation with its own governance body, audit and risk committee, independent auditor and separate financial statements we have been able to grow and invest for the future. With self-funded R&D investments expected to reach USD 160 million this year, we are extremely well positioned to lead global utility technology trends now and far into the future," Andreas Umbach concluded. About Landis+Gyr
Landis+Gyr is the leading global provider of integrated energy management solutions for the utility sector. Offering the broadest portfolio of products and services to address complex industry challenges, the company delivers comprehensive solutions for the foundation of a smarter grid including; smart metering, distribution network sensing and automation tools, load control, analytics and energy storage. With annualized sales of more than USD 1.6 billion, Landis+Gyr, an independent growth platform of the Toshiba Corporation and 40% owned by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), operates in 30 countries across five continents, and employs 6,000 people with the sole mission of helping the world manage energy better. More information is available at www.landisgyr.com. Balance Sheet The Group prepares its financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (USGAAP). The key balance sheet information presented below is derived from the unaudited consolidated financial statements of Landis+Gyr Holding AG. Fiscal year-end is March 31.
In million USD
12/31/2016 Cash and cash equivalents
80 Other current assets
522 Intangible assets, net
435 Goodwill
1,421 Other long-term assets
231 Total assets
2,689
Current liabilities
366 Shareholder loans
250 Other long-term liabilities
330 Total liabilities
946 Total equity
1,743 Equity ratio
64.8%
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/landisgyr-delivers-revenue-growth-and-continued-cash-generation-300411536.html SOURCE Landis+Gyr
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
ROCKLEDGE, Fla., Feb. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kona Gold Solutions, Inc. (OTC Pink:KGKG), a hemp lifestyle brand of exclusivity and status, is pleased to announce that the Companys Board of Directors, as well the majority shareholders have consented, to a dividend of approximately 41,296,544 of the Elev8 Brands, Inc. (OTC Pink:VATE) shares of common stock acquired by KGKG in its sale of Elev8 Hemp, LLC to Elev8 Brands, Inc. The record date will be March 31, 2017. Kona Gold Solutions, Inc. shareholders owning common stock, as of the record date will receive 1 share of Elev8 Brands, Inc. (OTC Pink:VATE) stock for every 10 shares of Kona Gold Solutions, Inc. (OTC Pink:KGKG) owned.
The Company would also like to announce that it is on schedule to have its all-new sugar free energy drink produced and on the market next month.
It took longer than we expected to get to this point, but I am very excited to be announcing the details of the stock dividend from the sale of Elev8 Hemp, LLC, stated Robert Clark, CEO of Kona Gold Solutions, Inc. Our current and future shareholders should be very excited, knowing that they could become part of two extraordinary companies that we hope will see exponential growth in 2017! The strategic move to spin off assets not part of our core focus, allows us to effectively grow the company for the greater good of our shareholders.
Ryan Medico, CEO of Elev8 Brands, Inc. said, This is an exciting time for everyone involved with Elev8 Brands and Kona Gold. These are two growing companies that are poised to do great things in the hemp industry and we have presented a fantastic opportunity for shareholders to potentially be part of both companies. There will be no increase in Elev8s issued and outstanding shares from the distribution of the dividend and the company plans to retire additional shares.
Kona Gold will communicate to shareholders by providing future press releases regarding dividend distribution once the record date has passed.
For more information regarding Kona Gold Solutions, please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/konagoldhemp
https://twitter.com/konagoldhemp
https://www.instagram.com/konagoldhemp/
http://www.konagoldhemp.com
Kona Gold Solutions, Inc.:
Kona Gold Solutions, Inc. has created Kona Gold LLC, a Delaware Corporation, which has developed a premier Hemp Infused Energy Drink, Energy shots, and Apparel; please visit the Companys website to view updates and new products at www.konagoldhemp.com. The Company recently moved its Corporate Headquarters to Rockledge, FL giving the Company the space needed to expand rapidly.
Safe Harbor Statement:
The information posted in this release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by use of the words "may," "will," "should," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "project," "intend," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing various engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, and various other factors beyond the Company's control.
[February 22, 2017] Imprivata and Connected Technology Solutions (CTS) Partner to Enable Positive Patient Identification at Registration Kiosks
Imprivata, the healthcare IT security company, and Connected Technology Solutions (CTS), today announced a partnership to enable positive patient identification at self-service registration kiosks. Imprivata PatientSecure eliminates the need for providers and patients to input patient information manually by integrating with CTS (News - Alert) kiosks to make the single patient identifier available through kiosk registration. According to the 2016 National Patient Misidentification Report from the Ponemon Institute, 63 percent of top-level U.S. healthcare executives and care providers say that the primary cause of patient misidentification is incorrect identification at the registration desk. To help eliminate patient identification errors at the source, Imprivata PatientSecure allows hospitals to identify patients through a biometric palm vein scan at CTS kiosks, rather than requiring manual input of patient information, verifying their medical information, co-pay collection, insurance validation, and more. "Since deploying our palm vein biometric identification platform, we have significantly reduced registration errors and lowered our duplicate medical record rate to 0.01 percent of our patient census, which is 80 times better than the national average," said Craig Richardville, Chief Information & Analytics Officer at Carolinas Healthcare System. "Now that we're able to integrate this technology directly into our registration kiosks, we expect increased improvement in our front-end patient registration process, which will further enhance ouroverall revenue cycle management operation and patient experience."
CTS leads the kiosk industry with purpose-built and specifically designed kiosk units for patient check-in. Embedding positive patient identification into CTS kiosks ensures accurate patient identification at check-in, and also improves insurance validation, collection of co-pays, and form fulfilment, addressing evolving patient needs while helping to drive new efficiencies in healthcare. "The use of biometric identification at registration kiosks is a great addition to our solutions and helps transform the entire registration and intake process, working directly with the Epic EHR," said Marc Avallone, Vice President of Sales & Business Development at CTS. "Integrating Imprivata PatientSecure palm-vein biometrics with our kiosks has sped up the patient identification process and assures positive patient identification every time. This improves patient safety, overall registration throughput, and ultimately enhances the entire patient experience."
Imprivata PatientSecure is the positive patient identification platform for healthcare that eliminates patient misidentification at any point of entry or care and positively identifies patients to improve patient safety, increase revenue capture, and prevent identity theft. Beyond identification at registration, Imprivata PatientSecure helps hospitals to re-identify patients throughout their healthcare experience at points of care including medication administration, radiation oncology treatments, and blood transfusions. "Deep integrations with self-service kiosks, EHRs, and other digital health technologies are critical to ensuring positive patient identification at all points of care across the healthcare continuum," said Justyna Evlogiadis, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Imprivata. "By partnering with CTS, we're ensuring that patients are accurately identified and experience the best possible patient registration workflows, ultimately improving patient adoption of self-service kiosks as well as patient safety and revenue cycle performance." The joint Imprivata and CTS solution is on display this week at the HIMSS17 Conference and Exhibition (February 20-22, 2017 in Orlando, Florida) in Imprivata booth #747 and CTS booth #1123. About Imprivata
Imprivata, the healthcare IT security company, provides healthcare organizations globally with a security and identity platform that delivers authentication management, fast access to patient information, secure communications, and positive patient identification. Imprivata enables care providers to securely and efficiently access, communicate, and transact patient health information to address critical compliance and security challenges while improving productivity and the patient experience. For more information, please visit www.imprivata.com. About Connected Technology Solutions (News - Alert) (CTS)
Connected Technology Solutions (CTS) is the healthcare industry's #1 provider in patient check-in solutions. The CTS flagship patient check-in kiosk, the Patient Passport Express (PPE) is not only aesthetically pleasing to the eyes but features a full 40" range of vertical motion. This is the only fully compliant wheelchair-accessible patient check-in kiosk unit available in the U.S. The PPE's are deployed across the United States, with over 200 million patient check-in transactions to date. Visit us at http://www.ctshealthcare.com for more information on how we can help you. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222005790/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] MRC Extends Innovid's Accreditation for Desktop Viewable Video Ad Impressions, Viewability Metrics, and Mobile Video Impressions
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Innovid, the worlds leading video marketing platform for advertisers to engage consumers across all screens and channels, today announced the continuation of its accreditation by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for desktop and mobile digital video and companion display served advertising impressions as well as desktop viewable video ad impressions and related viewability metrics. The accreditations further demonstrate Innovids ongoing commitment to providing a fully transparent, high-quality measurability solution for advertisers.
Horizon Media is one of several Innovid partners that deeply values MRC accreditation. Third party accreditation is a critical step when an endless supply of options are promising a variety of solutions. The MRC in particular offers accreditation through an in-depth audit that helps advertisers choose the right vendors to solve their problems. Our advertisers rely on not only our media expertise, but third party validation services such as the MRC to ensure accuracy and transparency, said Greg Garunov, digital director at Horizon Media. Unaccredited vendors are at a disadvantage as without it, their solution is a black box. In the current wave of industry scandals and need for transparency, accreditation by a third party is as important as ever. The MRCs continued accreditation of Innovids impressions and desktop video viewability metrics reconfirms that the companys measurements comply to the MRCs Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research, the MRCs Viewable Impression Measurement Guidelines for desktop advertising, and the General Invalid Traffic provisions of the Invalid Traffic Detection and Filtration Guidelines Addendum published by the MRC. It also signifies that Innovid adheres to the Display Impression Guidelines and Video Impression Guidelines published by the IAB, as well as theMobile Web Advertising Measurement Guidelines put forth by the MRC, IAB, and Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).
We applaud Innovids ongoing commitment to high-quality measurement solutions and full transparency, said George W. Ivie, Executive Director and CEO at the Media Rating Council. Meeting the stringent requirements necessary to earn MRC accreditation is a challenging task, and Innovids continued compliance for desktop digital video viewability measurement, along with its desktop and mobile video served impression measurement, speaks clearly to its position as a leader within the advertising industry. As video continues to command more ad dollars, marketers need a third-party measurement solution that is accurate, transparent, and trustworthy, said Zvika Netter, CEO and co-founder at Innovid. Were thrilled to receive this continuation of MRC accreditation because it reinforces our legitimacy and maturity within the video marketplace.
About Innovid
Innovid is the worlds leading video marketing platform, empowering advertisers to engage consumers across all screens and channels with more effective video creative, improved campaign performance, and video integrated throughout the customer journey. Providing a holistic, cross-device, data-driven solution that is purpose-built for video to meet the demands of audience fragmentation, Innovids patented, best-in-market technology and advanced measurement capabilities allow marketers to thrive in an ever-changing digital television landscape and engage viewers at scale via richly personalized creative and immersive, interactive storytelling. Innovid powers cross-channel video marketing efforts for some of the largest brands in over 28 countries including Bank of America, Best Buy, Citi, Comcast, Kraft, LOreal, Microsoft, P&G, Walmart, Samsung, Sprint, and Toyota. Headquartered in New York City, Innovid also has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, London, Sydney, and Tel Aviv. Innovid is backed by investors Sequoia Capital, Genesis Partners, T-Venture, Vintage Investment Partners, Cisco Investments, and NewSpring Capital. Innovids numerous awards include IAB Mixx Awards, Digiday Video Awards, Inc. Magazines Top 50 Best Places To Work, AdAge Best Places to Work, and Crain's Best Places To Work. For more information, please visit www.innovid.com. About the Media Rating Council (MRC)
The MRC is a non-profit Industry association established in 1963 composed of leading television, radio, print and internet companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective. Measurement services desiring MRC Accreditation are required to disclose to their customers all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research; and submit to MRC-designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of research in the marketplace. Currently approximately 110 research products are audited by the MRC. Additional information about MRC can be found at http://www.mediaratingcouncil.org.
Media Contacts: Tammy Blythe Goodman Innovid +1-212-966-7555 [email protected]
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] 3D Glass Solutions Announces Highest Efficiency 5G IPD RF Filters
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- 3D Glass Solutions, Inc. (3DGS), a world-class expert on the fabrication of electronic packages and devices using photo-definable glass-ceramics, announced today the development and production of the highest efficiency 5G integrated passive devices (IPD) for radio frequency (RF) filters. These RF filters have been designed to operate as bandpass filters for frequencies at 5GHz and 28GHz with less than 1.0 dB of insertion loss. "5G technology is expected to dramatically improve the performance of mobile networks and wireless systems in addition to enabling new products and applications in the Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR) markets," said Jeb Flemming, Chief Executive Officer of 3DGS. "3DGS has developed low-cost solutions for these rapidly expanding RF markets. 3DGS' technology overcomes the limitations that exist with traditional RF filters. The combination of smallest size, lowest insertion loss, and lowest power consumption provides a significant product differentiation for our customers." 3DGS' 5G RF filters are manufactured using APEX Glass, a material which has significant benefits over legacy PCB materials, such as: up to 70% reduced chip size
up to 50% power reduction
up to 5% increase in wireless bandwidth
broadband applications ranging from DC to over 100GHz
Glass-based System-in-Package (SiP). ABOUT 3D GLASS SOLUTIONS
3DGS is a world-class expert on the fabrication of electronic packages and devices using photo-definable glass- ceramics. We produce a wide variety of OEM glass-based System-in-Package (SiP) devices using our patented APEX Glass technology for applications such as telecommunication devices, MEMS sensors, Internet infrastructure components, integrated photonic components, and high-frequency and high-performance RF devices. We have created foundational patent positions related to all photo-sensitive glass-ceramic materials and devices. 3DGS owns the fundamental intellectual property (IP) for all four positions (materials, design, systems, & manufacturing) related to glass-ceramic devices for the electronics packaging industry. We leverage our unique product solutions providing device manufacturing and systems integration services for a number of standard and custom products. To become a Key Industrial Partner, to receive a detailed 3DGS product listing, or to request a sample 5G bandpass filter, please visit http://www.3DGlassSolutions.com or contact:
Media Contact:
Adam Gushard
Chief Financial Officer / Investor Relations
866-559-8982
[email protected]
5201 Venice Ave. NE, Building D
Albuquerque, NM 87113 USA To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/3d-glass-solutions-announces-highest-efficiency-5g-ipd-rf-filters-300411424.html SOURCE 3D Glass Solutions, Inc.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Mosaic451 Awarded Master Agreement by The Organization for Educational Technology and Curriculum to Provide Security Services
PHOENIX, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mosaic451, a bespoke cybersecurity services provider and consultancy, announced today that the company was awarded a master agreement by The Organization for Educational Technology and Curriculum (OETC) to provide cybersecurity services including monitoring, management and administration of security devices and software. The master agreement allows Mosaic451 to provide Networking Equipment, Network Security, Network as a Service and Security as a Service to the OETC and over 1,000 of its K-20 member institutions. The initial contract is 3 years in length, with three (1) year extensions totaling 6 years in duration. All OETC members may select Mosaic451 for the listed security products and services without going to bid for the next 6 years. "We're extremely proud to work with the OETC and its members to secure the critical infrastructure of educational institutions," said Mosaic451 Principal and Co-Founder Mike Baker. "Mosaic451 is dedicated to providing superior security services by combining the best technology with the deep industry knowledge of our engineers and analysts to create tailored solutions for each client and we can think of no better application of our skills that in helping secure our schools and our children." The Organization for Educational Technology and Curriculum (OETC) awarded Mosaic451 the master agreement after an extensive evaluation process that included assessments of the company's core competencies, value, unique and effective approach to security management, and historic success. Of the 15 contracts awarded, most vendors were selected to provide products and services from a few manufacturers, while Mosaic was selected for a total of 11 security products including its own Mosaic451 Security as a Servie (MSSP) and Mosaic451 Network as a Service.
Providing Security in Education The OETC has selected Mosaic451 to provide Networking Equipment, Network Security, Network as a Service and Security as a Service for products from the following manufacturers:
Carbon Black
Checkpoint
Crowdstrike
Fortinet
Infoblox
Netskope
Palo Alto Networks
Tanium
Zerto In addition, Mosaic451 was also selected to provide its own Mosaic451 Security as a Service (MSSP) and Mosaic451 Network as a Service. Mosaic451's products and services are already used in securing some of the very electricity operations that bring energy to many of the OETC members in the Pacific Northwest. In addition, the company already has extensive experience protecting the critical infrastructure for 5th largest school district in the U.S., responsible for 340,000 students and 40,000 employees. Mosaic451 recognizes that while adoption of advanced and emerging technology is an important part of sound security strategy, no amount of technology can secure an environment without a strong foundation of smart, experienced, operationally minded humans to design, operate, and optimize the technology. Mosaic451's Hybrid solution combines 24/7 off-site monitoring with dedicated on-site personnel that act as a full security operations team to provide the most comprehensive level of information security. Mosaic451 is SBA 8(a) Certified, MBE Certified, and WBE Certified. Learn more about Mosaic451 at www.mosaic451.com. About Mosaic451 Headquartered in Arizona, Mosaic451 is a bespoke cyber security service provider and consultancy with expertise in building, operating and defending some of the most highly-secure networks in North America. Its Mosaic Hybrid is an industry first solution, providing monitoring service through its operations centers as well as specialized staff onsite during business hours to work alongside clients' in house technology and security staff. This hybrid model gives Mosaic451 the unique ability to empower security analysts to provide advanced data analysis and determine threat vectors, threat actors, and intelligent root causes for every incident. Mosaic451 aggregates and empowers intelligent humans in the service of information security and IT operations excellence for our clients. For more information, visit www.mosaic451.com. Media Contact: Lisa Wang, [email protected], 1-888-317-4687 ext. 703 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mosaic451-awarded-master-agreement-by-the-organization-for-educational-technology-and-curriculum-to-provide-security-services-300411589.html SOURCE Mosaic451
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Survey: Patients Regard Open Access to Their Medical Records as Critical to Receiving High Quality Health Care
In the era of digital health, patients have very high expectations for medical information sharing, but they may not be aware of the health care industry's current limitations. That's according to a new digital health survey released today by Transcend Insights, a population health management company. The survey found that a vast majority of patients (97 percent) believe it is important for any health institution, regardless of type or location, to have access to their full medical history in order to receive high-quality care. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222005883/en/ Transcend Insights Survey (Photo: Business Wire) Patients were also asked to rate factors that are most important to receiving personalized care. Top priorities for patients included having access to their own medical records (92 percent) and the ability for care providers to easily share and receive important information about their medical history-wherever they needed treatment (93 percent). Are these demands being met? The survey suggests that there could be a significant gap between the level of information sharing that patients expect and what is possible today. While the health care industry has undergone rapid digitization in the last decade, effectively sharing medical information and communicating across many different health care information technology systems - often referred to as interoperability - has remained elusive. According to a recent interoperability study conducted by the American Hospital Association, only a quarter of all hospitals are able to functionally exchange (find, send, receive and use) clinical information with external providers. Another study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that only 34.8 percent of specialists receive information about a patient from their referring primary care physician (PCP), even when the PCP attempts to share patient records. In other words, data is not traveling with patients despite the importance that they place on open access to their information.
"As an industry, the time has come to move beyond viewing interoperability as a philosophical challenge or a problem that we'll eventually get our arms around," said Thomas J. Van Gilder, MD, JD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Informatics (News - Alert) and Analytics at Transcend Insights. "This survey shows us that patients see strong information sharing as an essential element of high-quality care. It's time that we live up to those expectations by giving care providers and health care systems the tools they need to stay connected around patient care." The Transcend Insights survey also suggests that patients may be giving the benefit of the doubt to their care providers when it comes to data sharing and the ability of their medical records to travel with them. When respondents were asked whether or not their doctors could easily share and access important information about their medical history - whenever or wherever they needed care-72 percent of patients believed that this is in fact happening. Unfortunately, due to ongoing setbacks in connecting the sprawling health care system, this type of open access to records is rare.
Other Key Findings from the Survey Include: A majority of patients (64 percent) say that they use a digital device (including mobile apps) to manage their health and 71 percent believe it would be helpful for their doctor to have access to this information as part of their medical history.
Patients are more likely to completely trust the health care they receive from any medical professional when he or she has access to their full medical history (38 percent versus 27 percent).
A majority of patients surveyed believed that provider access to their full medical history is important to receiving high-quality care with 87 percent of respondents indicating that PCP access, in particular, is extremely or very important to receiving high-quality care. Methodology: To gather these and other insights, Transcend Insights conducted an online survey among U.S. adults who have seen a doctor within the past year. Fieldwork was conducted by Research Now between January 20 and January 26, 2017. A total of 2,597 responses to the survey were collected. Respondents are nationally representative of U.S. Census statistics for age, gender and geographic region. Oversamples were done for patients with chronic health conditions and consumers on Medicare health plans. About Transcend Insights Transcend Insights is a population health management company that is empowering lifelong well-being with The Platform Above. Our HealthLogix technology platform and unified solution suite lives above the silos that keep people and information apart. By connecting the health care ecosystem with a plug-and-play platform, data-inclusive health information exchange and advanced analytics, we are helping health system executives, care teams and individuals achieve a more coordinated and proactive approach to care. Our partners leverage Transcend Insights' enterprise solutions to analyze more than 7 billion clinical data points on 14.2 million patients every day. In 2015, our enterprise analytics helped our partners identify over 58.4 million opportunities for care improvement and close more than 5.4 million gaps in care. By providing solutions and insights that connect care teams with the people they serve, we are enabling successful population health management for better care and healthier lives. Transcend Insights is a wholly owned subsidiary of Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) and is located in San Diego and Campbell, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley. For more information, please visit www.transcendinsights.com, @Transcend_Care, and LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222005883/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] RILA Conference Highlights Changing Marketplace
CINCINNATI, Feb. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) a trade association for the retail industry to promote and protect the interests of its members recently held its annual Supply Chain Conference in Orlando, FL, Datalliance reports. The three-day conference featured speakers from some of the largest retail brands like Abercrombie and Fitch, Neiman Marcus, Walmart, REI, Finish Line, and Home Depot. However, the company that drove much of the conversation did not even attend the show. Amazons influence on the retail industry was repeatedly mentioned in keynote addresses, breakout sessions and talk among attendees. Retailers understand that efforts to cut costs and shorten delivery times are changing how retailers view their replenishment strategies. Free shipping for an item used to mean waiting a week for your package. Now, there is pressure in the industry from online retailers, like Amazon, offering free same-day deliveries in limited areas. Retailers are working hard to keep up by focusing on omni-channel replenishment to keep products on the shelf and available online. Greg Sandfort, CEO of Tractor Supply Company delivered RILAs Supply Chain opening keynote. In his address, Sandfort discussed the importance in creating a supply chain that was responsive and reliable, If I cant get the product to the customer at any time and any place Ive failed.
As it has become apparent that the digital world can bring profits; budgets and stock allotments that were once marked for retail initiatives are being rethought. These changes are also guiding service providers like Datalliance, a leading vendor managed inventory and collaborative replenishment software company. Forward-thinking manufacturing brands realize they need to adjust, said Tom Hoar, Director of Sales for Datalliance. We have meetings with global companies that want to know if our vendor managed inventory software can help get their products to retail shelves and manage their inventory for e-commerce. The answer is an absolute yes and that is very appealing to manufacturers as they want to increase revenue and in-stock percentages with their long-standing retail partners, but also meet the needs of digital storefronts.
About Datalliance
Datalliance is the worlds largest provider of technology and services to support collaborative replenishment programs such as Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and related approaches. Delivered as a cloud-based platform and backed by extensive customer care, Datalliance makes it easy for trading partners to establish inventory management relationships that increase sales and profits by fully aligning business objectives, increasing on-shelf availability, optimizing turns, and reducing supply chain costs. Datalliance manages billions of dollars in orders, millions of SKUs, and tens of thousands of locations worldwide for leading companies in consumer and industrial markets. For more information about Datalliance, visit www.datalliance.com. Contact: Brian Lindner, Datalliance 513-791-7272
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Altman Vilandrie & Company Promotes Fleming, Toledano, Wakelin & Wickham
Altman Vilandrie & Company, a strategy consulting firm focused on the communications, media, and related technology sectors, recently promoted Swope Fleming, Dan Toledano, Jon Wakelin and Timothy Wickham to principal. The four new principals advise the firm's Telecommunications, Media, and Technology (TMT) sector clients on a range of business and technology strategy issues. "We are very pleased to reward Swope, Dan, Jon and Tim with much-deserved seats on our leadership team," said Altman Vilandrie & Company COO Steve Conway. "While they all have different and valuable perspectives, skill sets and experience, their combined areas of expertise - including wireless, fiber and Internet of Things - are consistent with the core capabilities of our company." Fleming, Wakelin and Wickham are based in Altman Vilandrie & Company's Boston headquarters, while Toledano works from the firm's New York City office. Fleming worked as an engineer in the semi-conductor industry before coming to Altman Vilandrie & Company in 2011. His areas of expertise span the entirety of fiber infrastructure, Cloud Services, and Internet of Things. His recent client work has focused on long term product strategy, market opportunity and competition assessments, and go-to-market lanning. Fleming earned a BSE in Engineering from Princeton University and an MS from the MIT (News - Alert) School of Engineering and Sloan School of Management.
Toledano started with the firm in 2010 after founding a web start-up firm. At Altman Vilandrie & Company, Toledano has worked with global TMT companies on numerous critical business issues, including product development, go-to-market strategies, global expansion and financial due diligence. His areas of expertise include fiber, wireless spectrum and infrastructure across international markets. He earned his BA in Economics and Pre-Medicine from Columbia University. Since joining Altman Vilandrie & Company in 2011, Wickham has helped the firm's global TMT clients on a variety of critical business issues, including corporate strategy, go-to-market planning, competitive analysis and investment due diligence. His areas of expertise include consumer wireless and broadband, the Internet of Things, unified communications and B2B services strategies. Wickham earned a BS in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University and an MBA from Cornell University, Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Wakelin, who joined Altman Vilandrie & Company in 2012, specializes in wireline and wireless networking, 3G/4G/5G wireless networking, and data center and cloud services. His project experience includes assisting network operators in planning and deploying fiber and 5G wireless networks, conducting due diligence on telecom infrastructure and developing go-to-market strategies for clients seeking to expand beyond their traditional core businesses. Wakelin earned his BA in Physics from Dartmouth College, his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and his JD from Northwestern University School of Law. About Altman Vilandrie & Company Altman Vilandrie & Company is a strategy consulting group that focuses on the telecom, media, technology and investor sectors. The company's consultants are experienced in strategy, marketing, finance, M&A, technology, regulatory and operations disciplines. Based in Boston, with offices in New York City and San Francisco, Altman Vilandrie & Company enables clients to seize new opportunities, navigate mounting challenges, improve business performance and increase investor value within complex and converging industries. Ninety percent of the boutique firm's operator clients are large- to mid-cap companies including service providers, technology and software developers and media companies. Altman Vilandrie & Company's financial clients include many of the largest and most prominent investors in the telecom, media and technology markets. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222005926/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Michael Adams, Top Legal Adviser to Chairman of Joint Chiefs, Joins McGuireWoods in Charlotte
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Retired Navy Commander Michael J. Adams, who served as a top legal adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as a national security point person on cyber threats, has joined McGuireWoods as a partner in Charlotte. As a member of the firm's Data Privacy and Security Team, Adams will advise clients on cybersecurity issues in a wide range of industries. Since 2013, Adams advised the chairman and Joint Chiefs on legal matters affecting military operations, including cybersecurity, privacy, information governance and technology issues. He developed a legal and policy framework to combat emerging cyber threats and served as a key military adviser during significant U.S. cyber events, including the 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures by North Korea. Adams previously was deputy general counsel for U.S. Pacific Command, where he served as a special adviser on cybersecurity and sensitive technical operations. In that role, he helped design a cyber architecture and command structure unique to forces in the Pacific theater. Adams, who has practiced law for 20 years, was a line officer, engineer and navigator aboard two U.S. warships before transitioning to the Judge Advocate General's Corps. He served as a legal adviser for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan and deployed six times to Afghanistan and once to Iraq, receiving the Defense Superior Service Medal and Bronze Star. He also earned the Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison Award for exceptionally meritorious service in advancing the rule of law in the Special Operations Forces community. Aams graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, earned his J.D. at Georgetown University Law Center and an LL.M. at Harvard Law School. In 2015, he co-taught a Harvard Law national security law course that focused on maritime and territorial disputes in the East and South China seas.
"Mike has provided vital legal counsel to top military commanders and combat forces at a time of heightened tensions around the world," said Andrew Konia, chair of McGuireWoods' Data Privacy and Security Industry Team. "His in-depth, technical understanding of current and emerging risks, particularly for critical infrastructure, will add tremendous value for our clients in multiple industries." Scott Vaughn, managing partner of the firm's Charlotte office, added, "Mike has served his country with distinction as a decorated naval officer and attorney at the highest levels of our armed forces and we are proud to have someone with his talent and experience on our team at McGuireWoods."
"I look forward to using my government experience in data privacy and security to address the critical concerns of our clients around the globe," Adams said. "McGuireWoods has a well-established reputation for excellence and client service, and I can't think of a better place to build my practice." McGuireWoods' global Data Privacy and Security Team works with clients to protect the integrity of their systems; develop programs to harness, manage and protect their information; and navigate post-breach investigative and remediation requirements. Fourteen team members hold certifications from the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Lawyers provide regular updates on privacy and security issues on the firm's Password Protected blog. McGuireWoods LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 1,000 lawyers in 23 offices worldwide. It ranks among the top 10 law firms in the Financial Times' prestigious North America Innovative Lawyers report. The firm has been recognized 11 times on BTI Consulting's "Client Service A-Team" elite firms singled out for client service excellence based on unprompted feedback from clients in major companies. Its full-service public affairs arm, McGuireWoods Consulting LLC, offers infrastructure and economic development, strategic communications and grassroots advocacy, and government relations solutions. For more information, visit www.mcguirewoods.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/michael-adams-top-legal-adviser-to-chairman-of-joint-chiefs-joins-mcguirewoods-in-charlotte-300411647.html SOURCE McGuireWoods LLP
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Crede Dismisses Claims in Lawsuit Against 22nd Century
22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE MKT: XXII), a plant biotechnology company that is a leader in tobacco harm reduction, announced today that Crede CG III, Ltd. has dismissed claims against the Company in the on-going litigation related to a terminated China joint venture. Crede filed the lawsuit in the wake of the Company's decision to terminate a failed China joint venture arrangement with Crede and its principal, Terren Peizer, due to non-performance and other breaches by Crede and its principals in their failure to perform under the joint venture agreements and impeding the Company's efforts to expand into China. As the Company previously announced, on January 20, 2017, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the "SDNY Court") granted the Company's request to sever the Crede lawsuit into two separate cases and transfer the claims relating to the now terminated China joint venture to the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (the "WDNY Court"), where 22nd Century's headquarters office is located. At the same time, the Crede claims relating to the now void exchange feature of the Tranche 1-A warrant previously issued to Crede under a financing agreement remained in the SDNY Court according to the jurisdictional provisions of that warrant. As previously reported, the SDNY Court held on June 14, 2016 that Crede had not demonstrated a reasonable likelihood that it would prevail on its claims, and that there was likelihood that Crede violated the activity restrictions of the Tranche 1-A warrant, which should bar Crede's claim for such shares from the Company. On February 14, 2017, Crede dismissed its lawsuit against the Company in the WDNY Court, determining not to pursue its claims against the Company related to the ailed China joint venture; thus dismissing claims alleging damages in excess of $500 million. The Company plans to continue its efforts to conduct business in China without Crede and Peizer.
On February 21, 2017, the SDNY Court granted the Company's request to file a motion for summary judgment in the case, with all discovery in the case being deferred until after the SDNY Court conducts a hearing and issues its decision on the upcoming summary judgment motion to be filed by 22nd Century. The Company intends to continue to vigorously defend itself in this remaining case and is confident that it will prevail against Crede. "From the beginning, the Company has known that Crede's lawsuit was frivolous and completely without merit," explained a 22nd Century spokesman. "We are pleased that Crede has now recognized this fact and has dismissed the claims that were transferred to the WDNY Court. We look forward to the prompt and successful resolution of the remaining portion of the case in the SDNY Court."
About 22nd Century Group, Inc. 22nd Century is a plant biotechnology company focused on technology which allows it to increase or decrease the level of nicotine in tobacco plants and the level of cannabinoids in cannabis plants through genetic engineering and plant breeding. The Company's primary mission is to reduce the harm caused by smoking. 22nd Century currently owns or exclusively controls more than 200 issued patents and more than 50 pending patent applications around the world. Visit www.xxiicentury.com for more information. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking information, including all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of 22nd Century Group, Inc., its directors or its officers with respect to the contents of this press release, including but not limited to our future revenue expectations. The words "may," "would," "will," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "intend" and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity or performance. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date that they were made. These cautionary statements should be considered with any written or oral forward-looking statements that we may issue in the future. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States, we do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to reflect actual results, later events or circumstances, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by us in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, filed on February 18, 2016, including the section entitled "Risk Factors," and our other reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors that may affect our business, financial condition, results of operation and cash flows. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may vary materially from those expected or projected. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222005957/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] OpenStack Ocata Strengthens Core Infrastructure Services and Container Integration with 15th Release of Cloud Computing Software
The OpenStack community today released Ocata, the 15th version of the most widely deployed open source infrastructure software. The Ocata release cycle was a one-time, shorter cycle focused on stabilization, including scalability and performance of the core compute and networking services. Ocata also brought greater support for container-based application frameworks at the networking layer, as well as containerization of OpenStack services for easier deployment and upgrade management, treating OpenStack as a microservice application. During this release cycle, the OpenStack community has witnessed the growing multi-cloud trend, where enterprises are employing a more sophisticated workload allocation strategy across public and private clouds. In particular, OpenStack users are seeing significant cost savings and compliance benefits with OpenStack private clouds. A new model of remotely managed private clouds has also emerged that makes it easier for users to experience the benefits of public cloud in an environment dedicated to them. OpenStack continues to grow its support for container-based application frameworks and deployment tools, with Kolla (containerized OpenStack services), Kuryr (bridging container networking and storage with OpenStack) and Zun (container management) projects seeing the most contributor growth in the release cycle. Other container-related enhancements include: Magnum now supports Mesosphere DC/OS as a cluster type and Kubernetes support now includes the new SUSE distribution
Kolla support for Kubernetes at the control plane
Kuryr container networking service now supports Docker Swarm
The new Fuxi ("FOO-si") subproject of Kuryr connects Cinder and Manila storage to container environments "A year ago, people thought containers might be the death of OpenStack," said Jonathan Bryce, executive director of the OpenStack Foundation, "but they were actually a new source of momentum for the cloud platform. Using container orchestration frameworks to run OpenStack like an application makes it easier to operate. That means it takes fewer people to run the cloud, making OpenStack a more accessible and practical option to those running at smaller scale." The Ocata development cycle was shortened to four months (as compared to the typical six-month release cycle) to facilitate a shift in OpenStack's annual schedule of development. Despite the condensed timeframe, the 50+ project teams that contributed to the Ocata release (comprising approximately 2,000 developers from 52 countries and 265 organizations) have contributed significantly to the software's stability, maturity and performance at scale. There were many updates across the OpenStack projects that can be found in the release notes, but highlights include: New Nova compute "placement" API tht helps users intelligently allocate resources based on application needs. Cells v2 has also become default to increase scalability of Nova
Horizon dashboard now supports keystone-to-keystone federation as new os-profiler UI, which gives operators the ability to detect performance issues across OpenStack services
Auto-provisioning for Keystone federated identity dynamically creates a project and assigns a federated user a role upon successful authentication
Ironic bare metal service becomes more robust with networking and driver enhancements
Zaqar messaging service added Swift (News - Alert) object storage as a backend to easily leverage an existing Swift cluster without deploying another MongoDB or Redis cluster
Greatly improved performance and CPU usage for Telemetry projects: storing millions of metrics per second is now possible using Ceilometer with Gnocchi storage engine
Active/Active HA in Cinder service can now be implemented by drivers
Congress governance framework now has policy language enhancements to enable network address operations for better network and security governance
*** Ocata download, features and enhancements detailed here. ***
OpenStack Summit Boston The new capabilities of Ocata will be demonstrated at the upcoming OpenStack Summit, happening May 8-11 in Boston. Approximately 6,000 attendees from 50+ countries are expected to attend to hear speakers from Google, Harvard University, eBay, Bloomberg, the US Army Cyber School, among others, relate how the OpenStack open source cloud platform is helping companies increase agility, save money and gain a competitive advantage by deploying applications faster. In addition, community members from Ansible, Ceph, Cloud Foundry, Kubernetes, Open vSwitch, OpenContrail, OpenSwitch, OPNFV, and more will each host their own Open Source Day during the OpenStack Summit. View the full schedule, follow updates and register to attend at https://www.openstack.org/summit/boston-2017/. Members of the media can contact [email protected] for information about event registration. About OpenStack OpenStack is the standard for private clouds and is also available as a service via dozens of public cloud providers around the world. At its core, OpenStack is an open source integration engine that provides APIs to orchestrate bare metal, virtual machine and container resources on a single network. The same OpenStack code powers a global network of public and private clouds, backed by the largest ecosystem of technology providers, to enable cost savings, control and portability. OpenStack is a global community of more than 60,000 individuals across 180 countries supported by the OpenStack Foundation, which facilitates the development of many innovative projects in the open infrastructure space. The community delivers two software releases each year, which are Apache 2 licensed and productized by a large ecosystem of technology vendors in our Marketplace. For more information and to join the community, visit www.OpenStack.org. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222005974/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
MONACO, Feb. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (Navios Partners or the Company) (NYSE:NMM) announced today that it has agreed to acquire from Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. (Navios Holdings) (NYSE:NM) a 47.5% participation interest that Navios Holdings indirectly owns in certain loan facilities previously made to Navios Europe Inc. (the Transaction).
The purchase price is $27.0 million, payable in the form of (1) $4.05 million in cash and (2) approximately 13.1 million common units of NMM. The loans being purchased have an aggregate balance of $21.4 million as of February 2017, earn interest at 12.7% annually and mature no later than December 2023 with an estimated nominal value of $51.3 million. Navios Partners may require Navios Holdings, under certain conditions, to repurchase the loans after the third anniversary of the date of the sale based on the then outstanding balance of the loans.
The Conflicts Committee of Navios Partners, comprised of independent directors, negotiated and approved the terms of the Transaction with the assistance of the Conflicts Committee's outside financial and legal advisors. In approving the Transaction, the Conflicts Committee determined that the Transaction was fair to Navios Partners and in the best interest of Navios Partners and its unitholders.
Duff & Phelps, LLC served as financial advisor, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, served as legal counsel, to the Conflicts Committee.
About Navios Maritime Partners L.P.
Navios Partners (NYSE:NMM) is a publicly traded master limited partnership which owns and operates container and dry bulk vessels. For more information, please visit our website at
www.navios-mlp.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) concerning future events including Navios Partners 2017 cash flow generation, future contracted revenues, future distributions and its ability to have a dividend going forward, opportunities to reinvest cash accretively in a fleet renewal program or otherwise, potential capital gains, our ability to take advantage of dislocation in the market and Navios Partners growth strategy and measures to implement such strategy; including expected vessel acquisitions and entering into further time charters. Words such as may, expects, intends, plans, believes, anticipates, hopes, estimates, and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements include comments regarding expected revenue and time charters.
These forward-looking statements are based on the information available to, and the expectations and assumptions deemed reasonable by Navios Partners at the time these statements were made. Although Navios Partners believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, no assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements involve known and unknown risks and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates which are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the control of Navios Partners. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, uncertainty relating to global trade, including prices of seaborne commodities and continuing issues related to seaborne volume and ton miles, our continued ability to enter into long-term time charters, our ability to maximize the use of our vessels, expected demand in the dry cargo shipping sector in general and the demand for our Panamax, Capesize, UltraHandymax and Container vessels in particular, fluctuations in charter rates for dry cargo carriers and container vessels, the aging of our fleet and resultant increases in operations costs, the loss of any customer or charter or vessel, the financial condition of our customers, changes in the availability and costs of funding due to conditions in the bank market, capital markets and other factors, increases in costs and expenses, including but not limited to: crew wages, insurance, provisions, port expenses, lube oil, bunkers, repairs, maintenance and general and administrative expenses, the expected cost of, and our ability to comply with, governmental regulations and maritime self-regulatory organization standards, as well as standard regulations imposed by our charterers applicable to our business, general domestic and international political conditions, competitive factors in the market in which Navios Partners operates; risks associated with operations outside the United States; and other factors listed from time to time in Navios Partners filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 20-Fs and Form 6-Ks. Navios Partners expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Navios Partners expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based. Navios Partners makes no prediction or statement about the performance of its common units.
[February 22, 2017] Cybersecurity continues rapid evolution
CHICAGO, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cybersecurity remains a top business priority as cyber incidents and data breaches carry the threat of significant operational and reputational damage for all organizations. A new report from the Internal Audit Foundation (IAF) and Crowe Horwath offers a look at the next step in the evolution of cybersecurity strategy by examining the growing use of security operation centers and security intelligence centers. "Next Steps: Beyond Response to Anticipation" is based in part on a survey of chief audit executives conducted by The Institute of Internal Auditors' (IIA) Audit Executive Center and Crowe. The survey found that more than a third of respondents are turning to security operation centers, formal and informal, as part of their cybersecurity strategies. "It is logical and encouraging that models to address the pervasive and potentially devastating threat of cyberattacks are evolving," said IIA President and CEO Richard F. Chambers, CIA, QIAL, CGAP, CCSA, CRMA. "The creation of formal security operation centers allows for holistic, proactive approaches to cybersecurity in which all parts of the organization, including the internal audit function, can support the battle against data breaches." To conduct the survey, Crowe personnel interviewed information security executives from organizations across the globe. The interviews confirmed a growing number of organizations recognize that "100 percent protection 100 percent of the time" is not achievable. It is then that an organization's cybersecurity strategies can "shift from a defensive posture to a more offensive and proactive one that focuses on learning about how certain threats operate, how their effects can be limited or mitigated, and hw the incident response time (from identification to remediation) can be accelerated," according to the report.
The report identifies the common terminology, frameworks, metrics and tools used in the security operation centers and examines how these can evolve further into security intelligence centers. "There is room for internal audit to get more engaged in the evaluation of security operations," said Raj Chaudhary, CGEIT, CRISC, Crowe Risk Consulting principal. "Over time, advanced analytics capabilities will allow companies to become more proactive in preventing events that could negatively impact business operations."
The report is available through the Internal Audit Foundation. Its principal authors, Chaudhary and Dave McKnight, CISSP, of Crowe, will participate in a session on cybersecurity intelligence at The IIA's upcoming General Audit Management (GAM) Conference, March 20-22, in Orlando, Florida. The authors will host a webinar "Cyberattacks: Go Beyond Response to Anticipation" from noon to 1 p.m. on April 4. About the Internal Audit Foundation The Internal Audit Foundation (Foundation) is the donor-supported arm of The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). The nonprofit Foundation conducts groundbreaking research and scholarly publishing, offers essential career development and thought leadership products through The IIA Bookstore, and works with colleges and universities through the Internal Auditing Education Partnership (IAEP) program to enlighten the next generation of internal auditors. For more information, visit www.theiia.org or www.theiia.org/foundation. About The IIA The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) is the internal audit profession's most widely recognized advocate, educator, and provider of standards, guidance, and certifications. Established in 1941, The IIA today serves more than 185,000 members from more than 170 countries and territories. The association's global headquarters are in Lake Mary, Fla. For more information, visit www.TheIIA.org. About Crowe Horwath Crowe Horwath Global Risk Consulting (Holdings) Limited and its subsidiaries ("Crowe Horwath") use their deep industry expertise to provide governance, risk and compliance services. Crowe Horwath serves clients worldwide as an independent member of Crowe Horwath International, one of the largest global accounting networks in the world. The Crowe Horwath International network consists of more than 200 independent accounting and advisory services firms in more than 130 countries around the world. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cybersecurity-continues-rapid-evolution-300411664.html SOURCE Crowe Horwath LLP
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] RizePoint Improves Business Intelligence With Continued Growth In Management Dashboards
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- RizePoint, the leading provider of brand, quality, and safety management software, today unveiled a new ratings dashboard. The ratings dashboard is the latest addition to the RizePoint suite of pre-built Management Dashboards that provide visibility into quality, safety, and brand audit data for some of the world's largest foodservice and hospitality brands. The ratings dashboard allows quality assurance and operations managers to view historical trends. This allows users to see scoring distributions based upon pre-defined rating groups, such as pass/fail, grade A-F, or other identifiers. "RizePoint frees quality assurance and operations managers from reporting hassles, and empowers them to focus on continuous improvement informed by easy-to-read data," said Frank Maylett, president and CEO of RizePoint. "With RizePoint's management consoleincluding the new ratings dashboardquality, safety, and brand data become a guiding document of best practices across the business." The RizePoint dashboard suite brings visibility to key business information. Regional managers are able to validate high-level quality assurance within RizePoint dashboards and are able to drill down int specific issues. For example, a quality assurance or operations manager can utilize the ratings dashboard to identify locations with poor performance and drive any necessary improvements.
This update to the RizePoint enterprise compliance SaaS solution also includes: A Mobile Auditor thermocouple integration with the Cooper-Atkins Blue2 Instrument that allows auditors to collect temperature data reliably
A growing number of available API calls to manage integrations with the RizePoint system
Additional active home page features that integrate video and images to increase visibility and enhance cross-functional team communication
A new ability to attach files, including images, when creating a new Independent Action Plan so that action can be quickly taken on issues identified outside of audits RizePoint At-a-Glance
RizePoint mobile and cloud-based software helps organizations improve the quality, safety, and sustainability of their products, services, and facilities.
RizePoint's software is used by 5 of the top 8 hospitality brands and 5 of the top 8 food service brands.
RizePoint serves more than 387,000 users in 120 countries and territories, speaking 40 languages: 105,000 food service restaurants 27,000 hotels and resort properties 13,000 grocery and retail stores
About RizePoint RizePointformerly Steton Technology Groupis the global leader in software solutions that proactively safeguard enterprise compliancefor both internally imposed standards and externally imposed regulations. RizePoint software builds and protects brand equity by enabling a consistent customer experience. Our customers gather better data, see necessary actions earlier, and act faster to correct issues before they become costly liabilities. Considered the industry standard for food service, hospitality, and retail, RizePoint mobile and cloud-based solutions serve nearly 2 million audits with 200 million questions answered annually. RizePoint is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. For more information, visit RizePoint.com. Press Inquiries:
Whitney McCarthy
801.285.9827
[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rizepoint-improves-business-intelligence-with-continued-growth-in-management-dashboards-300411516.html SOURCE RizePoint
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] RizePoint Integrates Bluetooth Thermocouple Instrument With Mobile Auditing App
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- RizePoint, the leading provider of brand, quality, and safety management software, today launched an integration between Mobile Auditor and the Cooper-Atkins Blue2 Instrument that seamlessly uploads line check temperature data. This new pairing enables food safety teams to gather temperature data reliablyupholding quality standards and mitigating risk. Thermocouple integration is now available to more than 387,000 corporate and third-party auditors who use Mobile Auditor. "Our food service clients are committed to the safety of raw and prepared foods," said Frank Maylett, president and CEO of RizePoint. "Thermocouple integration is one more way that we're transforming a paper-and-pencil process to a more effective way of gathering data and protecting brand reputations." RizePoint provides an end-to-end solution to modernize inspections in fast-casual and quick-service restaurants, fresh-prepared foods, and grocery storesensuring a safe customer experience. With Mobile Auditor, auditors can: Conduct line checks with Cooper-Atkins Blue2 thermocouple device
Perform audits using smartphones, tablets, or web browsers
Use offline access wherever connections are a concern
Submit corrective action recommendations with video and image markup
Sync audit results for immediate use
Save and share audit results before completion
Start schduled audits with just one click
About Mobile Auditor
RizePoint Mobile Auditor streamlines remote location assessments. Inspection teams see immediate assessment results in the cloud-based RizePoint Management Console, replacing the long, manual upload process. Capture data easily using powerful form navigation that leads auditors through the process
Convert negative assessment results into immediate corrective action recommendations RizePoint At-a-Glance
RizePoint mobile and cloud-based software helps organizations improve the quality, safety, and sustainability of their products, services, and facilities.
RizePoint's software is used by 5 of the top 8 hospitality brands and 5 of the top 8 food service brands.
RizePoint serves more than 387,000 users in 120 countries and territories, speaking 40 languages: 105,000 food service restaurants 27,000 hotels and resort properties 13,000 grocery and retail stores
About RizePoint
RizePointformerly Steton Technology Groupis the global leader in software solutions that proactively safeguard enterprise compliancefor both internally imposed standards and externally imposed regulations. RizePoint software builds and protects brand equity by enabling a consistent customer experience. Our customers gather better data, see necessary actions earlier, and act faster to correct issues before they become costly liabilities. Considered the industry standard for food service, hospitality, and retail, RizePoint mobile and cloud-based solutions serve nearly 2 million audits with 200 million questions answered annually. RizePoint is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. For more information, visit RizePoint.com. About Cooper-Atkins
Located in Middlefield, CT, Cooper-Atkins Corporation is a leading manufacturer of quality time, temperature and humidity instruments, with focus on the Foodservice, Industrial HVAC and Healthcare markets both domestically and abroad. Cooper-Atkins Corporation is proud to be a Woman-Owned business, certified by the National Women's Business Enterprise Certification (WBENC) as well as an ISO 9001:2008 certified company.
For inquiries and to contact a distributor near you, please call Cooper-Atkins support at: Main (860) 347-2256, Option 2, or visit http://www.cooper-atkins.com/ Press Inquiries:
Whitney McCarthy
801.285.9827
[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rizepoint-integrates-bluetooth-thermocouple-instrument-with-mobile-auditing-app-300411237.html SOURCE RizePoint
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] JetSmarter Enhances Member Experience with the Launch of First JetSmarter FBO Lounge with Ross Aviation
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- JetSmarter, the world's leading private jet company, announced today its partnership with Ross Aviation. Together, they plan to unveil the first JetSmarter-branded lounge at Westchester County Airport FBO, in White Plains, New York. Opening in spring of 2017, the exclusive lounge will provide JetSmarter members with an added experience, as they travel in and out of the region. "As we continue to grow our brand, we are thrilled to announce the first-ever JetSmarter Lounge, which will provide our members with an enhanced JetSmarter experience starting on the ground, from the moment they walk into the airport," said Sergey Petrossov, Founder and CEO of JetSmarter. "This luxurious space will offer our members the opportunity to relax once they arrive or land, before heading to their next destination of choice. Additional perks of the FBO include parking for members, and ramp-side car pickup, along with privacy on the west side of the airport, away from the commerial terminals."
Both the interior and curbside of JetSmarter's FBO will be designed by Beverly Hills-based interior designer Kevin Lee, who is known for his work for some of Hollywood's most prestigious events including the Oscars, as well as for the weddings of many A-list celebrities, including Elizabeth Taylor, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oprah Winfrey, and Brad Pitt. "Working with JetSmarter has been an exciting project for me. It's taken me beyond my typical scope of work, and through this venture I look forward to continue elevating JetSmarter member's everyday life with this luxury offering," said Kevin Lee, JetSmarter Lounge and Interior Designer.
Lee will be leading both the branding and design aspects of the lounge, incorporating JetSmarter's overall brand messaging. The design will create an atmosphere parallel to JetSmarter's in-flight experience, with elegant touches known from Lee's work. For more information on becoming a JetSmarter members, visit www.jetsmarter.com. About JetSmarter
JetSmarter, the world's largest mobile marketplace for private jets, has created a new class of air travel that is able to offer both custom charters and unused seats across thousands of flights. By fundamentally rewiring the marketplace, JetSmarter has lowered the entry cost into the private aviation market, making it more available to travelers around the world, and a true disruptor in the space. Its technology and efficient platform driven by algorithms, artificial intelligence and mobile distribution optimizes inventory to drive down prices, create availability, and gives JetSmarter the resources to continue to grow U.S. and globally. The JetSmarter app is available for iOS and Android. For more information, please visit www.JetSmarter.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jetsmarter-enhances-member-experience-with-the-launch-of-first-jetsmarter-fbo-lounge-with-ross-aviation-300411540.html SOURCE JetSmarter
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] MiR Leads the Global Market for Autonomous Mobile Robots with 500% Growth in Sales in 2016, Putting Robots in Production in More than 30 Countries
Mobile Industrial Robots, (MiR), a next-generation developer and manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), has seen an astounding 500 percent growth in sales in 2016, with over 200 innovative MiR100 robots and accessories installed in more than 30 countries. The ambitious company has recently expanded its global presence, establishing regional offices in New York and Shanghai. With substantial increases in hiring in 2016, MiR also tripled the size of its Denmark headquarters, relocating to a new location that will support its ongoing expansion. In 2017, the front-runner expects to further consolidate its leadership position with a new product that will be launched in Chicago on April 3, 2017 at Automate, North America's largest automation trade show. This new product is expected to help triple sales increases in 2017, through the combined activities of MiR's 73 distributors across 33 countries. "We continue to develop the innovative products that customers need to optimize their production and to make sure their employees are adding value to company processes," says MiR CEO Thomas Visti. "The requirements for automating internal transportation increased substantially this year, and companies need to be able to implement these technologies quickly and easily-and to see a fast return on their investment. That's why we are focused on flexibility and smart, intuitive interaction so customers can effortlessly collaborate with our technologies without changing their existing environment." Multinational manufacturers in automotive, textiles, electronics and food products embrace mobile robots
Founded just four years ago, MiR has already gained a significant number of new customers in the global manufacturing market. While the MiR100 robots are cost-effective, flexible and user-friendly enough to provide significant value for mid-sized manufacturers, buyers of the logistics robots are increasingly multinational companies. MiR customers include Boeing (News - Alert), Unilever, Ericsson, HUGO BOSS, Honeywell, Continental, Flex, Danone, Kamstrup, Assa Abloy and many others. North American market sees dramatic growth in just 10 months
MiR opened its first North American regional office in New York in April 2016, headed by veteran robotics sales executive Ed Mullen. Since then, the company has gained commitments from 19 North American distributors who have recognized the exciting opportunities for mobile robots and the leadership of MiR's products. Every distributor has demonstration robots on-site and has been fully trained in beginning, intermediate and advanced programming to support a wide range of customer needs. "Distributors across North America are investing in MiR's innovative technology and partnering closely with us because they recognize the dramatic growth opportunities we bring," says Mullen. "In just 10 months, we've gone from zero presence in North America to having sold significant numbers of robots into a broad range of industries that includes automotive, electronics, aerospace, consumer goods, food products and more. Having this kind of success so quickly with a new technology just demonstrates the immediate recognition of the value of our mobile autonomous robots. The competitive advantage we offer is clear." Chinese beachhead established To spearhead sales in China, MiR has brought onboard Will Dong, an experienced area sales manager who is working out of MiR's new Shanghai sales office. "There is enormous potential for mobile robot sales in China, and the timing is just right," says Dong. "The Chinese Government has launched several initiatives to promote investment in automation, including the 'Made in China 2025' plan, but robotic expertise is relatively low in China. It's precisely for this reason that our user-friendly, intuitive robots, which require no programming experience, are perfect for the Chinese market. And MiR robots can be installed in a factory without needing to modify the internal production layout. We have already sold MiR robots in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan." About MiR
Mobile Industrial Robots is headquartered in Odense, Denmark where the company was founded in 2013 by experienced professionals from the Danish robotics industry. MiR develops and sells the MiR100, the most advanced mobile robot for internal transportation of goods in both the manufacturing and health care industries. MiR has quickly established a global distribution network in more than 30 countries, and the company has grown rapidly with a 500 percent increase in sales from 2015 to 2016. The company recently set up regional offices in Shanghai and New York. MiR supplies its collaborative, safe and autonomous robots to multinational industrial groups and mid-sized companies. MiR robots carry out internal transportation tasks quickly, easily and cost-effectively, to free employees for more valuable activities. Hundreds of manufacturers worldwide, as well as hospitals and care facilities, already use MiR's innovative robots. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222005988/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Travel Savvy Tv Launches Artificial Intelligence Technology Across Video Network
NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Travel Savvy Tv, a publisher of engaging video content wholly owned by 495 Communications, is pleased to announce a partnership with the developers of a cloud-based artificial intelligence algorithm, EyeSee Solutions, to seamlessly engage viewers with in-content native advertising. Videos and digital content on Travel Savvy Tv now feature an EyeSee Solutions widget, unobstructedly and automatically, in areas that are completely acceptable to the viewer, resulting in an optimized viewer experience. "By engaging the viewer precisely when his or her attention is directed at our content, we can be sure that we're also closing the loop for our clients," explains Craig Pavia, Executive Producer of Travel Savvy Tv. "We can provide a direct call-to-action in the most efficient manner with the use of a classic watermark. It's a solid way to also add a touch of service journalism." The use of AI technology to serve customizable advertising has been in the rise in all digital formts because of the need to increasingly customize the user experience. "Brands want to be where consumers' eyes see--so our patented technology helps brands reach that goal without any strange ad units, animations, pop-ups etc.," says Joao Redol, CEO of EyeSee.
ABOUT TRAVEL SAVVY
Travel Savvy is a travel media company that is wholly owned by 495 Communications. Travel Savvy was originally a newsstand-based magazine that was transitioned to a tablet-based platform in 2010. Since 2014, the brand has also added video production to the distribution channels, and currently delivers millions of views daily across multiple platforms. Watch Travel Savvy Tv online at www.travelsavvy.tv, or on your Roku or Apple TV devices. ABOUT EYESEE Solutions
EyeSee Solutions was founded by Joao Redol, Rui Luis and Mauro Lemos, and specializes in digital video and image advertising, monetizing content and presenting innovative and patented solutions. Based in Lisbon, the company currently has offices in New York and San Francisco.
ABOUT 495 COMMUNICATIONS
495 Communications is dedicated to providing the best digital video advertising products on the market. From programmatic network offerings to videos and pre-roll creative production, 495 Communications services today's ever expanding video marketplace. 495 Communications has offices in New York, Santa Monica, and San Francisco. Visit www.495communications.com for more information. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/travel-savvy-tv-launches-artificial-intelligence-technology-across-video-network-300409630.html SOURCE Travel Savvy
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Creating High School Entrepreneurs: INCubatoredu Teachers are Energized by Project Based Learning for Engaging Students, Developing Their Critical Thinking Skills and More
How the teaching of entrepreneurship in high schools is a perfect match for project based learning methods - that's the focus of a panel featuring INCubatoredu schools at SXSWedu, the renowned national conference on innovation in education held March 6-9, 2017 in Austin, Texas.
The panel, Entrepreneurship Ignites Project Based Learning, features three INCubatoredu member schools, including Austin's David Crockett High School and Westlake High School, as well as Barrington High School in Illinois.
INCubatoredu is a popular program developed by Uncharted Learning to provide students with an authentic entrepreneurship experience aimed at developing new product and service innovations. Student teams compete to take business ideas from concept to successful funding in a learning incubator environment designed to replicate real entrepreneurship challenges.
"INCubatoredu goes beyond the textbook to immerse students in the everyday challenges of building a business," said Margarita Geleske, Co-Executive Director, of Uncharted Learning, the organization that created INCubatoredu. "Teaching entrepreneurship is a natural fit for project based learning - as students drive their own learning in attempting to conceive, fund, and launch a real business. Student choice and student-driven inquiry results in more deeply ngaged students and deeper, more sustained learning" she added.
Uncharted Learning's programs - including INCubatoredu - are now offered in more than 100 schools across 13 states and involve more than 4000 students.
For more information on the entrepreneurship panel at SXSWedu featuring INCubatoredu schools, please see the SXSWedu website listing here.
About Uncharted Learning, NFP
Uncharted Learning is a not for profit organization with a mission to bring authentic, rigorous, and experiential education to all students to foster the development of real-world skills. Uncharted Learning programs include: INCubatoredu for High School students -- a year-long, project-based course that blends entrepreneurship lessons with traditional business subjects.; MobileMakersEdu, a program of training, curriculum, and support for High Schools who want to bring engaging, mobile iOS app development into their Computer Science and/or CTE curriculum.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222006065/en/
[February 22, 2017] Crystal & Company Recognizes Colleagues Honored with Risk & Insurance "Power Broker Awards"
Crystal & Company, a leading insurance brokerage firm headquartered in New York City with 11 regional offices across the country, announces that six of the firm's esteemed brokers have been recognized for the 2017 Risk & Insurance Power Broker Awards. The renowned Power Broker Awards, bestowed by insurance industry publication Risk & Insurance, commend individuals who stand out among their peers in the areas of risk management and customer service. Risk & Insurance editors and reporters recognize brokers for their problem solving abilities, customer service standards and overall industry knowledge. "It's an honor to have six of our colleagues recognized for such a prestigious award," said James W. Crystal, Chairman and CEO of Crystal & Company. "It is a true testament to their capabilities as risk professionals and as dedicated, creative brokers who are able to stand out in a highly competitive insurance industry." Crystal & Company brokers recognized on this year's Power Broker list include: Steven Kent, Managing Director, Private Client Services
Private Client Power Broker
Kent's primary role is to maintain and support strategic referral partner relationships for the firm. He specializes in providing personal insurance solutions to affluent individuals, family offices, entrepreneurs and private collectors who are referred by those partners. Barbara Ludwig, Managing Director, Employee Benefits Services
Employee Benefits Power Broker
Ludwig has over 25 years experience in group insurance on both the carrier and brokerage side of the industry. She leads the Northeast team, assisting national client with employee benefit plan solutions while striving to ensure positive financial results and plan compliance. Machelle McKenzie, Managing Director, Commercial Property & Casualty
Workers' Compensation Power Broker
McKenzie has 33 years of experience in placing and servicing all lines of coverage for commercial clients, including non-profit, oil and gas, telecommunication, contractors, manufacturers, wholesalers/retailers, real estate, service vendors and trucking. She leads the firm's commercial Property & Casualty team in the Texas Region. Lou Timpanaro, Senior Managing Director, Aviation
Aviation and Aerospace Power Broker
Timpanaro leads the company's aviation department, servicing the airline, general aviation and aerospace product lines for all of Crystal's commercial and private clients worldwide. He is an active pilot who has more than 30 years of experience in the aviation insurance industry, both as an underwriter and a broker. This is his second consecutive Power Broker designation. Cecille Feliciano, Managing Director, Employee Benefits Services
Employee Benefits Power Broker Finalist
Feliciano has 27 years experience in employee benefit operations, working with clients across all industries to provide customized solutions for their businesses and capital needs. She leads the West Coast team offering brokerage and consulting services in Group Benefits, Executive Benefits & Retirement Services and HR Operations support. Jeffrey Breskin, Director, Casualty Claims & Risk Control
Workers' Compensation Power Broker Finalist
Breskin specializes in delivering risk reduction and claims management services to the firm's clients. His 30 years of experience have given him extensive knowledge on all aspects of workers' compensation programs focused on risk management analysis, implementation of clinical assessments, strategic litigation and fraud. About Crystal & Company Crystal & Company is the home for talented insurance professionals: creative, committed to their clients and driven to deliver extraordinary results. The company drives the strategy and execution behind insurance and employee benefits programs for businesses that want to be smart about risk. Crystal & Company is the insurance brokerage of choice for leading financial institutions, corporations, and nonprofit organizations.
Headquartered in New York City, the firm has 11 regional offices throughout the United States and is an equity owner of Brokerslink, a global broking company with members in more than 95 countries around the world. Visit www.crystalco.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222006078/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017]
Matthews Announces Affordable, Compact Laser For Small To Mid-size Consumer Packaged Goods Companies
PITTSBURGH, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Matthews Marking Systems, a leading manufacturer of marking and coding products, announces an affordable 10-watt CO2 laser to meet the primary coding needs of small to mid-size consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies.
The eMark ECO laser, manufactured by Solaris, is an affordable alternative for customers looking to replace ink jet printers. Designed for simple, small character coding on primary packaging such as cardboard boxes and paper labels, the ECO laser eliminates ink usage and requires little maintenance offering a low total cost of ownership.
The eMark ECO is also the most compact in Matthews' laser product line, making it easy to integrate into new or existing production lines, or in limited installation spaces.
"The ECO laser rounds out the Matthews' laser product line, providing a small footprint and entry-level price point," says David Klodowski, Product Manager for Matthews' laser marking line. "The ECO meets the needs of many small to mid-size CPG companies."
The ECO laser can manage messages and settings for multiple lasers across one or several production lines, with Matthews' universal print controller, MPERIA. MPERIA allows for seamless integration with ERP systems and databases to reduce coding errors and improve line productivity.
For more information on Matthews' products and services, contact Lyndsey Farrow, Matthews Marking Systems, 6515 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206. Telephone (412) 665-2536, fax (412) 665-2550, www.matthewsmarking.com.
About Matthews Marking Systems
Matthews Marking Systems, a member of Matthews International Corporation, provides product identification, branding, and traceability solutions. With over 160 years of experience, Matthews offers a full line of quality high-resolution, continuous ink jet, laser, drop on demand, thermal transfer, contact, and indenting technologies.
Press Contact: Lyndsey Farrow
Matthews Marking Systems
Marketing Communications Specialist
[email protected] | 412.665.2536
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/matthews-announces-affordable-compact-laser-for-small-to-mid-size-consumer-packaged-goods-companies-300411728.html
SOURCE Matthews Marking Systems
[February 22, 2017] ActivX Biosciences, Inc. Appoints Hugh Rosen Chairman & President; John Kozarich Transitions to New Role
LA JOLLA, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ActivX Biosciences, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Tokyo), announces the appointment of Professor Hugh Rosen of The Scripps Research Institute to the position of Chairman & President of ActivX, effective April 1, 2017. He will succeed John W. Kozarich who has been at ActivX since 2001, serving as Chairman & President since its acquisition by Kyorin in 2004. John will stay on at ActivX as a Board Director and assume the new position of Distinguished Scientist and Executive Advisor.
Professor Rosens 30+ year career in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic sectors has been one of significant achievements. Following training in medicine in Cape Town, he received his D.Phil. as a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Scholar at the University of Oxford. He spent 11 years at Merck Research Laboratories before becoming a Professor at TSRI (The Scripps Research Institute) in 2002. There he co-invented ozanimod and was a scientific founder of Receptos, acquired by Celgene in 2015 for $7.3 Billion, as well as BlackThorn Therapeutics, which recently closed a $40M Series A. He serves as an independent Board member at Regulus Therapeutics and will remain on the faculty of TSRI. Hugh Rosen is a world-class translational physician/scientist and biotechnology entrepreneur, explained Dr. Kozarich. We are delighted that he will assume the leadership of ActivX, building on our R&D contributions to Kyorin and adding new dimensions to our cutting-edge KiNativ technology. Hugh has been a friend and colleague to me and to Kyorin for 25 years. I am honored to have him as my successor and look forward to working with him in my new role. Hughs appointment clearly signals Kyorins ongoing commitment to ActivX as a key component to their future success. This is an ideal outcome for all involved. D. Rosen added that: The opportunity to lead ActivX Biosciences is especially attractive to a physician-scientist with a record of success in drug discovery and development because the ActivX technologies have unlocked exciting and potentially transforming drug discovery opportunities. This is a tribute to the outstanding work of John Kozarich and colleagues at both ActivX and Kyorin. I look forward to continuing to work with John, his management team and Kyorin to bring significant new products forward to benefit patient outcomes, caregivers and providers. Through discovery and development, we strive to improve the public health.
Mr. Minoru Hogawa, Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kyorin Holdings Inc., commented that: Kyorin has been and will be creating first-in-class medicines. ActivX Biosciences is the core member for our research group activities. We believe Dr. Rosen will accelerate our research programs and accomplish our goals effectively with his wide experience. About ActivX Biosciences, Inc.
ActivX Biosciences, Inc. (www.activx.com ) located in La Jolla, California, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and has drug discovery and proteomics technology capabilities. The company applies proprietary chemical technologies and high-throughput protein analysis to the drug discovery and development process. By focusing on functional proteins, ActivX addresses disease mechanisms directly, in contrast to approaches such as expression profiling, in which the measured analyte is several steps removed from the site of drug action. ActivX and its partners utilize ActivXs proprietary technology and profiling platform (KiNativ - www.kinativ.com ) to address critical challenges in kinase drug discovery, including selectivity profiling of candidate drug molecules in biological samples to guide their medicinal chemistry efforts. The KiNativ platform aids in the identification of novel drug targets and biomarkers, the determination of target engagement in vivo and the characterization of off-target activities of candidate and established drugs to understand the basis of their efficacy and/or toxicity. About Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Trusted among patients and professionals in the medical industry, Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (http://www.kyorin-pharm.co.jp/en/), which is a core company of Kyorin Holdings Inc. (http://www.kyorin-gr.co.jp/en/), strives to be a company that contributes to the public health and is recognized as a one with social significance by improving its presence in specified therapeutic areas and through global discovery of novel drugs. Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. uses its franchise customer strategy in the developing and marketing ethical drugs on the core areas of respiratory, otolaryngology and urology. Lorrie Daggett +1 858-526-2505
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
PARIS, NEW YORK, LONDON, AMSTERDAM, Netherlands and PUNE, India, Feb. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Synechron, a global financial services consulting and technology services provider, has signed a partnership agreement with Bankdata, a Danish IT services company that provides IT solutions for eleven local banks. Synechron was chosen as System Integrator for the implementation of Murex 3.1 in front-to-back office, accounting and risk across all asset classes: the KaMP (Capital Market Program).
Significantly, this unique program is the first Murex implementation as a Utility and has been divided into several phases. The first phase began in November 2015 with front office Fx Options. The project is expected to last four years and will involve approximately one hundred experts from Bankdata, Murex and Synechron in 2017 and 2018.
Managing the bank segregation issue in a single Murex instance will be one of the major challenges.
Synechron is a certified Murex partner, which gives us access to considerable expertise and knowledge on Murex methodologies and best practices. These skills are not available in Denmark, explains Jesper Glogauer, Vice President of Capital Markets at Bankdata.
From project scoping to customer training
The first fifteen Synechron Murex consultants who began to work for Bankdata at its head office in Fredericia, Denmark integrated the scoping and design of Phase II front-to-back office derivatives and accounting for the program. They will participate in the program management, planning, architecture, integration and support team set-up.
Bankdata may also call on the services of Murex teams at Synechrons European Delivery Center based in Serbia.
Furthermore, Synechron will play an important role in the training of Bankdata staff and the transfer of skills and knowledge in relation to the KaMP Program and Murex in particular.
A strategic and cultural fit
Synechron was selected following a competitive RFP among four companies, during the summer of 2016.
We are very pleased to participate in this ambitious and innovative KaMP program with Bankdata and with the support of our partner, Murex. This project pools all the knowledge we have built up over the past few years with respect to the integration of a financial IT solution, says Pascal Rellier, Managing Director at Synechron.
In addition to its status as a Murex Alliance partner, one of Synechron's major strengths is its Murex Center of Excellence created in 2015. It currently has more than 150 Murex experts from around the world and is able to provide in-house training with its Murex Academy and its 3T (Train The Trainer) certified consultants.
Thanks to the expertise of its Center of Excellence, Synechron will notably support Bankdata with the setup of an in-house Murex Center of expertise.
Moreover, Bankdata has found its cultural counterpart in Synechron: One of Bankdatas basic values is being aware of its employees as whole people. We felt that Synechron was concerned with its consultants everyday lives in Fredericia. We will be working diligently to help our international consultants thrive here, even when the honeymoon is over, added Jesper Glogauer.
About Bankdata
Bankdata was founded in 1966 and has over 650 employees. It develops and operates the information systems of 11 Danish banks, including Jyske Bank and Sydbank (the third and fourth largest banks in Denmark). Bankdatas company headquarters are in Fredericia, Denmark but it also has development centers in Them, Silkeborg and in India.
About Synechron
Synechron is a global consulting and technology organization providing innovative solutions to the financial services industry through its three main business focus areas: digital, business consulting, and technology. Based in New York, the company has 18 offices around the globe, with over 7,000 employees producing more than $405M in annual revenue. If you would like to find out more about the company, please visit the website or our LinkedIn community.
[February 22, 2017] AET SHAREHOLDER ALERT: The Law Offices of Vincent Wong Reminds Investors of Commencement of a Class Action Involving Aetna Inc. and a Lead Plaintiff Deadline of March 27, 2017
The Law Offices of Vincent Wong announce that a class action lawsuit has been commenced in the USDC for the District of Connecticut on behalf of investors who purchased Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET) securities between August 15, 2016 through January 20, 2017. Click here to learn about the case: http://www.wongesq.com/pslra/aetna-inc. There is no cost or obligation to you. According to the complaint, throughout the class period Aetna made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Aetna and its senior executives attempted to leverage Aetna's participation in the Public Exchanges for favorable treatment from regulators regarding the Humana acquisition; (2) Aetna threatened tolimit its participation in public health insurance exchanges if the Department of Justice ("DOJ") attempted to block the merger; (3) Aetna did not withdraw from certain public health insurance exchanges for business reasons as Defendants claimed, but to follow through on its threat of leaving the marketplace once the DOJ filed suit and to improve its litigation position; (4) Aetna withdrew from public health insurance exchanges that were profitable for Aetna; and (5) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' statements about Aetna's business, operations, and prospects were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
If you suffered a loss in Aetna you have until March 27, 2017 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff. To obtain additional information, contact Vincent Wong, Esq. either via email [email protected], by telephone at 212.425.1140, or visit http://www.wongesq.com/pslra/aetna-inc. Vincent Wong, Esq. is an experienced attorney that has represented investors in securities litigations involving financial fraud and violations of shareholder rights. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222006105/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] 4R Nutrient Stewardship takes centre stage in New Brunswick
MONCTON, NB, Feb. 22, 2017 /CNW/ - With thousands of acres of farmland to be managed across the province, education on 4R Nutrient Stewardship (Right Source @ Right Rate, Right Time, Right Place) for nutrient management will be critical for continued agricultural sustainability in New Brunswick. Today, Fertilizer Canada launched a new eLearning course 4R Nutrient Stewardship in New Brunswick, at an an interactive training session with over 30 Atlantic crop advisors in collaboration with the New Brunswick Soil and Crop Improvement Association (NBSCIA). The training is focused on utilizing regional best management practices with a focus on nitrogen and phosphorus to help agri-retailers and farmers implement 4R Nutrient Stewardship in the province. The online course is free to take and provides Certified Crop Advisors (CCA) with two Continuing Education Credits (CEUs). Now, with more than 4,000 online users and 17 eLearning courses 11 of which are focused on nutrient stewardship the eLearning training courses have broadened industry understanding of the economic, social and environmental advantages of 4R Nutrient Stewardship practices. "Education on 4R Nutrient Stewardship is paramount to obtaining agricultural sustainability in this province," said Walter Brown, CCA, 4R Agonomist, New Brunswick Soil and Crop Improvement Association. "A broader understanding of the local application of the 4R program will ensure nutrients are managed more sustainably on our farmland."
4R Nutrient Stewardship helps organize nutrient input decisions by focusing on sustainable nutrient management to use fertilizer more effectively and efficiently. For growers, this translates into getting more value for every dollar spent on fertilizer while reducing negative downstream impacts, to ensure the sustainable future of farming in New Brunswick, but also farming in Atlantic Canada. "On a greater scale, 4R Nutrient Stewardship balances farmer, industry, and government goals to improve agricultural sustainability," said Garth Whyte, President & CEO, Fertilizer Canada. "Collaborating with the New Brunswick Soil and Crop Improvement Association will help us reach our target of 20 million acres under 4R Nutrient Stewardship across the country by 2020."
In its first year, the New Brunswick 4R Demonstration farms engaged five producers across the province who are working with crop advisors to look at integrating practices such as side-dress and split applications, tissue sampling and more precise monitoring of plant growth stages. Over the next three years, Fertilizer Canada hopes to engage even more farmers by supporting local retailers to become 4R Designated. 4R Designation provides retailers with the tools they need to capture acres of farmland operating under 4R Nutrient Stewardship, demonstrating their commitment to sustainable nutrient management and sustainable agriculture. Visit eLearning.fertilizercanada.ca to start your training today. Fertilizer Canada represents manufacturers, wholesale and retail distributors of nitrogen, phosphate, potash and sulphur fertilizers. The fertilizer industry plays an essential role in Canada's economy, contributing over $12 billion annually and 12,000 jobs. The association is committed to supporting the fertilizer industry with innovative research and programming while advocating sustainability, stewardship, safety and security through standards and Codes of Practice. Please visit fertilizercanada.ca. SOURCE Fertilizer Canada
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Qlik Positioned in the Leaders Quadrant of Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms for Seventh Consecutive Year
Qlik, a leader a visual analytics, today announced it has been positioned by Gartner (News - Alert), Inc. in the Leaders Quadrant of the 2017 Business Intelligence and Analytics Platform Magic Quadrant report*. This designation marks the seventh consecutive year that Qlik has been positioned in the Leaders Quadrant. The full report is available for download from http://www.qlik.com/mq2017. According to the report, "The business intelligence and analytics platform market's shift from IT-led reporting to modern business-led analytics is now mainstream." The report goes on to say that "For their part, buyers want to expand modern BI usage, including for self-service to everyone in the enterprise and beyond." "We are, and will continue to be, a driving force of momentum in the BI industry," said Lars Bjork, Qlik chief executive officer. "As the pioneer in this market, Qlik will continue to make bold moves in building a modern, cloud-ready platform that delivers not only beautiful visualizations, but a platform for enterprise-class governance and manageability that can grow with customers on their visual analytics journey." Qlik is focused on continuing to expand the market by creating an extensible, cloud-first platform that companies of all sizes can consider the centerpiece of their analytics strategy. In January 2017, Qlik announced that Qlik Sense CloudBusiness, its SaaS (News - Alert)-based visual analytics solution is available for SMBs, groups, and teams to create, manage, and share analytics in the cloud. Powered by the patented QIX Associative Indexing Engine, it provides the scalability and performance of the industry-proven Qlik visual analytics platform in a complete cloud environment. With a flexible, low-cost monthly subscription, streamlined administration and a fully web-based experience, customers can benefit from Qlik Sense Cloud Business with no capital costs or commitments.
The company also extended its current mapping capabilities and moved its offerings beyond visualization with support for a broad range of advanced geoanalytic use cases with acquisition of Idevio, a provider of geographical-related software and services. Using patented technology that compresses and streams mapping data, both Qlik Sense and QlikView customers now have the ability to expose hidden geographic relationships, offering greater insight, better decisions, and higher ROI. Over these years of continued innovation and changing the face of BI, Qlik maintains its belief that all people need to drive analysis from any data source - on premise, in the cloud, in a hybrid environment, internal or external - without restriction or limitation. With Qlik's associative experience users can ask and answer streams of questions to explore information freely rather than being confined to a predefined path of questions - because insights come from truly understanding the data from all angles.
*Gartner "Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms" by Rita L. Sallam, Cindi Howson, Carlie J. Idoine, Thomas W. Oestreich, James Laurence Richardson (News - Alert), Joao Tapadinhas, February 16, 2017. About the Magic Quadrant
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. About Qlik
Qlik is the leading visual analytics platform and the pioneer of user-driven business intelligence. Its portfolio of cloud-based and on-premise solutions meets customers' growing needs from reporting and self-service visual analysis to guided, embedded and custom analytics, regardless of where data is located. Customers using Qlik Sense, QlikView and Qlik Cloud, gain meaning out of information from multiple sources, exploring the hidden relationships within data that lead to insights that ignite good ideas. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, Qlik does business in more than 100 countries with over 40,000 customers globally. 2017 QlikTech International AB. All rights reserved. Qlik, Qlik Sense, QlikView, QlikTech, Qlik Cloud, Qlik DataMarket, Qlik Analytics Platform, Qlik NPrinting, Qlik Connectors, Qlik GeoAnalytics and the QlikTech logos are trademarks of QlikTech International AB which have been registered in multiple countries. Other marks and logos mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222006239/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Florida Vocational Institute and CareerSource South Florida, launch Miami's TechHire Initiative in Overtown prior to BlackTech Weekend
Florida Vocational Institute and CareerSource South Florida, are leading Miami's TechHire Initiative to train eighteen students to become entry level professionals in high-demand IT careers. The students will attend a twelve-week IT Help Desk Certification Bootcamp. Each candidate will be enrolled in four weeks of Work Readiness Training prior to attending the twelve-week IT Help Desk Bootcamp. The TechHire bootcamp is being offered in Overtown, allowing easy access to residents of the area. The boot camp starts the week prior to BlackTech Weekend. "The Miami Tech scene has grown significantly, and we are seeking to create a tech pipeline of talent from underserved areas of Miami to future Tech Careers - The Overtown TechHire Initiative will give the residents of Overtown the skills for the tech careers of the future," said Arnie Girnun co-chair of TechHire.Miami. A stipend will be provided to each student through CareerSource South Florida who has awarded $134,100 to this Overtown TechHire Training Initiative. Upon successful completion, participants will have the opportunity to be hired by employers focused on hiring the eighteen TechHire graduates. Partner companies that have committed to the project include: 4IT, Azulle Tech, CompuCare Systems, Nerd Support, Conquest, and OpticalTel. The TechHire initiative is a bold multi-sector initiative that empowers Americans with the skills they need, through universities and community colleges, as well as, non-traditional approaches such as "coding boot camps", and high-quality online courses that can rapidly train workers for well-paying tech jobs, often in just a few months. The White House announced Miami-Dade County as one of two "TechHire" communities designated in the State of Florida; representing the only TechHire community in South Floria. TechHire is a multi-sector national initiative launched two years ago by former President Barack Obama to create a pipeline of Americans with technology skills.
CareerSource South Florida (CSSF), Neighbors and Neighbors Association (NANA), and Florida Vocational Institute (FVI) formed a specialized collaborative partnership to provide training opportunities for the residents of the Southeast Overtown and Park West communities, which creates pathways to economic opportunity and upward mobility through job placement in technology. The initiative is currently accepting a limited number of applicants and is scheduled to start on February 21st.
To learn more about this initiative please visit www.fvi.edu/helpdesk. About Florida Vocational Institute (FVI) Florida Vocational Institute's mission is to empower students through education to start achieving their dream jobs in information technology and healthcare in less than a year. FVI achieves this mission through a passionate experienced team all focused on helping our clients achieve success. FVI is the first IT Coding bootcamp in Florida that is approved by the US Department of Education for Federal Financial Aid. For more information please visit www.fvi.edu or for more information on this initiative please visit www.fvi.edu/helpdesk or call 786-574-3350. About CareerSource South Florida CareerSource South Florida is a public-private partnership that establishes state and federally funded workforce development and training policies for Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. CareerSource South Florida's services and resources are available to everyone at no cost through a network of centers located throughout the region. For more information on CareerSource South Florida, including valuable resources for businesses and job seekers, please visit www.careersourcesfl.com or call 305-594-7615. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222006280/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Independent Study Supports Use of Penumbra Aspiration as Frontline Thrombectomy Therapy for Acute Ischemic Stroke
Penumbra, Inc. (NYSE: PEN), a global interventional therapies company, today announced the presentation of the results of the ASTER Trial, the first independent, prospective, randomized trial comparing the use of Penumbra's aspiration system to stent retriever, in the opening plenary session at the International Stroke Conference in Houston, Texas. The ASTER Trial provides additional evidence of Penumbra's aspiration system as an effective frontline thrombectomy approach for acute ischemic stroke as part of the ADAPT (A Direct Aspiration, First Pass Technique) technique. "The ASTER study provides evidence that starting with Penumbra aspiration first as part of the ADAPT technique is similar to the stent retriever technique," said Michel Piotin, MD, principal investigator and interventional neuroradiologist at Rothschild Fondation Hospital in Paris. "The ADAPT technique offers the possibility to easily add a stent retriever following Penumbra aspiration if needed, leading to time savings." The data showed that the ADAPT technique compared favorably: 85.4 percent of patients treated with Penumbra's aspiration system achieved the primary endpoint of TICI 2b/3 at the end of the procedure compared with 83.1 percent of patients treated with stent retrievers (p=0.53). Moreover, 63.0 percent of patients treated with Penumbra's aspiration system achieved the secondary endpoint of TICI 2b/3 after frontline treatment compared to 67.7 percent with stent retrievers (p=0.33). "The ASTER Trial shows no significant difference in revascularization rate and safety using either thrombectomy technique - Penumbra aspiration and stent retrievers - for acute ischemic stroke patients with large vessel occlusions," said Bertrand Lapergue, MD, PhD, Division of Neurology, Stroke Center, Foch Hospital, University Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines (France) and scientific coordinator for the study. "The broad eligibility criteria achieved in the ASTER Trial make the results generalizable to the majority of stroke patients with large vessel occlusions." Secondary safety endpoints presented, including emblization in new territory (ENT) and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH), were not statistically different between the two arms.
"The ASTER Trial builds on the results of the 3D Trial, providing additional evidence supporting the use of Penumbra System direct aspiration devices as a first-line treatment for acute ischemic stroke patients," said Adam Elsesser, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Penumbra. "The ADAPT technique with the Penumbra System as a frontline approach together with complementary adjunctive devices when needed offers a cost-effective solution for treating stroke patients, which is critical as patient access to mechanical thrombectomy is further expanded." About ASTER Trial
The ASTER (Adapt versus StEnt Retriever) Trial is a prospective, randomized controlled study that compared the safety and efficacy of the Penumbra aspiration system used frontline as part of the ADAPT technique versus stent retrievers. The primary endpoint was end of procedure revascularization (TICI 2b/3). The study enrolled 381 patients at eight centers in France over 12 months beginning in October 2015. Penumbra provided an institutional grant to support the ASTER Trial. About Penumbra System The Penumbra System consists of large diameter, highly flexible, and reliably trackable reperfusion catheters that utilize the full aspiration power of the Penumbra Pump MAX through its Hi-Flow Aspiration Tubing. The Penumbra System enables physicians to use aspiration, which acts like a minimally invasive "vacuum" inside the artery, to remove stroke-causing blood clots from the brain safely and effectively. The Penumbra System is the only FDA cleared integrated aspiration system for the revascularization of ischemic stroke patients. About Penumbra Penumbra, Inc., headquartered in Alameda, California, is a global interventional therapies company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets innovative medical devices. The company has a broad portfolio of products that address challenging medical conditions and significant clinical needs across two major markets, neuro and peripheral vascular. Penumbra sells its products to hospitals primarily through its direct sales organization in the U.S., most of Europe, Canada and Australia, and through distributors in select international markets. Penumbra, the Penumbra logo, ACE, and Pump MAX are trademarks of Penumbra, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Forward-Looking Statements Except for historical information, certain statements in this press release are forward-looking in nature and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us. Our business and operations are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and, consequently, actual results may differ materially from those projected by any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those projected include, but are not limited to: failure to sustain or grow profitability or generate positive cash flows; failure to effectively introduce and market new products; delays in product introductions; significant competition; inability to further penetrate our current customer base, expand our user base and increase the frequency of use of our products by our customers; inability to achieve or maintain satisfactory pricing and margins; manufacturing difficulties; permanent write-downs or write-offs of our inventory; product defects or failures; unfavorable outcomes in clinical trials; inability to maintain our culture as we grow; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; and potential adverse regulatory actions. These risks and uncertainties, as well as others, are discussed in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. There may be additional risks of which we are not presently aware or that we currently believe are immaterial which could have an adverse impact on our business. Any forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and assumptions regarding future events and are applicable only as of the dates of such statements. We make no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may change. Source (News - Alert): Penumbra, Inc. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222006301/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] SlamData Secures $6.7MM Series A to Support Modern Data in the Enterprise
BOULDER, Colo., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SlamData Inc., the leading open source analytics company for modern unstructured data today announced that it has raised a $6.7M Series A funding round, led by Shasta Ventures. The investment will drive further development of the firm's breakthrough analytics solution: a single application for natively exploring, visualizing and embedding analytics against unstructured data sources including NoSQL, Hadoop, and cloud API's. "The BI industry has failed to help enterprises deal with the data complexity that's spiraling out of control," said Jeff Carr, CEO and co-Founder of SlamData. "SlamData has grown quickly by helping enterprises gain immediate insight into their businesses. Our customers are eliminating up to 80% of the time and costs related to the traditional way of doing business intelligence such as ETL, mapping, and data warehouses, datamarts and other forms of data prep." SlamData launched its open source solution in 2014, supporting MongoDB. Since then the company has added support for Couchbase, Marklogic, and Spark/Hadoop. SlamData uses a SQL dialect as a standard across all of its supported data sources, offering radical simplicity to companies that utilize numerous database technologies. According to Carr, the new funding round will support the expansion of its executive team, starting with Sreeni Iyer who is joining the company as senior vice president of Engineering and will lead the development of the SlamData platform. Previously Iyer was formerly CTO/CIO and co-Founder of Quad Analytix. He also served as director of WorldWide Solutions at Terracotta nd the director of Platform Infrastructure Engineering at Shutterfly. Most recently, he was the Entrepreneur in Residence at Shasta Ventures.
"SlamData is an enterprise game-changer. They are the first company that lets you write once to any kind of data source transforming how today's businesses can quickly explore, analyze and derive value from their ever-increasing data sources," said Nitin Chopra, Principal at Shasta Ventures. "We're thrilled to support Jeff and his team as they execute on their vision to help businesses make sense of today's modern fragmented data." SlamData's roadmap includes new user interface (UI) features and new data sources featuring real-time and streaming analytics, integration with machine learning providers, RDBMS integration (including RedShift, Oracle, and SQL Server), distributed joins, and richer, high-density interactive data visualizations.
For more information on SlamData, visit www.slamdata.com. About SlamData
SlamData is the developer of the SlamData open source project, the industry-leading solution for visual analytics over modern data, including NoSQL, Hadoop and Cloud API's. The software allows users to visually explore, refine, visualize and publish/embed data stored in NoSQL databases, without data relocation, ETL or developer resources. SlamData's mission is to make it easy for non-technical users to see and understand NoSQL data. Currently, SlamData natively supports the most popular NoSQL databases including MongoDB, Couchbase, MarkLogic and Apache Spark/Hadoop. About Shasta Ventures
Shasta Ventures is a leading early-stage venture capital firm partnering with bold creative entrepreneurs who are passionate about building great products and amazing experiences. Founded in 2004, Shasta Ventures has funded more than 100 companies specializing in consumer technology, enterprise software and emerging platforms including Apptio, Dollar Shave Club, Mint, Nest and many promising private companies such as Anaplan, Eero, Glint, Lucidworks, Lightbend, Nextdoor, Smule, Turo, Zuora and more. The firm is based in Menlo Park and San Francisco, California. Find out more at www.shastaventures.com, or follow us on Twitter at @Shasta. Contact Information
Chris Dima
SlamData
Director of Marketing
[email protected]
@slamdata Related Images image1.jpg image2.png This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/slamdata-secures-67mm-series-a-to-support-modern-data-in-the-enterprise-300411752.html SOURCE SlamData
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Top 3 Trends Impacting the Soft Skills Training Market in Europe Through 2021: Technavio
Technavio's latest market research report on the soft skills training market in Europe provides an analysis of the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2017-2021. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline.
This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222005644/en/
Technavio has published a new report on the soft skills training market in Europe from 2017-2021. (Photo: Business Wire)
Jhansi Mary, a lead analyst from Technavio, specializing in research on K12 and higher education sector says, "The soft skills training market in Europe is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 33%, driven by factors such as the rise in digitization and implementation of advanced technologies. These factors are exerting constant pressure on vendors to update their training programs."
Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=56625
Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more.
The top three emerging market trends driving the soft skills training market in Europe according to Technavio education research analysts are:
Training through social collaboration tools
Cloud-based m-learning
Analytics in soft skills training practices
Training through social collaboration tools
A growing number of organizations are incorporating social media platforms such as Facebook (News - Alert), Twitter, and LinkedIn into their learning environments. Many large organizations are adopting social learning tools such as internal employee blogs, wikis, and online exert communities, as they are effective training tools. Prominent organizations are encouraging their employees to use social media as it provides the staff a chance to engage in active and collaborative learning. Social learning helps them to create a network of knowledgeable people across the world, which helps in making informed decisions and solving complex problems. Using social collaboration tools employees can easily share their accomplishments with their social network colleagues.
Corporates are extensively relying on external data available in social media, as most of the information shared by employees on these sites is accurate and exhaustive when compared with the data stored in the company HR systems. Employees are presenting their complete and updated information on websites such as LinkedIn (News - Alert). The data provide crucial insights to companies on how to design their leadership and talent management policies.
"Various start-ups in the market are not only providing online training course materials to companies but also capturing and providing the external data of their employees. Companies such as Degreed, which provides a platform for lifelong learning, also cater to employers by collecting employee information from various social networking sites," says Jhansi.
Cloud-based m-learning
Organizations worldwide are providing online training to their employees who are in geographically diverse locations. With uninterrupted Internet connectivity in mobile devices, m-learning helps learners connect instantly to the required platform, thereby facilitating collaborative learning. Companies use cloud computing to ensure seamless and easy accessibility of stored data. Using cloud-based m-learning, employees can access training materials stored in the cloud from their mobile devices. This enables them to complete the training at their own pace and based on their schedules.
Cloud-based m-learning is the best fit for training programs that require minimal technical guidance. Technavio expects the concept of cloud-based m-learning to gain considerable momentum in the future as it supports bring your own device (BYOD).
Analytics in soft skills training practices
The implementation of various learning technologies and enterprise resource planning software solutions among corporates has necessitated the deployment of learning analytics. Increasing competition and dynamic changes in the global corporate sector are compelling organizations to adapt to external changes. Adoption of online training methods in workplaces produces a large amount of data about employee feedback, types of courses undertaken, and difficulties faced in understanding the training material. Organizations can extract and analyze this data with the help of learning analytics tools. With the help of these tools, organizations can determine the efficacy of e-learning courses. This analysis can determine remedial actions about refining or modifying courses.
The most important feature of analytical tools is that the progress of learners can be tracked easily and their performance can be evaluated. Consequently, helpful learning activities can be designed by learning and development professionals depending on individual learning patterns. Access to such data by human resource management systems (HRMS) will help in designing better reward policies and compensation packages to ensure employee retention.
Browse Related Reports:
Become a Technavio Insights member and access all three of these reports for a fraction of their original cost. As a Technavio Insights member, you will have immediate access to new reports as they're published in addition to all 6,000+ existing reports covering segments like education technology, and school and college essentials. This subscription nets you thousands in savings, while staying connected to Technavio's constant transforming research library, helping you make informed business decisions more efficiently.
About Technavio
Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.
Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.
If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected].
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222005644/en/
[February 22, 2017] Santa Clara University Global Social Benefit Fellowship to Accept Cordes Innovation Award at Ashoka U Exchange
A program that is grooming the next generation of social-entrepreneur allies will soon be receiving the 2017 Cordes Innovation Award for academic learning, which honors pioneering, high-impact and replicable educational programs in support of social entrepreneurship. The award to the Global Social Benefit Fellowship of Santa Clara University's Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, will be presented during the Ashoka U Exchange conference, March 2 - 4 in Miami. What: The Global Social Benefit Fellowship has sent more than 75 Santa Clara University juniors to countries including Uganda, Mexico, Paraguay and India to conduct research that directly benefits partner social entrepreneurs. With the avid interest in social entrepreneurship among millennials, the program is drawing 100 inquiries every year - including some students who choose SCU specifically in hopes of becoming a Fellow. Graduates of the Fellows program have gone on to Fulbright scholarships, non-profit liaison work at Silicon Valley tech companies, and leadership of social enterprises or centers of social entrepreneurship.
Where: Ashoka U Exchange is one of the world's largest annual gatherings that highlights exciting, globally relevant models of social innovation in higher education. The 2017 Cordes Innovation Awards recognize premiere innovative programs that advance social impact education. Miller Center's Global Social Benefit Fellowship (GSBF) is the winner in the Academic Learning category, one of four award categories. The Cordes Innovation Award is presented by Ashoka U, an education initiative of Ashoka, the world's largest network of social entrepreneurs, and the Cordes Foundation.
It will be presented at Miami's Downtown Hilton Hotel, Ballroom Level, 1601 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33132. When: The 2017 Cordes Innovation Award winners will be celebrated on Friday, March 3, 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Who: Accepting the award on behalf of Santa Clara University and Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship will be Keith Warner, Ph.D., OFM, director of education and action research at Miller Center and co-founder and director of the GSBF. Warner will also give a keynote at the event, on March 3 at 9:30 a.m. Details: Since 2011, Ashoka U and the Cordes Foundation have presented the Cordes Innovation Awards. The 35 previous winners of the awards include ThinkImpact, Echoing Green's Work on Purpose, Global Citizen Year, University of Oregon's Sustainable City Year Program and Brown University's Swearer Sparks storytelling platform. The presentation of the 2017 Cordes Innovation Awards are not open to the general public. Media may attend by RSVPing to https://ashokau.wufoo.com/forms/2017-ashoka-u-exchange-participant-directory/ or directly contacting Emily Lamb, Exchange Associate Director, [email protected]. About Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship Founded in 1997, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship is one of three Centers of Distinction at Santa Clara University in California. Miller Center accelerates global, innovation-based entrepreneurship in service to humanity. Its strategic focus is on poverty eradication with an emphasis on climate resilience and women's economic empowerment. To learn more about the Center or any of its social entrepreneurship programs, visit www.scu.edu/MillerCenter. About Santa Clara University Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California's Silicon Valley, offers its more than 9,000 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business and engineering; master's degrees in business, education, counseling psychology, pastoral ministry and theology; and law and engineering doctoral degrees. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master's universities, California's oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222006327/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Redflex Reinstated as "Responsible Vendor" by City of Chicago
GLENDALE, Ariz., Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc. (RTSI) was reinstated as a "responsible vendor" by the City of Chicago, allowing it to compete again for City business. As previously announced, the Company has resolved all U.S. issues related to its 2013 inquiry into wrongdoing by former executives. In a letter announcing the reinstatement, the City publicly praised Redflex saying the Company had cooperated fully, taken appropriate disciplinary action, effected remedial measures, instituted review and control procedures, and implemented programs to prevent a recurrence. "The reinstatement is a vital milestone on our road to success," said RTSI President & CEO Michael Finn. "The actions we have taken over the last four years have been recognized by our customers, government officials and other experts. Equipped with their trust and our innovative public safety technology, we will pursue contracts in Chicago and continue our efforts throughout the Americas." Redfex is a public safety company, partnering with hundreds of state and municipal governments to save lives and reduce the costs associated with dangerous driving behaviors. In addition to photo traffic enforcement systems, the Company's advanced technology includes automatic license plate recognition, ticketless parking solutions and software to track unpaid tickets.
Redflex is financially stable, with over 150 existing contracts in communities across the Americas. Customers continue to express confidence in the Company's operations and products, signing new contracts and renewing expiring agreements. The Company, which has been expanding its offerings in North America, South America and the Caribbean, intends to continue serving customers and developing new technologies to save lives and improve road safety. RTSI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Redflex Holdings Group, which operates on five continents and in sixteen countries.
About REDFLEX Traffic Systems, Inc.
Headquartered in Glendale, Arizona, RTSI makes and operates technology to deter red light running, speeding, passing stopped school buses, crossing railroad tracks while the alarm is active, running stop signs, unauthorized vehicles driving and stopping in bus lanes, speeding in highway work zones, stopping in an intersection during a red light and traveling in a crosswalk when a pedestrian is present. In addition, RTSI has technology to help prevent right angle crashes by red light runners before they ever occur, and to stop wrong-way drivers and alert other motorists when wrong-way drivers are headed their way. RTSI's suite of municipal services includes license plate tracking, ticketless parking solutions and software to help municipalities track and collect unpaid city fines and fees.
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/redflex-reinstated-as-responsible-vendor-by-city-of-chicago-300411861.html SOURCE Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] A.M. BestTV: Asia Insurers Building Technology-Based Bridges to Customers
In this A.M.BestTV episode, insurers at the Asia CEO Insurance Summit in Singapore said the ongoing developments of technology-based innovators are opening up new pathways to customers and raising the bar for customer service and interaction. Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=asiaceo1217nc to view the entire program. Technology, disruption and innovation are the challenges looming over the ever-changing insurance landscape in Asia. "There are tremendous opportunities for this industry on a number of fronts," said Stephen O'Hearn, global leader for insurance, PwC. "The first and foremost being connectivity with the customer." Abhisek Bhatia, chief executive officer, FWD Singapore, sees advantages and disadvantages for market players, but notes, "the system will improve." However, Robert Burr, head of life & health, Asia, Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd, believes the industry needs to acknowledge and concentrate more on the unintended consequences technology brings with it. "From the threat side, I believe it is important to understand some of the unintended consequences that can arise around data privacy and around the importance of understanding what a company can and cannot do with an individual's data," said Burr. "There has to be an ownership in the industry to act responsibly with what is done with this technology." Other people that appear in this episode: Recent episodes of A.M.BestTV include: Ankur Agrawal, head of data innovation lab, Asia, AXA ;
; Ian Brimecome, senior managing executive officer and executive chairman, Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc ;
; Michael Gourlay, director and chief executive officer, MSIG Singapore; and Dave Matcham, chief executive, International Underwriting Association. For full coverage of the summit, including exclusive executive interviews, visit www.ambest.tv/ceo17.
How Insurance Impairment Data Affects Credit Risk : A.M. Best analysts explain the latest impairment rate and rating transition study and the role it plays in evaluating risk: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=impairment117.
: analysts explain the latest impairment rate and rating transition study and the role it plays in evaluating risk: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=impairment117. How Artificial Intelligence Is Remaking the Insurance Industry : The impacts of escalating data analysis capabilities are being seen first in personal and commercial lines, as well as life insurance and group benefits, a new study reports. Artificial intelligence is making some jobs obsolete but expanding the capabilities and effectiveness of others: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=ai217.
: The impacts of escalating data analysis capabilities are being seen first in personal and commercial lines, as well as life insurance and group benefits, a new study reports. Artificial intelligence is making some jobs obsolete but expanding the capabilities and effectiveness of others: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=ai217. Directors and Officers Market Stands Up to Surge in Securities Litigation : Insurers at the PLUS Directors and Officers Liability Symposium in New York City said they saw the highest number of securities-related lawsuits in 2016 since the financial crisis, and added that the market remains soft with competitive prices and plentiful availability: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=plus217.
: Insurers at the PLUS Directors and Officers Liability Symposium in New York City said they saw the highest number of securities-related lawsuits in 2016 since the financial crisis, and added that the market remains soft with competitive prices and plentiful availability: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=plus217. Former AIG Chief Executive Officer Greenberg: I'm Disappointed in the New York Attorney General's Press: In a wide-ranging briefing, Maurice R. Greenberg, former head of American International Group, Inc. and current head of C.V. Starr & Co., lashes out at a statement by the New York Attorney General that Greenberg admitted to participating in accounting fraud: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=settlement217. A.M.BestTV covers exclusive A.M. Best information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the (re)insurance industry every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sign up for alerts of episodes at http://www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. View A.M.BestTV episodes at http://www.ambest.tv. A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.
Copyright 2017 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222006431/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
LA JOLLA, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ActivX Biosciences, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Tokyo), announces the appointment of Professor Hugh Rosen of The Scripps Research Institute to the position of Chairman & President of ActivX, effective April 1, 2017. He will succeed John W. Kozarich who has been at ActivX since 2001, serving as Chairman & President since its acquisition by Kyorin in 2004. John will stay on at ActivX as a Board Director and assume the new position of Distinguished Scientist and Executive Advisor.
Professor Rosens 30+ year career in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic sectors has been one of significant achievements. Following training in medicine in Cape Town, he received his D.Phil. as a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Scholar at the University of Oxford. He spent 11 years at Merck Research Laboratories before becoming a Professor at TSRI (The Scripps Research Institute) in 2002. There he co-invented ozanimod and was a scientific founder of Receptos, acquired by Celgene in 2015 for $7.3 Billion, as well as BlackThorn Therapeutics, which recently closed a $40M Series A. He serves as an independent Board member at Regulus Therapeutics and will remain on the faculty of TSRI.
Hugh Rosen is a world-class translational physician/scientist and biotechnology entrepreneur, explained Dr. Kozarich. We are delighted that he will assume the leadership of ActivX, building on our R&D contributions to Kyorin and adding new dimensions to our cutting-edge KiNativ technology. Hugh has been a friend and colleague to me and to Kyorin for 25 years. I am honored to have him as my successor and look forward to working with him in my new role. Hughs appointment clearly signals Kyorins ongoing commitment to ActivX as a key component to their future success. This is an ideal outcome for all involved.
Dr. Rosen added that: The opportunity to lead ActivX Biosciences is especially attractive to a physician-scientist with a record of success in drug discovery and development because the ActivX technologies have unlocked exciting and potentially transforming drug discovery opportunities. This is a tribute to the outstanding work of John Kozarich and colleagues at both ActivX and Kyorin. I look forward to continuing to work with John, his management team and Kyorin to bring significant new products forward to benefit patient outcomes, caregivers and providers. Through discovery and development, we strive to improve the public health.
Mr. Minoru Hogawa, Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kyorin Holdings Inc., commented that: Kyorin has been and will be creating first-in-class medicines. ActivX Biosciences is the core member for our research group activities. We believe Dr. Rosen will accelerate our research programs and accomplish our goals effectively with his wide experience.
About ActivX Biosciences, Inc.
ActivX Biosciences, Inc. (www.activx.com ) located in La Jolla, California, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and has drug discovery and proteomics technology capabilities. The company applies proprietary chemical technologies and high-throughput protein analysis to the drug discovery and development process. By focusing on functional proteins, ActivX addresses disease mechanisms directly, in contrast to approaches such as expression profiling, in which the measured analyte is several steps removed from the site of drug action. ActivX and its partners utilize ActivXs proprietary technology and profiling platform (KiNativ - www.kinativ.com ) to address critical challenges in kinase drug discovery, including selectivity profiling of candidate drug molecules in biological samples to guide their medicinal chemistry efforts. The KiNativ platform aids in the identification of novel drug targets and biomarkers, the determination of target engagement in vivo and the characterization of off-target activities of candidate and established drugs to understand the basis of their efficacy and/or toxicity.
About Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
Trusted among patients and professionals in the medical industry, Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (http://www.kyorin-pharm.co.jp/en/), which is a core company of Kyorin Holdings Inc. (http://www.kyorin-gr.co.jp/en/), strives to be a company that contributes to the public health and is recognized as a one with social significance by improving its presence in specified therapeutic areas and through global discovery of novel drugs. Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. uses its franchise customer strategy in the developing and marketing ethical drugs on the core areas of respiratory, otolaryngology and urology.
[February 22, 2017] Time is Important When Applying for Optional Practical Training Says eShipGlobal
DALLAS, Feb. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The US country boasts some of the top universities in the world, making it a destination of choice when studying internationally. American universities have seen a 40% increase in the number of international students choosing to study in the US. In 2016, the international student population exceeded one million. These students come from all over the world to study various majors, ranging from STEM majors to business majors. They will be making America their home, at least until they graduate. After graduating, however, international students only have 60 days before they must return back to their home country. If they wish to gain some work experience in the US they can with Optional Practical Training (OPT), a 12-month working period granted to F-1 students. Students can complete OPT either before graduation or after. In order to apply to OPT, students must have completed nine or more months of education at a US university. They only have a total of 12 authorized months that they can complete. Students can apply for OPT up to 90 days prior to graduating for a post-graduation OPT. There are several steps and a lot of paperwork to fill out when applying for OPT, all of which takes time. Students submit OPT applications to their schools International Student Services office. This process can take 1-2 weeks. After the students receive their documents and OPT package, they need tofill out the forms and ship the documents to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office. Students are recommended to start the OPT process early because it can take the USCIS several months to process the application.
There are only two USCIS locations that accept OPT applications: Phoenix and Dallas. The state the student resides in will determine which location they will send the paperwork to. Because time is sensitive, students may want to consider expediting the process. eShipGlobal's University Express Mail Service (UEMS), a trusted shipping service used by over 800 universities, has recently updated their system to making it even easier to ship OPT applications. The UEMS system is completely free to sign up and the process is simple. Once signed in they click the OPT/Send to USCIS option and follow the steps. The USCIS addresses are already loaded into the system, so students just need to select the location they need to send their OPT to. Students can ship using trusting shipping carriers like UPS and FedEx, while saving money through the use of eShipGlobal's discounted shipping rates.
There is only a 150-day time frame in which students have to complete the OPT process. UEMS's new streamlined process for shipping OPT applications hopes to help students save not only money, but also time. About eShipGlobal: eShipGlobal is dedicated to serving the global community by providing solutions that simplify and enhance the shipment of goods. Their software shipping solutions make it easier for universities, research labs, and businesses to better manage their shipping while saving time and money. Media Contact:
Saul Severe
Phone: 972.518.1775
Email: [email protected] Related Images image1.png image2.png Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spVeUOzQ7GY This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/time-is-important-when-applying-for-optional-practical-training-says-eshipglobal-300411860.html SOURCE eShipGlobal Inc
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 22, 2017] Reinsurance Group of America to Host Investor Day
Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (NYSE: RGA) will host a conference for institutional investors and analysts at the Grand Hyatt New York hotel in New York City on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Additional details, including live audio webcast information, will be provided closer to the date of the event. About RGA Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RG), a FORTUNE 500 company, is among the leading global providers of life reinsurance and financial solutions, with approximately $3.1 trillion of life reinsurance in force and assets of $53.1 billion as of December 31, 2016. Founded in 1973, RGA today is recognized for its deep technical expertise in risk and capital management, innovative solutions, and commitment to serving its clients. With headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri and operations in 26 countries, RGA delivers expert solutions in individual life reinsurance, individual living benefits reinsurance, group reinsurance, health reinsurance, facultative underwriting, product development, and financial solutions. To learn more about RGA and its businesses, visit the company's website at www.rgare.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170222006572/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
A look back on all of our reporting of the Delphi murders since 2017
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Feb. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AJRD) announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Coleman Aerospace from L3 Technologies, Inc. for $15 million in cash, subject to customary adjustments. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the month. Coleman Aerospace will operate as a subsidiary of Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc. and will be renamed Aerojet Rocketdyne Coleman Aerospace, Inc. (Coleman).
Coleman, founded in 1980, is an innovative systems engineering and integration provider. Both a prime contractor and subcontractor, Coleman provides a variety of suborbital launch vehicles, payloads, and launch services. Coleman develops and integrates air- and ground-launched ballistic missile targets and mission planning for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, and hypersonic testing for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
The acquisition builds upon and expands Aerojet Rocketdynes capabilities in mission analysis and systems engineering, and increases its product portfolio to include vehicle integration for small-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missile targets and other small launch vehicles. The Coleman business is expected to generate approximately $40 million in revenue in 2017.
The addition of Colemans vehicle integration expertise supports our growth strategy for offering an expanded range of products and services to the defense and space markets, said Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. CEO and President Eileen Drake. This deal represents a sound investment in both advanced technologies and new capabilities that build upon our decades of experience as the nations leading propulsion provider. We respect the long-standing reputation for quality and customer focus that Coleman has built in the aerospace industry and in the Orlando community, and we are thrilled to welcome them to our company.
Coleman will operate at its existing location in Orlando, Florida and will assume the new Space Coast Integration & Test facility lease at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the Space Coast facility is planned for this Friday, Feb. 24, 2017.
Aerojet Rocketdyne has nearly 5,000 employees at 14 sites around the country, including approximately 400 employees at its facility in West Palm Beach, Florida.
About Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc.
Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc., headquartered in El Segundo, California, is an innovative technology-based manufacturer of aerospace and defense products and systems, with a real estate segment that includes activities related to the entitlement, sale, and leasing of the companys excess real estate assets. More information can be obtained by visiting the companys website at www.aerojetrocketdyne.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: anticipate, plan, expect, strategy, future, may, will, and similar references to future periods. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected depending on a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among other things: economic and financial conditions; changes in customer demand and requirements; the possibility that the pending acquisition does not close at the expected time; the ability to integrate the acquired operations; cancellation or material modification of one or more contracts; changes in labor costs and labor difficulties; and the ability to implement the anticipated business plans following closing. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many factors that affect Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc.s business as described in more detail in its annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
An unfamiliar bill. A call from a bank asking about unknown charges. Being turned down for a loan or an apartment because of red flags in your credit check. All these are signs your identity may have been stolen.
(Image credit: rangizzz/Shutterstock)
Forms of identity theft include using stolen payment-card information to make a purchase; taking control of existing accounts with banks and online payments platforms such as PayPal; and opening new accounts with online sites such as eBay and Amazon, mobile carriers or utilities.
Identity theft has been one of the top three consumer complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission for many years. More than 26 million people were victims of identity theft in 2016, according to the latest report from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. It's also big money for the thieves, with Javelin Strategy and Research estimating $16 billion in identity theft-related losses in the United States for 2016.
MORE: Best Identity-Theft Protection Software
"The situation around credit card and identity theft is getting worse, and shows no signs in the near or intermediate term of getting any better," said Christopher Budd, a senior manager of threat communications at Palo Alto networks in Santa Clara, California.
Identity theft can happen to anyone there's no single group that is more or less susceptible to being victimized.
"We're not so smart and careful that we can control everything," Budd warned.
How identity theft happens
Your identity can be stolen because a store's point-of-sale terminal was compromised, as happened in the massive Target data breach in 2013, or because someone cloned your credit card when you were paying a bill at a restaurant, or perhaps because a malware infection on your computer intercepted your financial details.
Your identity can also be stolen by non-digital means. For example, someone could fish an old checkbook or credit card statement out of your trash.
"We're at a point where people have to start taking active responsibility for protecting themselves, because no one else is going to do it for them," Budd said.
Here are some tips that can help you protect your identity.
Don't use your Social Security number as ID
Eighty percent of the top 25 banks and 96 percent of top credit-card issuers will let you access your accounts with your Social Security number (SSN) instead of an account number, according to Javelin. Tell your bank you will never do this; that way, your bank will know anyone trying to access the account with the SSN isn't you.
In general, don't blindly hand over your SSN when it's asked for. Instead, ask why such information is necessary, and if there is an alternative form of ID that can be used.
Secure your personal data
If you keep your financial records online, on a computer or on a mobile device, secure these records behind a strong password. Change passwords frequently on all accounts, use a password manager, and turn on two-factor authentication wherever possible.
Check activity regularly for any account that involves money, not just bank and credit cards. For example, regularly check statements from your mobile carrier to make sure additional devices or services haven't been added.
MORE: How to Turn On 2-Step Verification
Be savvy about email
Whenever a data breach makes headlines, scammers piggyback on the news by sending out fake emails to already jittery consumers, containing bogus fraud alerts and fake password-reset links. Treat every email you get about a potential data breach, or warning about potential fraud, with skepticism. Don't ever click on a link or open an attachment in a data-breach-notification email message.
Protect your devices
Make sure your computer and mobile devices are running the latest versions of their operating systems and software, as well as up-to-date versions of anti-virus software. Don't use Windows XP or Windows Vista systems for online shopping or banking, because Microsoft no longer supports those operating systems with security patches. (Patches for Windows 7 end in January 2020.) Consider using super-secure "hardened" browsers or virtual software when accessing sensitive accounts.
MORE: Best Antivirus Software and Apps
Buy a shredder and use it
Identity theft doesn't always require a computer. Professional identity thieves know that garbage cans and company dumpsters are rich troves of financial documents, including canceled checks and credit card and bank statements. Don't toss out your identity with the trash instead, shred anything sensitive before you throw it away.
Erase computer and smartphone hard drives
Clean out your personal information before getting rid of old PCs, tablets and smartphones. It is surprisingly easy for someone to get access to personal data if the hard drive hasn't been totally reformatted and cleaned.
Sign up for alerts and monitoring
Ask your financial institution to email you whenever funds are transferred out of your account. If your credit card company offers an alert service for suspicious charges, take it. Consider instituting a credit alert with the three major credit bureaus to let you know about new accounts being opened in your name; you can do so for free every year. You can also institute a credit freeze for free, which means no one can look at your credit report without your say-so, although that could complicate things for you financially.
Consider paying for a real-time identity-theft and credit-monitoring service, most of which now incorporate identity-monitoring services, which monitor thousands of black-market websites and notify you if your data ever shows up.
MORE: Best Identity Protection Services
Don't take calls from the IRS or Social Security Administration
The Internal Revenue Service, or any organization authorized to act on behalf of the IRS, will not initiate contact via email, social media, text message or telephone. The government will use the good old postal service first. The same goes for the Social Security Administration, which is in charge of issuing Social Security numbers.
If you get a call, text or email claiming you owe back taxes or exorbitant fines, or that your Social Security number has "expired" or been deemed invalid, it's fake. Don't hand over your credit card number. Hang up instead, and call the IRS or Social Security Administration directly if you have questions.
Lock your mailbox
Every day, millions of bank statements and credit card bills land in mailboxes. Passports and Social Security cards are also sent through the mail. If you have an old-style curbside mailbox, it's easy for anyone to steal your mail. Invest in a locking mailbox; many come with a slot into which mail can be deposited, while others have keys you can share with the mail carrier.
MORE: What to do if your SSN is stolen
Investigate yourself
Get copies of your credit reports and check for any unusual account activity you don't recognize. Even a quick check of social-media sites and search engines can reveal if someone is impersonating you. When you find a problem, report it immediately. A quick response will reduce the amount of damage you will have to suffer.
Take data-breach notifications seriously
One-third of the people who received data-breach notification letters became identity-fraud victims in 2013, according to an older Javelin report. Forty-six percent of consumers with compromised debit cards in 2013 became fraud victims in the same year, compared to only 16 percent of consumers with a compromised Social Security number. If you receive a data-breach notification letter that includes an offer for a free monitoring service, take advantage of it. Take all the steps recommended in the notice, such as changing passwords and monitoring financial statements closely.
MORE: How to Survive a Data Breach
Living in an increasingly digital world is great for comfort and convenience, but there's a downside to greater reach in the digital realm: It creates new avenues for theft and fraud.
(Image credit: NikP/Shutterstock)
"Data theft, for both companies and individuals, is one of the top security concerns for 2017," said Garit Boothe, a technology specialist at Frontier Communications. "There's a growing threat to personal information security, but a lot of consumers are left in the dark as to how to deal with the effects."
Yet, despite this growing threat, many people are unfamiliar with the details of credit card fraud and identity theft, let alone how to handle the aftermath of a breach.
In the face of rising risk, knowing what you're up against can help you better prepare for and manage a potential loss. The average person is likely to encounter either credit card theft and identity theft, or both, in his or her lifetime. Let's take a closer look at how those two types of information fraud differ, and what you can do to handle the effects of each.
What is credit card theft?
Credit card theft is a type of identity theft that occurs when someone accesses your credit card account and uses it to make unauthorized purchases. Credit card theft has, unfortunately, become a common crime. According to a 2015 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), part of the U.S. Department of Justice, 8.6 million Americans ages 16 or older were victims of credit card fraud in 2014.
What is identity theft?
Though the terms "credit card theft" and "identity theft" are often used interchangeably, identity theft refers to a wider and often much more serious set of crimes. The Justice Department splits identity theft into three categories.
1. Fraud or misuse of an existing account is the category into which credit card theft falls. This crime occurs when someone obtains your credit card number or bank-account information, and uses that information to go on a spending spree. Passing bad checks on someone else's account also qualifies. This is by far the most common type of identity theft, accounting for 16.4 million of the 17.6 million total victims in 2014.
2. Fraud or misuse of a new account occurs when someone uses your personal information to open a new account. This new account could be relatively small, such as a checking account or a new credit card; it can also be much larger, such as a fraudulent mortgage to buy a house. Roughly 1.1 million victims reported this type of identity theft in 2014.
3. Fraud or misuse of personal information covers all other events involving improper use of your personal data, including the use of stolen information to get a job, receive medical care, rent an apartment or provide a false identity to law enforcement. This category accounted for 713,000 of the victims in 2014.
MORE: Best Identity-Protection Services
Recovering from credit card theft
While dealing with credit card theft isn't anyone's idea of fun, the recovery process is pretty simple. A few solid federal laws protect consumers from bearing the responsibility of fraudulent charges. No matter how much was stolen, you can be held liable for a maximum of only $50 when you report fraud on a credit card account. If you report the fraud within 60 days of learning of it, even that cost may be waived.
Debit cards are a bit different. In order to limit your liability if your card was physically lost or stolen, you need to report the loss quickly. Your liability stands at $50 for the first two days after the discovery of fraud, and then jumps to $500 between the two-day and 60-day mark. Beyond that, you might be accountable for all charges. If your physical card wasn't taken, however, there's more leniency; as long as you report the fraudulent use within 60 days, you won't be liable for a cent.
In some cases, thieves aren't even able to use the card in the first place. Many card issuers automatically detect suspicious activity and put a block on the card to prevent any future charges. Some companies will even call cardholders to alert them to the attempted use.
Recovering from identity theft
Recovering from full-blown identity theft, in which fraudulent accounts are opened or fraudulent documents are issued in your name, can take years. This type of fraud can be complex and far-reaching, involving multiple avenues of misuse some of which may go undiscovered until a collection agency attempts to collect a debt that you weren't even aware existed. It wreaks havoc on credit scores and sometimes places extraordinary stress on victims and their families.
MORE: Identity Theft Victim? Here's 6 Things You Need to Do
Not all of the effects of identity theft are as easy to quantify or resolve, however. For instance, identity-theft victims often suffer serious emotional consequences, though that element of recovery is rarely discussed. But imagine losing your dream home because you couldn't get a mortgage, due to years'-old identity theft of which you weren't aware.
A full 36 percent of victims report suffering moderate to severe emotional distress as a result of identity theft. A recent Equifax report detailed the psychological toll identity theft can take on its victims, noting that many of these individuals experience emotional effects similar to those experienced by victims of assault or home invasion.
If you've been the victim of identity theft, immediately consult the federal government's online resources for ID-theft management. With just a few clicks, you can report fraud and build a custom recovery plan to handle your situation. Once that's in place, consider consulting with a therapist or psychologist to help manage the emotional fallout.
Avoiding identity theft
If you've never been a victim of identity theft, count your blessings. The good news is that minimizing your risk of identity theft is easier that it may seem. Here are a few tips:
1. Shred sensitive documents before throwing them away. Anything that has personal or financial information canceled checks, credit-card statements, even junk mail from a bank or credit-card company is a potential gold mine to an identity thief. When shopping for a good shredder (opens in new tab), look for a model that crosscuts the paper into tiny pieces, rather than just into strips that can be pasted back together.
2. Erase computer and smartphone hard drives. Clean out your personal information before getting rid of old PCs, tablets and smartphones. It is surprisingly easy for someone to get access to personal data if the hard drive hasn't been totally reformatted and cleaned.
3. Use antivirus software on your computer. Antivirus software will stop most attacks, as long as you let it update every day. Also, don't download anything that you don't trust completely.
4. Check your credit reports regularly for discrepancies. You can get up to three credit reports free every year. Reading them can help you head off any potential issues before they become too big.
5. Don't give out personal information over email. You dont trust everyone you meet on the street, so why would you trust people who email you out of the blue? A reputable company won't email you to solicit personal information, so if you're seeing messages asking for your Social Security number, it's likely a ploy.
6. Make your passwords strong and unique. Passwords often act as both your first and last lines of defense against information theft. A strong password should be fairly long and use both numbers and symbols in addition to letters. If you have trouble remembering all of those complex passwords, use a password manager.
7. Enable two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication, or 2FA, creates a secondary wall that's harder to bypass than a password alone. Enable it on your online accounts whenever possible.
Identity theft is serious business, and it often goes much further than just losing a credit card and making a few phone calls. But there is hope. Use the knowledge in this article to keep your private information private and your identity secure.
We've seen a long slow trickle of information about AMD's Ryzen processors spill out over the last several months. AMD has fed us enough information to keep us listening, and combined with a mudslide of mostly-false leaks, its fair to say the excitement has reached a fever pitch. We are finally on the cusp of the official March 2 launch date, and as such, AMD held a Tech Day event in San Francisco to lay out the pricing, specifications and its own internally generated benchmarks for its three leading SKUs. The Ryzen 7 1800X ($499), 1700X ($399), and 1700 ($329) all pack 8 cores and 16 threads at an impressive price point.
AMD CEO Lisa Su also presented three demos pitting Ryzen against competing Intel processors, including a Cinebench multi-threaded test, HandBrake video transcoding test, and 4K gaming session.
The company also surprisingly announced that Ryzen processors are available for pre-order at 1:30pm ET today (Feb 22) from 180 global e-tailers and boutique OEMs, which is somewhat odd timing considering that product reviews aren't out yet.
AMD began the blank-sheet Zen processor core design phase four years ago and invested two million engineering hours optimizing the architecture and process technology to strike the right blend of power and performance. The end result comes in the form of the Ryzen processors, which come packing 4.8 billion 14nm transistors. AMD finally shared a naked image of the die, and we can clearly spot the two separate CPU complexes, which come with four cores each. We've already covered the Zen microarchitecture in our Everything Zen article, but we'll revisit the topic with new details in our review.
AMD originally set out to increase IPC 40% over its own previous-generation chips, but the company revealed that it actually surpassed that goal and measured a 52% increase. Every processor design is an engineering marvel--for instance, the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen processors come with 2,000 meters of internal signal wiring, but perhaps AMD's greatest feat comes in the form of Ryzen's low price tag.
AMD is quite vocal that it is out to disrupt the PC market with its low pricing model, and all three of the leading Ryzen models deliver on that front, especially in light of their beefy 8-core designs.
Ryzen 7 1800X
Image 1 of 3
The Ryzen 7 1800X features 8 cores/16 threads with a 3.6GHz base and 4.0GHz boost frequency. The "X" designation in the product name denotes that the processor features AMD's XFR (eXtended Frequency Range) technology, which allows for higher clock speeds if you employ a more robust cooling device. XFR is just one of several key technologies in AMD's SenseMI suite, which includes Pure Power, Precision Boost, Smart Prefetch and Neural Net Prediction features.
AMD presented its own internal benchmarks comparing the 1800X to the Intel Broadwell-E 8-core/16-thread Intel Core i7-6900K. AMD claimed it offers 9% more performance in the Cinebench R15 multi-threaded test (noted as nT) and matches the i7-6900K's single-core score. More importantly, the company pointed out its $499 price, which is much lower than the i7-6900K's $1,050. It has a 95W TDP.
EDIT: AMD did not send the final test configurations until moments before launch, but it is worth calling out that the company tested the Broadwell-E comparison systems with a dual-channel memory configuration, though they support quad-channel memory. This could penalize Broadwell-E's Cinebench performance slightly.
(opens in new tab) Ryzen 7 1800X (Pre-Order)
Ryzen 7 1700X
Image 1 of 4
The 95W Ryzen 7 1700X features a 3.4GHz base and 3.8GHz boost frequency. It also features 8 cores and 16 threads, which it leverages to beat the 6-core Intel Core i7-6800K by 39% and the 8-core Core i7-6900K by 4% in the multi-threaded Cinebench R15 test. Notably, AMD didn't share the 1700X's single-threaded results. The lack of a single-threaded benchmark result, or more expansive benchmarks of any variety, means that we will still need to wait to see reviews for the full story. Once again, the price is a big attraction: The Ryzen 7 1700X retails for $399 compared to the $425 Intel Core i7-6800K and $1,049 Core i7-6900K.
(opens in new tab) Ryzen 7 1700X (Pre-Order)
Ryzen 7 1700
Image 1 of 3
The Ryzen 7 1700 steps back to a 65W TDP, hence the "world's lowest power 8-core desktop processor" designation, and it features 8 cores and 16 threads. It comes with a 3.0GHz base and 3.7GHz boost frequency along with 20MB of L2+L3 cache. AMD presented a multi-threaded Cinebench benchmark showing a 46% gain over the four-core Core i7-7700K. The Ryzen 7 1700 retails for $329, which is $21 less than the i7-7700K. Once again, AMD didn't present single-threaded benchmarks.
(opens in new tab) Ryzen 7 1700 (Pre-Order)
AMD Cooling Solutions And Retail Packaging
Image 1 of 6
Ryzen processors will come with the logo etched on the heat spreader. AMD also unveiled its retail packaging and the new Wraith Spire cooling solution for select Ryzen processors, but details are slight.
AMD indicated there would be 82+ motherboards at launch from the usual suspects, such as ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Biostar and ASRock. Full systems are available from 19 boutique builders. OEM gaming towers will follow in 1H17.
AMD's competitive pricing is aimed at the center mass of the desktop PC market--99% of the PC market buys CPUs below $500. AMD's pricing is definitely disruptive, but there are still some important facets we will discover in the coming weeks, such as performance in a more diverse range of benchmarks, single-threaded and gaming performance, and overclockability, among others. AMD's pricing strategy is encouraging, and it doesn't have to beat Intel in every category if it can provide a healthy price-to-performance ratio. A resurgent AMD will certainly help the struggling PC market and perhaps force Intel to alter its own pricing model.
AMD has a full lineup of new product launches this year, including Vega GPUs and Naples server CPUs in the second quarter. Ryzen mobile products with the Zen core arrive in the second half of the year.
AMD indicated that it designed the pre-order strategy to satisfy pent-up demand, but it's always best to wait for product reviews and a more thorough examination before pulling the trigger. Products hit the shelves on March 2, and it's a safe bet that product reviews will arrive in the same time frame. Stay tuned.
Community radio music directors often have an encyclopedic knowledge of local music and an insatiable thirst to keep their ears ahead of the curve. So in this Tone Deaf series, the Australian Music Radio Airplay Project (Amrap) invites music directors to highlight new Aussie tunes that you might have missed.
In this edition, Aeron Clark from Edge Radio in Hobart contributes with a selection of tracks currently making their way to community radio through Amraps music distribution service AirIt. Check out Aerons selections below and if youre a musician you can apply here to have your music distributed for free to community radio on Amraps AirIt.
Foxy Morons Ex
Foxy Morons have been together for less than a year, but that hasnt stopped them from delivering one of the standout tracks from the wonderful Community 4 compilation released last month.
Ex is woozy dream-pop and sugary vocal harmonies, paired with lyrics which, while being incredibly poignant, are delivered with a rawness that is almost heartbreakingly matter-of-fact. Its sweet, and its an excellent encapsulation of small town claustrophobia.
EWAH & The Vision of Paradise All Summer Long
EWAH & The Vision of Paradises debut LP Everything Fades To Blue combines suburban nostalgia with stories of disturbing violent crimes to create an intoxicating blend of sinister and ethereal.
All Summer Long tells the story of a town rocked by the unsolved disappearance of a girl. The first lush ring of the guitar is at once both warm and foreboding, and analogue synths create a creeping sense of urgency, building to an intense and immersive final movement.
Swayze and the Ghosts Reciprocation
Swayze and the Ghosts are known for the unrelenting nature of their live performances. I had imagined that any attempt to capture this on record would be futile, but their debut single proved me gladly wrong.
Driven by a pulsing bassline, ringing guitar and plenty of space, Reciprocation is a ten minute slow burn that steadily builds in energy throughout and then calms again, as desperation passes and clarity arrives. Its raw, honest and entirely engaging.
Paradigm BBT
Paradigm is the highly danceable solo project of Christina Arnold (Spinning Rooms, The Perfections,
Women of Soul), whose debut album Eternal Maternal landed at the start of this month.
Lead single BBT features a bouncing, crunchy bassline, with insistent guitar, and lyrics about luteinising and ferning that Arnold delivers with deadpan aplomb. Who would have imagined a song about trying to get pregnant could be quite so catchy?
ADKOB Less & Less
Its been a while since we heard from Sydney four-piece ADKOB Less & Less is their first release since 2015s debut EP A Different Kind Of Busy, and coincides with news of their signing to Wonderlick Music/Sony Music.
Springing from founding member Mark Piccles quest to find a cool keyboard sound one morning, this ethereal track envelopes you like a mist, while the clicking percussion threaded throughout feels almost tangible.
The Cactus Channel & Sam Cromack Sorry Hills
Melbourne seven-piece alt-soul ensemble The Cactus Channel are no strangers to collaboration. They seem to thrive on change, and have kicked off 2017 by announcing the upcoming Sorry Hills EP, created in partnership with Ball Park Music frontman Sam Cromack.
The title track is moody and atmospheric, and Cromacks voice nestles amongst instrumentation that seems to have grown up around it naturally, with both of these elements perfectly complementing one another.
Ghost Drums Window
Ghost Drums is Western Australian producer Peter Guazzelli. Late January saw the release of his new EP Imprax, limited to a fifty unit run on cassette.
EP opener Window is calm and mesmerising. Soft vocals emerge from a swirl of brooding synthesizer and layered drum loops. Its slightly off-kilter, yet deeply relaxing.
Ben Lees work has often touched on his fascination with various religions, but with so much rampant racism being displayed on a regular basis recently, Lee has decided to record his first kids album, which will espouse the peaceful, spiritual and philosophic concepts at the heart of Islam.
The album, Ben Lee Sings Songs about Islam for the Whole Family, will be available from March 3.
All proceeds from sales of the album go to ACLU Nationwide the New York-based American Civil Liberties Union.
I am not a Muslim but a student and admirer of the beautiful truths found in all religions, Lee explains of the project. This is an album designed to draw attention back to the peaceful, spiritual and philosophic concepts at the heart of Islam.
The album will be out via his website. Check out the cover art, below.
With Aus rock icons Jet back on the stage together for the first time in over six years and with a new global publishing deal on the table, we wondered whether we may just be seeing more than a short-lived reunion for the band but as it turns out, well instead be getting a debut solo effort from frontman Nic Cester.
Recent shots on his freshly-created Instagram account show him getting to work in the studio, but we didnt know the purpose of his visits until today, when an announcement from Bluesfest revealed that his time living in Europe has inspired him to record his first solo effort.
Since retiring Jet in 2010 (re-forming in 2017 for a run of shows with Bruce Springsteen), Nic has lived between Italy and Germany, writing for his first solo album to be released in 2017, the statement reads.
Backed by an exotic collection of Italian session players, strings and horns, the song writing retains the classic melodicism as the Jet hits, but takes a distinct left turn towards soul, glam and blues.
Of course, Nic will be revealing this new sound for the first time when he appears at Bluesfest this April, alongside the recently-added Neil Finn and plenty of other big names. For Jet fans who missed out on seeing the reunion shows, this may be the next best thing.
It was the tour we never thought wed get to see, but it seems that lightning may just strike twice and that Guns N Roses now-completed tour of Australia wont be the last time well see them in Australia together.
Having wrapped up the Aussie leg of their Not In This Lifetime tour in Perth last night, the band have taken to socials to let us know well be seeing them again. Bassist Duff McKagan hinted at a return on Twitter with a vague until we meet again, before Slash came through to express his gratitude for the tour, and confirm that the band will indeed be back for another run:
Thanks you Perth! AndTHANK YOU Australia in total. It was one hell of a tour. Until we meet againeveryone take care of each other Duff McKagan (@DuffMcKagan) February 21, 2017
Fabulous crowd in Perth tonight! Perfect last show of an awesome Australian run! Have a great rest of the summer! Well be back! iiii [; ) Slash (@Slash) February 21, 2017
A post from the bands official page also offers a see you next time, building the expectation we have for a return. While Axl hasnt mentioned anything along these lines from his personal account, he did at least apologise for the incident the other day in which the pre-show announcer referred to Melbourne as Sydney drawing some boos from the crowd, but thankfully no thrown bottles.
Melbourne! Didnt notice r intro yday. R sincere apologies!! Really amazing crowd!McBob feels horrible pic.twitter.com/4hZ7C9xH0b Axl Rose (@axlrose) February 15, 2017
While the idea of having Gunners back one day is in itself a comforting one, it opens up several awesome possibilities. Might original guitarist Izzy Stradlin and drummer Steven Adler return for a tour with the classic lineup to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Appetite For Destruction? Might they even manage to get back in the studio for a less Axl-centric follow-up to 2008s Chinese Democracy?
Well have to see what the next step is, but right now were comforted by the fact that there will at least be a next step unless they manage to break up all over again.
Shawnee Mission School District Response to Jane Elliott Presentation on Feb. 16, 2017
has made of a career out ofso her comments on Prez Trump aren't really a surprise . . . Still, a JoCo School District was caught off guard and was recently forced to apologize after an uproar from middle-class white people . . . File this one under, stuff for housewives to discuss . . .The SME Diversity and Inclusion Committee, along with six other sponsoring organizations, recently hosted a guest speaker, Jane Elliott, who is an international teacher, lecturer and diversity trainer. Ms. Elliott is best known for her Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes exercise that exposes people to the experience of feeling what its like to be a minority.The SME Diversity and Inclusion Committee is committed to promoting cross-cultural understanding, harmony and positive relationships and to raising the awareness of the diversity that exists within our community.When they invited Mrs. Elliott to speak, the agreed upon agenda supported the Diversity Committees values. However, Ms. Elliott veered away from that agenda, and used our forum to share her personal political opinions.As a district, we do not insert political ideology or personal agendas into anything we present to our students, and we were unaware Ms. Elliotts presentation would take this direction.The social studies teachers are well equipped to conduct conversations within the classroom to allow students to express their opinions about Ms. Elliotts presentation. Conversations will likely include freedom of speech, and how her views are not representative of the district as a whole, and will welcome a healthy dialogue that supports different views.We apologize for any distress the presentations caused. Please know that our intentions were good, and we regret the outcome of this event.John McKinneyPrincipalShawnee Mission East High School####################
RIGHT NOW RESIDENTS TELL US THAT CRIME IN HYDE PARK HAS BECOME SO HORRIBLE THAT CROOKS ARE TAKING CARS OFF THE STREET IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!!!
"Tow truck stole a car right off of the street in Hyde park, not a real tow service . . . The whole thing is on tape! Watch the one at the end with the poor person running after it . . ."
Special thanks to our blog community for keeping us up to date amid the ongoing crime uptick in Midtown Kansas City.To wit . . .Checkbut here's the clip of the alleged crime in progress . . .The reality here is that we're talking about a crime spree that has been years in the making while district Council members are primarily concerned with development deals and a new airport.You decide . . .
A collaboration between the US Embassy in Athens, the Onassis Cultural Center and the Municipality of Komotini
The U.S. Embassy in Athens, for the fifth consecutive year, is bringing contemporary dance to five high schools in Komotini and five high schools in Athens. In collaboration with the Onassis Cultural Center and with support from the Municipality of Komotini, the embassy announced its support to the Dancing to Connect educational program. The program is an attempt to give students the opportunity to discover ways of collaboration and communication through dance.
High school students will attend dance workshops at their schools, led by specialized dancers and trainers, then they will present their choreography first in their city and then at a joint performance of all schools at the Onassis Cultural Center at the end of the program.
The educational program Dancing to Connect has been designed by the U.S.-based Battery Dance Company, which has taken place in over 30 countries worldwide.
Performances
Komotini: Saturday, February 25, 2017, 19:00, at Rex theater.
Athens: Sunday, March 12, 2017, 19:00, at the Main Stage of the Onassis Cultural Center
For more information please visit: sgt.gr
Read more here.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
"Without being provocative, there is the appropriate legal, political and diplomatic answer to any action of Turkey," Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias late on Tuesday said
"Without being provocative, there is the appropriate legal, political and diplomatic answer to any action of Turkey," Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias late on Tuesday said in an interview with SKAI TV.
The Greek Foreign Minister said, "must always be military, morally, politically, and diplomatically prepared for any incident."
Turkey is aware that its weakest point on Cyprus is the issue of guarantees and security, and because it has not decided - at least until the referendum - how to really handle the issue, it is trying to raise other issues in order to turn attention elsewhere, Kotzias stated.
Read more here.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
The official visit of the Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos in Saudi Arabia for a series of meetings with top officials including King Salman was concluded on Wednesday
The official visit of the Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos in Saudi Arabia for a series of meetings with top officials including King Salman was concluded on Wednesday.
The President met with the Secretary of the Cooperation Council of the Gulf countries with whom he discussed issues concerning the relations between the Gulf countries and Europe and particularly Greece. The meeting was attended also by Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, who invited the Secretary of the Council of the Gulf countries in Rhodes, where an intercultural conference will take place.
Then he visited the National Museum of Riyadh where he was welcomed by Tourism Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud.
On Tuesday Pavlopoulos met with the King of Saudi Arabia Salman. The meeting took place in a very good climate, and then Pavlopoulos attended a dinner given in his honor by King Salman. He also met with the Crown Prince and Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, which controls the oil sector, with the Foreign Minister, the Minister of Investments, and Transport Minister.
Read more here.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to meet separately with IMF Director Christine Lagarde and European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker in Berlin Wednesday. According to newspaper Tageszeitung, talks will focus on the Greek matter, with the German Chancellor attempting to iron out the dispute between the European creditors and the IMF on how to proceed with Greece. A German government spokesperson said the meeting with Mrs. Lagarde will revolve around current matters within the framework of the G20 German Presidency.
A recent article by German newspaper Die Velt reported that the two ladies had agreed for the IMF to continue backing the Greek bailout program over a phone contact. According to the article Mrs. Lagarde promised Mrs. Merkel that the Fund would continue to participate in the program, while the debt relief matter would be pushed back until after the German elections for 2018. According to Tageszeitung, the dispute between the IMF and Germany is the reason the Greek matter has not been resolved.
Read more here.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Russias 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 a hospital shortly before his death.
A U.S. 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 ambassadors death.
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.
President Vladimir Putin was deeply upset by the news and had greatly valued Churkins professionalism and diplomatic talent, Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin as saying.
Tass news agency quoted Churkins 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.
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 TERESA
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-generals office, on Monday 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.
Shortly after news of the ambassadors death broke, a moment of silence was held at an informal session of the U.N. General Assembly. Later, the General Assemblys president, Fiji Ambassador to the United Nations Peter Thomson, offered the world bodys heartfelt condolences and praised the late ambassadors stern resolution before leading another silent tribute.
The Security Council issued a statement offering its deep condolences to the family of the ambassador, the government and the people of the Russian Federation.
Churkins diplomatic counterparts weighed in with their own encomiums.
In my short time at the United Nations, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin showed himself to be a gracious colleague, the U.S. ambassador to the world body, Nikki Haley, said in a statement.
We did not always see things the same way, but he unquestionably advocated his countrys positions with great skill.
DIPLOMATIC GIANT
British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft described Churkin on Twitter as a diplomatic giant & wonderful character.
Condolences poured in from his U.S. counterparts in the Obama administration. His occasional foe, former U.S. ambassador Power, described Churkin as a diplomatic maestro and deeply caring man who did all he could to bridge US-RUS differences.
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 United Nations in 2006.
In his last interview, given to the state-funded Russia Today earlier this month, Churkin argued that the United Nations was ever more essential for resolving conflicts around the world.
I think the U.N. continues to be an indispensable mechanism, he said. Without the U.N., we would be acting all on our own.
Source: reuters.com
Read more here.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Saudi Arabia, under its Vision 2030, plans to increase the volume of its investment in Morocco, said a top official.
Mohamed Fahd Al Ahmadim, head of Moroccan-Saudi Council of Business, was speaking at a preparatory meeting of the council in Casablanca, reported Morocco World News.
The visit of Saudi Arabian businessmen will continue until February 25.
Al Ahmadim noted that the delegation will have a series of meetings with the Saudi Moroccan businessmen and economic figures to discuss aspects of economic cooperation, adding that Saudi Arabias Vision 2030 offers important investment facilities.
The visit will also reopen the discussion on the proposed maritime commercial line between the two kingdoms, explained Al Ahmadim, pointing out that this project will undoubtedly boost the volume of trade between the two countries.
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the Bahrain-based international aluminium smelter, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for co-operation with Bahrain Polytechnic.
The MoU was signed between Albas chief executive officer Tim Murray and acting CEO of Bahrain Polytechnic, Dr Mohamed Al-Aseeri at Alba.
As per the MoU, Alba and Bahrain Polytechnic will seek mutual areas of cooperation which includes using Albas resources to develop skills of the students, provide suitable opportunities for job training and internships and facilitate recruitment and employment of Bahrain Polytechnic graduates whenever appropriate.
Our MoU with Bahrain Polytechnic emphasises Albas commitment to support Bahrain's Economic Vision 2030, by equipping young Bahraini nationals with skills that enhance their employability, thereby paving the way for successful Bahrainisation of the Kingdom's labour force, said Murray. TradeArabia News Service
Ten finalists for the Global Teacher Prize 2017, awarded under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, have been announced.
Now in its third year, the $1 million award is the largest prize of its kind, and was set up to recognise one exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession as well as to shine a spotlight on the important role teachers play in society, said a statement.
By unearthing thousands of stories of heroes that have transformed young peoples lives, the prize hopes to bring to life the exceptional work of millions of teachers all over the world.
The 10 finalists for the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher prize 2017 are:
* Salima Begum, headteacher at Elementary College for Women Gilgit, Pakistan;
* David Calle, from Madrid, Spain, the founder and creator of the Unicoos educational website;
* Wemerson da Silva Nogueira, a science teacher at the Escola Antonio dos Santos Neves in Boa Esperanca, Brazil;
* Marie-Christine Ghanbari Jahromi, a physical education, maths and German teacher at Gesamtschule Gescher school, Gescher, Germany;
* Tracy-Ann Hall, an automotive technology teacher at Jonathan Grant High School in Spanish Town, Jamaica;
* Maggie MacDonnell, a teacher at Ikusik School, Kativik School Board, Canadian Arctic;
* Ken Silburn, a science teacher at Casula High School, south-west Sydney, Australia;
* Yang Boya, a psychology teacher at The Affiliated Middle School of Kunming Teachers College, Yunnan province, China;
* Michael Wamaya, a dance teacher from Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya; and
* Raymond Chambers, a computer science teacher from Brooke Weston Academy in Corby, Northamptonshire, UK.
In a video message, UK's Prince Harry paid tribute to the work of teachers around the world on the day the top 10 finalists were announced.
He said: In addition to reading, writing and arithmetic, the very best teachers go beyond the pages of textbooks to teach young people about determination, aspiration, resilience and compassion. We will all face setbacks and challenges in our lives and our teachers play a vital role in preparing us for these ups and downs.
The finalists for this year's Global Teacher Prize are from every corner of the world from the Canadian Arctic to Kenya and Pakistan. But there's one thing they all have in common - they spark curiosity within a child and nurture the dreams that can change our world for the better.
I would also like to thank His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for his continued support of the teaching profession and the patronage of this prize.
I would like to end by congratulating all of the finalists; you are not just exceptional teachers, you are the role models who support, inspire and shape childrens lives. Your work is so important; I dont believe it is an exaggeration to say that you are shaping the future.
The top 10 have been narrowed down from 20,000 nominations and applications from 179 countries around the world. By highlighting their stories the Varkey Foundation hopes that the public will be able to join in passionate debates about the importance of teachers. The winner will be announced at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai on March 19.
Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation, said: I want to congratulate all of the top 10 finalists from such a huge number of talented and dedicated teachers. I hope their stories will inspire those looking to enter the teaching profession and also shine a powerful spotlight on the incredible work teachers do all over the world every day.
The thousands of nominations and applications we received from every corner of the planet is testimony to the achievements of teachers and the enormous impact they have on all of our lives. - TradeArabia News Service
Iran will finalise the first of its new contracts with French oil giant Total within two months, a senior government official said.
Recent comments by Total's chief executive indicated it was awaiting feedback from the US, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was quoted as saying in an Iran Daily report, which cited Mehr News Agency.
Total plans to invest in a $2 billion gas project in Iran by the summer, but the decision depends on the renewal of US sanctions waivers, chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said earlier this month, according to the report.
Zanganeh said that no decision has been taken to stop the signing of new contracts but that some contracts have not been finalized since it is a time consuming process.
FC Barcelona's Argentinian striker Lionel Messi at the Mena House Hotel near the Pyramids of Giza to attend a press conference in Giza, Egypt on February 21. Messi arrived in Egypt on an one-day visit to promote the country's Tour n'Cure medical tourism campaign, which promotes tourism and Hepatitis C treatment travel packages for tourists visiting Egypt. EPA/Aly Fahim
You can opt out of certain types of cookies (e.g. those used in social media sharing) by choosing "I do not accept". The website will still largely function well, but with slightly less functionality in places. To manage your cookie preferences in future, visit the "Cookie Statement" link at the bottom of any page.
The term "clockwork" is directly associated with the Swiss -- also the saying that when in Switzerland one has to become "like a Swiss clock." The Swiss treat punctuality as a sign of respect, taught early as part of their culture and is somewhat viewed as a certain stinginess by some travelers and even expatriates. Switzerland's demand for on-the-dot precision could prove to be both a "boon or bane" for expatriates.
According to Simplicity's Business Blog Post, Swiss punctuality is a boon for expatriates and their suggestions indicate that it is a non-verbal communicative gesture that helps ease Swiss dealings and transitions in business. According to post writer Sara Santacroce, punctuality in Switzerland shows one "values the time of others," proves discipline, shows organization and that one "has integrity and keeps promises."
In other European countries, punctuality is in the same level as one's courtesy in opening the door for the person about to exit the room. In Switzerland, punctuality is deeply rooted in personal and cultural philosophy. According to BBC, Swiss happiness comes from many little things, including the idea that time indicates one's length of life -- and the value of is equivalent to.
However, BBC contributor Eric Weiner said the "extreme punctuality" culture could be "annoying" as it feels like "a kind of stinginess." But despite its good intentions for showing respect non-verbally, punctuality does a little bit bad for expats and locals alike. Weiner cited that if the Swiss all indicated 4PM as coffee period, everyone would crowd coffee shops -- and tremendously toll said coffee shops' crews.
Expatriates moving into Switzerland might find the punctuality culture intimidating as it could also be stressful. They might also find that the very small things that actually please them easily bother the Swiss if they do not function properly. Weiner writes that once, Switzerland "was thrown into a tizzy" after a national investigation into railroads indicated that 87.5 of the trains met their 89% efficiency target regarding punctuality.
So, expatriates intending to move to one of the world's best economies should be prepared to wear a clock or even multiple clocks if the battery dies. Time is of the essence -- especially for almost everything in Switzerland. It has its advantages and disadvantages and it is worth knowing to see the after-effects of this culture for one's new, everyday Swiss life.
See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Vacation Agent Magazine
A version of this article appears in print in the February 2017 issue of Vacation Agent Magazine. Subscribe
National level institute of travel and tourism to be established important decisions in Tourism Cabinet in Panchmarhi.
(TRAVPR.COM) INDIA - February 22nd, 2017 - The meeting of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Cabinet was held in famous tourist place Panchmarhitoday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Decision was taken to constitute Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board for tourism expansion and promotion in the meeting. As part of Tourism Department, a separate institution, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board will be constituted under the company act, as a non-profit company.
The main functions of the board will be to perform all responsibilities under Tourism Policy-2016, to invite private investment in tourism sector, investors facilitation, to avail grant and facilities to investors as per the policy, to frame, to execute and to monitor new policies for inviting investors, to increase land bank by selecting appropriate places for increasing tourism projects with the help of private investment, to develop work plan for all tourism related places like archeological places, wildlife places, caves with natural beauties, parks, water reservoirs and other amusement places and take measures for their supervision, to promote private investors by participating in different national and international programmes for tourism promotion, to promote rural tourism through fair, local dishes, culture, dress, handicrafts, to make necessary arrangements for eco-tourism etc.
Chairman of board of directors will be Chief Minister and Vice-Chairmen will be Tourism Minister and Chief Secretary. Principal Secretaries of finance, forests, urban development and environment, culture will be directors. Principal Secretary tourism, will be ex-officio member secretary and managing director. Tourism promotion unit, planning, training, eco-tourism and adventure, creative and publicity activities, marketing, fair and festivals, information technology etc. activities will be conducted by Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board. Hotels, restaurants, boat club, transportation crew etc. will be continued to be run by Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation.
For more information on destinations & points of interest in Madhya Pradesh, please visit our website http://www.mptourism.com/ or reach out to us on our toll free helpline at 1800-233-7777 available 24 x 7.
###
When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site.
TreeHugger has covered the saga of 461 Dean, the worlds tallest modular structure in Pacific Park, Brooklyn, since 2011, when I wrote that the whole thing boggles the mind. Having worked in prefab for a number of years, I can tell you that it's complicated. One of the claims that boggled most was the anticipated cost savings of 15-20 percent. The savings from building in prefab come with practice- could they be achieved with a new system, a new factory, a new team?
Many of our posts drew on the work of Brooklyn journalist Norman Oder, who since 2005 has covered the overall project almost obsessively on his Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report blog. The following is a guest post by Norman Oder, looking particularly at the purported savings from the project- and the way the media still cover it. The views that he expresses so frankly and strongly are his; It is a taste of the book he is writing about the Pacific Park project, which I am certainly looking forward to.
Norman OderThe world's tallest modular building has just opened: 461 Dean, part of the Pacific Park (formerly Atlantic Yards) project in Brooklyn, built by developer Forest City Ratner. The pre-construction hype was huge, as Forest City claimed it had "cracked the code" for high-rise modular.
"Applying this R & D to high-rise construction and other markets creates a business opportunity that provides an unparalleled competitive advantage," it told potential partners in a January 2012 Opportunity Brief.
More than four years later, the results are sobering: delays, losses, and a bitter, unresolved set of lawsuits with former partner Skanska USA, which had been contracted to construct the tower and manage the jointly owned module-assembly factory. (Forest City blames Skanska's execution; Skanska blames Forest City's R&D.;)
The Opportunity Brief/via
The Claim of 20 Percent Savings
Astoundingly, some recent press accounts claim that the use of modular techniques purportedly allowed Forest City to save 20 percent on the 32-story, 363-unit tower, which contains half market-rate units and half "affordable" ones. Consider:
CNN: "Ultimately, the method saved Forest City Ratner Companies about 20% on construction costs
Business Insider: "That allowed them to save 20% on construction costs, Forest City's VP of residential development, Adam Greene, tells Business Insider."
Architectural Digest: "it also cost developers 20 percent less than building a traditional skyscraper."
Bisnow: [Forest City's Greene was] "pointing out that building units in a weatherproof factory gave his company a 20% discount and predicting the method would soon be the norm."
It reflects both unskeptical, lazy journalism and a developer brazen even by the standards of real-estate puffery.
Shop Architects
Benchmarks of Failure
Not only did 461 Dean (aka B2) take more than twice as long as expected, thus indicating higher costs, it bears numerous negative benchmarks.
As parent Forest City Enterprises (now Forest City Realty Trust) told the Securities and Exchange Commission (see p. 60ff.) in February 2015, they had to buy out the building's 75 percent co-investor, the Arizona State Retirement System. They also recorded a huge $146 million impairment, or write-down in value.
Later in 2015, they had to pay off their tax-exempt bond decades early and fund the rest of construction from equity. The tower, Forest City told the SEC, was once expected to cost $155 million; last year, it estimated $195.6 million.
No wonder outside investor Scopia Capital, in a slide presentation filed with the SEC last August (see below), called 461 Dean (aka B2) a "value-destructive transaction."
Scopia Capital/via
Similarly, another investor, Land & Buildings, in a press release last month, counted B2 among the company's most significant losses.
Given that it took Forest City more than twice as long to build the tower as originally promised, you'd think they'd practice some humility. Instead, they've portrayed the delay as a mere bump in the road, even though they exited the modular business.
More Accuracy, But Also Spin
Not everyone got it so wrong. Wired recently called the experiment "mixed" and concluded that "The building took more time and money to build than originally promised." National Real Estate Investor pronounced, "Those savings didnt materialize at Dean Street."
Still, the latter article quoted former Forest City executive Roger Krulak, whose new company Full Stack Modular bought the business (for an unspecified sum): "I would say to [sic] cost of modular construction is 80 percent of the cost of conventional construction.
Note Krulak's use of conditional language. Indeed, that's how proponents were talking four years ago, before the real-world test that proved it wrong. In fact, that figure was more aspiration than guarantee.
Early On, 20 Percent Was a Hope
In November 2011, New York magazine reported that "the whole process is designed to shave as much as 20 percent off construction costs." Fast Company quoted Forest City Ratner CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin as "figur[ing] the modular experiment could potentially shave 10% to 20% off her costs."
John Dolan, a project executive with Skanska, told Curbed, "We estimated that it's around 12 to 15 percent in savings."
Gothamist reported that the builders expected to get faster and thus save more: "As of now, the units are around 10 percent cheaper than their conventional counterparts, though [Forest City's] Melissa Burch... anticipates savings of up to 30 percent as the technique is perfected."
Shifting Goals on Timing
Skanska's Dolan, by the way, said they expected to be finished in 18 months, compared with 24 months for conventional construction. But that benchmark was fuzzy.
At one point, Forest City estimated 18 months, compared with 28 months, then tweaked it to 20 months versus 30 months, as stated publicly in a November 2012 meeting (see below).
Forest City Ratner slide presentation/via
Hubris and Hype Versus Reality
The modular story reflects hubris, hype, and an often unskeptical press. Forest City placed enthusiastic articles in Gizmodo, Gothamist. Fast Company, and Forbes, even as construction was troubled. Krulak, ironically enough, got a Breakthrough Award from Popular Mechanics just as the problems mounted.
The structure suffered leaks, mold emerged, and the first four floors "were largely gutted," a state monitor reported, in documents I acquired through a Freedom of Information Law request.
The builders got so skittish that, on two floors, drywall ceilings and walls were omitted from modules, to be installed laterthus undermining the modular concept. When Forest City announced the start of B2s 11th floor, after a delay, it announced the need to realign 10th floor modules both horizontally and vertically.
Builders couldn't install wood flooring as planned at the factory, given warranty challenges, so they did so on-site. They did deliver modules with facades attached, unlike some other modular builders, but that didn't work well, so some facades required repair.
Norman Oder/ Facade problems, June 2016
Some Lessons Learned
Now we know more about what went wrong. As Krulak told Wired, the diversity of modules--32 types!--meant "we probably went a little overboard on the complexity."
Also, 461 Dean may just have been too tall. Krulak told Fast.Co Design, "Our sweet spot for modular in an urban environment is in the 10-to-18-story, 80,000-to-120,000-square-foot buildings." He told Multi-Housing News his new company would focus on hotels, student housing and multifamily rentals.
Similarly, architect Christopher Sharples of SHoP told Fast.Co Design, in the publication's summary, "After 15 stories, extra brace framing is needed to support the building. Stay under that height, and the building's complexity is significantly less."
Such humility is a far cry from "cracking the code." It should be heeded in any account of 461 Dean's purported savings, as well.
Brooklyn journalist Norman Oder writes the watchdog blog Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report, and is working on a book about the project.
Aftab Alam
The ongoing Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, where Muslims constitute almost one-fifth of the total electorate and thus occupy a coveted position in state politics, has yet again fuelled the debate about whom do Muslims vote for. Most of the discussions on the subject often begin with certain presumptions which have been found untrue empirically.
Do Muslims vote differently than other fellow citizens of the country? Though there is no considerable difference between their voting behaviour and that of any other community still several myths about Muslim voters have been consciously formed and sustained over the years by the BJP and non-BJP parties equally to serve their own selfish interests.
It is most widely believed that Muslims vote en bloc for one political party. This belief is generally based on the assumption that Muslims form a single monolithic homogenous community. The fact is that the Indian Muslims are as diverse as any other community. They are divided not only on caste lines but also into numerous sects such as Sunni, Shia, Wahabi, Ahle-Hadees, Deobandi, Barelvi, Bohra etc. A majority of them votes differently for different political parties, based on caste, sect and class interests. Their choice, like any other ordinary voter, is also driven by local exigencies as well. No political party can take the Muslim voters for granted. Numerous studies on the electoral behaviour of the Indian Muslims indicate that their voting patterns do not differ much from those of others. Even Muslims voting overwhelmingly in favour of one political party is not uncommon in other social groups as well.
There is yet another myth that they most often are swayed by the appeals made by Imams and other Muslim clerics. It is true that during every election Imams and Maulvis can be seen issuing appeals, often described as fatwas, to Muslims to vote for one or other political party but the impact of such appeals have never been as profound as normally projected. Even if these appeals do have any limited impact that is confined to a particular sect only.
According to a survey conducted by the CSDS only 50 per cent of respondents claimed that the Imam's appeal had no impact on their vote choice. There was a time when these appeals had some impact but over the years Muslim voters have become mature enough and learnt how to respond to these appeals.
An impression has also been sought to be created by communal forces that Muslims always vote negatively and strategically with sole objective to defeat the BJP. If we subscribe to this theory it implies that issues like employment, education, health, road, electricity and law and order etc. do not matter to Muslim voters at all. This defies the ground reality. It is true that Muslims remain wary of RSS and BJP because of their open anti-Muslim stance but these issues affect their voting behaviour equally like any other ordinary voter. Sustaining this image of Muslims has benefitted both the BJP and the so-called secular parties, both who have deliberately kept the sense of insecurity among them alive for political reasons.
It is also worth noting that this anti-BJP trend among Muslims is also gradually changing, as shown in the recent CSDS studies indicating that while 3 per cent Muslims voted for the BJP in 2007 UP Assembly elections, the same rose to 7per cent in 2012. According to the CSDS survey, 8 per cent of Muslims voted for the BJP in 2014 Lok Sabha election, almost double from the 2009 tally, enabling it to win 45 of 87 Lok Sabha seats with a high concentration of Muslim voters which included 27 seats from UP alone. This is despite the fact that the BJP generally does not file Muslim candidates as it has not found a single Muslim candidate for 2017 UP elections. The percentage of Muslims voting for the BJP may not be very significant but it certainly hints at a paradigm change in their voting behaviour.
Though most Muslims don't support the BJP for reasons cited above but the claim of Muslims always voting tactically just to defeat the BJP also represents an oversimplification of the facts. Had this been the case, the BJP could have never won the Rampur and Moradabad Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 election, where the Muslim electorate constitutes 49.1per cent and 45.5 per cent, respectively. Similarly, in the last UP assembly election, the BJP won several seats where Muslim voters are in substantial number. Had they voted tactically they could have concentrated on one of the several Muslim candidates filed by other political parties to ensure their victory. A much-generalised explanation to this could be the split of Muslim votes but it can also be due to the plurality of their voting pattern, especially when they have multiple options. This aspect of their voting behaviour is either completely ignored or underplayed. In fact, the BJP always fans the propaganda of Muslims tactical voting as this suits it politically, leading to polarisation of the voters from majority community in its favour. If Muslims vote so tactfully then it is surprising that for the first time in UP's electoral history not a single Muslim candidate could win in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, though only two years ago in the 2012 Assembly elections they had secured the highest representation.
By not recognising the plurality of Muslim electorate political parties seem to deliberately perpetuate the imaginary and illusory Muslim vote bank phenomenon to divert the attention from the real issues that confront the community. Projecting Muslim voters as a monolithic community breeds majoritarian communalism. Notwithstanding the fact that the threat to their security and identity is an important consideration that shapes the voting behaviour of Muslim elites but issues like education and employment are vital determinants for the rest but the political parties are not ready to recognise this difference. There is no empirical evidence to suggest that Muslims vote differently. Conversely, there have been numerous scientific studies conducted in the recent years that demolish most of these myths associated with Muslim voters.
The writer is a Professor, Department of Political Science, Aligarh Muslim University.
G Parthasarathy
Pakistans founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, an Ismaili Shia by birth, proudly proclaimed, just prior to Pakistans independence, that the country he founded on the basis of religion would not discriminate against any of its citizens on the basis of religion. While the eastern half of his country was divided on the basis of ethnicity in 1971, what remains of what he initially called a moth-eaten Pakistan, is now finding that religion could indeed tear the country apart. Born into a Shia family, Jinnah could well be regarded as a kaffir by many in todays Pakistan. Extremist Wahhabi- oriented groups, who since the days of Gen Zia-ul-Haq have received extensive support from the army, regularly target and kill those who are Shias, or even Sunnis, who are Sufi in orientation.
The most revered Sufi shrine in Pakistan, where thousands of people of all sects and religions congregate and worship, is the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar at Sehwan, in northern Sindh. The shrine, built in 1356, was established in memory of the 13th century Sufi, Saint Syed Usman Marwandi, popularly known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, whose ancestors were devotees of the Imam Hussein, the Prophets grandson. Reza Shah Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, donated the shrines gold-plated main gate. For todays jihadis in Pakistan, especially from groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), that have received, or continue to receive ISI support, Sufi shrines are heretical, with its worshipers fit targets for elimination. This is precisely what happened on February 16, when a fanatical suicide bomber entered the shrine in the midst of prayers and triggered explosives, killing 88 devotees and wounding over 250.
Not surprisingly, Pakistan reacted by passing the blame to others for its incredible follies in strengthening militant Islam, ever since the days of the anti-Soviet jihad. This policy was followed by its backing of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the use of its non-state actors for its jihad in J&K and elsewhere in India. The TTP was a tool of the ISI used to wage jihad against the Americans and pro-government forces in Afghanistan, post 9/11. The situation in Pakistan changed when the army, led by the ubiquitous Gen Raheel Sharif, saw the TTP establishing a presence over large areas beyond its traditional habitat and launched large-scale operations against it. This was done without General Sharifs bothering to secure parliamentary approval. These operations led to escalating violence and displacement of nearly a million Pashtuns from their tribal homes, with many seeking refuge in Afghanistan. Thus, while the ISI continues to back the Afghan Taliban, the army is bogged down in a continuing conflict with the TTP, some of whose cadres operate across the disputed Durand Line, separating Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The fact that Pakistan is still living in a world of delusion was evident from the reaction both by the government and the army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, to the Sehwan attack. In an effort to establish that no Pakistani groups were involved, the ISIS and then an allegedly Afghanistan-based group Jamat-ul-Ahrar were blamed by Pakistan for the outrage. Indiscriminate attacks against alleged terrorist locations in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan immediately followed the attack. Over 100 alleged terrorists were killed within hours, with the army also mounting attacks on alleged terrorist hideouts along the border. Officials from the Afghan embassy in Islamabad were summoned to the armys GHQ and given a list of 76 terrorists said to be living in Afghanistan.
General Bajwa also called the American commander in Afghanistan, Gen John Nicholson, warning that continuing attacks across the border were testing Pakistans policy of cross-border restraint. PM Nawaz Sharifs adviser, Sartaj Aziz, spoke in similar terms to Afghanistans National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar. A logical question would be whether Pakistan has done anything to prevent its jihadis, including the Taliban, LeT and the Jaish-e-Mohammed, crossing the Durand Line, the LoC in Kashmir, or the International Border with India? Is it not a fact that groups once nurtured by the ISI are executing terrorist attacks within Pakistan?
With Pakistan on the back foot, the time has come for New Delhi to make use of the aversion for jihadi groups in Pakistan over the Sehwan outrage. A carefully crafted approach to relations with Pakistan needs to be adopted. New Delhi should remain firm on issues of terrorism by reiterating that there can be no question of reverting to business as usual till our concerns on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in India and Afghanistan are addressed. The cross-LoC strikes in September last year have set the precedent for India to appropriately respond to attacks on its soil by crossing established borders. Pakistan should be left in no doubt that it can no longer take Indian forbearance for granted.
The recent invitations to India and Iran from Russia to attend talks in Moscow, along with China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, on promoting political reconciliation in Afghanistan suggest that there is growing realisation that appeasing Pakistan on any proposed Afghan led peace process is counterproductive. India would do well to use these developments for stepping up economic and military assistance to Afghanistan and expediting the operationalisation of the Chabahar Port. Moreover, it would only be logical for adequate time to be given to the Trump administration to evolve its policies on dealing with Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Afghanistan and India.
Pakistan should be reminded that it has not fulfilled its commitment made by PM Sharif at Ufa for talks between DGMOs of the two armies to address issues of cross-border terrorism. The growing sentiments in Pakistan against the attack on its most revered Sufi shrine should be taken note of. The existing agreements with Pakistan on group tourism and visits to shrines could be utilised to promote visits of Pakistani pilgrims to Sufi shrines in India, together with visits by musical troupes devoted to Sufi music. New Delhi has done well to facilitate participation by Indian writers in the Karachi Literary Festival. Reaching out to people getting disillusioned with Wahhabi extremism and violence in Pakistan, while standing firm on terrorism, enhances our credibility internationally.
For a change this news from the Kashmir Valley points to normalcy, albeit it is meant to cut down the happiness quotient of the people. Indians are the happiest wasting own money or seeing someone else do the same on weddings. The guest control order for weddings issued by the J&K government restricts the number of guests, food items to be served, gifts, loudspeakers and firecrackers, things that turn weddings into a statement of ostentatiousness. Everyone needs to ensure that the waste of food and resources does not happen and environmental pollution is avoided, but who will make a beginning? The politicians who are supposed to pass laws to encourage frugality are the ones who normally turn weddings into a show of opulence and power.
The J&K guest control order and the Marriages (Compulsory Registration and Prevention of Wasteful Expenditure) Bill, 2016, introduced in the Lok Sabha by a Congress MP, demanding an expenditure cap of Rs 5 lakh on weddings, overlook the fact that the Indian wedding industry continues to thrive in the worst economic downturn, even during the cash crunch caused by notebandi. The Rs 1.76 lakh crore wedding industry has created thousands of livelihood opportunities, startups and an army of self-employed wedding planners, makeup artistes, decorators, caterers and florists.
Certainly, the destination weddings planned in Macau, Bali, the Maldives, Mauritius, etc will remain out of the frugality purview. The rich can afford and splash and splurge but it is the common man who comes under tremendous social pressure to imitate the ostentatious wealthy. Egalitarian initiatives to curb vulgar displays at wedding time may be worth applause but how will such a rule be enforced? Beyond a point society will not be too pleased having a policeman playing the wedding planner.
Despite judicial rebuffs on his ban on immigrants, President Donald Trump appears to be intent on waging war on the American societys most vibrant elements: the immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security is reported to have put in place plans for aggressive enforcement of immigration laws. The only saving grace is that the new administration has denied reports that it intended to deploy National Guards to round up the undocumented immigrants in the United States. And, though the Trump administration has emphasised that it will keep intact President Obama's protection programme for dreamers, the overall message the immigrants across the board have heard from the Trump White House is one of intimidation and fear. Also, the potential asylum seekers stand discouraged and forewarned. America will no longer be the first choice of the prosecuted.
If President Trump has his way, the United States would be spending huge resources on making life simply difficult for the current and potential immigrants. The Trump White House wants to empower agencies like the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Custom and Border Protection, as well as to build up a wall along the southern border. On their part the administration officials insist that President Trump is simply asking for a vigorous enforcement of the existing laws and that the law-enforcement agencies will be targeting mostly criminals among the immigrants.
These caveats notwithstanding, President Trump has succeeded in making each and every immigrant edgy, nervous and fearful. The American law-enforcement agencies are neither known for their professional detachment nor for their racial broadmindedness. The leadership of the law-enforcing agencies remains with those who belong to the Trump class, mostly subscribing to the ugly notions of white supremacy. The rest of the world has reacted adversely to these signals. But the new American President has made it clear that he is not going to allow himself to be distracted from those loony ideas and prejudices that in the first instance propelled him to the White House. Nor does he appear bothered at playing the bull in Americas ethnic china shop.
Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 22
In an alleged cash-for-job scam in the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat, Surinder, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, today submitted a complaint seeking an FIR against Haryana Assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal Gujjar, his brother Ashok and others for duping them of Rs 44 lakh for appointing four children of the family as peons or clerks. The complaint was received by ADGP (Law and Order) Muhammad Akil at the Police Headquarters in Panchkula. He said that a similar case was under investigation by the Crime Branch and an inquiry would be conducted in this complaint as well.
Fearing for his life, the complainant, after meeting the senior police officer, said that he was regularly threatened by masked men to keep quiet or face the consequences. This case began when the BJP just came to power in Haryana. We were approached through an acquaintance with the offer of a peon or a clerk in the Assembly Secretariat.
Middleman Baljeet was known to the Speaker and his brother. The going rate was Rs 8 lakh and Rs 12 lakh, respectively. My brother and I decided to pay the amount for each of our sons. We were again approached for more people keen on the job. Then my third brother paid for his son and I paid the amount for my second son, alleged Surinder. Maintaining that the payment was made in two instalments of Rs 24 lakh and 20 lakh, Surinder further claimed that the Speaker had directed them to meet Ashok, his younger brother. He accepted the cash of the second instalment and assured us that the jobs would be ours.
A deadline of November 1, 2015, was set for the joining. This was extended by a few months owing to a stay from the court on recruitment. After repeated queries, we were told that the joining would take place on November 1, 2016, and we were shown lists finalised for the job in the Secretariat. However, nothing happened. Meanwhile, Baljeet, who had accepted the first instalment committed suicide and one of my brothers was named accused on the basis of his statement, he Surinder. In his dying declaration, Baljeet alleged that about a couple of years ago, he had collected Rs 93.15 lakh from some youths and handed the money to Ram Nath of Naraiangarh, who promised jobs as he was suitably connected.
Ruing the loss of money and the unfulfilled job commitment, Surinder said that they even asked for return of their money which had not been done. On top of it, we are being pressurised to keep silent, failing which we would be killed. The entire sequence of events leads directly to the Speakers doorstep and we want justice, the complainant stated.
OPEN TO ANY KIND OF PROBE: GUJJAR
This is a conspiracy to malign me and the truth will come out soon. I am open to any kind of inquiry, including that by the CBI or a sitting or retired judge, since this is not about Kanwar Pal but about the Speaker. Also, I want it to be held without delay so that the guilty can be brought to book. Further, the complainant, I don't know who he is or where he has come from, should produce some kind of evidence to substantiate his claims of being threatened. Kanwar Pal Gujjar, VIDHAN SABHA SPEAKER
Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 22
Changing tack a day after the Haryana Advocate General office gave negative opinion on withdrawal of cases of arson and violence being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Jat protesters now want cases registered against non-Jats for similar crimes and hinted that further talks with the government-appointed committee were doubtful.
All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) leader Yashpal Malik said Jat representatives had raised the demand of registration of cases against non-Jats for vanadalism during last years pro-reservation violence with the committee led by Chief Secretary DS Dhesi.
Did our people not die in the agitation? Were our dharamshalas not vandalised by BJP workers? The government turned a blind eye to the tyranny unleashed by its workers while our people were booked indiscriminately. Let all those who have gone scot-free be booked and we will be satisfied. Either this or all our cases should be dropped. The government has to be fair to us, Malik stated.
Sources in the government maintained that cases for the 2016 violence had been registered on merit. They said arrests had been made and trials were on in instances of vandalism and arson reported from the Jat dharamshala and other places being quoted by the AIJASS.
Further, if those responsible for the death of the two Jats were untraced, culprits responsible for four deaths of non-Jats, too, were untraced, they said.
On an average, cases have been registered in an 80:20 ratio between Jats and non-Jats, the sources claimed, adding that nobody was booked for vandalism of Rao Tula Ram and BR Ambedkars statues.
At the first meeting with the officers committee held on February 11, the Jat delegation had cited inaction against non-Jats, allegedly BJP workers, to press for dropping of all police cases.
Hinting that talks with the government were headed nowhere, Malik said the AIJASS was no longer keen on talking to a toothless and headless committee with no powers.
Whenever any demand is raised at the meeting or any negotiations are held, these officers take turns to go out of the room, call the political bosses and come back to us. Since the committee has no authority, the best way out is talking to political leaders directly, Malik said.
A few members of the AIJASS had reservations about a certain officer continuing on the committee and claimed that they were treated shabbily by him while others did not intervene. The added that they had conveyed this to Malik and were not in favour of talks till the officer was replaced.
Our Correspondent
Kullu, February 22
Former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said it was upon the party high command to announce the CM candidate for the upcoming Assembly elections. While addressing mediapersons after a BJP rally against the state government here today, he said even in 1998 the party high command decided the CM candidate three days before the elections and even in 2007 it was done during the polls.
Dhumal said the BJP would conduct over 100 rallies statewide under the Mafia Raj Hatao Pradesh Bachao campaign.
He claimed that the law and order condition had deteriorated and the police was busy in implicating the members of the Opposition. He said the police was not able to trace ISIS sympathizer residing in the remote region of Kullu since six months. He added that the police was clueless about the recovery of explosives in Kala Amb at Sirmaur district and seizure of illegal weapons in Nahan.
The former CM said it was matter of shame that a SSP from Punjab had given an affidavit in court that drugs were being manufactured in Himachal. He alleged that many illegal activities were being carried out in the state with the connivance of the government. He charged that all sections of the society, including schoolchildren, college students, unemployed youth, government employees, pensioners, senior citizens, farmers, agriculturists and daily wagers were not satisfied by the present government as it had done nothing for their welfare.
Dhumal claimed that after the BJP comes to power, fair and adequate compensation would be given to those affected due to the four-laning of national highways. He said RUSA system would be abolished and it would not be implemented till appropriate staff and infrastructure were available.
State BJP president Satpal Satti said stolen vehicles in the border regions of the state were never recovered.
He alleged that contract to supply and disburse liquor was awarded to one company from Punjab after the formation of the Himachal Pradesh Beverages Corporation. He alleged that land mafia was working with the support of the state government. He claimed that transfer mafia was also active during the tenure of the present Congress government. He urged BJP members to oust the Congress and reach out the masses to ensure Mission 50 plus.
Mandi MP Ram Swaroop Sharma, former ministers Khimi Ram and Jai Ram Thakur, BJP state general secretary Ram Singh, Kullu MLA Maheshwar Singh, Manali MLA Govind Singh Thakur, state BJP spokesperson Ajay Rana and other BJP leaders and members were present on the occasion.
Dinesh Manhotra
Tribune News Service
Jammu, February 22
As the Jammu-based political parties and social groups have stepped up attack on the BJP for its duplicity in deporting Rohingyas and Bangladeshis from the region, party leaders have sought help from the Centre to take back these refugees from Jammu and settle them in other parts of the country.
Realising that the issue had a potential to snowball into a big controversy, the BJP has asked its central leaders to take it up with external affairs and home ministries to shift these refugees from Jammu.
Highly placed sources in the BJP said partys national vice-president Avinash Rai Khanna on Monday discussed issues confronting the state with local leaders who vociferously raked up the issue of Rohingyas before the high commands envoy so as to rescue them from the attack of other parties.
State leaders told Khanna that Jammu-based political and social groups had pushed the party to the wall on the issue of Rohingya refugees so it was high time for the Centre to resolve the issue once for all, a senior party leader, who was present in the meeting, told The Tribune. The leader, who wished not to be quoted, said the leaders made it clear to Khanna that it was difficult for them to counter the attack by shifting the blame on the Congress or the NC. The Centre is responsible for sending Rohingyas to Jammu, he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress today challenged the BJP to deport Rohingyas from Jammu. BJP leaders are blaming the Congress for settling Rohingyas in Jammu but now the ball is in the saffron partys court, said Congress spokesman Ravinder Sharma. For the last two and a half years, the BJP is ruling at the Centre and for the last two years saffron party is enjoying power in J&K also, he said, adding, If the BJP thinks that the Congress committed a mistake then why the BJP has failed to rectify it even after over two years, Sharma asked.
Panthers Party leader Harsh Dev Singh also accused the BJP of duplicity on the Rohingyas issue. These self-proclaimed champions of Jammu stand exposed and would be taught a befitting lesson by the people for causing irreparable damage to the Dogra culture and ethos, he said.
Ishfaq Tantry
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, February 22
Following a plea by the J&K Government, a court in north Kashmir today suspended the bail to Hurriyat leader and Muslim League head Masarat Alam till February 27.
Masarat, who was in 15-day judicial custody in a case (FIR no. 53/2015) registered at the Sumbal police station in Bandipora district was yesterday granted bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bandipora. However, the J&K Government opposed his release on bail.
He was not released today. The state government moved an application before the District and Sessions Court in Bandipora and got it (the bail) suspended, senior high court lawyer and Bar Association president Mina Qayoom said. He along with other lawyers today staged a protest demonstration on the High Court lawn against the detention of political activists.
Masarats bail has been suspended till February 27. In the meantime, the sessions court has sought objections from Masarat to the plea by the government requesting cancellation of his bail.
Masarat was remanded to judicial custody in the Sumbal case by a court in north Kashmir on February 15. Earlier, he had been arrested in connection with a 2010 FIR at a police station in Srinagar.
Questioning his continuing detention, Qayoom said the High Court had so far quashed 33 detention orders passed against Masarat by the authorities from time to time under the Public Safety Act.
Masarat was booked under the Public Safety Act following the 2010 unrest that left over 100 people dead in the Kashmir valley. He was released in early 2016 for a brief period and then rearrested.
On December 27, 2016, the J&K High Court had ordered the release of the separatist leader. He was not released but shifted from Jammu to Srinagar and taken into custody in the 2010 FIR in which he was granted bail by the court on January 19.
Srinagar, February 22
Security forces called of their anti-insurgent search operations after violent protests erupted in Kulgam district, the first such incident after Indian Army General Bipin Rawat warned of action against such incidents.
Some 100 youngsters pelted security forces with stones at Kulgams Tarigam a day after police began searching the village following intelligence reports of possible militants hiding in the area, a policeman said.
Police used tear smoke shells and batons to quell the protests, but no arrests were made. They called off the operation later.
Rawat had warned last week that the army would take tough action against people interruption anti-militancy operations, words that drew criticism and condemnation from some quarters, including from principal Opposition in the state, the National Conference.
"We would now request the local population that people who have picked up arms, and they are the local boys, if they want to continue with the acts of terrorism, displaying flags of ISIS and Pakistan, then we will treat them as anti-national elements and go helter-skelter for them," he had said.
The statement came after soldiers faced stone throwing at Parray Mohalla of Bandipore in north Kashmir during an anti-militancy operation. The incident is believed to have given a chance to militants to attack troops with hand grenades and some empty magazines from AK-rifles. Three soldiers died in the incident.
One militant escaped. PTI
New Delhi, February 22
Tribune News Service
At a time when people are struggling to get currency notes, an ATM in Sangam Vihar here dispensed fake Rs 2,000 notes.
A call centre employee who had gone to withdraw Rs 8,000 from an SBI ATM in Sangam Vihar was in for a shock when the Rs 2000 notes from the machine bore the mark of Children Bank of India.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
He had visited the SBI ATM at around 7.45pm on February 6 to withdraw Rs 8,000. But he noticed that all the notes were fake.
He noticed the deliberate mistakes on the notes like promise to pay the bearer two thousand coupons and Serial number 000000 and immediately brought it to polices notice after which a sub-inspector was sent to the ATM located at the T-Point of Tigri in Sangam Vihar.
He also said that the notes had Rs 2000 printed in the same font as the original currency that was issued under the name of Childrens Government. It also had Churan Patti written in place of the watermark.
The notes even bore a pledge which said I promise to pay the bearer a slip of Rs 2000.
Senior police officers say that when the policeman probing the case tried to withdraw cash from the ATM, he too got similar bills, following which an FIR was registered under various Sections of forgery and cheating.
The fake notes were first spotted in Ludhiana where a rickshaw-puller was deceived by a customer.
In Ludhiana, one can buy a pack of 100 fake notes in the denomination of 100, 500, and even 2,000 at Rs 30 from a shopkeeper.
Ram Vilas, a migrant from Bihar and a rickshaw-puller, was conned by a man who gave him a Rs 500 note of Children Bank of India. Not only this the rickshaw-puller, who had charged Rs 50 from the accused, returned Rs 450 to him.
Being an illiterate, I could not judge whether the note was real or fake. Since the colour of the note, size and other graphics were exactly like the original note, I accepted it. It was only after I gave it to a dhaba owner that I got to know that it was fake, he said.
Police said they had identified the culprits.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajiv Ranjan Singh told IANS that the vendor who supplied the cash to the ATM and the persons who inserted the fake notes had been identified.
Asked why no arrest had been made so far, Singh said: The case is still a matter of investigation. The moment everything is done, arrests shall take place.
On Wednesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the fake currency.
A Prime Minister who cant even print notes properly; how can he run the country? He has reduced the whole nation into a laughing stock, the Aam Aadmi Party leader tweeted.
Experts say it is possible for an ATM to dispense even a simple sheet of paper if its size is the same as the currency notes.
Technically, yes. ATMs are not equipped to read the security features of notes. Only the size needs to be the same, K. Srinivas, Managing Director BTI Payments, an RBI-licensed firm that operates cash dispensers not owned and managed by banks. With IANS inputs
Hyderabad, February 22
Six workers were charred to death after a major fire broke out at a unit of a small scale industry in Attapur area here on early Wednesday morning.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
At around 5 am, a police team noticed flames erupting from the unit. They soon alerted fire department officials as the blaze spread rapidly, a senior police officer said.
"The fire has been extinguished with the help of four fire engines. The six bodies have been taken out and sent to state-run Osmania General Hospital for post-mortem," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shamshabad Zone) P V Padmaja.
All the deceased belonged to Chhattisgarh and Bihar, the official said.
The unit, which manufacture air coolers and battery operated vehicles is surrounded by residential area. Usually four workers are present at the unit but yesterday two more had joined them, she said.
The DCP further said the owner of the unit has been taken into custody. According to the preliminary investigation, the owner had not taken the minimum required precautions. "A case of negligence will be registered," the senior officer said, adding that the probe is underway to determine the exact cause of the fire. PTI
Beijing, February 22
India on Wednesday hit out at China for demanding solid evidence for getting JeM chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN, saying the extent of his actions were well-documented and the burden of proof was not on it.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, while briefing the media on his extensive interactions with top Chinese officials and talks at the upgraded strategic dialogue co-chaired by him here, said the talks were useful in conveying Indias concerns and priorities on key issues.
On the issue of 1267 Committees sanctions on Masood Azhar, we again explained the rationale for that application and pointed out that this was really pursued by other countries, not by India alone, Jaishankar said, referring to the US application backed by the UK and France this year to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.
On the Chinese Foreign Ministry calling for solid evidence to get Azhar banned, Jaishankar said, in the case of Azhar, Jaish itself is proscribed under 1267.
So the proof is in (the) 1267 Committee action. In this case what he has done, extent of his actions are well-documented.
Also the proposal in question this time is not moved by us. It is not that the burden of proof is on India to convince. The sponsors seem to be very well convinced, otherwise they would not have taken the initiative to move the proposal, he said.
About China saying that there is no consensus on the issue, the Foreign Secretary said, there is no consensus because China has not joined it.
Since the 1267 Committee proceedings are not public, he said, Our understanding is that there is overwhelming support in the 1267 (Committee). This (is) what we are told.
Other countries should be asked. The 1267 Committee is not for public. Our understanding (is that) there is overwhelming support in the 1267 (Committee). This (is) what we are told, Jaishankar said.
On the NSG issue, (the) Chinese side underlined that they are open to Indias application for membership. They have their view of procedures and processes. These were different from where we are at the moment and most of the group is at the moment, he said, referring to the wide support Indias application enjoyed in the 48-member elite grouping which controls global nuclear commerce. PTI
New Delhi, February 22
Violent clashes broke out between Left-affiliated AISA and RSS-backed ABVP at DU's Ramjas college on Wednesday over a seminar invite to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid which left "several students and three teachers injured".
Police said around 40 students were detained to prevent the row from escalating.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
Clashes broke out when a group of students and teachers tried to hold a protest march to demand action against ABVP for alleged vandalism and disruption of a seminar that was to have two JNU students among them Khalid, a student leader who had been charged with sedition for a controversial event held at the university last year speak.
The college authorities withdrew their invitation on Tuesday, a decision that was criticised by some students and teachers.
The ABVP however forestalled the march on Wednesday, locked down the college's seminar room and pelted stones, as AISA tried to force itself into the college to free the captives.
Abha Dev, member of DU Teachers' Association, claimed that several students and three teachers of different DU colleges were injured in the clashes and taken to Hindu Rao hospital.
There was no police confirmation on injuries yet.
"Not only the ABVP completely disrupted the seminar, they are also abusing, beating women and even journalists. Why can't the police see such hooliganism? There is plenty police presence on campus but nobody from ABVP has been detained yet," Shehla Rashid, who was formerly JNU Students' Union vice president ho was also invited to speak, said.
A senior police official said: Around 40-50 students have been detained to prevent further escalation. They will be released after sometimes. The situation is under control".
Khalid was among the students charged with sedition in connection with an event at JNU last year where some "anti- national" slogans were allegedly raised while Shehla was instrumental in the movement against the students' arrest. PTI
#WATCH: Clash between AISA and ABVP students over cancellation of JNU student Umar Khalid's talk at Delhi's Ramjas College. pic.twitter.com/YD15j8dMWr ANI (@ANI_news) February 22, 2017
New Delhi, February 22
Violent clashes broke out between Left-affiliated AISA and RSS-backed ABVP at Delhi Universitys Ramjas College today over a seminar invite to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid, which left many students, teachers and policemen injured.
A group of students was also allegedly locked up by ABVP activists inside the college campus for over four hours. Police officials claimed that a few policemen, including the SHO of Maurice Nagar police station, were roughed up.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
A few journalists too alleged that they were attacked by police during the clash. The clash broke out when a group of students and teachers tried to take out a march demanding action against ABVP for alleged vandalism and also disruption of a seminar yesterday.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had yesterday locked down the Delhi University colleges seminar room and pelted stones in protest against the invitation to the JNU students, calling them anti-nationals.
The college decided to withdraw the invitation, which irked a section of students and teachers who planned the protest march. PTI
Simran Sodhi
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 22
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, who is in Beijing, today said China was open to Indias application to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), but had a difference in view of the procedures and processes regarding the application.
The Foreign Secretary, on the question of China blocking the designation of Jaish chief Masood Azhar as an international terrorist at the UN, pointed out that India explained to China the rationale for that application as also the fact that there was broad international support for this.
The India-China relationship over the past one year has been dominated by NSG and Azhar issues. China has stuck to its position and indications are that it remains firm on both issues even now.
On the NSG issue, the FS referred to the broad consensus India enjoyed in the elite 48-member club with only a handful members, led by China, opposing Indias bid. The Chinese side underlined that they are open to Indias application for membership. They have their view of procedures and processes. These were different from where we and most of the group is at present, he said.
On China blocking attempts to get Azhar designated as a terrorist, Jaishankar said, In case of Azhar, Jaish itself is proscribed under UNSCR 1,267. So the proof is in (the) 1267 committee action. In this case, what he has done, extent of his actions are well-documented.
Suresh Dharur
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, February 22
Brushing aside criticism over splurging taxpayers money on fulfilling religious vows, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today offered gold ornaments worth Rs 5 crore to Lord Balaji at Tirumala temple and a nose-stud worth Rs 45,000 to Goddess Padmavati at Tirupati.
The funds for the ornaments were met by the state Endowments Department. The CM made the offerings to fulfil a vow he had taken during the movement for separate Telangana state. Accompanied by his family members and top officials, Rao visited the hill shrine at Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh and made the offerings as a thanksgiving gesture to Lord Balaji.
I have prayed for the well-being and prosperity for both the Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Rao told reporters after offering prayers at the temple.
Earlier, his entourage arrived at Renigunta airport in Tirupati by two special aircraft to hand over 18.85 kg of ornaments to the authorities of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams. It is against constitutional norms to spend public money on religious beliefs. The CM had taken the vow in his individual capacity. How would Rao have fulfilled his vow had he not become the CM? Telangana Congress spokesman Dasoju Sravan wondered.
New Delhi: The Finance Ministry has ruled out re-introduction of Rs 1,000 notes and said logistics issues of reloading ATMs more frequently were being addressed.
Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the focus was on increasing production and supply of Rs 500 and lower denomination currencies, while complaints of cash shortage were being looked into.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
He also requested people to desist from withdrawing more money than they needed. Complaints of cash-outs in ATMs being addressed. Request everyone to draw the cash they actually require. Overdrawal by some deprives others, he tweeted. PTI
Fake notes from ATM: SBI sees miscreants hand
New Delhi: Following reports that fake notes were dispensed from its ATM at Sangam Vihar, New Delhi, on February 6, the SBI said the possibility of such an event was very remote and that it suspected involvement of miscreants in the incident. In a statement, the bank authorities said: The possibility of fake notes from banks ATMs is very remote and the bank suspects involvement of some miscreants with mischievous intent. TNS
Estimados amigos,
Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia.
Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro.
Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras.
There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen.
You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.
No soy alguien que sabe, sino alguien que busca.
Only Gold is money. Everything else is debt.
Las grandes almas tienen voluntades; las debiles tan solo deseos.
Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada.
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.
If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.
Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service
Lucknow, February 22
The Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance will face a tough fight in the Nehru-Gandhi bastion Rae Bareli which goes to the polls in the fourth phase on Thursday.
Both alliance partners have fielded candidates here in two of the six seats (Sareni and Unchahar) adding to the confusion.
Moreover, this time Congress president Sonia Gandhi has not campaigned in her parliamentary constituency for the first time since 1998.
Even Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who had extensively campaigned for the Congress in 2012, made just a brief appearance at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhis election rally at Rae Bareli on February 17.
Around 1.84 crore voters, including 84.50 lakh women, would exercise their franchise to elect 53 candidates from among 680 in the fray spread over a dozen districts tomorrow.
Besides Rae Bareli, Allahabad, Kaushambi, Fatehpur and Pratapgarh, the remaining districts are of the relatively backward region of Bundelkhand, including the districts of Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur and Mahoba.
Once again, the ruling SP has much at stake as in 2012 polls it had won 24 of the 53 seats, BSP had won 15, Congress came third with six seats and BJP had been reduced to the fourth position with five seats, while Peace Party had managed three.
While the issues of demonetisation and farmers distress remain critical in this phase, the BJP has in recent days attempted to blunt the attack of the Opposition by giving the campaign a communal and casteist twist by raising the kabristan-shamshaan issue.
It is a litmus test for CM Akhilesh Yadav in Bundelkhand region as he had given a generous relief package to the area earlier this year. He was so confident of the gesture going down well that he had declared to contest elections from this region but then the family feud broke out. Bundelkhand region first faced severe damage to crops by untimely rains and hailstorm and then equally bad drought.
If hectic campaigning, whirlwind rallies and huge crowds are any indication then all major parties outdid each other.
Chauri Chaura (Uttar Pradesh), February 22
Ahead of the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Wednesday devised KASAB' as an acronym for describing Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
In the last 15 years, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) governments have ruined Uttar Pradesh. The two were enough for destruction, however, a third one has also arrived. The population of UP must get rid of this KASAB, and by this I mean Ka' for Congress, S' for SP and B' for..., Shah said.
While he didn't clearly mention the BSP, there was no denial from his side when the audience shouted 'BSP'.
#WATCH: BJP President Amit Shah in Chauri Chaura asks people of Uttar Pradesh to get rid of 'KASAB' and what he means by it. pic.twitter.com/BZz3tYFGp5 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 22, 2017
Questioning the legacy of Congress, the oldest political party in the country, Shah asked about the work done by the Gandhi family which ruled over the country for sixty years.
Rahul Gandhi asks what Prime Minister Modi has done in two-and-a-half years, Rahul's great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru ruled over the country, his grandmother Indira Gandhi ruled over the country, his father Rajiv Gandhi ruled over the country and his mother ruled over the country along with Manmohan Singh, what has the family that has ruled the nation for sixty years done, he said.
Commenting on UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's work speaks for itself' remark, the BJP president asserted that UP has topped the crime charts of the country under its current Samajwadi Party-led government.
Akhilesh Yadav says work speaks for itself. I will tell you what work has happened, UP has topped the charts for murder and every day 23 women are assaulted in UP. The state now stands at the top for matters concerning robbery, abduction and other crimes, Shah said.
The Prime Minister has made 93 schemes for the uplift of the underprivileged, but these schemes will never benefit the people of UP because of the presence of SP government, he added.
The fourth phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on Thursday in 53 assembly constituencies spread over 12 districts, including the backward Bundelkhand region and the Nehru-Gandhi pocket borough of Raebareli.
Other districts going to polls in this phase are Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot and Fatehpur.
No post-poll alliance with BSP or any party in UP
In an interview to PTI, Amit Shah ruled out any post-poll alliance with the BSP or any other party in the event of a hung assembly in Uttar Pradesh, confident that the party will get a full majority.
Kisi se bhi haath milane ka dur-dur tak koi swaal nahin uthata (there is no question by far of joining hands with any party), he said when asked if the BJP would be willing to ally with the BSP or any other party to form a government in the politically crucial state if it fell short of a majority.
The comments by Shah come against the backdrop of some poll surveys and political experts projecting a hung assembly in UP given that all the three playersthe SP-Congress, BSP and BJPhave a robust set-up and a loyal social base in the state.
Shah expressed confidence that his party would form the next government in UP, Uttarakhand and Goa with full majority but is unwilling to make a prediction about Punjab, noting that it was a triangular contest there involving the SAD-BJP, Congress and AAP.
In Goa, Uttarakhand and UP, we will form governments with full majority. It is trikoniya muqabala (triangular contest) in Punjab, so it is difficult to make a guess who will win, he added. PTI/ANI
Bahraich, February 22
Expressing complete confidence in the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Congress alliance, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the party would pedal ahead with full speed now that it had the support of the grand old party.
When the Samajwadi Party shows enthusiasm, it can ride the bicycle with only one hand. With Congress support we will increase the speed even further, Akhilesh said while addressing a rally here.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
We did not say achhe din ayenge, we perform our duty and it is reflected in our work, Akhilesh said.
Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he noted that people could not understand Mann Ki Baat of the BJP.
Mann ki Baat is telecast on the radio as well as TV but nobody could understand their Mann ki Baat. The BJP should show the reports what all they have done for the people, he added.
He asserted that the BJP hadnt worked for any section of society; instead they were making people fools.
They (BJP) said that every poor family would be credited with Rs 15 lakh in their accounts, but tell me did you get any money? he asked people.
Condemning the demonetisation move, the Chief Minister said honest people stood in queues for long hours and lost their lives. Nobody helped them but the SP took a step forward and helped them, he added.
Continuing his tirade against the BJP, he said the party blamed the Samajwadi Party for discriminating on the basis of caste and religion.
As many as 53 constituencies, spread over 12 districts, including the Bundelkhand region, will go to polls in this phase on February 23. The districts include Rae Bareilly, Allahabad, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Jhansi, Chitrakoot and Fatehpur.
A total of 630 candidates, including 50 women, are in the fray.
The third phase of polling recorded 61.16 per cent turnout and as the lengthy and staggered assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh crossed the halfway mark, the main parties are upbeat about forming the next government. ANI
Rachna Khaira
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, February 22
After giving a tough fight to the political parties of Punjab in the Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is now gearing up to contest the municipal elections to be held in the state in September.
The party has already got many prominent councillors, including Senior Deputy Mayor of Jalandhar Arvinder Kaur Oberoi, into its fold.
Also, many Independent candidates from major Municipal Corporations, including Ludhiana, Patiala and Bathinda, too have approached the party to contest under its banner.
When contacted, Durgesh Pathak, head of the Aam Aadmi Partys national organisation building team, said that the party is yet to take a call in this matter but sources said the party has already begun to identify potential candidates in various districts.
We will soon take a decision in this matter, said Pathak. However, hinting towards a strong possibility of contesting the MC polls, Pathak said the party cadre is extremely excited about getting a wonderful response in the recently held Assembly elections in the state and the party may go for another poll battle at the ground level as well.
Senior leader HS Phoolka, too, said looking at the feedback, the party is getting from various sources, the party should field its candidates from all wards of Punjab.
It is high time that the party should take the fight to corruption at the ground level and should contest the MC polls. I will personally appeal to the party high command to contest from each and every single ward of Punjab, said Phoolka. Sources have also informed that senior party members and experienced volunteers have already assessed the ground-level situation and have begun to mobilise local support.
Tribune News Service
Faridkot, February 22
The teaching and non-teaching women staff of Government Adarsh School staged a protest in front of the SSP office in Faridkot, demanding the arrest of the school manager.
On February 14, the Kotkapura police registered a case against Narinder Singh Randhwan, the manager of Adarsh School at Pacca village in Faridkot, for allegedly outraging the modesty of a woman teacher and forcing students to do labour work.
The protesting teachers alleged that the police were not arresting the accused under political pressure.
They said it was only after they protested in front of the SSP office for four days that the police were forced to register an FIR against the accused on February 14. They alleged that for the last over a week, the police were not arresting the accused even as he was threatening them.
Narinder Singh Randhwan is the manager of three Government Adarsh Schools at Pacca, Middumann villages of Faridkot and Ransih Kalan in Moga. The teachers in these schools have not got their salaries for the past five months.
It has been alleged that Randhwan started sexually harassing some women teachers of Adarsh School at Pacca village. When these teachers resisted this move and complained to the Faridkot SDM and the village panchayat, the chairman transferred these teachers to another Adarsh School at Ransih Kalan in Moga.
Deputy Commissioner, Faridkot, MS Jaggi ordered an inquiry. In the inquiry report, the Faridkot SDM had indicted Randhwan for sexual harassment of a teacher and forcing the schoolchildren in labour work.
Kotkapura SHO Paramjit Singh said the police were conducting raids to nab the accused.
MS Jaggi, Deputy Commissioner, Faridkot, said the matter of non-payment of salaries to the teachers would be raised with the Director General School Education.
Rachna Khaira
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, February 22
Twenty-eight-year-old Manjit Singh (name changed) from Raipur Peer Bakshwala village in Kapurthala district was asked to leave USA with immediate effect on Wednesday.
He had left for USA in December 2015 after paying around Rs 32 lakh to a Jalandhar-based travel agent by selling his small chunk of land and mortgaging his house.
He also spent another Rs 5 lakh in his gruelling journey to USA via Mexico. Though he managed to reach the US after four months, he had to struggle another six months to get a car cleaners job. It was only recently that he had begun to send money home.
His wailing mother Kuldeep Kaur (name changed) told The Tribune that it had taken the family six years to send him to the US. The family spent all of its fortune hoping that Manjit would be able to recover the amount after a few years.
Also, we did not get him married hoping that it would end his prospects to settle down in the US. US President Trumps decision has left us in a lurch. My son is not qualified to find a decent job here and we dont even have land now to earn a living. What will he do and how will we survive? said the worried mother.
Another old man in the village, Ranjit Singh, was found upset at the recent crackdown.
My son has been languishing in a detention centre for over a year. With the recent announcement, all our hopes have been shattered, said Ranjit who suffered a paralytic attack few months ago. The family is surviving by selling milk to villagers.
Khassan village in Bholath constituency too will be hit as around 500 youths from here are staying illegally in the US.
Unlike other places, illegal immigrants from Doaba are not IT professionals and mainly are poor peasants from Dalit families. After the announcement, their families have been approaching me to raise the issue with the state government, said Dr KS Kang, Sarpanch, Khassan.
Daljit Singh, a Jalandhar-based immigration consultant, said Kapurthala mainly consists of the Lubana community which began to migrate to European countries in the 1950s. Even though they were illiterate and poor, they began to spread out to other countries including the USA.
A majority of them were illiterate and semi-literate labourers from agricultural or military backgrounds. The second, very small group was of educated professionals and students. The labourers were mainly peasant Sikhs and some Muslims from Doaba, said Daljit Singh, adding that around 90 per cent of the community prefers to migrate to the USA.
He said immigration from the region reached a high after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as the majority of them were granted political asylum. Though USA is not a favourite destination for students, it was a dream place for illegal migrants, added Singh.
Satnam Singh Chahal, Executive Director of US-based North American Punjabi Association (NAPA), hailed Trumps move to weed out illegal immigrants from the US. But he urged the US Government to take a humanitarian view on the issue.
Geneva
Tiny plastic particles washed off products such as synthetic clothes and car tyres contribute up to 30 per cent of the 'plastic soup' polluting the world's oceans, with potentially disastrous effects on marine life and human health, a new report warned on Wednesday.
The report by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) looked at primary microplastics plastics that enter the oceans in the form of small particles, as opposed to larger plastic waste that degrades in the water released from household and industrial products across seven geographical regions.
Sources of primary microplastics include car tyres, synthetic textiles, marine coatings, road markings, personal care products, plastic pellets and city dust.
According to the report, between 15 and 31 per cent of the estimated 9.5 million tonnes of plastic released into the oceans each year could be primary microplastics, almost two-thirds of which come from the washing of synthetic textiles and the abrasion of tyres while driving.
"This report is a real eye-opener, showing that plastic waste is not all there is to ocean plastics," said IUCN Director General Inger Andersen.
"Our daily activities, such as washing clothes and driving, significantly contribute to the pollution choking our oceans, with potentially disastrous effects on the rich diversity of life within them, and on human health.
"These findings indicate that we must look far beyond waste management if we are to address ocean pollution in its entirety," said Andersen.
In parts of the developed world enjoying effective waste management, such as North America, primary microplastics are a bigger source of marine plastic pollution than plastic waste, according to the report.
Synthetic textiles are the main source of primary microplastics in Asia and tyres dominate in the Americas, Europe and Central Asia.
"The findings of this report have important implications for the global strategy to tackle ocean plastic pollution, which currently focuses on reducing plastic waste," said Joao de Sousa, Marine Project Manager, IUCN's Global Marine Programme.
"They show that solutions must include product and infrastructure design as well as consumer behaviour. Synthetic clothes could be designed to shed fewer fibres, for example, and consumers can act by choosing natural fabrics over synthetic ones," said de Sousa.
Recent calls to ban the use of micro-beads in cosmetics are a welcome initiative, but as this source is only responsible for 2 per cent of primary microplastics, the effects of a potential ban would be limited, the report said.
Plastic pollution harms marine wildlife and is thought to accumulate in the food web, with potentially negative consequences for human health.
Effects on fragile ecosystems in regions such as the Arctic, where microplastics could affect ice formation and melting, are still unknown, the report said. PTI
Houston, February 22
For the first time, seven new Earth-sized exoplanets that may be able to sustain life have been discovered orbiting a star 39 light years away, astronomers said today.
"They could have some liquid water and maybe life," lead researcher Michael Gillon, with the University of Liege in Belgium, was quoted as saying by science journal Nature.
Around a nearby, cold, small star we found 7 rocky Earth-size planets, all of which could have liquid water - key to life as we know it. pic.twitter.com/C2JWjDfBdK NASA (@NASA) February 22, 2017
Astronomers have found other seven-planet systems before, but this is the first time to have so many Earth-sized worlds.
All of them orbit at the right distance to possibly have liquid water somewhere on their surfaces.
The planets closely circle a dwarf star named Trappist-1, which at 39 light years away makes the system a prime candidate to search for signs of life. Only marginally larger than Jupiter, the star shines with a feeble light about 2,000 times fainter than Earth's sun, the journal said.
New record! Weve found 7 Earth-sized planets around a single star outside our solar system; 3 in habitable zone: https://t.co/GgBy5QOTpK pic.twitter.com/NEavRSXDU2 NASA (@NASA) February 22, 2017
The researchers have caught only two glimpses of one of those planets, so they followed up on the faint signals with other telescopes. That process included 20 consecutive days when NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope stared at the star.
The resulting data showed that what the scientists thought was a single planet was actually four that orbit their star roughly every 4, 6, 9 and 12 days.
Those four joined the two innermost planets, which whirl around the star once every 1.5 days and 2.4 days. The researchers also caught a hint of a seventh, more distant planet.
Gillon said that the six inner planets probably formed farther away from their star and then migrated inward. Now, they are so close to each other that their gravitational fields interact, nudging one another in ways that enabled the team to estimate each planet's mass. They range from around 0.4 to 1.4 times the mass of the Earth.
"I think that we've made a crucial step towards finding if there is life out there. I don't think that before we had the right planets to discover if there was life. Here, if life managed to thrive and releases gases similar to that that we have on Earth, then we will know," said University of Cambridge astronomer Amaury Triaud.
These 7 Earth-sized planets were seen by @NASASpitzer around a nearby, ultra-cool dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1: https://t.co/G9tW3cJMnV pic.twitter.com/Z6gvaH96Tz NASA (@NASA) February 22, 2017
However, scientists say they need to study the atmospheres before determining whether these planets could support some type of life.
Scanning the planets for methane, water, ozone and other chemicals tied to life will take another generation of telescopes, including the James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch next year. - PTI
Sydney, February 22
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull offered a staunch defence of Israel on Wednesday, criticising the United Nations and vowing never to support one-sided resolutions calling for an end to Israeli settlement building on occupied land.
Turnbull welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday as the first Israeli Prime Minister to visit Australia and reiterated Australias support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.
However, he also made it clear Australia would not support any resolutions such as the one approved by the United Nations Security Council in December calling for an end to Israeli settlement building on land occupied by Palestinians.
My government will not support one-sided resolutions criticising Israel of the kind recently adopted by the UN Security Council and we deplore the boycott campaigns designed to delegitimise the Jewish state, Turnbull wrote in an editorial in The Australian newspaper.
The UN resolution was approved in the final weeks of Barack Obamas administration, which broke with a long tradition of shielding Israel diplomatically and chose not to wield its veto power.
Australia has been courageously willing to puncture UN hypocrisy more than once, Netanyahu said.
The UN is capable of many absurdities and I think its important that you have straightforward and clear-eyed countries like Australia that often bring it back to earth, he said after meeting Turnbull.
Israel has long pursued a policy of constructing Jewish settlements on territory it captured in a 1967 war with its Arab neighbours including the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
Most countries view such activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal and an obstacle to peace but Israel disagrees, citing a biblical connection to the land.
Washingtons ambassador to the United Nations has said the United States still supports a two-state solution to the conflict, although new US President Donald Trump has also said he is open to new ways to achieve peace.
The two-state solution has long been the bedrock of the international communitys policy for a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians but Trumps apparent loosening of that main tenet, at a joint news conference with Netanyahu last week, stunned the international community.
We support an outcome which has two states where Israelis, the Israeli people, the Palestinian people live side-by-side as a result of direct negotiations between them, Turnbull told reporters in Sydney.
Netanyahu said any solution would need Palestine to recognise Israel, which would also have security control of the territories.
While in Australia, Netanyahu is scheduled to sign agreements fostering closer economic and defence cooperation. Reuters
Rome, February 22
Italys coast guard has rescued about 630 migrants off the coast of Libya who were trying to cross the Mediterranean.
The two rescue operations came as the bodies of 74 migrants who drowned trying to reach Europe washed up on a beach west of the Libyan capital, the Red Crescent said on Tuesday.
The Italian coast guard said it mounted operations to rescue two drifting vessels, a large boat and a rubber raft.
In the absence of an army or a regular police force in Libya, several militias act as coast guards but are often accused themselves of complicity or even involvement in the people-smuggling business.
The number of attempted crossings has surged this year, with most departures taking place from the west of Libya, from where Italy is just 300 km (190 miles) away.
Europeans are considering measures aimed at blocking the arrival of thousands of migrants, alarming NGOs which fear that those stranded in Libya may suffer mistreatment. AFP
Houston, February 22
Panic gripped a hospital in the US state of Texas following a false alarm of gunfire, leading to evacuation of patients.
The Ben Taub Hospital at the Texas Medical Centre was put on lockdown and patients were evacuated on Tuesday as multiple callers reported that shots were fired; however, no one was found injured, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said.
Two hours later, it appeared to be a misunderstanding or false alarm, officials said.
Life is back to normalcy at the hospital. Patients are safe and back in their beds.
Police Chief Art Acevedo said there were multiple calls just before 2 pm about an active shooter involving a bald white male with a gun.
After a thorough sweep of every floor, officers found nothing.
We have not found anyone injured. We have not found anyone shot and we have not found a suspect, Acevedo said.
Among those caught up in the chaos was a group of students at the hospital for a field trip. They were all safe and were later seen leaving on a school bus.
At first, many stayed where they were and followed orders. They assumed the threat was real based on reports of two guns shots.
Started locking all the doors and barricading all of the doors and we didnt believe it was a drill, said a patients husband.
A SWAT physician called it organised chaos.
The first thing is you have to control the natural panic, which people in emergency medicine do all of the time, he said.
It was challenging, but again at this time, fortunately all patients are accounted for and are safe, said Ben Taub Medical Director Dr Tovar. PTI
Washington, February 22
The US and China have agreed on a constructive bilateral relationship to address the threat posed by North Korea due to its repeated ballistic missile tests despite a UN ban.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday spoke to his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi over phone and discussed the importance of a constructive bilateral relationship, State Department Acting Spokesman Mark Toner said.
The two sides agreed on the need to address the threat that North Korea poses to regional stability, he said in a readout of the phone call.
The two leaders also discussed economics, trade, and potential cooperation on counter terrorism, law enforcement and transnational crime, Toner said.
The development comes after US and Japan urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and cautioned Pyongyang not to take any further provocative actions.
China has also begun a suspending all coal imports from North Korea for the rest of the year.
The ban is in line with UN Security Council sanctions imposed in November 2016 in response to North Koreas fifth nuclear test in August last year. PTI
Ottawa, February 22
Canada will continue to accept asylum seekers crossing illegally from the United States but will ensure security measures are taken to keep Canadians safe, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday.
(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)
The number of would-be refugees crossing into Canada at isolated and unguarded border crossings has increased in recent weeks amid fears that U.S. President Donald Trump will crack down on illegal immigrants, and photos of smiling Canadian police greeting the migrants have gone viral.
Opposition Conservatives want Trudeau's centre-left Liberal government to stem the flow of asylum seekers from the United States because of security fears and a lack of resources to deal with them.
"One of the reasons why Canada remains an open country is Canadians trust our immigration system and the integrity of our borders and the help we provide people who are looking for safety," Trudeau told parliament.
"We will continue to strike that balance between a rigorous system and accepting people who need help." Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen also said Canada would continue to honor the Canada-US. Safe Third Country Agreement, which requires it to turn back refugees if they make asylum claims at Canadian border crossings with the United States.
Refugee advocates have argued this drives asylum seekers to cross illegally at isolated locations, risking their lives in frigid weather.
Amnesty International and other groups are pressuring the Canadian government to abandon the agreement, arguing the United States is not safe for refugees.
Canadian police said on Monday they had bolstered their presence at the Quebec border and that border authorities had created a temporary refugee center to process the asylum seekers.
The number of people making refugee claims at Quebec-US border crossings more than doubled from 2015 to 2016. Last month, 452 people made claims in Quebec compared with 137 in January 2016.
The influx is straining resources in the western prairie province of Manitoba and in Quebec, where taxis drop asylum seekers off metres away from the Quebec-U.S.border, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said.
The right-leaning Conservative opposition have called on Canadian authorities to hand illegal immigrants over to US authorities, but Hussen said Canada can honor its refugee agreement with the United States while helping asylum seekers who enter the country illegally.
Reuters
A worker making a food delivery to a Bronx apartment building earlier this month was viciously attacked by two people who took his cellphone and money. Police are still searching for the two robbery suspects, and the NYPD now is hoping the public can help track them down.
The incident occurred just before 11 p.m. on February 2nd, when the 21-year-old delivery man went to 2802 Olinville Avenue. Video released by the NYPD shows a man and woman confront the victim soon after he enters the lobby, first shoving and then punching and kicking him.
The victim's shirt and jacket were torn from his body during the incident, and his assailants rifled through his pockets, police say, "removing property to include an iPhone 5S and cash." They subsequently fled in an unknown direction.
The victim suffered minor injuries.
Police shared descriptions of the perpetrators: The male suspect is described as having a thin build and was last seen wearing a black jacket, a blue hooded sweatshirt, camouflage pants and black boots, while the female suspects was last seen wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, navy blue pants and black shoes.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
American Trucking Associations has agreed to be a supporter of the North American Commercial Vehicle Show, a new biennial truck show to be held in Atlanta later this year.
As the nations foremost trucking industry association, it only made sense for ATA to support our supplier community, many of whom have committed to this endeavor, said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. The North American Commercial Vehicle Show promises to be an excellent event and we are pleased to be a part of it.
The show is scheduled to take place Sept. 25-29 in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center. The show is focused on fleet decision makers and influencers. Leading truck and trailer manufacturers and commercial vehicle parts and components suppliers will demonstrate their latest product offerings on the show floor.
The show opens on Sept. 25 to attendees who have received an invitation from one of the shows exhibitors and is open to all attendees from Sept. 26 to Sept. 28. The NACVS is a joint venture between Hannover Fairs USA and Newcom Media USA that will be held every two years starting this year.
Commercial vehicle manufacturers and suppliers have eagerly embraced the North American Commercial Vehicle Show, which has almost sold out of exhibitor space for 2017, said Larry Turner, president and CEO of Hannover Fairs USA. We are proud of the progress weve made since announcing the show last year and appreciate ATAs support.
For more information on the North American Commercial Vehicle Show, click here.
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 ...
tugtechnologyandbusiness.com
This Domain Name Has Expired - Renewal Instructions
Clyde James Vandergriff, Jr. "C. J." Clyde James Vandergriff, Jr. "C.J.", born October 14, 1970 to parents; Clyde James Vandergriff and Lorene "Rene" Crawford- Vandergriff. He passed into the loving arms of his heavenly father Saturday, February 11, 2017. C. J. Vandergriff was a man who loved people, loved the military, and loved the Lord. He spent seventeen years in the military including the Kuwait Liberation, Desert Storm, and the Gulf War. C. J. also served as a Navy Corpsman with the 3rd Marine Division while in Desert Storm. He continued his service to the military after retiring through serving in honor guards and by training young people for color guard / honor guard. After retirement, from the military, C. J. participated in short term missions overseas and in Christian leadership outreach through Walk to Emmaus and Tres Dias. Stemming from these ministries, C. J. was also involved in ministry to incarcerated youth through Epiphany Ministries. Feeling the call of God upon his life C. J. attended Rhema Bible College in Broken Arrow, OK., graduating from the pastors' program in 2012. While at Rhema, C. J. served as a Rhema Student Usher and as a member of the Rhema Nursing Home Ministry. After graduating from Rhema, C. J. came to Crockett, Texas, where he joined Torchlight Community Church as the outreach minister. In his position, C. J. had a strong nursing home ministry and worked with young Christians at the church. C. J. also assisted in the church's Christian school and instructed the school's color guard in 2014 - 2015. C. J. was also active in the music worship program playing bass. C.J. felt the Lord leading him to continue in ministry and requested ordination by his pastor. On July 20, 2014, a board of nine pastors convened and after questioning him concerning the Word and about his call, they laid hands on him committing him to the work of the Lord. C. J. served as an assistant to Pastor Wayne Irwin, helping him with various duties in the services and administration of the church. He was preceded in death by his father; Clyde James Vandergriff, Sr., grandparents; Sular and Kate Vandergriff and Eddie and Ethal Crawford, sister; Dorothy Vandergriff-Todd, and several Aunts, Uncles, and other relatives. He is survived by his wife; Tami Vandergriff, mother; Lorene Vandergriff, stepmother; Ginny Vandergriff, brothers; Ernie Vandergriff and wife, Nancy, Michael Vandergriff and wife Georganna, and James Buchanan, sisters; Beverly Raehorn and husband Sam, Julie Brashears and husband Jeff; and children; Sada Rene Vandergriff, Kyle Howder, Brent Howder, and Kaprice Matcham, along with many nieces, nephews, and other relatives. Services for C. J. was held Saturday, February 18, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. in the Callaway-Allee Memorial Chapel with Pastor Wayne Irwin of the Torchlight Community Church, of Crockett and Pastor Luis Febus of Standing In The Sun of San Antonio will be officiating. The family will receive friends for visitation Friday, February 17, 2017 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Interment to follow in the Dallas Fort Worth National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Torch Light Church, 304 S. Seventh St., Crockett. Online condolences may be made at www.callawayallee.com
The long-awaited trial in a federal civil rights lawsuit claiming Tulsa Jail personnel ignored the needs of a mentally ill inmate who died nearly a week after paralyzing himself is set to start this week.
A half-decade after the lawsuit was filed on behalf of Elliott Williams, prospective jurors are expected to gather at the federal courthouse Wednesday morning. Those chosen during the selection process will hear from witnesses and ultimately decide a verdict in the trial that one attorney called historically significant.
Sheriff Stanley Glanz initially was sued in his individual and official capacities, but he was dropped as a defendant in his official capacity when he resigned as sheriff following an unrelated indictment in 2015. Current Sheriff Vic Regalado is now named in his official capacity as a representative of the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office.
The lawsuit alleges jail staff failed to provide treatment to Williams, a 37-year-old U.S. Army veteran who died Oct. 27, 2011, after languishing for more than five days with a broken neck. A report from the state Medical Examiners Office found Williams was dehydrated at the time of his death, which was caused by complications of vertebrospinal injuries due to blunt force trauma.
The case received national media attention with the release of a condensed surveillance video showing the last 51 hours of Williams life. In the recording, jail staff can be seen tossing food to the floor of his cell and placing a cup of water out of his reach as he lay on the floor. It also depicts Tulsa firefighters performing CPR before pronouncing him dead.
Defense attorneys have argued medical and detention staff were not indifferent to Williams needs but believed he was faking paralysis due to his symptoms and medical history.
The lawsuit is asking for actual and punitive damages in excess of $75,000 each. Jury selection is expected to take most of Wednesday, with opening statements likely being made either that afternoon or Thursday morning. Officials believe the trial will last two to three weeks.
The series of events that led to Williams arrival at the jail started late Oct. 21, 2011, at a hotel in Owasso, where his father, Earl Williams, reportedly told officers his son had been in a distressed state as a result of his separation with his wife.
According to one officer at the scene, Williams was rambling incoherently about God and eating dirt and appeared to be having a complete and utter mental breakdown.
Williams at first denied being suicidal or depressed to police, and his father said Williams had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder during his time in the military.
During the encounter, Williams reportedly began threatening that he was going to commit suicide tonight. When he took a step toward an officer and expressed that he wanted to be shot, police pepper sprayed him and took him into custody on a misdemeanor obstruction complaint.
Williams then spent about 2 hours in a cell at the Owasso Jail, during which time he displayed disturbing behavior that included singing Jesus repeatedly, banging his head against a wall and the cell door, pulling off his pants and growling while hiding under his cot.
Owasso police brought Williams to the Tulsa Jail with the expectation he would receive proper mental health treatment that the facility offered, according to court documents.
Shortly after arrival, Williams rammed his head into the door of a booking area holding cell and told detention officers and a nurse he had broken his neck and couldnt move. He then lay untreated for nearly 11 hours in the holding cell before being moved to the medical unit, where the head nurse allegedly berated him and demanded he quit f---ing faking.
Detention officers wheeled Williams on a gurney to the medical unit shower and dumped him onto the ground, causing him to hit his head, documents say. He was left in the running shower for a period lasting between 1 hour 10 minutes and over 3 hours. Officers found him face down and screaming for help.
Throughout the first day, Williams continued to complain that he was paralyzed and unable to walk. At one point a detention officer poured water into his mouth and fed him a bologna sandwich. A nurse later wrote that Williams did not use a wheelchair or any other kind of walking aid when brought to the jail.
Continues to tell Nursing staff here that he just cannot walk, or even pull blankets over his shoulder, the note states. Wants to be waited on.
For the next few days Williams lay naked on a blanket in his cell unable to move. The jails part-time psychiatrist has stated he was first notified of Williams condition just over two days after his arrival. He ordered jail personnel to move Williams to another medical cell, which District Judge John Dowdell later called his burial crypt.
The psychiatrist visited Williams on the fourth day but left without performing a medical evaluation. That same day, jail staff placed one cup of water out of reach at Williams feet and tossed two servings of food on the cell floor, surveillance footage shows.
On the sixth day, Williams was found unresponsive and declared dead after multiple attempts at CPR.
U.S. District Judge John Dowdell ruled last summer that enough evidence had been presented to send the case toward a trial date. He wrote that in addition to the jails failure to treat Williams injuries for days, enough evidence exists for a jury to infer he was treated inhumanely during his brief stay.
Dowdell last week denied a motion to disqualify him from presiding over the case.
Daniel Smolen, an attorney representing Williams estate in the lawsuit, said he and his team look forward to trying the case and seeking some measure of justice in Elliotts name.
We believe that the prolonged and reckless neglect of Elliott Williams at the Tulsa County Jail constitutes one of the most egregious violations of an inmates Constitutional rights in modern American history, Smolen said in the statement.
In a correctional setting, the Constitution forbids physical torture, a lingering death or the denial of medical care resulting in pain and suffering. Mr. Williams experienced all of these wrongs as he slowly and painfully died alone in his video-monitored cell.
Although he declined to speak about the specifics in the upcoming trial, defense attorney Clark Brewster representing the county said he believes jurors will make a fair decision if they listen to the facts presented during testimony and appropriately apply the law.
All I honestly am concerned about or want to occur is that the fair judge will apply the law and a jury that will listen to the facts and make a decision based upon the law and the facts, and if that occurs, Im pretty confident that well be fine, Brewster said.
OKLAHOMA CITY The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday passed a bill to implement the federal Real ID Act.
House Bill 1845 passed by a vote of 34-9 after lengthy discussion.
The measure, by House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, and Senate President Pro Tem Mike Schulz, R-Altus, heads to the Senate floor, where it is expected to secure approval.
With committee passage of this bill, the Senate is addressing an issue the vast majority of Oklahomans want us to quickly resolve, Schulz said. Besides allowing Oklahomans the convenience of continuing to use their state-issued drivers licenses to fly commercially, fixing the REAL ID problem is an issue of national security.
Thousands of Oklahomans work on military bases and need to maintain access so they can continue their important work supporting the brave men and women in our Armed Force who protect our freedoms. I appreciate my colleagues for supporting this bill and look forward to its quick passage soon off the floor of the Senate.
The measure will likely be heard on the Senate floor early next week, said Aaron Cooper, a Schulz spokesman.
The federal Real ID Act was passed in 2005 in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, in which it was determined that the perpetrators used fake identification to board airliners they used in the attacks. The law was designed to create minimum standards for identification documents.
But in 2007, the Oklahoma Legislature passed a bill to opt out of the federal act because of concerns that compliance would violate individuals privacy rights.
The state has gotten several extensions, but failure to comply would mean residents would have to use an alternative form of identification, such as a passport, to board commercial airlines and enter federal facilities.
House Bill 1845 would allow those who oppose Real ID to get a license that is not compliant, said Sen. Kim David, R-Porter, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The people of this state have pretty much demanded we get this done and we get this done immediately, David said.
But Sen. Joseph Silk, R-Broken Bow, disagreed. He said he spent the past two days on the phone with his constituents who do not want the measure passed.
He said the measure will increase costs on residents, add another layer of bureaucracy and is not needed.
David said obtaining drivers licenses regardless if they are Real ID-compliant will cost an additional $5, adding that supporters of the measure worked to reduce the cost from $13.50.
A class D license currently costs $33.50, said Randy Rogers, legislative liaison for the Department of Public Safety.
Efforts to pass a measure last session to make the state compliant failed to secure approval.
Legislative leaders have made the issue a top priority this session and put the legislation on a fast track.
OKLAHOMA CITY Lawmakers should put all options on the table as they struggle to find solutions to the states budget problems, the chairman of the Tulsa Regional Chamber said Wednesday during a visit to the Capitol.
We met with Gov. Fallin, Phil Albert said. She made a tremendous presentation regarding the magnitude of the cuts to state agencies, and we absolutely agree it is a revenue issue.
Between 225 and 250 members of the chambers OneVoice coalition met with policymakers to discuss the organizations agenda and the issues facing the state.
OneVoice is a state and federal lobbying effort spearheaded by the Tulsa Regional Chamber.
The meeting came a day after state officials declared a revenue failure for the current fiscal year and announced that the hole in next years budget increased to $878 million from $868 million.
Fallin has proposed applying the state sales tax to services, increasing the gasoline and diesel tax and hiking the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1.50.
We do not have a board policy on most of those things, said Mike Neal, president and CEO of the Tulsa Regional Chamber.
The group heard from Fallin, legislative leaders and agency personnel.
We applaud the governors leadership and willingness to step out in front of this critical issue, Albert said.
He said he believes there is an intent among members of the House and Senate to cooperate and find a solution to the states budget problems.
Jeff Dunn, past chairman of the Tulsa-area group, agreed.
There is a true sense of bipartisan cooperation, he said.
Wes Mitchell, Tulsa Regional Chamber vice chair of education and work force, said education is the organizations top issue again this year.
The state needs to invest in teachers and the secondary and post-secondary education system, he said, adding that the investment is critical to build a work force and attract businesses.
Several teacher pay raise plans have been filed in the Legislature, but lawmakers have yet to strike a deal on how to pay for the increases.
Dan Sullivan, vice chairman of government affairs for the Tulsa Regional Chamber, said education, supporting cities and supporting businesses are at the top of the agenda.
On the city side of it, we put a great amount of emphasis on making sure cities have some stable forms of income and the tax base remains steady, said Sullivan, a former member of the Oklahoma House. On the supporting businesses, we look at economic incentives that are working and producing real investment in the state.
Neal said another critical issue is criminal justice reform. If the state does not make changes, it will have $1.9 billion in new corrections spending in the next 10 years, Neal said.
And we simply cannot afford that, he said.
Finally, the state needs to do something in the area of health care, because it cannot afford to lose rural hospitals or have major institutions under-funded, Neal said.
We have got to be able to come up with a solution to addressing long-term health-care needs, he said.
Pricing for Fetch TV looks set to rise from $15 for 40 channels to $20 for 49 channels, according to media speculation.
A pricing sheet shown to an Optus store customer, showed a new Ultimate package at $20 a month.
Packages with Kids, Knowledge, Variety and Vibe appear to be $6 each, variously adding Disney XB and BBCs CBeebies, Chinas CCTV, New Zealands Garage TV is added to the service also, along with one other in the Vibe pack, while in the Variety pack youll get the new 13th Street, 111 Hits and MTV Classic.
Fetch TV would not comment on the leak or speculation.
Source: EFTM
Jay Lagaaia was momentarily back in the South African jungle on Im A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here last night, 2 days after being voted out.
The mix-up, spotted by some eagle-eyed viewers, was due to an edit during a conversation by Kris Smith.
A TEN spokesperson told News Corp:
A scene was incorporated in last nights show which included a shot of Jay Lagaaia from a previous day. This was included because Kris Smith referenced it as the source of tension between himself and Tziporah Malkah. In the past when campmates have referenced a past event, the scene is graded differently to clearly differentiate it as past tense. Unfortunately, this did not happen in last nights show.
That would do it
Australias next Eurovision act will be announced by SBS on Tuesday March 7th.
For the first time ever, Australias artist and song will both be revealed at the same time, in an intimate live performance at a secret location in Melbourne, hosted by Julia Zemiro.
It will also be broadcast Live on SBS Facebook from 5.30pm.
The chosen act will compete in the Semi-Finals in Kyiv, Ukraine in May, following on from Dami Ims sensational second placing with Sound of Silence.
With previous acts being former talent show stars and Sony acts there will be strong money on former X Factor stars such as Cyrus Villanueva, Isaiah Firebrace and Marlisa Punzalan (all of whom would also tick diversity boxes for SBS).
But thats by no means certain, with Australia yet to send a group or veteran performer to Eurovision.
And does the Melbourne announcement mean a home-grown gal like Kylie Minogue or Tina Arena could get the nod? Its unlikely to be Sydney-born Delta Goodrem given her commitments to The Voice.
Let the guessing games begin.
Sunday Night returns this weekend with an interview with Brenda Lin, on the Lin family murders.
In 2009 Robert Xie murdered her entire family her father Min Norman Lin, her mother Yun Li Lily Lin, her aunt Yun Bin Irene Lin, and her two little brothers Henry and Terry in the bedrooms of their North Epping home.
It was Australias most horrific family massacre.
In one unthinkable night in 2009, in a middle class suburban house on Sydneys leafy north shore, five members of Brenda Lins family were bludgeoned to death in their bedrooms.
Brendas mum, Lily. Her father, Min. Her little brothers, Henry and Terry, and her aunt, Irene.
Brenda was just 15, the sole survivor. And her ordeal was far from over. Brenda had no idea that the man she turned to for help and a safe roof to live under had murdered her entire family her uncle Robert Xie.
Nearly two years after the brutal and calculated murders, Brendas uncle is arrested. But justice would take years. His first and second trials were aborted, the third ended in a hung jury and he was released on bail. In January this year, the jury in the fourth trial finally convicted Robert Xie of the five murders. He will never be released from jail.
Sunday Night returns for 2017 with this special report as Brenda Lin confronts for the first time the awful truth about what happened and why.
This terrible tragedy is also a story about love and hope. How a young girl who lost her entire family has managed to emerge a strong, kind and grateful woman determined to make her beloved parents proud.
Sunday Nights Melissa Doyle is with Brenda as she embarks on a pilgrimage to China, to retrace her familys past. And we hear for the first time from those closest to Brenda the family who rescued her.
Sunday at 8.30pm on Seven.
Twitter is partnering with IMDb to Live stream the Academy Awards next Monday, in direct competition with Nine and 9Now live streaming.
The move is likely to rile Free TV bosses who have argued against other platforms moving in on event television. Last year Twitter Live streamed the Melbourne Cup, which is on the anti-siphoning list.
Twitters stream will feature a companion show hosted by Dave Karger and Amazons Rachel Smith, from the IMDb industry viewing party.
Viewers can tune-in on Twitter, even if they dont have a Twitter account, via Oscars Viewing Party from 12 Noon AEDT on Monday 27th February (ceremony begins 12:30pm).
Nine also broadcasts the Oscars Live from 12:30pm AEDT Monday.
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today
Police are searching for a man accused of forcibly touching a woman inside a department store in Manhattan earlier this month.
The incident occurred last week, on February 16th, around 2 p.m. The NYPD says an unidentified man "approached the 66 year-old female inside Century 21 Department Store, located at 22 Cortlandt Street, and used his hand to touch her in her pelvic area."
Police released images of the suspect, who is described as being around 5'8" and was last seen wearing a jacket with a skull and crossbones on the back.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
North Louisiana Economic Partnership (NLEP) today presented the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) a $30,000 check to fund an economic impact study of the Ouachita and Black Rivers. The study will assess the economic impact of the Ouachita-Black River system from South Central Arkansas to North Central Louisiana. It will be submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the goal of maintaining the water levels and hours of operation of the rivers.
The Ouachita River has historically been a major economic channel for commerce and economic development in Northeast Louisiana, said Scott Martinez, CEcD, NLEP President. Manufactured products, agricultural commodities and raw materials are barged up and down the Ouachita River headed to national and international destinations. NLEP and local partners are doing everything we can to keep the Ouachita River navigable.
The Ouachita-Black River Economic Impact Study will be conducted by ULM Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) to assess the economic benefits of the Ouachita River Basin. The results of the 12-month study could play a key role in keeping the Ouachita River navigable.
I applaud NLEP and Mr. Martinez for their support of this project, said Dr. Nick J. Bruno, ULM President. The rivers are vital components of our current and future economic base. This study will provide an indication as to the financial impact they have.
Barge traffic on the Ouachita and Black Rivers is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg, Mississippi by a system of four locks and dams that maintains the navigation channel at a depth that allows for barge traffic year-round. The locks and dams operate along 337 miles of waterway, keeping the navigation channel at a minimum depth of 9 feet and a width of 100 feet from the Red River north of Camden, Arkansas. Continued federal funding for the lock and dams is vital to keeping the Ouachita River navigable, and this economic impact study will be an important tool in efforts to maintain the level of funding for the Ouachita and Black Rivers waterway system.
"This study will be the first step in putting a true value on the Ouachita River," said Randy Denmon, President, Ouachita River Valley Association. "Currently, the Army Corps of Engineers only recognizes a river's value based its transport tonnage. The Corps does not recognize that the Ouachita River is a source of potable water for the region or is a receiving body for the hundreds of commercial and public discharges into the River. This economic impact study will present the Ouachita River's true value, aiding in our efforts to obtain funding for all aspects of the River."
Reduction in the level of service at the locks over the past three years, the lack of dredging, and lower demand due to the economy have reduced the amount of tonnage on the river system. With tonnage dropping below 1 million tons annually, the Ouachita waterway is considered low use. Competition for limited federal funds could jeopardize the operations of the locks and dams along the Ouachita-Black Rivers, placing the waterway in care-taker status.
If that happens, navigation on the Ouachita River would become very difficult during the dry season, said Terry Baugh, Executive Vice President, Greater Ouachita Parish Port. The Port serves businesses throughout Northeast Louisiana who rely on barge traffic to transport goods or raw materials to market. The ability to use the Ouachita River is critical to these companies and to our economy as a whole- without which our community looks less attractive to companies considering locating here.
About North Louisiana Economic Partnership
North Louisiana Economic Partnership, an Accredited Economic Development Organization, provides professional economic development services to the 14-parish region of North Louisiana, including lead generation and prospect management. The organization also represents the interests of North Louisiana with a unified voice and as a single point of contact. It acts as a catalyst, a convener, and a connector in the region to ensure that North Louisianas economic development potential is realized. Its vision is for North Louisiana to be a thriving region-a destination for high quality talent, innovative companies, and global investment.
Kirsten Gillibrand's made a name for herself by being the only Democrat to vote against twelve of President Trump's 14 cabinet nominees, making her the biggest defense against this Administration of Horrors. Her fortitude has sparked rumors she might run against Trump in 2020, but Gillibrand says, no sirreeindeed, in an interview with NY1 last night, Gillibrand said it is not she, but Governor Cuomo who should attempt to valiantly defeat The Donald in the next presidential election. GIRL, WHAT. YOU WERE ONE OF THE GOOD ONES.
"Hed be a great candidate, Gillibrand said. "Hes a great governor, hes done great things in our state. I love the fact that hes focused on paid leave and marriage equality, so hes a terrific governor. I know hes running for reelection, its what he said as well."
WHY ARE YOU ENCOURAGING HIM.
It is true that Cuomo has stepped up his progressive game over the last couple years, championing legislation on paid family leave, minimum wage hikes, and, in the wake of Trump's election, women's reproductive health and free state college tuition, to name a few. These things are good (keeping in mind the devil's in the details), and New Yorkers should hope Cuomo keeps pushing this kind of agenda.
But as we've pointed out before, Cuomo has his downsides. His upstate economic revitalization projects are expensive and deeply flawed. He signs off on his signature infrastructure projects without the ability to pay for them, while cutting spending on essentials like the MTA and CUNY. Several of his top aides and donors have been embroiled in bribery and corruption schemes. He vetoes common-sense progressive legislation like gravity-knife reform and creating a statewide public defender system. His proposed Airtrain to LaGuardia is one of the dumbest transit ideas ever conceived. And his feud with Mayor de Blasio is petty, self-serving, and kneecaps the city.
Although, one might suppose these are all now qualities this country prefers in its president.
It doesn't seem like New Yorkers are clamoring for a Cuomo run. The Observer reports that a Quinnipiac University survey found 56 percent of New Yorkers said they did not want Cuomo to run for president in 2020, and 54 percent though he would be a poor president.
And it looks like the Trump administration agrees. Last week, it was revealed the White House was looking into the backgrounds of four potential Democratic challengers: Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. A source told the Post Cuomo and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker had too many corruption probes in their administrationsmeanwhile, the Trump administration allegedly thinks Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are too old to run.
Welp, President Bannon forever, I guess.
Santa Clara University's student government has rejected the proposal of a conservative club to be a registered organization of the institution. This sparked an intense debate about diversity and intellectual freedom.
SF Gate reported that the student government at the university voted not to legitimize a chapter of Turning Point USA on campus. The group describes itself as nonpartisan and is said to exist in order to promote the "importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government."
Apparently, the SCU senators were worried about the group's claim that the club will be focused on fiscal issues would not hold. This is because Turning Point has always been vocal about social issues.
With the tense nature of the current political situation, some members of the student government also said that legitimizing the conservative group would make students at Santa Clara University "uncomfortable" because its parent group's economic and social aspects cannot be differentiated. This sparked an intense debate on freedom of speech.
In Santa Clara University's official website, 10 members of the student government voted in favor of legitimizing the conservative group while 16 voted against. The decision was announced after input from a various range of constituent voices was collected.
Neil Datar, chairperson of the Santa Clara student senate, said that senators for and against the approval of Turning Point were given the chance to voice their opinions during deliberation. He described the final decision as a result of a "rigorous, fair and democratic voting process."
According to USA Today College, Ahmer Israr was one of the 10 senators who voted in favor of TPUSA. He expressed his disappointment in an email to the publication, saying that it was a "shame" that his peers "saw it fit to trample upon the rights of an intellectual minority group on campus by engaging in a tyranny of the majority."
David Warne, a first-year senator, also said in an email that he and Israr emphasized on the importance of intellectual freedom and diversity. He added that "intellectual safety has become just as important as physical safety."
Ohio State University has a hall dedicated to the School of Earth Sciences. Orton Hall is the second oldest building on the Ohio State campus. It also holds the museum which is made up of sculptures that shows extinct creatures like the saber-tooth tiger.
Now, Ohio State University is looking to enhance their museum by purchasing a dinosaur skeleton. But it can only be possible if they get crowd funding support from the general public.
The geological museum at Ohio State university is planning on buying a new dinosaur skeleton to enhance its collection. The museum needs to raise $80,000 by next month, as reported by The Columbus Dispatch. If this happens, the Orton Geological Museum will surely get everyone excited.
The museum's current displays and merchandise are reportedly not generating enough revenue which can be vital for big purchases. Now, with the help of crowd sourcing or crowd funding, Ohio State University has high hopes, as reported by Lima Ohio.
Ohio State University already has a dinosaur in mind. The addition to the museum comes in the form of a dinosaur called Cryolophosaurus ellioti. It is described to be the size of a bus. It is said to be named after a retired Ohio State geology professor, David Elliot.
Dale Gnidovec, the museum curator, hopes that kids and other museum guests are going to get excited about science. He envisions the Cryolophosaurus ellioti already looming over museum visitors as they walk inside the halls of Ohio State University. He knows kids will get excited if they see a 22 foot long dinosaur.
Gnidovec adds that dinosaurs are a gateway to science and he explains that this is also a great opportunity to extend STEM to kids. The crowdfunding will also reportedly help Ohio State University to upgrade its facilities and exhibits.
Know more about the Cryolophosaurus in the video below:
Testosterone is a male sex hormone that plays an important role in the development of male reproductive system. When it comes to men's health, it is considered to be essential.
Which is why testosterone is also being used as a medication to treat certain disorders among men. And because older men are prone to encounter testosterone deficiency as they age, synthetic testosterone are often prescribed to older men.
But there are conflicting studies when it comes to testosterone improving older men's health. Many claim that it increases their well-being and sexual function. Which is why some doctors are prescribing testosterone replacements. But there are opposite claims.
The effectiveness of synthetic testosterone are claimed to be controversial. There are mixed results when it comes to the advantages and disadvantages of it, as reported by Southern California Public Radio.
To stress this, the Food and Drug Administration has increased its warning about the cardiac side effects of testosterone supplements. There are a lot of key studies regarding testosterone. All of which are noted in the Journal of American Medical Association and JAMA Internal Medicine.
The first study found that levels are raised when it comes to bone density and bone strength. The second study showed increase in iron levels. A third study shows that some men have reported having memory problems and showed no improvement on a cognitive level.
Dr. David Handelsman, from the University of Sydney and Concord Hospital, says that some problems are addressed by lifestyle measures. In the same manner, he calls for increased warning on testosterone packaging when it comes to cardiovascular risks.
Professor Eric Orwoll, a professor of medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University, says that both physicians and patients should be aware that there are cardiovascular risks and advantages to testosterone replacement.
For now, the issue is not resolved. Testosterone gel and other supplements and their efficacy still varies.
Find out more about testosterone and its relationship with masculinity in the TED Talk below:
Betsy DeVos has acknowledged the significant role that community colleges will play in the advancement of President Donald Trump's workforce agenda. She made the announcement last week at a meeting of community college leaders, marking her first appearance at a conference event as Education Secretary.
Diverse Education reported that DeVos described community colleges as inclusive, entrepreneurial and nimble. She spoke from prepared remarks at the National Legislative Summit of the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT).
The Education Secretary stated that community colleges' identities and scopes are aligned with President Donald Trump's 100-day plan, which includes job creation. DeVos said that expanding technical and vocational education and affordability are important elements of workforce development.
She told community college leaders that they play a significant role in workforce and economic development in both local and regional scales. Community colleges help recognize and solve the skills gap between employers and those who are seeking jobs which help U.S. businesses to thrive and expand.
Betsy DeVos also said that she knows the legislative priorities of community colleges. She revealed that she was willing to work with leaders during the reauthorization of the Perkins Act and Higher Education Act.
She specifically praised early college programs, which allow high school students to get college credits. She also gave her agreement on increased Pell Grant flexibility.
According to The Associated Press, via WOODTV.com, she described community colleges as unique American national assets. Community colleges are known for providing more personalized attention to students and to be more in tune with its local communities.
Speaking to The Chronicle of Higher Education, University of North Carolina president Margaret Spellings suggested that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos should prioritize streamlining the paths from secondary to postsecondary education. Spellings added that DeVos should support community colleges as well.
Institutions such as Stanford University, Harvard University and West Virginia University have urged Betsy DeVos to improve Title IX. A lot of people are hoping that, regardless of DeVos' lack of experience in public education, she may bring about a positive change in the department.
Pennsylvania State University has announced that it will be providing support for its international community. The resources are especially focused on the students affected by President Trump's travel ban executive order.
In its official website, Pennsylvania State University's executive vice president and provost Nick Jones told the university community that the institution will continue its firm commitment to make sure that every student, faculty and staff member feels safe and secure in campus. The announcement was made during the school's town hall meeting on the University Park campus last week.
Jones said that they want to nurture a welcoming environment. He added that the progress of education and research is one of Pennsylvania State University's top priorities.
The meeting was held in the HUB-Robeson Center in collaboration with Penn State Global Programs. Jones urged international students and faculty who are affected by President Trump's travel ban executive order. He encouraged them to consult with Global Programs for guidance and assistance for any trips that they have planned.
The Penn State executive VP and provost added that the university deems the ability of its students to travel abroad for research as "extremely important." He admitted that they will do everything they can to protect that opportunity.
It was previously reported that President Trump's executive order suspends entry for 90 days from certain Muslim-majority nations based on statute related to the Visa Waiver Program. Individuals from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen will not be allowed entry from the nation.
According to Penn Live, Penn State President Eric J. Barron and Temple University President Richard M. Englert have joined the Association of American Universities last month to petition for Trump's travel ban executive order to be ended as soon as possible.
17 universities have filed a brief last week in support of a court challenge to President Trump's immigration policy. The brief was filed in a civil action sought by the attorney general of New York and several others in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
A little over a year ago, Luke Scardigno, a criminal defense lawyer in Queens, took on the case of a 22-year-old man busted for possession of an illegal handgun. Just out of prison for a robbery, the man's case didn't look good. Scardigno, who has spent three decades as a defense attorney in Queens, thought there might have been an issue with the legitimacy of the search. His client had been frisked while buying a sandwich at a bodega by cops acting on a vague 911-call description of a black man in a hoodie. (The client had nothing to do with the incident that precipitated the 911 call). Scardigno used that information to help negotiate a plea deal with the Queens DA, which his client ultimately decided to take before a grand jury could indict him. The DA's offer: a class D felony charge and a recommended five years of prison time.
But on the day he was supposed to appear in court for his plea, Scardigno's client didn't show, claiming that he was ill in jail. Because there was no legitimate proof of an illness, though, and because the grand jury was in its final day of session, the case moved forward and the young man was indicted.
After that, the conditions of the deal with the DA left the young man with only two options: go to trial and risk even more jail time in a case that would be difficult to win, or plead guilty with the judge directlybut only to a higher class C felony charge with a guaranteed seven year sentence. (He would also give up the right to appeal the legitimacy of the search). And post-indictment, the Queens DA would not re-negotiate a new or lower plea deal.
"He wound up with two extra years," says Scardigno, who was replaced as counsel after a judge ruled against his attempt to challenge the legitimacy of the search post-indictment, but cooperated with the new attorney on the case to bring him up to speed, "because he didn't take the [first] deal."
Scardigno declined to name his client out of concern for the man's privacy and to avoid in any way coloring or compromising potential future interactions with the criminal justice system.
This situation isn't unique. Instead, it was a standard application of the Queens DA's "No Plea Policy," which mandates that defendants who wish to negotiate a plea on a felony must do so prior to a grand jury indictment. Those who refuse to plead at this stage, reject a plea, or, like Scardigno's client, miss the opportunity to accept a plea, lose their chance to negotiate with prosecutors. Once an indictment comes down, they face a choice: go to trial or plead to the judge on the top count of their indictment. Sentencing in any such plea is constrained by guidelines and mandatory minimums.
(Kevin Ryan, the director of communications for the Queens DA, told Gothamist that without Scardigno's client's name, he could not comment on the case. Ryan said that a defendant missing a court appearance would not directly trigger the "No Plea" policy, as the policy only indicates that plea negotiations must occur before an indictment.)
To many hearing of it for the first time, this policy sounds draconian. That defendants cannot definitively know what charges they'd be taken to trial for and may feel pressure to forego their day in court seems like a denial of due process. And the policy is, historically, a practice geared toward balancing efficiency with justice, rather than justice alone.
Few defenders have openly taken issue with the policy over the past 20 years, though, which the experts Gothamist spoke to say likely stems from some flexibility in the policy and the Queens DA's reputation for fairness. Yet much of the policy's perceived efficacy in dispensing timely justice depends on good faith between defenders and prosecutors. And occasionally things go wrong, leaving clients who may have legitimately deserved the initial plea or better to take something worse down the line with no hope for a legal reprieve.
The Queens DA's office instituted the "No Plea" policy almost 21 years ago as part of an effort to address a backlog of felony cases going to trial in Queens Supreme Court. According to Queens Chief Assistant DA John Ryan, it was inspired by the perception that the office rarely changed plea deal later in a case.
"It clogged up the caseload," Ryan said. "There was no incentive for the defendant to consider whatever plea offer we were going to give them [throughout] because that plea offer would be there until the last possible moment."
At the time, programs that barred plea bargaining after a felony indictment existed in the Bronx and nearby Nassau County. But Queens developed a much more comprehensive and (to defenders) accommodative policy, which has outlived those programs and is today unique within the New York area. In fact, no one Gothamist spoke to for this story was aware of a comparable program anywhere in the country.
Rikers Island (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The new policy made an immediate impact. Within a week, 85 percent of all defenders were engaging in early plea talks on behalf of their clientsalthough not all were taking the deals. Today, that figure is 95 percent, and the majority of felony cases in Queens are resolved through some sort of pre-indictment plea.
The Queens policy is, broadly speaking, in keeping with a national trend towards incentivizing earlier pleas. Often, prosecutors push early resolutions by putting a timer on deals, then decreasing their deals as a case moves forward. The goal of this is to resolve cases quickly.
"In a perfect world, all the legal and factual issues are vetted before seeking an indictment," says Jonathan Lenzner, an attorney in Washington, D.C. and former prosecutor in the Manhattan DA's office.
But that's not always the case.
"Requiring people to plead guilty without a lawyer having an adequate opportunity to investigate the case, maybe without having access to complete discovery, is a great cause of injustice," said defense attorney Norman Reimer, who has practiced in NYC and serves as executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
For cases that are clear cut, the terms of an early plea deal will generally be uncontroversial. But for those that are not, the prospect of a harsher sentence after trial forces many to give up their right to a day in court, even in some cases when defendants know they are innocent or believe that the charges they face are overblown.
"Uniformly, with some exceptions, the penalty is so great for anyone who dares to put their faith in a jury trial," says Reimer, "that people are induced to plead guilty even if they may not be."
A similar or greater number may plead to sentences higher than they should have received due to practices like "charge stacking," in which prosecutors shepherd defendants towards their desired deals by over-charging them. This can apply intense pressure on a defense attorney to take the best deal they can get for their clientsand they often do.
Reimer acknowledges that there are cases for which an early plea may be logical for the defense. But he maintains that any policy that consistently pushes people to plead with potentially limited information runs counter to justice.
***
Prosecutors at the Queens DA's office acknowledge general concerns about early plea processes. However, they believe their system effectively mitigates them because in order to engage in a plea deal defendants must agree to hit pause on the prescribed pace of a trial and move into a negotiating room with the DA. Within two weeks, the prosecution is supposed to present the defense with an opening plea offer, which can then be negotiated for as long as the DA feels there are substantive issues to discuss or new information on the case continues to emerge.
"There's a lot of misconception about it," says Queens Senior Executive Assistant DA Jim Quinn. "People think we make an offer and you take it or leave it and if you don't take it we put it in a grand jury. But what we've really done is taken most of the plea negotiations that normally occur post-indictment and we've put them pre-indictment."
Under this system, Queens prosecutors say, there's ample time for investigation and information sharing. (In extenuating circumstances, such as the discovery of key new evidence, the DA's office may make an exception to its policy and offer a plea post-indictment as well.) Lenzner adds that freezing a trial can benefit the defense as, he argues, a prosecutor's case often gets weaker with time, due to witnesses moving, backing out, or forgetting things; evidence getting lost; or cases slipping down on current or later prosecutors' priority lists. Ryan also notes that these early pleas can help bring people into alternative sentencing programs faster.
(iStockPhoto)
Scardigno still cautions that, even with this time, if a client remains stuck in jail or an attorney lacks the experience or resources to mount an investigation, the defense may be hamstrung in negotiations.
"And they have so much time now that if you do reject [their plea offer]," he says, "my experience is you are going to get indicted on the more serious cases because they don't have to present 30 or 40 cases a week anymore because most people are signing the waiver."
Still, while there was some resistance before the policy came into place, there hasn't been much pushback on the ground in the two decades since. That seems to be because Scardigno and other defenders mostly trust that the DA's office will share information and negotiate in good faith. (Elements of the current system were actually created in consultation with local defenders.)
Scardigno actually sees the system as a boon to cases where a defender has access to a client and the resources to do a full investigation, especially if the facts don't look great for a trial.
In the majority of cases, the DA's use of early pleas seems to do exactly what it was implemented for: effectively balance efficiency and justice. Quinn notes that the Queens Supreme Court is down to 30 cases a week versus 140 before the policy came online. This success, he says, has led the mayor's office to encourage other counties to explore similar strategies; Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan prosecutors, he adds, periodically drop by the Queens courthouse to take notes.
***
Even if this system does mostly work, though, its smooth functioning depends on continued trust and good faith between defenders and prosecutors. Ryan notes that these early plea talks naturally hinge for prosecutors upon their trust of a given defense attorney and their informed opinion of the plausibility of a defender's narrative of a case or take on evidence.
"When they come in and say, 'You've got the wrong guy,' we take that seriously," says Ryan. "If you've got a guy or a gal saying, 'My guy didn't do it and you can't prove it,' that's different."
In Ryan's view, without that trust, the system would have fallen apart 15 years ago due to a defense revolt and subsequent court overload. He also believes that not every constituency could or should institute such a systemevery county has to follow its own needs and limits.
"The level of trust that may exist is sometimes unique to a jurisdictionto the individuals," says Reimer, who recalls that in his time in New York he did not feel he could trust in the goodwill of prosecutors so freely as early plea negotiations might require. And even where trust exists, there's always the risk it can be subverted by a less than ethical prosecutor (and there are some nasty ones in the city) intruding upon that system.
"I don't think that any good system of justice, from the standpoint of accused people, is well-served if it only depends on the trust between the defense and the prosecution bar," adds Reimer in a swipe at the policy's raison d'etre. "The overall purpose of justice to me isn't about how fast we get it done. It's about how good we get it done. A system of justice should itself provide rules, fairness, and safeguards that make sure everyone has a zealous, effective defense."
Reversing the policy probably wouldn't achieve much, save to rapidly re-escalate the load on the Queens Supreme Court, creating pressures to rush some cases while others languish. That almost guaranteed side effect would represent another, likely more systemic and damaging set of problems.
Mark Hay is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer most frequently featured at VICE, where he covers crime and a number of other topics.
Editor's Note: In the course of reporting this story, Gothamist reached out to the Legal Aid Society for comment on the Queens DA's "no plea" policy. Legal Aid did not respond to this original request. After publication, attorneys from Legal Aid reached out to Gothamist to express their concerns about the story. We have published their letter to the editor below:
Mark Hays examination of the Queens District Attorneys Offices "no plea" policy grossly misinterprets the policys real intent and disparate impact on poor clients unable to post bail. The policy has nothing to do with trust and everything to do with the district attorneys offices motive to leverage its immense power to coerce poor clients into waiving their speedy trial and pretrial release rights. In enforcing its no-plea policy, the DAs office often forces poor clients to forgo possible early release and risk months in jail on felony cases that would normally end with reduced charges and only days or weeks of jail (or no jail at all). There is nothing the defense can do to force a Queens prosecutor to offer a plea or evaluate the reliability of evidence in a timely manner as proscribed by law and practiced in other district attorneys' offices in New York City.
Make no mistake: this is a coercive policy thatat timespressures poor clients into hasty pleas without the benefit of informed decision-making for lack of pretrial discovery evidence. Queens assistant district attorneys rely on the policy to lessen their arrest intake work load and increase plea numbers on the front end, and to unduly punish clients who wish to exercise their rights. We at the Legal Aid Societyas defenders of low-income and working-class clientssee the daily inequality of this policy and believe it is not a symbol of fairness we want for our citys criminal justice system. The policy is not driven by trust. It's driven by the force of the DAs office self-interest at the expense of individual justice.
-The Legal Aid Society, Criminal Defense Practice, Queens County
A lot of international students from various universities and colleges have been affected by President Trump's immigration ban. They are worried that they may be deported without warning and may not be able to complete their studies.
It was previously reported that President Trump's executive order suspends entry for 90 days from certain Muslim-majority nations based on statute related to the Visa Waiver Program. Individuals from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen will not be allowed entry from the nation. Several colleges and universities have risen up to defend undocumented students. 17 higher education institutions have signed a court challenge on President Trump's immigration policy.
The brief was filed in a civil action sought by the attorney general of New York and several others in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The order has been stayed due to the pending resolution of another case that challenged President Trump's immigration ban in Washington State.
CNBC reported that President Trump's travel ban executive order has left several immigrant students in a state of limbo. Stanford University PhD candidate Mostafa Afkhamizadeh said that he hopes the ban will not be extended beyond 90 days. He was initially banned from coming back to California after traveling from his home country Iran.
He traveled to Iran on Jan. 19 but was stopped from entering the U.S. due to President Trump's travel ban executive order. Afkhamizadeh, along with thousands of other U.S. green card and visa holders, are now trying to get back.
He expressed his concern about further changes in the policy or a revised executive order during his visa process. He has admitted that it is highly likely that he will terminate his doctoral program if a new order is upheld.
The ban has affected over 16,600 students in the U.S. According to The Huffington Post, President Trump's executive order has had negative impacts in academia, medicine, business and tech.
One researcher from Iran, Esmat Fathi, 28, would have already started her research on Alzheimer's disease at the University of Memphis if not for the travel ban. She was ready to join a lab run by Dr. Ramin Homayouni.
Tech crowds are expecting Moto G5 and G5 Plus at MWC event and the latest leaks suggest the affordable phones are much better than their predecessors.
Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus Specs
A recent report on the two handsets suggests that they will be getting a metal unibody. The leak shows off Moto G5 handset from the front and back sides; it looks like Lenovo still retains the bezels.
Under the hood, Moto G5 is said to pack a Snapdragon 430 chip whereas the higher end G5 Plus uses the 625 series, Android Central reported. Moto G5 is the smaller variant sporting 5-inch display whilst the Plus variant is a 5.2-inch smartphone. Furthering the detail, the G5 Plus is said to be larger and heavier with 150.2 x 74 x 7.9 mm dimensions and 155g of weight.
The plausible differences on both devices would be the internal storage (32 GB and 64 GB) and the RAM space (2GB and 3GB).
Leaked Lenovo Moto G5 images show metal body - CNET: Hands-on images suggest new handset will also have a removable... https://t.co/uihYoLxC03 pic.twitter.com/Ff84xCe1if Test The Tech (@test_the_tech) February 22, 2017
The latest leak on both handsets shows a different headphone jack's placement. The G5 will have it on top whereas G5 Plus jack is on the bottom. Pocket-Lint has learned that the fingerprint sensor is located at the front panel with a dedicated button.
Judging from the leaked images and specs, Moto G5 and G5 Plus will be getting a removable battery (2,800 mAh and 3,200 mAh). This is a great selling point and a useful feature given that the handset does not mimic today's bezel-less devices.
As for the price, the G5 variant will reportedly sell for around $342. As a budget smartphone, the G5 series will have its own fans especially those who prefer nearly stock Android experience - they will most likely be getting it from Moto G5 and G5 Plus.
It seems like scammers have found a new avenue how to fleece students and parents of their hard-earned cash. This time, they are using SAT exams and the good intentions of parents.
In a report on King5, a new scam is trying to dupe good-intentioned parents by telling them that their kids have been picked to participate in a special SAT program. With this kind of offer, no parent would be able to say no since it will greatly benefit their kids.
One of the victims, Elaine Mintz, said that a woman called her saying she is part of an organization that created SAT study tapes for kids who are doing the exam. The woman told her that her son could borrow two study DVDs for free for 30 days. All she had to do, the woman said, was provide her credit card and they will be sending the discs in case her son wants to keep the discs.
Mintz said the woman was so nice she didn't think it was a scam. Only later when she returned the DVDs as instructed did she realize that she was scammed because the "company" deducted $200 from her card and more after a week later.
It was discovered that the scammers operate under the business name SAT/ACT Scholastic Achievement which is based and has been "operating" for quite some time in Alta Loma, California where it gained notoriety for such activities.
Some of the complaints posted online confirm that the company is a scam. One woman wrote that they kept her credit card number and deducted from it again.
The Better Business Bureau has given it an F rating as it received numerous complaints from customers. What more, it is not even affiliated in any way to the Educational Testing Service, which owns the SAT.
David Quinlan, vice president of marketing for BBB Northwest, said that the reason why many parents have been scammed because of the hope they offer which any person who needs it can easily fall for it.
NASA scientists have found and revived new strange life forms not in outer space but deep in the caves of Mexico. They said that the new discovery might contain clues that evolutionary history of microbes on Earth.
The microbes were found deep in the crystal cave mines of Naica in Mexico. Scientists said that the strange life forms they extracted from the giant crystals found in the cave are believed to be around 10,000 to 50,000 years old.
Dr. Penolope Boston, the new director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute, said that the microorganisms are very different from those that are known in the genetic database.
The walls of the cave are filled with different types of microbes. However, the ones they found isolated inside the crystals are very surprising. There are suggestions that these microbes might just be the result of contamination brought by the miners and the tools they use. However, the scientists say that the organisms that exist inside the cave are full-fledged microbial communities with viral load.
Dr. Boston and her team used sterile tools to extract the microorganisms from the gypsum crystals and revive them in the laboratory. She added that some scientists had claimed that they were able to reanimate some bugs found in the same mine but their claims were contentious. After conducting their own exploration and experiment, Boston said she accepted them.
But how is the discovery of these microbes relevant to NASA's space exploration program?
Dr. Boston said that it has a lot of astrobiological link - by being able to find a life form that can exist even in the harshest places and condition on Earth, it must also be possible for these organisms to exist in different planetary settings.
The crystal mines had temperatures as hot as 40 to 60 degrees Celsius. Aside from being hot, the environment is also very acidic and dark. In order for these organisms to survive, they have to produce energy by processing rock minerals.
The Marine Corps last Mounted Color Guard, housed at the Yermo Annex aboard Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, launches into the year 2017 and its 50th year of service. In 1966, Lt. Col. Robert Lindsley came to MCLB Barstow (after serving in) Vietnam, explained Sgt. Terry Barker, MCG stableman. At that time a lot of the dependent children from base would take horses from the stables and ride them out in town in parades. Rather than the kids riding in the parades, Lindsley decided that we needed to have the Marines riding with the horses, so in 1967 he stood up the official Marine Mounted Color Guard here. The stables were renamed to honor Lindsley as the founder of the MMCG during a ceremony held on base in April of 2010.
November 3, 2016 - The Marine Corps' Mounted Color Guard on their horses at the stables aboard the Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow's Yermo Annex, Calif., Nov. 3. Left to right: Sgt. Monica Hilpisch, Sgt. Moses Machuca, Sgt. Terry Barker and Sgt. Jacob Cummins.(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Carlos Guerra) Lindsley, a native of Columbus, Ohio, was born into a military family then joined the Marine Corps as an enlisted Marine in December 1941, days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1950, he was commissioned and after several assignments, he was stationed at MCLB Barstow where he was assigned to the Center Stables Committee, which later became the Mounted Color Guard. Though there were multiple MCGs initially, MCLB Barstow is now home to the last remaining MCG throughout the Marine Corps. They travel far and wide to participate in events from coast to coast. Depending on budget and scheduling, we might be in events from California to Louisiana, Florida to D.C., Tennessee to Oregon, Barker said. We cover the four corners of this country. There are some events that they never miss, such as the Tournament of Roses Parade held in Pasadena, Calif. every January. In that event, the MMCG always leads the parade and is the only unit to hold the American Flag. As a recruiting tool, the MCG reaches areas of the country where the Marine Corps is not otherwise represented. We have big bases in California, North Carolina and Okinawa, Barker said. There are states in the mid-west where there are no Marine Corps bases, active or reserve. So, when we participate in rodeos, parades, or monument dedications, we are quite possibly the only Marines in the entire state. Everybody sees Marines on television, or in the news, but they rarely get to stand next to them, shake their hand and talk to them. Thats what we get to do. The horses and Marines train together daily, and always travel together. We have a truck and trailer, and wherever they go, we go, Barker said. The Marines often go so far as to sleep in the truck and trailer, rather than reserving hotel rooms, in order to save money and stay as close as they can to the horses to ensure safety. Another benefit is we can get them ready earlier, said Sgt. Jacob Cummins, MCG Stableman. Also we have to stay with our horses if they are not in a stables area. All of the travel can be difficult, but Cummins said its nothing like a deployment. For me, my wife is pretty conditioned to it, he said. Its the kids that make it hard sometimes. They don't know why you have to go. It helps to come back and get into a regular routine with family, as well as the horses. Our daily regimen (at the stables) depends on whats going on, as far as events, Barker explained. We get here at 7 a.m. and feed and water the horses, and muck the stalls out. As Marines, we still have jobs to do as well, plus ground work, saddle training, and ranch maintenance. For our maintenance training and farrier work we have Terry Holliday, a contractor, said Sgt. Jacob Cummins, MCG stableman. Each Marine is assigned to two horses to work with daily, and if any Marines are out, we cover their horses, too. Much has changed over the years, to include the procurement and initial training practices for the horses. In the early stages, Lindsley went to Utah with $600 to purchase horses for use with the MCG Marines.
November 8, 2016 - The Marine Corps' Mounted Color Guard, houses out of Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow's Yermo proudly display the colors while mounted on their horses . Left to right: Sgt. Monica Hilpisch, Sgt. Moses Machuca, Sgt. Terry Barker and Sgt. Jacob Cummins. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Carlos Guerra) The horses we use today are all obtained through the Horse and Burro Program out of Carson City, Nevada, explained Barker. From there, they go through an inmate rehabilitation program, where the inmates get the horses to where they are green-broke, which means you can approach them, touch them, and touch their feet and so forth. Some of the Marines assigned to the MCG, such as Barker and Cummins, as well as two other riders, Sgt. Monica Hilpisch, and Lance Cpl. Alicia Frost, have prior experience riding and working with horses. However, most of the riders assigned to the MCG, such as Sgt. Moises Machuca and Sgt. Miguel Felix who are both currently with the team, did not have any experience with horses prior to their arrival. It is Hollidays task to train the Marines to ride the horses effectively. The Marines learn basics first, such as the use of saddles, rein work, the various types of bridles and their functions, as well as how to make contact with the animals. They may come to the MCG without experience, but these are Marines and theyre the best of the best, so they do this like they do everything else, said Gunnery Sgt. Anthony Atkinson, the staff noncommissioned officer in charge of the Mounted Color Guard. They work hard and become the best. Its an honor to represent the Marine Corps in such a manner. By U.S. Marine Corps Laurie Pearson
Provided through DVIDS
Copyright 2017 The U.S. Marines | Comment on this article
Meet a Roadrunner: Amanda Swearingen has traveled the world to teach English
Amanda Swearingen and Leeloo do work with PAWS for Service
(Feb. 22, 2017) -- Meet Amanda Jayne Swearingen. For more than a decade, this Roadrunners been helping students around the globe grasp the English language. Next month, shell be honored for her efforts.
Swearingen is the first UTSA recipient of the TESOL International Associations Mary Finocchiaro Award for Excellence in Unpublished Pedagogical Materials. The honor has been awarded to top English as a Second Language (ESL) educators from around the world since 1987. Swearingen will receive the 2017 award at the Associations annual convention in Seattle next month.
Receiving an award from such a prestigious association is a validation of the work that Ive done both here at UTSA and my time learning on the job, Swearingen said. Its an honor to be recognized for my work, and to be the first UTSA student to receive this particular award. Its a nice culmination of the path that led me to UTSA and a reminder of where Im going.
Swearingens international travels and interest in ESL education came at a turning point in her life. In 2005, she was living in New Orleans, having recently graduated from Tulane University, when Hurricane Katrina hit the city.
I remember the uncertainty and desperation of the situation, Swearingen said. So, in need of something new, I bought a ticket to Argentina to try to make something of myself. I supported myself by teaching English to students there. Then, more opportunities presented themselves to me in different parts of the world and I leapt at them.
After two years in Argentina, Swearingen moved to South Korea, where she spent eight years refining her skills. Shes been teaching English ever since.
Its funny because I sort of fell into this at first, but now I cant imagine doing anything different," said Swearingen. "Theres a joy that I get from the work that I do and bettering myself and others, which is why I wanted to continue my own education.
In 2015, Swearingen landed at UTSA in the College of Education and Human Developments (COEHD) master's program in Teaching English as a Second Language. The interdisciplinary program prepares students to teach ESL to children or adults in a variety of settings. At UTSA, Swearingen is conducting research into the use of therapy dogs in second language reading development, teacher ideologies and multi-literacies.
Last fall, Swearingen was awarded a City of San Antonio Challenge Grant from the UTSA Center for Civic Engagement for her project R.E.A.D. with PAWS. She and her mentor, COEHD faculty member Kristen Lindahl, created a library for the therapy dog organizations Reading Education Assistance Dogs teams. Swearingen and her dog, Leeloo, have worked with PAWS for Service in the past.
Swearingen is also a UTSA Academy for Teacher Excellence (ATE) Presidential Scholar. For the past year, she has conducted research with UTSA faculty, ATE researchers and other research fellows to learn how family engagement in literacy and home literacy practices can be incorporated into the classroom. The researchers are preparing several articles for submission to international journals.
Ive had so many wonderful and truly life-changing learning experiences here at UTSA, Swearingen said. Some of the most professionally rewarding things Ive done in my career so far have come from faculty in the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies or fellow students encouragement and guidance. Thats the kind of place that UTSA is.
Swearingen will graduate this spring. In the fall, she will begin her doctoral studies in second language teacher education, and she says she will keep the lessons she learned at UTSA with her forever.
I cant imagine my time at UTSA having been any better, professionally and personally, Swearingen said. I feel like Ive been able to do a lot more than the typical graduate student. Ive been given the tools that I need to move on to the next phase of my career and life. Im forever grateful."
- Jesus Chavez
-------------------------------
Do you know a Roadrunner who is achieving great things? Email us at social@utsa.edu so that we may consider your suggestion for our next installment of Meet a Roadrunner.
Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn.
UW Professor Receives Harper Lee Award for Alabamas Distinguished Writer of the Year
UW Creative Writing Program Associate Professor Brad Watson is the recipient of the 2017 Harper Lee Award for Alabamas Distinguished Writer of the Year. (Nell Hanley Photo)
University of Wyoming Creative Writing Program Associate Professor Brad Watson is the recipient of the 2017 Harper Lee Award for Alabamas Distinguished Writer of the Year.
Watson, a University of Alabama alumnus, received the award, given to a living, nationally recognized Alabama writer who has made a significant lifelong contribution to the state. Watson will receive the honor during the Alabama Writers Symposium dinner in Monroeville, Ala., April 20.
The honor of receiving the Harper Lee Award includes not only following the many great writers who have already received it, joining their ranks in that regard, but of course, the association with Harper Lee herself and her great novels, Watson says.
Lee, from Monroeville, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning American classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960, died last February.
UW Creative Writing Program Director Jeff Lockwood praises his colleague for his ability to connect with students.
This extraordinary honor earned by Brad Watson goes to show that the arts at UW have the capacity to be nationally recognized and celebrated if provided with resources -- and we have been enormously fortunate that the Excellence Fund has allowed the Creative Writing Program to flourish, Lockwood says. While Brad is being recognized as a literary gift to the nation, keep in mind that this extraordinary author is in the classroom teaching Wyomings young people the ins and outs of writing fiction. Not many universities provide this intimacy between undergraduates and leaders in the arts.
Originally from Mississippi, Watson joined the UW faculty in 2005. He previously taught at the University of Alabama, Harvard University, the University of California-Irvine and the University of Mississippi. He has held fellowships through the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lannan Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
He received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Alabama, and has worked as a reporter and editor for Alabama newspapers, including The Montgomery Advertiser.
Brad Watson is most deserving of the Harper Lee Award, says Don Noble, host of Bookmark, Alabama Public Televisions literary interview show. He is the best Southern fiction writer of his generation.
Watsons latest novel, Miss Jane, was among 10 nominees last fall for the prestigious National Book Award for Fiction. His first novel, The Heaven of Mercury, was a finalist for the 2002 National Book Award for Fiction and received the Southern Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction. He has written two collections of short stories -- Last Days of the Dog-Men, which received the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1997, and Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 2011. Additionally, he won an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2013.
The Harper Lee Award for Alabamas Distinguished Writer of the Year is presented annually by Coastal Alabama Community College at the Alabama Writers Symposium in Monroeville.
For more information, email Watson at wwatson@uwyo.edu.
UW Student Named February International Pike of the Month
University of Wyoming student Joseph Rubino, from Laramie, has been named the February International Pike of the Month by the Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity.
Rubino, a junior pursuing a B.S. degree in economics and a B.A. in history, was selected from among 17,000 members, according to the fraternitys international offices in Memphis, Tenn. Rubino was nominated for his leadership skills in the chapter, on the campus and in the community. As a 3.8 grade-point average student, he plans to attend law school and practice natural resource and constitutional law.
Award recipients demonstrate Pike ideals, working to improve themselves and have a positive impact on their chapters, campuses and communities.
Rubino has been a significant asset in the success of Iota Alpha Chapter receiving its charter at UW. As a freshman, he took on a leadership position to serve as secretary and is the current chapter president. His campus involvement includes serving as a student-at-large on the Associated Students of UW budget and planning committee.
In 2014, Rubino was selected by the Wyoming Department of Education for the U.S. Senate Youth Program, in which he was recognized for his knowledge of the U.S. and Wyoming state governments. He also received the UW Alumni Association Scholarship and Marriott Corporate Marketing Scholarship.
Political activism has been a part of Rubinos college career. Beginning in 2014, he served as a team member for Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnells campaign. Last summer, Rubino was the administrative and legislative intern for then-Wyoming U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis in Washington, D.C., where he participated in caucus meetings related to water, energy and public lands use. In addition to supporting the congresswoman, he was elected as the Republican precinct committeeman for Albany County District 46-2.
For more information about the Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity, visit www.pikes.org.
News, analysis, and archives on the grassroots in Haiti. Nouvel, analiz, ak achiv sou baz yo an AYITI. Noticias, analisis y archivos sobre el pueblo de Haiti.
The 4th industrial revolution is creating rapid and dramatic changes and challenges for economies around the world.
In 2016, global economic growth fell to 2.2%, the lowest level since the 2008-2009 crisis. Achievements of globalization have not been equally distributed among regions and economies sparking protests against trade liberalization around the world, especially in the US and Europe. There is a growing trend toward protectionist policies. Under the theme Creating new dynamism, fostering shared future for APEC Year 2017, the 21 APEC economies want to create a new momentum for further growth.
Making APEC cooperation more effective
Suggested by Vietnam, priorities for APEC 2017 include promoting APEC development and cooperation and accomplishing the Bogor goals on trade and investment liberalization by 2020. Vietnam and the other APEC economies will focus on sustainable growth, competitiveness and innovation among micro, small and medium enterprises especially those led by women, greater connectivity, narrower gaps, enhanced food security, and self-reliant communities.
Raul Salazar, Head of Perus Senior Officials Meetings delegation (Source: APEC 2016)
Raul Salazar, Head of Perus Senior Officials Meetings delegation said: I think sophisticated education that can address the demands, in particular the youth, innovation and technology. I think Vietnam has chosen the right issue because thats the way to make things better to our society. Also youre providing continuity to the food market which is an issue important for emerging economies.
Vietnams proposed priorities for APEC Year 2017 received strong support from APEC members. Promoting micro, small, and medium sized enterprises, especially ones led by women is expected to create a turning point.
Mr. Allan Bollard, Executive Director of APEC International Secretariat (Source: APEC 2016)
Mr. Allan Bollard, Executive Director of APEC International Secretariat said We expect to hold a number of meetings where there will be discussions about the best practices around the APEC region with regard to women and the labor force, in particular women and micro and small and medium enterprises. The focus of this year will be very much on how we ensure that growth in the region is inclusive. If you are able to go to those meeting to get very interesting stories about women who get involved in financing small businesses.
Opportunities for Vietnam to promote business cooperation
APEC Year 2017 creates an opportunity for Vietnam to introduce its image, attract tourists and establish business relations with regional and global partners among the 1,000 businesses who come to Vietnam for the APEC Meetings.
Mr. Hoang Van Dung, Chairman of the APEC Business Advisory Council of Vietnam, said Since 2016, Vietnam has expanded its cooperation with APEC members and other foreign partners. Hosting APEC 2017 creates an opportunity for Vietnam to find new investors and create the competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises, 98% of which are small or medium sized.
Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos (left) talks with EU Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici during an Eurogroup meeting in Brussels, on Feb 20, 2017. (Photo: AFP/John Thys)
They said the new rules aim to prevent firms from "exploiting disparities" in tax rates, particularly those in countries outside the bloc given that the EU issued a tax-avoidance directive for its member states last year.
The agreement to tackle so-called "hybrid mismatches" aims to end the erosion of taxable bases of corporate taxpayers in the European Union.
"Today is yet another success story in our campaign for fairer taxation" said Pierre Moscovici, the EU's top economic affairs official. "Step by step, we are eliminating the channels used by certain companies to escape taxation," he added in a statement.
The new rules are due to take effect in 2020, once member states enact them into law. In rare cases, they will apply from 2022.
The latest of many initiative comes amid growing public outrage about tax avoidance by multinational corporations.
Parade revelers at the 2014 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
The Australian Embassy in Viet Nam officially announced on Monday a series of events aiming to bring the spirit of the famous Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival to Ha Noi.
To start the event, candidates living in Viet Nam are invited to take part in two competitions Road to Mardi Gras, an online story-telling contest and Colours of Mardi Gras, a costume contest for members of LGBT communities in Viet Nam.
The contests have been run from February 18 to March 24.
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 March 24 main celebration will be a feast for the senses: 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.
Promoting gender equality is a top priority for both the Vietnamese and Australian governments, and we are proud to support Viet Nams efforts, including through our development co-operation programme here. Through this event, we hope to bring the spirit of Sydneys famous Mardi Gras to Viet Nam, helping to raise awareness about the rights of LGBT people, said Craig Chittick, Australian Ambassador to Viet Nam.
This is a wonderful opportunity for my organisation and other NGOs to co-operate 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 Viet Nam.
Sydneys Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is a famous and well-loved annual celebration of LGBT communities across the globe.
Since its founding in 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 to promote a world where everyone is treated fairly regardless of their sexuality, gender identity, race, belief, age, ability and social status.
However, a saturated personal electronics market, which made up the bulk of MWGs revenue and profit, raised questions about this years business.
Worrying signs
MWG is a leading consumer electronics retailer. By the end of November 2016, there were 938 The gioi Di dong and 211 Dien may XANH stores. Besides, MWG is making an entrance in the food retail industry with the Bach hoa XANH chain.
According to its released 2016 financial report, MWG recorded a net sales of VND44.613 trillion ($1.967 trillion), and after-tax profit of VND1.577 trillion ($69.53 million), increases of 77 and 47 per cent, respectively, compared to 2015. Its revenue also overtook the initial annual target by 14 per cent. Over the last five years, MWGs revenue and after-tax profit have risen by 43.87 and 65.7 per cent a year on average.
Despite the sharp growth in revenue and profit, over the last two years, the amount of inventory, cost of goods sold, selling expenses, administrative expenses, goods rejected, and goods repurchase has increased not only in terms of absolute value but also in the proportion of each account over revenue.
Although there have not been any worrisome signals about these ratios, their rise should be controlled, otherwise they will become a significant burden to MWGs revenue.
At the end of 2016, MWGs long-term assets accounted for 16.8 per cent, with the largest portion of 64 per cent (VND9.500 trillion - $418.87 million) belonging to inventories. Generally, consumer electronics and electronic appliances inventories often go out of date quickly without an appropriate inventory policy.
MWG has a typical retailer asset structure as it does not depend on long-term borrowings. Instead, its owners equity can meet the need for long-term assets and a part of the additional working capital. During the period of 2012-2016, the average growth rate of owners equity was 40.3 per cent and the firms size also rose by 56 per cent per year on average. The percentage of liabilities in the capital structure was 74 per cent by the end of 2016 (56.44 per cent in 2014).
The high short-term debt as well as the low quick ratio has led to certain risks in capital flows. However, retailers retained some advantages from their high liquidity inventories, a large amount of positive operating cash flows, and not suffering appropriating funds from customers.
Along with mounting expenses, MWGs returns on equity (ROE) and returns on assets (ROA) have also been on the decline since 2014, although the gross profit margin was still maintained over 15 per cent.
The decreasing operating efficiency ratios resulted from the high initial expenses of the stores which need time to enhance their efficiency. Thus, it is hoped that these ratios will recover after MWG finishes its expansion and focuses on improving its performance.
Challenging year ahead
MWGs board of directors have released the 2017 business plan, targeting VND63.280 trillion ($2.79 trillion) in revenue and VND2.200 trillion ($97 million) in profit, which is equivalent to increases of 38.7 and 39.5 per cent, respectively, in comparison with 2016.
Consumer electronics distribution is the key contributor to MWGs success. The gioi Di dong stores make up approximately 70 per cent of MWGs sales and account for 38 per cent of its market share.
Nonetheless, after a strong growth period, it is forecasted that the consumer electronics market is saturated, especially in big cities, such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which are also the companys major markets. MWG can still increase its revenue due to a rising preference of strong brands over small outlets, however, it is difficult to maintain a high growth rate.
In the appliance distribution sector, through the Dien may XANH chain, MWG has recorded high growth rates of revenue and market share thanks to the rapidly increasing number of outlets.
According to market research and user experience research firm GFK Vietnam, the domestic appliancemarket is predicted to have the size of VND97 trillion ($4.28 trillion) in 2020, which is equivalent to a growth rate of 11.3 per cent in the period of 2016-2020. This signifies high potential to flourish in the future. MWG is targeting a 30 per cent market share by the end of 2017. This goal was 16-17 per cent only in 2016. MWG has determined that this will be its main growth driver in the next one or two years.
When the consumer electronics market is saturated, the chain of Bach hoa XANH shops, which was developed at the end of 2015, is hoped to become the new main growth driver. With the slogan of fast and cheap, the chain compete directly with other strong brands, like Coop Food or Vinmart+.
According to a newly released report from KIS Vietnam Securities Corporation, by December 2016, although the chain of Bach hoa XANH shops reached the revenue of VND1 billion ($44.1 thousand) per month in each shop, it still suffered losses, requiring more improvement from MWG.
Moreover, at the end of 2016, MWGs website vuivui.com has been launched to sell almost all products of the firm. MWG aimed to turn vuivui.com into a Vietnam-version of Amazon to compete with Tiki, Lazada, Sendo, and other competitors, catching the leading online consumption trend. However, as it is a new business, the possibility of success is questionable.
With positive business results, MWGs stock price has doubled in 2016, bringing MWG to the top enterprises with amarket capitalisation of over $1 billion. The companys price per earnings ratio (P/E) is over 15, which is equivalent to the market P/E, but it is still highly appreciated in comparison with many other firms in the Vietnam retail industry.
Recently, Dragon Capital has become a major shareholder of MWG. The foreign ownership limit, the maximum percentage foreign investors are allowed to own, was maximised at 49 per cent.
MWG has no intention to raise this cap due to the manifold limitations in the retail sector over foreign investors, especially in opening new outlets. Thus, investors may not expect huge surprises in terms of foreign investment.
Many shareholders pegged high expectations on MWG, recognising the large room to enhance the efficiency of its new store chain and its strong operational capacity with an effective inventory control system. Nevertheless, as competition intensifies, it becomes increasingly difficult to improve operating efficiency next to maintaining positive growth rates and controlling expenses.
In the next general shareholders meeting, the primary expectations centre around the answer of MWGs leadership to overcome these difficulties to reach the 2017 business targets.
illustration photo
According to the companys recently released consolidated financial statement, in 2016, Petrolimex earned a total consolidated revenue of VND123.1 trillion ($5.4 billion), down 16.2 per cent on-year. The company attributed this to the decreasing price of WTI crude oil, from $48.8 a barrel on average in 2015 to $43.32 in 2016.
The company also announced completing all the procedures to be listed and is only awaiting the approval of the State Securities Commission.
Petrolimex is one of the companies in which the government is going to hold a controlling stake. Additionally, the company is tasked with stabilising the market through the supply of gasoline, oil, and other petrochemical products.
After the restructuring, the company intends to position oil and gasoline production and sales as its main activity. Next in line will be fuel transportation, refinery and construction in oil and gas. In the past few years profit from fuel have accounted for between 50 and 60 per cent of the companys total profit.
According to Nguyen Quang Dung, head of investment strategy at Petrolimex, the company aims to expand its market inside and outside of Vietnam, by developing its fuel retail network with a focus on providing added value at Petrolimex gas stations.
In May 2016, JX Nippon Oil and Energy Corporation officially acquired 8 per cent of Petrolimex. According to JX Nippons press release on the share subscription agreement, JX Nippon will enhance the corporate value of Petrolimex through [exploring] various business opportunities in the petroleum products supply chain, from refining to marketing, using its long business experience in Japan.
At the moment, Petrolimex has 2,400 gas stations all over Vietnam, holding a 55 per cent market share in fuel distribution. Foreign companies, such as JX Nippon, cannot join the field of fuel distribution. Exceptions are made only to companies that also invest in fuel production.
Most recently, Idemitsu Q8 Petroleum Limited Liability Company, a joint venture between Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. and Kuwait Petroleum International Ltd., was allowed to set up to sell the products of Nghi Son refinery, where both companies are investors.
JX Nippon and Petrolimex have also signed a memorandum of understanding to start a joint study for the construction of South Van Phong Refinery in Khanh Hoa province. Licensed in 2008 with a planned capacity of five million tonnes of crude input per year, the refinery has been at a standstill because the government has not agreed to the incentives requested by Petrolimex.
Following an inspection of the groups operations between December 26, 2013 and June 17, 2014, the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam found that Petrolimex incurred significant losses through its financial investments into businesses far removed from its core operations.
For example, the VND76.5 billion ($3.4 million) investment into Petrolimex Aviation resulted in a dividend of VND6.4 billion ($287,000), a 2.8 per cent gain, while the VND102 billion ($4.6 million) investment into PetrolimexLand yielded a thin VND6.12 billion ($274,000), equal to 2 per cent.
A final agreement to expand a joint leasing business in Vietnam between the two parties has been reached by way of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings, investing 49 per cent of the total equity of BIDV Financial Leasing Company (BLC), a subsidiary of BIDV Vietnams biggest lender in terms of assets.
BLC has received the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)s approval in principle, and according to Sumimoto Mitsui Trust Bank, they and BIDV are preparing for the joint venture. The commencement of the business is scheduled in as soon as March or April, subject to the SBVs official approval and the completion of the 49 per cent investment in BLC.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and BIDV have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in December 2013 for the purpose of enhancing co-operation in Vietnam, and have provided banking business and financial services to Japanese corporations in the country and have been considering new opportunities of collaboration, including the joint venture.
According to Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings, the leasing market in Vietnam has a potential for medium- to long-term and sustainable growth.
BLC, which is a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of BIDV, was established in 1998 as one of the first leasing companies in Vietnam. BLC has satisfied the financing needs of various companies, utilising the high-quality brand and customer base of BIDV, which is one of the top four state-owned commercial banks in Vietnam.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank will provide BLC with expertise in the leasing business and credit risk management, which it cultivated in Japan with its subsidiary, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Panasonic Finance Co., Ltd. (SMTPFC) and will contribute to BLCs growth.
In addition, through the joint venture, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and SMTPFC will provide sales finance leasing services to enhance the sales of Japanese-affiliated companies in Vietnam, and Vietnamese dong-denominated equipment lease as well as contribute to the expansion of business Japanese-affiliated companies conduct in Vietnam, in addition to leasing services provided to Vietnamese companies by utilising BIDVs customer base.
7 Veteran American journalist and author Elizabeth Becker (center) and British journalist John Swain, who was portrayed in the 1984 Oscar-winning film The Killing Fields speak to a journalist before the press conference about the world premiere of Netflix's film First They Killed My Father in Siem Reap province, Cambodia on February 18, 2017. The Khmer-language drama based on Luong Ung's account of surviving the Khmer Rouge regime as a child, premiered later that night at an outdoor screening inside Angkor Archeological Park near Siem Reap. (Neou Vannarin/VOA Khmer)
High-ranking Laos officials said on Wednesday that the proposed Pak Beng hydropower dam will not have a major impact on downstream communities, claiming that they would take time to study its potential impacts.
Pak Beng, a $2.3 billion dam some 1,500 kilometers from the Cambodia border, will be the third dam the country has constructed on the mainstream Mekong river if it is built.
The project is expected to get the go-ahead and be completed by 2024.
Laos two other controversial Mekong projects, the Xayaburi and Don Sahong, have become a major concern for environmentalists and downstream communities who rely on the river ecosystem.
At a two-day regional stakeholder meeting this week, organized by the Mekong River Commission, the countrys minister of natural resources and environment, Sommad Pholsena, said it would be difficult to reach absolute agreement on the dam.
I am also like you. I am responsible for natural resources and environment.
I would like to leave a good environment for our next generation, he said.
The MRC members have the responsibility for the people of Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, and it is the duty of the Laos government, especially the ministry, to give importance to their [concerns], the minister told reporters.
Daovong Phonekeo, the permanent secretary of Laos Ministry of Energy, told VOA Khmer that the dam will not have a major impact on the lower Mekong river countries.
And Pak Beng is upstream from the Xayaburi. We will follow the same standards, the same requirements. So I believe that this is less of a concern for the Pak Beng, he said.
When asked if Laos will continue to build more dams, Daovong said, Yes, yes, of course. It depends on cost-benefit and the economics of the project. If the project is financially, economically and environmentally valuable, then why should it not be developed? That is the easy principle.
Daovong added that Laos would also consider solar and wind energy if the cost was cheaper than hydropower dams.
Prior to the meeting, Cambodian environmental groups asked the government to reject the project, alarmed by the potential impacts on fisheries and sediment flow in the Mekong.
It is expected that 25 villages in Laos and two villages in Thailand will be directly affected by construction of the Pak Beng dam, with an estimated 6,700 people re-settled, according to International Rivers.
Nuanlaor Wongpinnitwarodom, the director of the Bureau of Mekong Management of the Thai National Mekong River Committee, told VOA Khmer that the Thai government will do more studies following concerns raised by villagers in Chiang Rai province.
From the Thai side, people are worried about that. We will do more scientific surveys. We did not know the impacts yet, she said.
Laos contributes 41 percent of the flow into the Mekong River, more than any other country. Laos, the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, plans to develop more dams to profit from electricity exports.
A month on since President Donald Trump took office he has shown a markedly different approach to his predecessor, Barack Obama, when it comes to foreign policy dealings.
Cambodia observers said this week that the country could learn a lot from the current uncertainties in the United States since the election.
Raymond R. Leos, professor of communications and media at Pannasastra University of Cambodia, said the current events in the United States should encourage young Cambodians to take an interest in the rule of law.
No matter who the person is, what position they are, they have to follow the law. And the court also have to decide base on the law not politics.
Having lived in Cambodia for more than a decade, American national Leos added that recent battles between Trump and the judiciary had shown the strength of the U.S. Democratic system.
There is lot of history in the United States that the decision of the court is against the presidents. And that is the strength of democratic system in the United States.
Ear Sophal, associate professor of diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental College, Los Angeles, said young Cambodians could see how resilient the U.S. democratic system was.
No-one is above the law, not even the President of the United States, he wrote in an email.
In Cambodia, 25 years after UNTAC, things have changed dramatically. In the US, you cannot have an imperial president. The President is not above the law.
Ty Lim Kosal, 24, a masters degree student studying in the United Kingdom, said Trump had reneged on numerous promises he made during his campaign.
It looks like the United States itself is questioning its democracy, whether its check and balance system is effective and efficient, Kosal said.
Ou Virak, president of Phnom Penh-based think tank of the Future Forum, said that unlike in Cambodia, generally the American people dare to express their voice, as a result they trust the court system and law enforcement officials.
Our public officials arent independent. In the U.S. the public officers arent belonging to a political party.
Yim Sovann, opposition spokesperson, said the clear role of the three branches of the U.S. government and its strong check and balance system are the reasons why it became powerful.
Unlike in the United States, our court system isnt independent, particularly in political complaints. The three pillars dont function strong enough, which is why Cambodia couldnt move forward.
Phay Siphan, governments spokesman, said that the reactions of the American people and the courts responding to Trumps presidency at the beginning of his term was rare.
Its strange that the American people have quickly responded to Trumps act. Normally, it takes two or three years for American people to react.
The owners of a local printing company in Arizona are looking to President Donald Trump to cut taxes and improve the business climate. Mike O'Sullivan spoke with the owners, who backed Trump, and their son, who did not, about what they expect from the president.
During the Nairobi launch of Amnesty Internationals annual global report, Muthoni Wanyeki, the groups regional director for East Africa, the Horn, and the Great Lakes, said there has been a backtracking in global human rights, giving examples from some of the 11 countries she monitored.
Obviously, none of us would deny that were seeing a growing or higher-than-usual intolerance of dissent, whether were talking about the hardening of positions in Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, under the state of emergency, Kenya even in terms of sort of the more informal attacks on human rights defenders, South Sudan, the mass detentions there, Sudan, and Tanzania, said Wanyeki.
Growing authoritarianism, conflict, increased crackdowns on free protests, political tensions and repression, and xenophobia are just some of the threats to human rights in Africa, according to Amnesty.
Wanyeki says the fragility of some African states is especially worrisome, as some leaders try to hold on to power.
Not too long ago, we were celebrating the end of many conflicts within Africa. Were now at the 10-year period, the transition period, so the two constitutional terms of five years, and what are we seeing? No transition. Were seeing attempts to change things, etcetera, and is 10 years really enough to deal with all the grievances, all the feelings of exclusion, that brought that conflict about?
Steve Cockburn, Amnesty Internationals deputy regional director for West and Central Africa, said that in every country where his team conducted research, there were banned protests, demonstrators who had been arrested, and even eight or nine who were killed.
So I think were seeing a growing crackdown on free protests, said Cockburn. And I think the other kind of major trend we have is in the spread of conflict across the region. So civilians have been killed in countries around Lake Chad, regions around Boko Haram, around the Sahel, in Central African Republic, but also in areas we didnt used to see.
With respect to South Africa, Wanyeki argued the country should be leading the way in human rights, but has fallen short.
The political tensions, the xenophobia toward migrant workers, toward asylum seekers is of great concern because basically it is losing its moral authority to provide leadership on the continent, said Wanyeki.
Activist Boniface Mwangi attended the Nairobi launch, paying special attention to the Kenyan report, which discussed the extrajudicial killings of a lawyer, his client and their driver in June, and violations by security agencies during counterterrorism operations, among other issues.
But I think we need to go beyond reporting, thats my call, said Mwangi. We need to do more than this. Amnestys doing a fantastic job, but what can we do to ensure that people dont just die and become a statistic for next years report?
Amnesty says there are some success stories from the continent. Chads former president and the former DRC vice president were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity, South Africas Supreme Court criticized the government for allowing Sudans president, who has a warrant out for his arrest, to leave the country after a 2015 visit, and Kenyas high court struck down the governments decision to close the Dadaab refugee camp.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has appointed his wife as first vice president, putting her first in line to take over if the president dies or is incapacitated.
Aliyev's order naming Mehriban Aliyeva to the newly created No. 2 post was published on the presidential website on February 21.
Aliyeva, 52, is a deputy chairwoman of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party. She is also the head of the Heidar Aliyev Foundation -- a large nongovernmental organization named after her husband's father, who ruled newly independent Azerbaijan with an iron fist from 1993 until 2003. He died in December 2003, two months after steering his son into the presidency of the Caspian Sea country.
Ilham Aliyev, 55, has been accused by right groups and Western governments of persecuting opposition politicians, human rights defenders, and journalists, and of enhancing his power though elections and referendums that have not been deemed free or fair by international observers. He also faces allegations of nepotism and corruption within his family.
'Illegal' Appointment'
The positions of first vice president and two lower-tier vice presidents were among the constitutional amendments approved in a referendum in tightly controlled Azerbaijan in September 2016.
The referendum was challenged by opposition politicians and activists who argued that it tightened Aliyev's grip on power in the oil-rich former Soviet republic of 9.9 million.
Government critics said Aliyeva's appointment was illegal. Several opposition activists have been detained in recent weeks, and in some cases sentenced to jail terms of up to a month, in what opponents of Aliyev said they believed was an effort to ensure there were no street protests over the move.
Aliyev -- whose country is a source of energy supplies to Europe, which is seeking to decrease reliance on Russia -- has shrugged off the accusations of human rights abuses, corruption, and nepotism.
"Aliyeva has been playing an important role in social, political, cultural and international activities for many years," the president said, presenting his wife and new appointee at a session of his Security Council on February 21.
"In general, her multifaceted activities have been successful. I have taken into account exactly these factors when making the decision to appoint her to the post of the first vice president of Azerbaijan," Aliyev said.
Age requirement scrapped
The constitution now stipulates that if the president becomes incapable of discharging his duties, the first vice president takes over. Before the referendum, it was the prime minister.
The referendum also extended the length of presidential terms from five years to seven years and scrapped an age requirement for candidates, sparking speculation that Aliyev was grooming his son, Heidar, who was 19 years old at the time, to eventually become president.
Azerbaijani lawyer Akif Qurbanov said on Facebook that Aliyeva's appointment was not legal, citing what he said was existing anticorruption legislation barring an official's close relatives from holding office under his or her direct subordination.
Two activists of the opposition Popular Front were detained on February 20 and sentenced to 30 days of administrative arrest, party official Gozal Bayramnli told RFE/RL, and a third activist received the same sentence on the same day.
According to Mehman Aliyev, director of the Turan news agency, at least 10 people have been detained this month and sentenced to up to 30 days of administrative arrest.
'Thwarting' government opponents
Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist with RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, said on February 21 that the arrests were carried out to thwart government opponents who might "dare to protest" Aliyeva's appointment.
Ismayilova spent 17 months in prison in 2015-16 over financial-crimes charges that she and supporters say were government retaliation for her extensive reporting on alleged corruption involving Aliyev and his relatives.
In 2002 and 2009, Azerbaijan also held much-criticized constitutional referendums that opposition activists and rights defenders said directly benefited the Aliyev family.
After the 2002 referendum, future referendums required a turnout of just 50 percent to be valid. It also designated the prime minister, instead of the parliament speaker, as the presidential successor.
The 2009 referendum removed the two-term limit of the president and introduced a clause on "the right of personal immunity," which activists and journalists interpreted as a move to prevent reporters from investigating corruption or covering public events.
Bao Bao, an American-born panda cub, arrived in China on Wednesday evening after leaving the National Zoo in Washington.
The 3-year-old panda landed in Chengdu in southwest China after a 16-hour flight that was described by pilots and a keeper as having gone smoothly.
Bao Bao left the zoo in a special crate and began her journey from Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia with a keeper and a veterinarian. In preparation for the trip, keepers packed Bao Bao's favorite foods, including bamboo, apples and sweet potatoes.
The panda's keeper, Marty Dearie, said in an interview with China's official Xinhua News Agency at the airport in Chengdu that the flight went well.
"She ate and slept the whole flight and we have no concerns, none at all,'' he said.
Bao Bao, whose name means "precious'' or "treasure," will first go through a month-long quarantine at the Dujiangyan base of the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas in Chengdu, Xinhua reported.
A 100-square meter (1,100-square foot) enclosure has been prepared for the panda cub at the base. The enclosure includes a lounge and a playground, the report said.
Keepers will work on helping Bao Bao adapt to local bamboo and Chinese bread, Xinhua said.
Bao Bao will eventually join a panda breeding program.
The year 2016 was marked by a chilling rise of toxic and divisive political rhetoric and international indifference against atrocities occurring in places such as Syria, Yemen and South Sudan, rights group Amnesty International says in a tough new report released Wednesday that takes aim at rich and poor nations alike.
"If you think about 2016, it was a year, in our assessment, sullied by ignorance, forgetting and contempt for the human rights of women, men and children," Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty said at a news conference in Paris. "It was a year in which poisonous political rhetoric of 'us versus them' surged across the world."
The report, The State of the Worlds Human Rights, casts a harsh spotlight on abuses ranging from government efforts to stifle free expression in countries such as Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Russia to brutal attacks on civilians in places such as in Syria, Yemen and Sudan.
Horrific events
Some of the most horrific events, including the bombings of schools and hospitals in Syria, reports of chemical weapons use in Darfur and a deadly crackdown on drugs in the Philippines, have received "deafening silence," it says.
"We have reached a point where there is no longer any red line," Shetty said, describing a point beyond which someone must not go without facing dire consequences. "Almost no action has become too appalling or indefensible."
But the rights group also describes a grass-roots backlash against injustice, from growing demands for greater rights in Africa to communities helping migrants in Europe or protesting police brutality in the United States.
Watch video report from VOA's Greg Flakus:
"The message of this report is: Where leaders fail, people must step up," Shetty said.
A key chunk of Amnestys message focuses on the West, as it raises the alarm about poisoning and divisive "fearmongering" it claims is spread by politicians ranging from Hungarys Victor Orban to Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdogan to U.S. President Donald Trump, and targeting immigrants, Muslims, political dissidents and other groups.
"Todays politics of demonization shamelessly peddles a dangerous idea that some people are less human than others, stripping away the humanity of entire groups of people," the report said. "This threatens to unleash the darkest aspects of human nature."
It takes other Western governments to task for repressive security measures that authorities argue are necessary to counter terror threats.
Human rights
The rollout of Amnestys annual report in Paris a first is a nod not only to Frances human rights legacy but also to its ongoing state of emergency following the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.
Rights groups, including Amnesty, have raised alarm at anti-terrorist measures they claim repress free expression and unfairly single out Muslims claims the leftist government denies.
Amnesty similarly criticizes "dehumanizing" measures being employed across Europe against the flood of immigrants and asylum-seekers, including border walls, sharpened anti-immigrant rhetoric and last years agreement between the European Union and Turkey to stem the influx.
"I think one of the most dangerous things thats happened in 2016 is to increasingly start equating refugees with terrorists," Shetty said.
The rights group also had sharp words "inhumane, unlawful and just plain stupid" for a temporary U.S. travel ban, on hold in the courts, targeting seven Muslim-majority countries, along with a streamlined replacement that will reportedly be rolled out very soon.
The Trump administration argues the measure is a crucial stopgap until better vetting procedures are put in place to weed out potential terrorists.
Amnesty International says Southeast Asia faces ongoing human rights challenges with activists and civil society targeted by governments amid ongoing failures of accountability by security forces.
In its latest annual report, covering 159 countries, Amnesty warns of a "shrinking civic space" across Asia and the Pacific, as authorities invoke a range of repressive laws to criminalize peaceful expression.
Champa Patel, Amnesty Internationals director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said governments in targeting activists are "choking dissent."
"Across Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, people have been relentlessly threatened, arrested and prosecuted for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly," Patel said.
The report said globally divisive politics has also been marked by governments turning on refugees and migrants.
Backing the Amnesty report, Sam Zafiri, a representative from the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), said for Southeast Asia there has been "an erosion of respect for rights especially in areas of civil society and political rights."
Zafiri pointed to a global trend toward "authoritarianism and fear mongering," and growing concerns over government responses to terrorism threats. He also pointed to the decline in U.S. influence over the past decade.
Myanmar
Amnesty International said Myanmar faced reversals in human rights despite the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi coming to power in early 2016.
Patel said the reversals include the harassment of rights activists and military operations in western Rakhine State against Muslim Rohingya.
Myanmar security forces mounted a major sweep through the region after an attack in October on guards at a checkpoint by suspected Rohingya attackers.
"In Myanmar, tens of thousands from the systematically discriminated against Rohingya community were yet again forced to flee their homes after enduring human rights violations that may amount to crimes against humanity," Patel said.
Former Myanmar political prisoner Bo Kyi said the Myanmar government, while facing several challenges, believes the rights picture is more mixed.
"Some areas are improving but many areas are still not improving because of [conflict] in the country in Kachin State and Shan State and [illegal] land grabbing cases are still happening," Bo Kyi told VOA.
The Suu Kyi led government released dozens of political prisoners early last year. But Bo Kyi, a member of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), said 86 prisoners of conscience remain in jail, with 200 others facing charges.
Cambodia
In Cambodia, Amnesty warned of a crackdown on the rights of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly had intensified in the lead up to elections in 2017 and 2018.
These have included tighter laws governing elections and harassment of those in civil society.
Amnesty accused Cambodian authorities of misusing the justice system and the punishing of civil society and the silencing of critics. In July Kem Ley, a political analyst, was shot in broad daylight amid charges of government links to the murder.
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) secretary general Debbie Stothard said respect for human rights in South East Asia has been under challenge over the past year. The outlook, she said, is very grim.
"Not only are people being prosecuted and persecuted through very, very unjustified charges, there are also people being threatened with death and being beaten up and being tortured for speaking out," Stothard said.
"These repressive governments are doing this so that civil society and people standing up for human rights and freedom of expression will be intimidated into silence," she told VOA.
ICJs Zafiri agreed. "Several countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, weve seen a really disappointing decline in respect for rights," he said.
Malaysia and Thailand
In Malaysia, rights activists raised concerns after a court this week convicted an activist, Lena Hendry, for her role in a private screening of a documentary on the conflict in Sri Lanka a decade ago, "without Malaysian censorship board approval." Hendry faces a possible fine and jail term.
The Amnesty report said Malaysia had also witnessed an ongoing crackdown on rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.
The report said the military authorities in Thailand had further restricted human rights, marked by the banning of peaceful political dissent, whether through speech or protests.
Amy Smith, a director with rights organization, Fortify Rights, said rights defenders themselves have been targeted by authorities.
"In Thailand were seeing human rights defenders and community based activists that continue to be targeted by the government just for their involvement in legitimate activities," Smith said.
"So anyone who speaks out, theyre being summoned by the military for attitude adjustment by the military. This is the climate of impunity in the region that is pervasive," she said.
Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia
In Vietnam, the Amnesty report pointed to ongoing restrictions on rights to freedom of expression of association and of peaceful assembly. "Prisoners of conscience were tortured and otherwise ill-treated, and subjected to unfair trails."
Public demonstrations were also repressed with participants and organizers arrested and allegedly tortured.
The report said the Philippines has been marked by the war on drugs under the government of President Rodrigo Duterte that has left 7,000 people killed by authorities and vigilantes.
In Indonesia, Amnesty said despite a commitment to resolve past cases of human rights violations, there continued to be "reports of rights violations by security forces, including unlawful killings and the use of excessive or unnecessary force."
ICJs Zafiri says while he remains "optimistic" of long term improvements, the regions immediate outlook remained challenging.
"What worries me now is that were actually seeing governments just even challenging the relevance of human rights to improving their societies," he said. "And thats certainly something that suggests a weakening of this global legal framework that we worked so hard to create and establish."
There is sunshine outside, but in Belgrades crumbling barracks, the darkness is broken only by the dim flicker of fires, around which huddle groups of refugees desperate to leave Serbia.
Many have left this smoke-filled, decrepit shell in recent weeks and gone to an official camp specifically opened to accommodate them.
However, of the hundreds of refugees who have chosen to remain, some calculate that the poor conditions are worth enduring.
"This is a very difficult life, a very dirty life," explained 16-year-old Afghan Said Abid, who fled his home seven months ago because of threats from the Taliban against his family.
Ive never seen this kind of place before. Its a place for animals, and now I am sleeping here, he said.
Conditions are grim, and rats can be heard rustling amid piles of rubbish, while temperatures plunge to sub-zero as night approaches.
Last month, the building was filled with acrid, poisonous smoke from the burning of treated railway timbers as people fought to keep warm amid heavy snowfall.
The situation drew the attention of international media, and prompted the opening of a camp a month ago specifically created for those living in the barracks.
Humanitarian gesture
"Our goal was to move them away, and to accommodate them into some official asylum centers, explained Ivan Miskovic, who works for the governments Commissariat for Refugees and Migration. He called the move a humanitarian gesture."
The latest camp, one of 17 in Serbia, was opened with a focus on taking in the largely male population around the barracks.
Reports from the camp are mixed. There are unverified claims of a refugee being assaulted by a staff member, something the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration said it had not received reports about.
Others praised the facility. Among satisfied residents are 18-year-old Pakistani Qaisar Ahmed, who told VOA, "... at the camp theres new beds, new blankets, and they provide us food. Its very good and I feel better there."
Staying off-radar
A clean bed and blankets are exactly what Abdul akbar Safi, an Afghan who once worked for NATO and now lives in the barracks, would like.
For some, access to the camps is a question of numbers. There are about 6,000 spaces in official camps for the 7,500-plus refugees in the country.
For others, though, staying away is a matter of choice. Like many sleeping in rough conditions and remaining off-radar across Serbia, Safi's decision to remain in the barracks is driven by the desire to find his way into the European Union. He feels that is hindered, not helped, by engaging with the state and following official procedures.
Safi is effusive in his praise for his treatment in Serbia, but his experience of crossing through Iran, Turkey and Bulgaria has left him with a deep mistrust of official camps.
"You cannot imagine life here," he said, "but I dont go to the camp as maybe one day the camp will be closed."
Rumors of camps suddenly becoming "closed" before refugees are deported back to the countries they passed through to get to Serbia are common, though unverified, and they are vigorously denied by the commissariats Miskovic.
Unwilling to wait
Safi also figures the barracks are his best shot at connecting with smugglers and making it into EU member Hungary, which he sees as a gateway into western Europe.
He has made three attempts, and claims one friend has tried and failed 29 times.
Safi has given up on the official procedure passing legally onward, which includes waiting to move up an official waiting list likely to favor families and the most vulnerable.
The number of refugees has grown since Croatia closed its border and neighboring Hungary tightened its border, only allowing about 10 refugees daily to cross.
According to Nuno Felicia, who works in the barracks with volunteer group Holes in the Borders, many refugees have their bags prepared at any time to leave.
"They want to go to the border, and be free at any time if a smuggler calls them to cross the border," he added.
Never giving up
Soon refugees may not have the choice of whether to endure the barracks' miserable conditions while they prepare to move on.
The threat of the barracks demolition remains, as they stand on ground set to be part of the Belgrade Waterfront project, a major luxury development.
But Safi claims he wants to keep out of the camps.
"Maybe I will find somewhere near this place, maybe I will live in a park. One day, when I am lucky, I will cross the border," he added.
"I will never give up."
A simple blood test is highly effective at identifying children infected with tuberculosis so they can be treated before it progresses to a life-threatening disease, according to research by scientists who say it is often difficult to diagnose TB in children.
One of the biggest challenges in the global war on TB is identifying people early so they can be treated before the disease becomes full-blown and potentially fatal.
Finding TB in young children, in particular, poses a hurdle because youngsters often cant produce a sputum sample necessary to diagnose the disease.
The other problem, according to infectious disease specialist Jason Andrews of Stanford University, is childrens infections often settle in their kidney, spine or brain. Unlike TB infections in the lungs, a sputum test cannot diagnose infection in other organs.
'Vast majority can be cured'
If you find them early and treat them, the vast majority close to 100 percent can be cured, Andrews said. For the preventive therapy [in children with latent infection], a single antibiotic can be given that has very good ability to prevent against going on to develop active disease."
Andrews and his colleagues conducted a study on the use of a blood test to diagnose children at risk of developing TB and found it highly effective.
While the test, called QuantiFERON, is sometimes used in adults, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not recommend it for children.
The researchers analyzed the data from a clinical trial of an experimental TB vaccine trial in South Africa, just outside Cape Town.
The vaccine turned out to be a flop, but investigators were curious about how well the blood test performed in diagnosing latent TB in young children those at highest risk of developing an active infection.
2,500 children tested
The study involved approximately 2,500 healthy, HIV-negative babies and children.
At the start, none was infected with the TB bacterium. The test was repeated one year later, to check for the development of an infection.
At that point, 172 of the children tested positive for TB, and 30 were already being treated. Researchers then looked at data on the other 142 kids who had not yet developed active disease.
Testing them at the two-year mark, they found that those children with the highest levels of a blood biomarker called interferon gamma had a 40-fold increase in the risk of developing active tuberculosis.
When we saw the data in children, we were just astounded by the exceptional predictive value that it had, Andrews said.
The study was published in the journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
Based on the findings, Andrews would like to see the WHO change its recommendation to include the use of the blood test in children.
Powerful killer
Our hope is that this could represent one more tool for both diagnosis of TB in children, as well as predicting kids who are at highest risk so we can prevent that disease," he said.
More than 10 million people fall ill with TB every year, according to the World Health Organization. The disease killed 1.8 million people in 2015; 170,000 of them were children.
While Andrews said only 5 to 10 percent of infected adults will go on to develop active TB, children are particularly vulnerable, with 20 percent who are infected with the bacterium eventually developing the ailment.
Children often contract TB from an infected parent or caretaker.
Andrews said early diagnosis using the blood test and prompt treatment can be a lifesaver for youngsters at high risk of developing tuberculosis.
Nigeria's Boko Haram extremist group has for the first time attacked a village in Chad, part of a widening insurgency that now has drawn in four countries.
Chadian officials said at least 12 people were killed during the early Friday violence in the village of Ngouboua, including the village chief. They said the militants crossed Lake Chad in four motorized boats early in the morning.
The militants set fire to parts of the village before being driven out by Chadian troops. Officials said the army could not follow the attackers because it lacked motorized boats, but that Chadian helicopters launched strikes over the lake, destroying the boats of the retreating militants.
The governor of Chad's Lake Region, Bayana Kossingar, said those killed in the fighting included two soldiers, five civilians and five militants.
Ngouboua is already home to more than 2,000 refugees who had fled Boko Haram violence in Nigeria. The head of the refugee camp in Ngouboua, Idriss Peve, said none of the refugees was harmed in Friday's attack.
Boko Haram, which has previously launched deadly attacks on towns in Cameroon and Niger, has terrorized northeast Nigeria for nearly six years. The violence, and the inability of Nigerian security forces to quell the insurgency, prompted election officials to postpone Saturdays critical presidential election until March 28.
The United States strongly condemned Friday's attack in Chad.
"We offer our deepest condolences to the victims, their families and to those who have been displaced by these cruel acts, and we reiterate our support for these countries efforts to fight Boko Haram in a manner that respects human rights and the rule of law," said National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan.
The U.N. refugee agency, meanwhile, said several days of clashes between Boko Haram and soldiers from Niger and Chad had left the town of Diffa in southeastern Niger "virtually empty.
Some 50,000 people lived in Diffa before the fighting broke out, agency spokesman Adrian Edwards said.
Thousands of people have fled other towns and villages of the region. While most of the internally displaced are being hosted in local communities, there are serious shortages there of food and clean water, Edwards said. The situation is being exacerbated, as shops remain closed.
The extremists have killed thousands of people since launching their insurgency in 2009 and control dozens of towns in northeastern Nigeria. More than 157,000 people have fled to neighboring countries, and almost 1 million have been displaced inside Nigeria, the U.N. agency said.
Underscoring its inability to fight Boko Haram, Nigeria recently agreed to set up an 8,700-troop regional force with Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin.
Cameroon announced it was sending more troops to the border village of Mabass after militants kidnapped 11 people there this week. Scores more have been abducted or killed in the last three weeks.
Yerrima Bouba, a resident of Mabass, told VOA that the attackers kidnapped seven young girls and four elderly women Thursday, stole cattle, and burned a local church and a mosque.
"They cannot defeat us because we are ready at any moment, any time, to defeat the Boko Haram, said Elvis Madumbe, a soldier deployed to the border village. We are waiting for them right now to see what they can do. We are prepared to fight Boko Haram.
VOAs Moki Edwin Kindzeka in Yaounde, Cameroon and Lisa Schlein in Geneva contributed to this report.
Hundreds of activists are preparing for yet another standoff with law enforcement officers as they face a deadline to vacate their encampment near the site of the Dakota Access oil pipeline in North Dakota.
Native Americans and environmental activists have lived at the Oceti Sakowin camp in North Dakota since August fighting construction of the pipeline, which they say threatens the Standing Rock Sioux tribe's water resources and disregards the land's sacred status.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have set a Wednesday deadline for the activists to leave. The camp, near the Missouri River, could soon face flooding caused by warmer spring weather.
Army Captain Ryan Hignight said the protesters tried to extend the deadline to delay their departure, but the request was denied because, he noted, the Corps of Engineers is focused on people's safety and on the environment.
The 1,885-kilometer pipeline, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, is mostly complete, except for a segment planned to run under Lake Oahe, a reservoir in North Dakota formed by a dam on the Missouri River. It is designed to transport up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil a day from North Dakota to Illinois.
The protests have been led by Native American tribes, particularly the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux, whose reservations are downstream from the construction site.
In September, the Obama administration temporarily blocked construction in hopes of conducting a review of the project, but a federal court later ruled the project could continue.
Eritrea has reopened its mission to the African Union, ending years of self-imposed exile from the continental organization. But diplomats say the move does not signal a thaw in relations between Eritrea and its archrival, the African Union host Ethiopia.
Eritreas ambassador to the African Union Girma Asmerom Tesfay presented credentials this week to AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping. An AU statement said Ping expressed delight at seeing Eritrea return to the 53-member organization after several years absence.
Eritrea recalled its previous ambassador in an angry protest at what it called the African Unions failure to condemn Ethiopias alleged violations of a peace agreement that ended a 1998-2000 border war. The continental body was one of the main brokers of the agreement.
Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia and declared independence in 1993 after a 30-year struggle. But a border dispute sent the neighbors back to war five years later, and relations have been frozen since.
At Ethiopias urging, the AU took the unprecedented step in 2009 of asking the United Nations to penalize Eritrea for providing aid to Islamic fighters in Somalia. Despite Eritreas strong denial, the UN Security Council imposed tough sanctions on the Asmara government, including an arms embargo, asset freezes and travel bans.
AU Chairman Ping last year rejected Eritrean allegations that Ethiopia was using its position as AU host to block Eritrea from reopening its mission in Addis Ababa. Diplomats say Ping has worked tirelessly to bring the estranged member back into the fold.
Ethiopias foreign ministry has strongly denied any attempt to block Eritreas return. But in a telephone interview, ministry spokesman Dina Mufti said the re-establishment of Asmaras AU mission will have no effect on the frozen bilateral relationship.
"It has nothing to do with the situation. We are the host country of the African Union," said Mufti. "We are under obligation to facilitate anything for the African Union. That has nothing to do with the status quo."
The Ethiopian spokesman rejected a suggestion that the arrival of an Eritrean government representative in Addis Ababa might be a sign of a thaw. He said there has been no change in the status quo.
Eritrea sent a high-level observer delegation to the most recent AU summit in Kampala last July as a sign of its renewed interest in continental affairs. There was no immediate word on who might represent the Asmara government at the next continental summit beginning later this month in Addis Ababa.
Hong Kongs former chief executive Donald Tsang, the highest-ranking ex-official to be charged in the citys history, has received a prison term of 20 months for misconduct in public office.
Analysts say the Wednesday verdict has reaffirmed the former British colonys judiciary independence and rule of law while serving as an example for Chinas anti-corruption campaign.
They also expect Tsangs conviction to have little impact on the citys upcoming chief executive election in March, which they mock as a small-circle race to be rigged by the top leader in China.
Guilty verdict
Wrapping up a six-week trial, the court found Tsang guilty of having failed to disclose a conflict of interest. Tsang had deliberately concealed private rental negotiations with property tycoon Bill Wong between 2010 and 2012 while his cabinet discussed and approved a digital broadcasting license for a now defunct radio company, Wave Media, in which Wong was a major shareholder.
High Court justice Andrew Chan praised Tsang for his four-decade-long dedication to public service before reducing the sentence by 10 months.
Never in my judicial career have I seen a man fallen from so high, Chan said during sentencing, as Tsang stood in the dock with his teary family in the public gallery.
Chan concluded that Tsang had breached the trust placed in him by both the people of Hong Kong and the people of China.
Expressing her sorrow, Tsangs wife Selina Tsang told reporters outside the courtroom that the family will file an appeal.
Today is a very dark day. The entire family is disappointed and upset, she said.
In addition, Tsang is slated to face a retrial in September for a bribery charge that the jury failed to reach a verdict on last week.
Rule of law
Analysts say the verdict has testified to the independence of the citys legal system while sending a warning to all public office holders who abuse their power, be they in Hong Kong or China.
Its also important that the maintenance of the rule of law and an independent judicial system is the best way to prevent or to fight [against] corruption, said Richard Tsoi, a democratic movement activist in Hong Kong.
The trial, in particular, has served as a satire to those corrupt officials in China, many of whom enjoy political protection, said radical lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, known as Long hair.
If the case of Donald Tsang happens in China, I dont think he needs to face the court anyway, [especially] if hes a friend of Mr. Xi Jinping, Leung said.
Warning for corrupt officials
The lawmaker also said he believed Tsangs verdict might spell bad news for C.Y. Leung because there have been calls by lawmakers for the citys anti-corruption watchdog to investigate payments received by the incumbent chief executive from an Australian firm in 2014.
Most observers, however, do not see any negative impact from Tsangs case on the upcoming leadership election slated for March 26.
Media speculation has been that the campaign of one of the races hopefuls, John Tsang, may be slightly tainted given his close relationship with Donald Tsang (no blood relation) an argument both Leung and Tsoi disagreed with.
Little impact on March election
They said John Tsangs bigger rival, Carrie Lam had also worked under Donald Tsang. And both candidates were among more than 40 political figures who wrote letters in support of the ex-leader.
In addition, both are seen as being pro-China, although John Tsang is fairly accepted by pro-democracy representatives in the 1,194-membered election committee, which will vote on the citys next chief executive.
During the campaign, local media have also coined John Tsang as Donald Tsang 2.0 and Lam as C. Y. Leung 2.0 to demonstrate their pro-establishment nature while their recent approval rates are close at 38 percent and 35 percent respectively.
But such a political labeling means nothing in the leadership race as China will always have the final say on the results, said Zhang Jian of Shanghai Institute for International Studies.
Beijings attitudes play a key part in determining the elections results. The final [victor] will be the candidate whom Beijing supports openly or under the table, Zhang said.
In other words, Lam is expected to win the race unless Beijing has changed its mind, lawmaker Leung said.
It seems that Carrie Lam has a better chance. But well, who knows? Because its all decided by one person, Mr. Xi Jinping, he added.
France says about 10 Islamist fighters were killed Thursday as French and Malian forces repelled an attack on the northern Mali city of Timbuktu.
A French army spokesman, Thierry Burkhard, said in Paris that two Malian soldiers were slightly wounded in the overnight clash.
Timbuktu residents reported hearing several hours of gunfire and seeing French warplanes overhead. They said fighting died down by morning.
The clash followed a suicide bombing at a Malian army checkpoint near the Timbuktu airport late Wednesday. The bomber and one Malian soldier were killed, while at least two other soldiers were wounded.
It was the first suicide attack in Timbuktu since a French-led offensive drove Islamist militants out of their northern Mali strongholds in January.
On Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande said military operations in Mali are in their last phase.
Analysts fear al-Qaida-linked militants could return to northern Mali's cities and towns after the French withdraw their 4,000 troops from the region.
The Malian army remains weak, and an African force meant to take over from the French lacks funding and training.
Mali was plunged into crisis last year when soldiers overthrew the president, enabling Islamist militants to seize control of the north. The militants imposed a harsh form of Islamic law on the region. French forces intervened when the Islamists began moving south toward the capital.
Most of the recent fighting has been in the Ifoghas mountains of northeastern Mali, where militants fled after their retreat.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
In a welcome sign of normalcy, a new Western-style indoor shopping mall - complete with an international retail chain, three-story bookstore and bustling food court - has opened in the Gaza Strip.
The owners have overcome conflict and an Israeli-Egyptian blockade to build the gleaming 1,800 square meter (19,000 sq. feet) Capital Mall. Now, they just have to find enough free-spending customers to keep the place afloat.
In many ways, the center is a reflection of the fragile local economy, which has been flooded by consumer goods from Israel that few people can afford. Stifled by the blockade, Gaza produces very little on its own, and poverty and unemployment have soared. The mall, like the rest of electricity-starved Gaza, requires a generator to keep the power flowing.
In the short term, the mall appears to be thriving. Thousands of Gazans have visited as it slowly opened in recent weeks, buying shoes and clothes from the Turkish chain "De Facto,'' searching for gifts and school supplies in the bookstore and heading up to the fourth-floor food court to enjoy burgers, pizza and ice cream. People can often be seen stumbling and giggling as they ride an escalator for the first time.
"The mall has added a beautiful touch to the Gaza Strip. Instead of visiting more than one place, we go to a specific place and select everything we need,'' said Hedaya Iqtifan, a university graduate who has been three times.
While Gazans refer to a handful of small shopping centers as "malls,'' the Capital Mall is the first to be built according to global standards.
There are stores that sell perfume and makeup, home decor and mobile phones. There are clinics and office space, two parking lots and plans to bring a supermarket. The busiest area of the mall is the food court, where a cheeseburger with potato chips and a drink costs about $5.
"We made this according to international standards to relay an image to the world that Gaza has a mall similar to the malls in other countries,'' said Mahmoud Haniya, the mall's executive director.
He noted that several international brands refused to allow franchises in Gaza due to the "stereotype they get about Gaza; a poor country with no economy." He declined to identify them, but several international brands, including KFC and Domino's Pizza, operate in the West Bank.
Gaza's already poor economy took a downturn after the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the territory from the internationally backed Palestinian Authority in 2007.
Israel and Egypt quickly imposed the blockade in what they say is a measure to prevent Hamas, an armed group sworn to Israel's destruction, from importing weapons. The blockade, along with three wars between Israel and Hamas, has caused the economy to grind to a near standstill.
Today, nearly 80 percent of Gaza's roughly 2 million people live below the poverty line. Unemployment is over 40 percent and electricity is supplied for eight hours a day at best. Israel and Egypt, hostile to Hamas, restrict travel in and out of Gaza.
The Capital Mall spends $500 on diesel fuel for an industrial 400 KVA generator every 10 hours to keep the lights on. "It's like one of our partners," Haniya joked.
The owners of the mall are well-known for running the "Mazaj" chain, a group of upscale coffee, desert and spice shops in Gaza City. They have no connection to Hamas, though the group will certainly benefit from increased tax revenues generated by the mall.
The mall is banking on Gaza's tiny middle class to stay in business. The Palestinian Authority continues to pay salaries to tens of thousands of former civil servants who have not worked for the past decade. Others include those who work for international aid groups or the United Nations, as well as some senior Hamas employees.
A small number of businessmen have also managed to profit from the consumer sector. As Israel allows in mostly consumer products, businessmen compete on how to best attract buyers, opening lavish supermarkets. A recently opened meat and vegetable shop offers smoked salmon and caviar as well as fresh and frozen fish.
On the other hand, restrictions on the delivery of raw materials and severe power shortages have kept most of Gaza's factories closed.
"We are talking about a full, large trend by Gaza businessmen to get away from industry into consuming," said Mohammed Abu Jayyab, editor-in-chief of Gaza's economic newspaper Al-Eqtesadia. The Capital Mall, and a handful of smaller outdoor shopping centers, "are an expression of a crisis in the industrial and productive investment sector."
On a recent day, families passed by the glitzy stores at the Capital Mall. A group of women sat at a cafe while their children shopped or ran about.
"We hope there will be something bigger than this in the future, similar to what we see in other countries," said Ibtessam Awaja, a mother in her 50s, who has traveled to Saudi Arabia for the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage, as well as Egypt and Jordan.
Construction on the mall began in 2012 - two years before a devastating war with Israel - when movement in and out of Gaza was better.
Haniya said his mall has been full most of the time since it opened. But he fears that many people are coming just to look, and the number of visitors seems to be dwindling.
"When we started building the mall four years ago, we were expecting that the situation would go in a better direction, but things have not improved," he said. "We hope the coming days will be better.''
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the United States to have a balanced and farsighted perspective on visas that enable thousands of skilled Indian professionals to work in the United States and sustain Indias booming $150 billion software industry.
The Indian leader made his call for an open mind on work visas at a meeting with a 26-member bipartisan delegation of the U.S. Congress, which is on a weeklong visit to India.
There have been growing fears in New Delhi that the Trump administration will revamp the H1-B visa program to protect jobs for American workers. Indian technology workers are the largest recipients of these visas, which allow foreign professionals to work in the United States.
After meeting the U.S. delegation on Tuesday, Modi's office said in a statement that the prime minister wanted the two countries to work together on facilitating people-to-people linkages and referred to the role of skilled Indian talent in enriching the American economy and society.
Deal maker
Before meeting the prime minister, Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte declined to answer a question on visa restrictions, saying it was up to President Trump to reassess his policies on immigration.
Goodlatte also said the U.S. president had been a businessman, And he likes to do deals and he also wants to do deals with India and other countries around the world.
While New Delhi is optimistic that its growing partnership with the United States will continue under the Trump administration, there are concerns about how protectionism and restrictions on immigration will impact trade particularly Indias software exports, two thirds of which go to the United States.
Tech sector
Indian technology companies have been thrown into uncertainty amid signals that there will be stricter curbs on H1-B visas to make immigration tougher. Three bills seeking to prioritize American workers have been introduced in the U.S. Congress -- one of them proposes to more than double the minimum salary for a foreign hire on an H1-B from $60,000 to $130,000.
That could hit Indian companies hard, whose business model is based on the lower cost of hiring Indian engineers both at home and in the United States compared to those in Western countries.
The industry body National Association for Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has delayed its growth forecast for the present year as it waits to gauge policy announcements in the United States. A NASSCOM delegation is in Washington to lobby the U.S. administration on the need to have a level playing field for Indian companies.
Looking forward
However, many analysts say Indian firms will have to face the reality that rules on hiring foreign professionals in the United States will get tougher.
Indian firms will have to act like global firms and hire where ever there is a match in demand and availability of talent. It will be long term sustainable but will also increase their cost structure, said Pareekh Jain who heads research operations in India at the research firm Horses for Sources.
Iran is increasingly using Syrian battlefields as a proving ground for fresh military officers in training, according to Iranian media reports and Syrian opposition figures.
Tehran-based Imam Hossein University, a school affiliated with The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said it recently deployed military leadership students to fight in Syria as part of an educational program designed for future officers, according to state-run media.
Tehran says its forces are in Syria to protect the Zeinab Shrine in Damascus, a Shi'ite holy site. But since 2011, Iran has been a major backer of the Syrian regime in its war with rebel groups across the country, at first sending advisers, then forces from the IRGC expanding far beyond the shrine area.
Students dispatched to Syria
Morteza Saffari, a senior IRGC commander who heads the brass hat division at Imam Hossein University, said at least 100 students from the school have been dispatched to Syria for training in combat situations.
Some of the students sent for two-month training sessions got martyred (killed), many were injured and some have been deployed in Syria for a longer period, he told Iran's Danshjoo news agency in a recent interview.
The Syrian conflict is the first one since the Iran-Iraq war in the late 1980s where Tehran has committed combat troops and suffered casualties. The state-controlled Tasnim News Agency said that about 1,000 Iranian soldiers have been killed in Syrian fighting in support of the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.
A vital training ground for battle
Syria has become a vital battlefield training ground for the IRGC, analysts say.
The handling of the Syrian crisis presented the first example of real life training opportunity for Iran's military, said Hooshang Aryanpour, a Washington-based retired Iranian general.
And Iranian officials say that despite growing causalities in their ranks in Syria, the country's military continues to benefit from engaging in battles there.
We have gained technical and tactical advancements, militarily and in terms of intelligence collection," Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the IRGC, said in a television interview late last year.
Iranian forces helped take Aleppo
Rebel leaders say Iran's role was evident in decisive battles in Aleppo where Syrian troops and their Iranian allies including the Lebanese Hezbollah ousted rebel forces in December of last year.
The IRGC and Hezbollah militiamen were the ones who retook eastern Aleppo from us, said Riad al-Asaad, a commander with the rebel group, the Free Syrian Army. IRGC had brought many reinforcements to Aleppo, mainly new officers and students from its military academy.
Iran also has relied on military students to help lead battles around Homs and Damascus where the IRGC is believed to have conducted full-scaled operations with foreign militias against rebels.
The use of Shiite Afghans and Pakistanis, as well as Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militias in this conflict, was an unprecedented military experience for Iranian military units, Daryoush Bourbour, a retired Iranian special forces commander told VOA.
Iran testing military equipment
Besides training its military forces, Iran has used the Syrian conflict to test its military equipment, according to analysts.
Iran has tested many of its novice and newly-designed military equipment in Syria, and has tested them on a large scale, said Bourbour.
Iran's arms industry is the largest and most sophisticated among its neighboring countries, analysts say.
Tehran has been increasing its military expenditures in recent years. Iranian lawmakers last month approved plans to expand military spending to five percent of the country's annual budget. The plans include developing the country's long-range missile program.
A suicide bomber who attacked a military base in Iraq this week was a former Guantanamo Bay detainee freed in 2004 after Britain lobbied for his release, raising questions about the ability of security services to track the whereabouts of potential terrorists.
The Islamic State group identified the bomber as Abu Zakariya al-Britani, and two British security officials also confirmed the man was a 50-year-old Briton formerly known as Ronald Fiddler and as Jamal al-Harith.
He was one of 16 men paid a total of 10 million pounds (now worth $12.4 million) in compensation in 2010, when the British government settled a lawsuit alleging its intelligence agencies were complicit in the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, according to the officials.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Al-Harith was a web designer and convert to Islam when he set off on a visit to a religious retreat in Pakistan in October 2001. He says he was warned the country was not safe due to deep anti-British and American sentiment in the days before the U.S. attack on Afghanistan, and decided to return to Europe by land via Iran and Turkey.
Instead, he said he was detained at gunpoint near the border with Afghanistan and turned over to the Taliban, which charged him with being a British spy, beat him and threw him in jail. A couple of months later he was liberated by the Northern Alliance and allowed to call home. He told his family he would be back soon, but instead was turned over to the Americans and sent to Guantanamo Bay. Like many others, he claims he was tortured there.
He was released in March 2004 along with four other British detainees who had been held for up to two years over their alleged links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Hardship followed him to his native Manchester, England, said his sister, Maxine Fiddler. He struggled to find work.
"Once you've been labeled [as a terrorist] people always say there's something there, and that's stopped him from getting a job,'' Fiddler said of her brother in an interview in 2007.
Al-Harith and 15 others had sued the British government, alleging it knew about or was complicit in their treatment while in the custody of U.S. forces.
Alex Carlile, Britain's former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said that al-Harith's case was settled to avoid disclosing sensitive documents in a court battle.
"Plainly he was a terrorist and he was a potentially dangerous terrorist," he told the BBC. "The issue was the legal disclosure rules. If someone brings a civil action for damages they are entitled to disclosure of material, some of which may be national security material."
The issue will raise questions about how a person clearly on the radar of security officials might have left Britain and traveled to the Middle East without raising signals from the security services.
Arthur Snell, a former head of the Prevent program, which is part of the Britain's counter terrorism strategy, said the authorities clearly had lost track of him.
"It's obvious that collectively, the authorities and obviously I have some personal responsibility there we failed to be aware of what Fiddler was up to," the told the BBC.
The first multilateral trade agreement reached under the World Trade Organization since it was created over a generation ago has taken force, aiming to streamline cross-border trade to the benefit of the developing world in particular.
WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said Wednesday that the required two-thirds of member states have ratified the accord. He said estimates show that full implementation of the deal would reduce trade costs globally by an average of more than 14 percent.
"This is fantastic news,'' he told reporters at WTO headquarters in Geneva. "By ratifying the agreement, WTO members have shown their commitment to multilateral lateral trading system.''
That multilateral trading system has been under a cloud recently amid concerns about possible U.S. protectionism under President Donald Trump.
Azevedo said he had not spoken with any U.S. administration officials on trade, but noted that the U.S. was among the first countries to ratify the agreement.
"This deal is about lowering trade costs, and as far as I know, all countries, all WTO members - are in favor of that, regardless of what their domestic situation is at any point in time,'' he said.
He noted that the United States was involved in pushing for the conclusion of the agreement "and I don't see any reason why that should change at this point in time.''
"I do not think we are facing anything that is unmanageable,'' he said of the U.S. concerns about possible unfair trade. "I honestly don't know what kind of trade policy will come.''
The Trade Facilitation Agreement, concluded in 2013, aims to cut red tape and speed up the flow of goods across borders, such as by prioritizing perishable goods and releasing products before customs duties are levied. It will also help WTO member states accept e-payments, limit export and import fees, and harmonize trade standards.
WTO says the agreement could add 2.7 percentage points per year to world trade growth by 2030.
In a statement, the International Chamber of Commerce hailed a "watershed moment'' for world trade and said the agreement could "provide a boost to global trade flows of over $1 trillion.''
Whether its brake fluid in Nigerian teething syrup, melamine in Chinese baby formula, or talcum powder in Kenyan antibiotics, contaminated food and medicine is a deadly problem. But a group of scientists, led by Notre Dame chemistry professor Marya Lieberman, hopes to eliminate the problem for millions of people in developing nations by offering a simple solution.
A lab on paper
The PAD - or Paper Analytical Device - project began six years ago as a collaboration between Notre Dame and St. Mary's College. The simple invention replaces expensive machinery that might not be available in developing countries.
Each of the 12 lines on the paper card is laced with a different chemical. When medicine is smeared across the lines and the card is soaked in water, a color change indicates whether the drug is safe. Drugs can be tested at any stage of the distribution process.
While not all alterations are deadly in and of themselves, not getting the right medicine or the correct dosage can still have fatal consequences for severely ill patients. One in ten children who go to the hospital with pneumonia in Kenya dont make it out, Lieberman notes. Thats because there is kind of a golden hour for patients to recover. If they dont get the needed medicine in the correct dose, bacteria take over and they wont make it.
During a trip to Kenya last year, her team discovered amoxicillin caplets cut by half with talcum powder. In that case, they devised a simple water test to check for purity.
See the difference between a pure drug and one cut with talcum powder:
But most contamination cases need a more comprehensive test to discover errors.
A world of contaminants
In addition to testing pharmaceuticals, Liebermans team is developing cards to test lead, iodine, and even urine.
Notre Dame graduate student Jamie Luther is working on a card to identify contaminants in milk. "There are tests that are published for people at home to mix chemicals to test their own milk, she says. I thought to myself, thats so cumbersome. People shouldnt be handling acids in their home. They shouldnt mix dangerous chemicals with their hands."
In order to discover the most common contaminants, Liebermans team works with 18 universities throughout the U.S. The labs use High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) machines to test drugs gathered from pharmacies throughout the developing world.
Notre Dame graduate student Nicholas Myers never considered what a big problem altered pharmaceuticals were before he started working on the project.
"I just took it for granted that chemical analysis could happen anywhere, Myers admitted. I didnt know the extent to which low and middle income countries did not have the capacity to do chemical testing."
Veripad, a New York startup company is developing a complimentary smartphone app to help read and evaluate the cards. Because less experienced testers may not fully understand color results, and some may be color blind, the app takes away the guesswork. Testers can take a photo with their phones and get almost instantaneous results.
Lieberman says if theres one thing this project has taught her, its that its sometimes necessary to look at a problem from a new angle to find the best answer. "If we cant increase the capacity of analytical labs in the developing world, she observes, maybe we can come up with a way to bring that technology in a portable form that will be usable in the field."
The World Health Organization says a functioning health care system should have 343 pharmaceuticals on hand. So far, Liebermans team has developed PADs to identify 60 different drugs and eventually hopes to have tests for them all.
Two key members of U.S. President Donald Trump's Cabinet are hoping to soothe concern and anger about the new U.S. administration's policies toward Mexico.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly meet Thursday with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and members of his Cabinet, in what is expected to be the first in a series of high-level meetings focusing on drug trafficking, trade and immigration.
"It's significant that the president is sending the secretaries to Mexico so early in his administration," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday. "It's symbolic of the meaningful relationship our two nations have."
Spicer also referred to relations between the two countries as "healthy and robust."
WATCH: Spicer on US-Mexico relationship
Low point in relations
The trip comes at what is seen as a low point in relations between the two countries, which have enjoyed peace along their 3,100-kilometer border since the Mexican-American War of the late 1840s.
Trump has repeatedly insisted that Mexico, one way or another, must pay for a border wall, which lawmakers in Washington estimate would cost at least $12 billion. And just this week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security outlined policies that could result in the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.
On Wednesday, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, quoted by Reuters, said his country would not accept new "unilateral" U.S. immigration proposals and would not hesitate in taking the matter to the United Nations.
"This is a low point in U.S.-Mexico relations, and an abrupt break from the last 30-plus years of cooperation," said Shannon O'Neil, senior fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, has long-standing relations with Mexican leaders from his previous job as head of the U.S. Southern Command. Before heading to Mexico, he went to Guatemala to meet with President Jimmy Morales and observed the arrival of a DHS repatriation flight at a government facility in Guatemala City.
U.S. officials said Tillerson, a former an oil-and-gas corporation chief executive, and Kelly would discuss border security, law enforcement cooperation and trade, among other issues.
Aside from Nieto, the two are also scheduled to meet the Mexican ministers of interior, foreign relations, finance, national defense and the navy.
Call did not go well
The talks come weeks after Trump and Nieto spoke by phone on January 27, following the U.S. president's inauguration.
The call did not go well, according to officials in both countries who spoke on condition they not be named. Media reports said Trump chided his Mexican counterpart for failing to control drug trafficking and suggested the United States might even deploy troops to defeat narcotics cartels on Mexican territory.
Nieto then canceled a planned trip to Washington.
Mexican officials have rejected calls by Trump to pay for a border wall. "Mexico wants to build bridges, not walls," Videgaray said last week.
Thursday's meetings in Mexico City will focus "on how we can build a constructive relationship," according to a senior U.S. administration official. "It's forward-looking. The wall is just one part of a broader relationship that we have."
Despite serious differences on a number of fronts, the official added, "I think we'll achieve a lot of success."
Trust 'has been broken'
That prediction may prove to be too optimistic, according to some regional specialists.
"While the visit will go some way to smoothing bilateral discussions, there is a hard-earned trust that has been broken, and that can't be repaired with a high-level visit," O'Neil told VOA.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump referred to some Mexican immigrants in the United States as rapists and criminals.
Another U.S. official said it was "important to view this with a very long lens" and not focus on any particular contentious aspect of the relationship. "Both presidents are keen to set a positive tone, a constructive tone moving forward."
Immigration, deportation
While the two Cabinet members look to smooth relations, they will also be explaining the latest orders issued by Trump regarding immigration and deportations.
New policies being enacted at DHS will lead to hiring thousands more enforcement agents, expanding the number of immigrants targeted for deportation, prioritizing removal hearings for them and obtaining the help of local police to make arrests.
The actions have generated alarm in other countries, none more so than Mexico the origin of an estimated 6 million undocumented people in the United States.
Such actions are prompting calls from prominent Mexicans for pushback.
"The Trump administration's hostile beginning has also shifted Mexico's domestic politics," O'Neil said. "Rising nationalism there will make compromises with the United States all the harder as Mexico looks toward its own 2018 presidential race."
Buy Mexican
Mexico's richest businessman, Carlos Slim, whom some want to run for president next year, during a recent rare news conference called for people in his country to buy domestic products and not surrender to Trump's demands.
The United States is Mexico's largest trading partner. The two countries plus Canada have their economies intertwined as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Trump wants to make changes to NAFTA, which went into force 23 years ago. "We're going to review all the trade deals that are out there," spokesman Spicer told reporters Tuesday.
Any attempt to introduce quotas or tariffs to NAFTA would be disastrous for the treaty, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Tuesday at a conference in Toronto about the future of North America.
Current and former Canadian government officials are pledging to not sacrifice trade ties with Mexico to cut a better bilateral deal with Washington should NAFTA be renegotiated.
Canada's government should not throw Mexico "under the bus," said former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who spoke at the same event.
Ride-sharing giant Uber is getting some stiff competition from a former ally, Google.
The search giant is reportedly adding a ride-sharing component to its popular Waze navigation application, according to The Wall Street Journal.
However, unlike Uber and Lyft, Google "wants to persuade regular drivers using its navigation app to pick up people who are heading in the same direction," according to the report.
According to the report, the new service will be rolled out in several U.S. and Latin American cities in the coming months. The company reportedly had successful trial runs of the service in San Francisco and Israel.
"Can we get the average person on his way to work to pick someone up and drop them off once in a while? Thats the biggest challenge, Waze CEO Noam Bardin told the newspaper.
Waze rides are going to reportedly cost less than Uber and Lyft, the Journal reports, saying a ride from downtown Oakland to downtown San Francisco would be $4.50. That compares to $10.57 for UberPool and $12.40 for Lyft Line.
The Journal reports Waze driver will also not be like Uber or Lyft, which has many drivers who work full time or more. With Waze, riders will pay only $0.54 per mile, which is the Internal Revenue Services reimbursement rates for business drivers.
At least to start, Waze will not charge drivers, but could charge 15 percent later if the service catches on, the Journal reported.
In 2013, Googles venture capital arm invested $258 million in Uber.
Millions of people living in the United States illegally could be targeted for deportation including people simply arrested for traffic violations under a sweeping rewrite of immigration enforcement policies announced Tuesday by the Trump administration.
Any immigrant who is in the country illegally and is charged with or convicted of any offense, or even suspected of a crime, will now be an enforcement priority, according to Homeland Security Department memos signed by Secretary John Kelly. That could include people arrested for shoplifting or minor offenses, or simply having crossed the border illegally.
The Trump administration memos replace more narrow guidance focusing on immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes, are considered threats to national security or are recent border crossers.
Under the Obama administration guidance, immigrants whose only violation was being in the country illegally were generally left alone. Those immigrants fall into two categories: those who crossed the border without permission and those who overstayed their visas.
Crossing the border illegally is a criminal offense, and the new memos make clear that those who have done so are included in the broad list of enforcement priorities.
Overstaying a visa is a civil, not criminal, offense. Those who do so are not specifically included in the priority list but, under the memos, they are still more likely to face deportation than they were before.
More opposition expected
The new enforcement documents are the latest efforts by President Donald Trump to follow through on campaign promises to strictly enforce immigration laws. He's also promised to build a wall at the Mexican border he insists Mexico will eventually foot the bill and Kelly's memos reiterate calls for Homeland Security to start planning for the costs and construction.
Trump's earlier immigration orders, which banned all refugees as well as foreigners from seven Muslim-majority countries, have faced widespread criticism and legal action. A federal appeals court has upheld a temporary halt.
Kelly's enforcement plans call for enforcing a long-standing but obscure provision of immigration law that allows the government to send some people caught illegally crossing the Mexican border back to Mexico, regardless of where they are from. Those foreigners would wait in that country for U.S. deportation proceedings to be complete. This would be used for people who aren't considered a threat to cross the border illegally again, the memo says.
That provision is almost certain to face opposition from civil libertarians and Mexican officials, and it's unclear whether the United States has the authority to force Mexico to accept third-country nationals. But the memo also calls for Homeland Security to provide an account of U.S. aid to Mexico, a possible signal that Trump plans to use that funding to get Mexico to accept the foreigners.
Historically, the U.S. has quickly repatriated Mexican nationals caught at the border but has detained immigrants from other countries pending deportation proceedings that could take years.
Tougher enforcement
The memos do not change U.S. immigration laws, but take a far harder line toward enforcement.
One example involves broader use of a program that fast-tracks deportations. It will now be applied to immigrants who cannot prove they have been in the United States longer than two years. It's unclear how many immigrants that could include.
WATCH: California Senator Harris on expanded immigration policies
Since at least 2002 that fast deportation effort which does not require a judge's order has been used only for immigrants caught within 100 miles of the border, within two weeks of crossing illegally.
The administration also plans to expand immigration jail capacity. Currently, Homeland Security has money and space to jail 34,000 immigrants at a time. It's unclear how much an increase would cost, but Congress would have to approve any new spending.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it would challenge the directives.
"These memos confirm that the Trump administration is willing to trample on due process, human decency, the well-being of our communities, and even protections for vulnerable children, in pursuit of a hyper-aggressive mass deportation policy," said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project.
However, Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, applauded the Trump effort, saying the memos "overturn dangerous" policies from the Obama administration.
Young people
The directives do not affect former President Barack Obama's program that has protected more than 750,000 young immigrants from deportation. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals remains in place, though participants could be deported if they commit crimes or otherwise are deemed to be threats to public safety or national security, according to the department.
During the campaign, Trump vowed to immediately end that program, which he described as illegal amnesty.
The directives indicate that some young people caught crossing the border illegally by themselves may not be eligible for special legal protections if they are reunited with parents in the United States. And those parents or other relatives that the government believes helped the children would face criminal and immigration investigations.
Under the Obama administration, more than 100,000 children, mostly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, were caught at the border. Most were reunited with parents or relatives living in the United States, regardless of the adults' immigration status.
The enforcement memos also call for the hiring of 5,000 new Border Patrol agents and 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, but it's unclear how quickly that could take place. Currently, two of every three applicants for Customs and Border Protection jobs fail polygraph exams, and there are about 2,000 vacancies.
The government also plans to review a program that allows local police and jailers to act as immigration agents and a program that used fingerprint records from local jails to identify immigrants who had been arrested.
The battle for Mosul has been bloody and slow for Iraqi soldiers and civilians alike.
Since Iraqi forces launched an assault to retake the city, Islamic States last major urban stronghold in the country, last October, Iraqi troops have had to endure rockets and mortars, suicide-bombings and sniper fire, as well as unconventional small drone attacks.
With Iraqi forces now focused on the western half of the city after a months-long slog to secure east Mosul, questions about what will happen to the city after IS fighters have finally been ousted are becoming more urgent.
Added to the concerns about how Mosul will be governed, and how sectarian groups can be reconciled, are questions about what will happen to IS.
Earlier this week, U.S. officials, including Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, made clear to reporters in Iraq that there won't be a hasty withdrawal of more than 9,000 American and coalition forces from the country after Mosuls capture.
"I think the government of Iraq realizes it's a very complex fight and they need the assistance of the coalition even beyond Mosul," Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the joint task force task charged with coordinating anti-IS coalition forces, told reporters in Baghdad.
The Iraqi political leadership recognize what they are up against and the value of the coalition, Mattis said at a news conference.
Coalition power
The value of the coalition has been demonstrated in the battle for Mosul. The coalition has carried out thousands of air strikes on IS targets and trained tens of thousands of local ground forces, Iraqi and Kurdish. In the push for the densely populated west Mosul, coalition "advisers" are taking on more frontline roles especially when it comes to directing airstrikes in order to minimize civilian casualties.
No one expects IS to disappear after losing Mosul. And coalition counter-insurgency expertise could well prove crucial.
Kurdish intelligence officials believe the jihadist terror group will wage a relentless suicide bombing insurgency using remote and rugged terrain as bases, including the Hamrin mountains in northeast Iraq. They believe hundreds, if not thousands, of IS fighters have escaped Mosul in the last few months, and they don't discount the influence of the terror groups leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Brutal asymmetrical warfare could continue and worsen rapidly if Baghdad fails to reconcile the countrys competing religious sects.
The Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi government's failure to do so in the past was a major factor in the rise of Islamic State. That explains how, in 2014, a few hundred jihadist fighters seized control of Mosul in a few hours. Many of the citys Sunni Muslims welcomed them at the time because of their anger at Baghdad and the perceived sectarian abuses of the government.
Avoiding past mistakes
The central government has been careful to keep Shi'ite militias from fighting inside the city. But once the battle for Mosul is over, the conflicting agendas of the main sectarian groups Arab Sunnis and Shi'ites and the Kurds -- risk conflicting badly, fear analysts.
In a paper last year for the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies, a think tank based in the Kurdistan capital Irbil, Salahaddin University history professor Othman Ali warned that divergent and clashing interests will result, at best, in a significant amount of uncertainty for the post-IS Mosul.
At worst, they risk sectarian divisions flaring up quickly, especially over how Mosul should be rebuilt and governed.
Before the assault on Mosul was launched, and while sectarian groups bickered over who should participate in the assault and its timing, Kurdish leaders argued that there needed to be agreements on what would happen to Mosul after being retaken.
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani told an economic conference in Irbil: All the political and religious components should have deserved roles in the political process and determination of the future of the region and how they want to be governed.
If we try to resolve everything before Mosul, Daesh (IS) will never get out of Mosul, U.S. envoy Brett McGurk remarked days before the battle for the city began.
The worry now is that the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi will, under pressure from Iraqi Shi'ite leaders and Iran, reimpose a government structure for the city and the surrounding Nineveh Province similar to what existed before IS seized Mosul meaning that the whole city will remain as a governorate of a Shi'ite-dominated state apparatus.
Kurds and minority groups have called either for decentralized administration for the province, to provide Mosuls various religious and ethnic groups with some degree of self-rule, or for breaking up the province into smaller provinces. The latter proposal is favored by the Kurdistan Regional Government, which lays claim to a chunk of the province.
Future rule
Many in the minority religious communities Christians, Yazidis, Kakais, and Shabaks have been campaigning for their villages to come under KRG rule.
Adding to the complexity, outside powers like Turkey and Iran are eager to try to shape the future of Mosul. Turkey has three main aims: to shrink the sanctuaries in northern Iraq of Turkeys outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK; to safeguard the rights of Turkmen communities in northern Iraq; and to block Iran from expanding its influence via the Shi'ite militias of the Popular Mobilization Units, currently fighting to the west of the Mosul.
Only an effective coalition presence in Mosul after the defeat of IS and the desire of the concerned parties for compromise will prevent another wave of bloody encounter in Mosul in the post-IS era, warns Othman Ali.
In Photos: VOA visits eastern Mosul
Many Rohingya Muslims who fled alleged killings and other rights abuses during a Myanmar military crackdown in northern Rakhine state say they are not willing to return to their homes, despite last week's announcement that the military operation in the region has ended.
Quoting Myanmar's national security adviser, Thaung Tun, a statement from the office of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi last week said the situation in northern Rakhine had been stabilized and the clearance operation by the military had been halted.
But many Rohingya say that despite the end of the military operation, the situation in Myanmar, also known as Burma, remains hostile for them.
"That military operation might have ended, but the oppression of the Rohingyas in Burma has not ended," Dil Mohammad, 30, a Rohingya refugee living in a shanty colony in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh, told VOA. "Rohingyas still cannot freely go for livelihood-related activities like fishing, farming and collecting firewood in Burma. If some Rohingyas are found in such work, they are being arrested by police.
"Life continues to be full of hardships for all Rohingyas in Burma. In such a situation, I shall not return to Burma. I think as many as 96 or 97 percent of the new refugees in Bangladesh will not return to Burma."
Rohingya community leader Nurul Islam said most of the Rohingya who fled Myanmar during the recent military crackdown were so petrified by the killings and torture they witnessed that they are too scared to go back to their homes in Rakhine.
"Since violence subsided in Rakhine in the past weeks, some Rohingya from Bangladesh began returning to their homes," said Islam, the Britain-based chairman of the Arakan Rohingya National Organization, who is in Cox's Bazar now. "They are mostly those who had left part of their families in Rakhine while suddenly fleeing violence. They are going to Burma mostly to wind up their livelihood-related activities there and to bring the rest of their families back to Bangladesh.
"The military crackdown may have been halted, but crackdowns on the Rohingya in Burma are continuing in many other ways. All Rohingya refugees are aware of the risks and hardships they will face in Burma. So, Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh are largely not willing to return to Burma."
Abuse allegations
After nine policemen were killed in Rakhine on October 9 in an armed attack blamed on Rohingya insurgents, Myanmar's military launched a "clearance operation" in the area to ferret out the insurgents.
Soon after the operation started, Rohingya began fleeing the area, accusing soldiers, police and local Buddhist groups, who accompanied the forces during the raids, of abuses, including rapes, killings and arson.
Up to 100,000 Rohingya, as estimated by the community's leaders, crossed into Bangladesh.
Earlier this month, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the action of the security forces in northern Rakhine very likely constituted "crimes against humanity."
A week later, two senior U.N. officials working among the Rohingya refugees said more than 1,000 Rohingya might have been killed during the four-month security operation in northern Rakhine.
However, quoting a military report, Myanmar presidential spokesman Zaw Htay said last week that fewer than 100 people had been killed during the operation. The Myanmar government has also consistently denied allegations of widespread abuses against the Rohingya people during the military operation.
A question of status
A controversial 1982 law renders the members of the Rohingya community ineligible for citizenship. The community was excluded from the 2014 census because the government refused to identify them as "Rohingya" and they refused to be enlisted as "Bengalis."
In recent weeks, the authorities have resumed the process of issuing National Verification Cards (NVCs) to Rohingya community members in Rakhine. Those who are holding the NVCs are identified as residents of Myanmar whose status of citizenship is under scrutiny.
Rakhine-based Rohingya rights activist Aung Aung said Rohingya were being coerced by authorities to accept NVCs and those who refused to accept them had been arrested, in some cases recently.
"For a Rohingya, holding an NVC virtually means he is not a citizen of Myanmar but a declared Bengali immigrant," Aung told VOA. "So most Rohingyas are not willing to accept NVCs. In recent weeks, in many villages, the security forces are not allowing the Rohingyas to move out of their villages if they cannot produce their NVCs. With this new restriction on movement, the Rohingyas are unable to perform many livelihood-related activities in Rakhine, which has brought new miseries to them.
"In such a situation, we fear we will see the exodus of more Rohingyas from Arakan in the coming days. It's easy to understand why no Rohingya refugee from Bangladesh will be keen to return home, despite [the fact that] the military brought a halt to the security operation some weeks ago."
U.S. Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, newly named as President Donald Trump's national security adviser, is now also a best-selling author, for a book he wrote two decades ago.
McMaster's widely acclaimed 1997 book, Dereliction of Duty, about the failure of U.S. military and political leadership in their conduct of the U.S. war against communist aggression in Vietnam in the 1960's, jumped Wednesday to the top of Amazon.com's list of best-selling books.
The 54-year-old McMaster, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was working on a doctoral degree in American history when he wrote the book, poring over voluminous military and national security documents from the Vietnam War era to reach his conclusions about the U.S. involvement in the war that ultimately ended with the North Vietnamese takeover of U.S.-supported South Vietnam in 1975.
McMaster was sharply critical of high-ranking military leaders from the 1960s, arguing that they failed to challenge Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and President Lyndon Johnson about their strategy for conducting the war, which became extraordinarily divisive within the U.S. as the death toll of American soldiers mounted.
McMaster said the U.S. leaders, both those in the Pentagon and White House, failed to develop a plan to pacify a Viet Cong insurgency or to defeat the North Vietnamese Army.
In his conclusion, McMaster wrote, "The war in Vietnam was not lost in the field, nor was it lost on the front pages of The New York Times or the college campuses. It was lost in Washington, D.C."
The new head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that America need not choose between jobs and the environment, in a nod to the energy industry, as the White House prepares executive orders that could come as soon as this week to roll back Obama-era regulation.
"I believe that we as an agency, and we as a nation, can be both pro-energy and jobs, and pro-environment," Scott Pruitt said in his first address to staff. "We don't have to choose between the two."
Critics of the agency have complained that regulations ushered in by former Democratic President Barack Obama have killed thousands of energy jobs by restricting carbon emissions and limiting areas open to coal mining and oil drilling.
Democrats, environmental advocates and many of the EPA's current and former staff worry President Donald Trump's appointment of Pruitt signals a reversal in America's progress toward cleaner air and water and fighting global climate change.
Both Trump and Pruitt have expressed doubts about climate change, and Trump vowed during his 2016 presidential campaign to pull the United States out of a global pact to fight it. The Republican president has promised to slash environmental rules to help the drilling and mining industries, but without hurting air and water quality.
Pruitt sued the agency he now leads more than a dozen times while attorney general of Oklahoma to stop federal rules. He did not mention climate change in his 12-minute speech at the EPA's headquarters in Washington.
He struck a conciliatory tone in the address, saying he would "listen, learn and lead" and that he valued the contributions of career staff.
Trump is expected to sign executive orders aimed at reshaping environmental policy as early as this week. Those orders would lift a ban on coal mining leases on federal lands and ease greenhouse gas emissions curbs on electric utilities, according to a report by The Washington Post.
They would also require changes to Obama's Waters of the United States rule that details which waterways fall under federal protection, the report said.
The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the Post story.
Energy ties
Pruitt was confirmed by the U.S. Senate last week after contentious hearings that focused on his record as the top prosecutor of the oil- and gas-producing state of Oklahoma.
Democrats had sought to delay Pruitt's confirmation over questions about his ties to the oil industry. Some 800 former EPA staff also signed a letter urging senators to reject him, and about 30 current EPA staff joined a protest set up in Chicago by the Sierra Club environmental group.
In Oklahoma, a state judge ruled last week that Pruitt would have to turn over emails between his office and energy companies by Tuesday after a watchdog group, the Center for Media and Democracy, sued for their release.
The judge will review and perhaps hold back some of the emails before releasing them, a court clerk said.
Nicole Cantello, a representative of the union that represents EPA workers, said that despite Pruitt's record, she was hoping for the best.
"One would hope that the administrator would learn about what we do and would then not treat as lightly the EPA's mission and accomplishments, and what it is required to do under the statutes," she said.
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said it looked forward to working with Pruitt, the administration and Congress "on policies that will keep energy affordable, create jobs, and strengthen our economy."
The U.N.'s special envoy for Syria met Thursday with a Syrian government delegation in Geneva, as he launched the latest effort to find an end to the country's nearly six-year civil war.
Staffan de Mistura was also due to hold talks with members of the Syrian opposition Thursday, a day after he said he does not see any imminent breakthrough on the horizon, but that there was a "political momentum" to move forward on a peace plan.
Syrias warring parties last met in Geneva nearly nine months ago. That round of talks broke down because of repeated violations of a cease-fire agreement.
De Mistura acknowledged that the successful resumption of the failed negotiations hinged largely on the warring parties abiding by the current cease-fire.
He said Russia, which had worked out the agreement with Turkey in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, was using its influence to see that the fragile cease-fire held.
Today, the Russian Federation after the cease-fire task force did announce to everyone and every country present and to myself that they have formally requested the government of Syria to silence their own skies in the areas attached by the cease-fire during the intra-Syrian talks," he said Wednesday.
De Mistura added that he has asked other countries with influence on the opposition parties to have them stick to the cease-fire and not provoke the other side.
They do not have airplanes but they can do something similar in terms of reducing any type of provocation on any side to give a better chance to the intra-Syrian talks not to be affected by breakdowns.
The U.N. envoy warned that there were, what he called spoilers, who would try to provoke one side or the other to walk out of the talks or to refuse to talk.
We will try to control it, he said. It is time to talk and fight on the table, through the table, but not in the field.
Since beginning in March 2011, Syrias civil war has killed around 400,000 people, displaced more than six million inside Syria, half of them children and prompted nearly five million to flee as refugees into neighboring countries. An estimated 13.5 million people need humanitarian assistance.
De Mistura said the more inclusive the talks, the better the chance of success. The envoy noted that he was unable to get the assent of the parties to include women, who make up 52 percent of the Syrian population, in the talks.
Therefore, he said, he has established a Syrian Womens Advisory Board to participate in the talks in a consultative capacity.
The first meeting of today was with a group of seven women Syrian women, he said. All of them united by one fact - theyre being either detainees or tortured or abducted. Or they have their mothers, daughters or wives of detainees or abducted people."
Detainees are those by the government thousands and abducted are those by the opposition, he said. We should never forget the suffering of so many Syrians on one side and the other too during this conflict.
US role unclear
De Mistura said he was not sure what role the United States would play in the negotiations, but understood that the new Trump administration needed time to devise a new strategy.
They have announced that they want to revisit their strategy regarding the fight against Daesh, IS, and that by implication what they are doing in Iraq and in SyriaSo, I would say let us wait for that, said de Mistura, using acronyms for Islamic State.
He noted, however, that the U.S. official who had attended previous intra-Syrian talks also would be present at this round. So, I am convinced that they will be very supportive with whatever we try to do.
The U.N. envoy said he would begin with a series of bilateral talks to discuss how to proceed with the negotiations.
In previous rounds, the parties held indirect talks, with de Mistura shuttling from one delegation to the other. It is not clear if this system will continue or if the delegations will agree to meet face-to-face.
The agenda
De Mistura said the agenda will focus on three items: the establishment of a credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance, the drafting of a new constitution, and free and fair elections under U.N. supervision.
The envoy said he will not agree to any preconditions and fully expected the talks to be serious and substantive.
Am I expecting a breakthrough? No, Im not expecting a breakthrough. But, I am expecting and determined for keeping a very proactive momentum, he said.
We have tooutpace those few but clear spoilers with the momentum on the political track, and I think we can aim at that.
New York City's medical examiners have failed to determine what caused the sudden death this week of Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin.
The medical examiners concluded that further study, which usually includes toxicology tests and other screenings, would be needed before they could say why Churkin died unexpectedly Monday at age 64. The additional tests could take weeks to complete.
Churkin had been Russia's envoy at the U.N. since 2006. He was the longest-serving ambassador on the Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful body.
Diplomatic colleagues from around the world continued to mourn Churkin on Tuesday. They said he was deeply knowledgeable about diplomacy and dedicated to his country, while also being a personable and witty colleague.
'Brilliant, gracious and funny'
"He could spot even the narrowest opportunities to find a compromise,'' U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said, describing Churkin as "brilliant, wise, gracious and funny.''
In Washington, President Donald Trump said he was saddened by the news. While acknowledging that Churkin and his U.S. counterparts sometimes disagreed, Trump said Churkin "played a crucial role in working with the United States on a number of key issues to advance global security.''
Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin was born in Moscow on Feb. 21, 1952. As a young boy, he appeared in at least three films; two were about Vladimir Lenin, the hero of the communist revolution that produced the Soviet Union a century ago.
Churkin studied at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and earned a doctorate in history from the USSR Diplomatic Academy. He joined the Soviet Foreign Ministry in 1974 and had a distinguished career as a diplomat. He was Moscow's special representative to international talks on the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, and later served as ambassador to Belgium (1994-1998) and Canada (1998-2003).
Posted to UN in 2006
In 2006, Churkin took up his post as U.N. ambassador, presenting his credentials to then-Secretary General Kofi Annan. During more than a decade at U.N. headquarters in New York, diplomats said the Russian ambassador was widely respected by colleagues, even those whose governments had adversarial relationships with Moscow.
His job grew more difficult during the past six years, as Moscow became more isolated due to its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, and the Kremlin drew criticism from many quarters for its strong support of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Churkin often clashed in the Security Council chamber with former U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power. At a heated meeting in December on the situation in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, Power called out Moscow for denying and obfuscating facts and aiding and abetting attacks on civilians. Churkin retorted that she sounded like Mother Teresa for scolding Moscow, and urged her to remember your country's track record."
Power tweeted that she was "devastated" by Churkin's passing, calling him a "deeply caring man" and a "diplomatic maestro."
Pakistan has launched its first ever nationwide military operation to eradicate the threat of terrorism, in response to a recent surge in suicide bombings and militant attacks that killed scores of people in the country.
Army spokesman Major-General Asif Ghafoor said the offensive will also cover the most populous province, Punjab, which is seen as a recruiting ground for extremist groups fighting the state and helping insurgents in Afghanistan as well as in the India-ruled portion of the disputed Kashmir region.
(The) operation aims at indiscriminately eliminating residual latent threat of terrorism, consolidating gains of operations made thus far and further ensuring security of the borders, a military statement quoted Ghafoor as explaining.
Punjab a powerful province
Punjab is Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's native province and political stronghold where some of the country's major Islamic parties are also headquartered. These religious groups have long opposed calls from secular and liberal parties, for undertaking security operations in the province.
Sharif's ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N party has long relied on support from Islamic parties in wining national elections and fears of losing the crucial base are also cited among factors that have hampered army operations in Punjab.
Although major Islamic parties are not linked to extremist violence in Pakistan, critics and even officials have at times admitted there are institutions among tens of thousands of seminaries the religious groups are running in the province, which are promoting sectarian hatred and producing students with militant mindsets.
Locating weapons a priority
These young men, observers believe, often end up joining ranks of violent groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, commonly known as Pakistani Taliban, waging a bloody insurgency against the state.
TTP has killed tens of thousands of Pakistanis in its decade long insurgency. But one of its offshoots, Jamaat-Ul-Ahrar, has claimed responsibility for most of the terrorist attacks Pakistan has experienced within the past two weeks.
General Ghafoor said that countrywide de-weaponization and explosive control are additional goals of the operation the military launched Wednesday.
Pakistani troops have also been engaged since June 2014, in major ground and air offensives against TTP bases in volatile semi-autonomous tribal areas near the Afghan border.
Militant violence reduced
The military says it has killed thousands of militants, destroyed their terrorist infrastructure and cleared most of the border region, leading to a significant reduction in years of deadly militant violence in Pakistan.
But Afghan and American military commanders, while acknowledging Pakistan's counterterrorism successes, maintain the security operations have spared militants linked to the Afghan Taliban and the notorious Haqqani network involved in deadly attacks in Afghanistan.
Pakistani intelligence agencies are accused of using some of the home-grown militant organizations for fueling Muslim insurgency in Kashmir and helping the Afghan Taliban in its violent campaign against the U.S.-backed Afghan government.
Pakistani officials dismiss the assertions and say security operations in tribal areas have targeted all terrorist organizations. Islamabad vows it does not allow its soil to be used against any country.
A ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Shiite rebels on Wednesday killed the deputy chief of staff of the country's military in a major blow to the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition, which heavily supports the government, officials said.
The SABA news agency, which is controlled by the Houthi rebels, said their forces struck the vehicle of Brig. Gen. Ahmed Seif al-Yafie in the Red Sea port of Mokha.
Yemeni military officials said the missile hit a gathering point for the military commanders. A total of seven officers were killed, including al-Yafie, and 25 were wounded, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Abdu Dagher expressed condolences on Twitter after the attack, saying the "end of the enemy is near."
Al-Yafie was loyal to Yemen's internationally recognized government, which has been battling the Houthis and their allies since 2015. A Saudi-led coalition launched an air and ground campaign in support of the government that year, but the rebels are still in control of the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen.
Mokha, a strategic Red Sea port, witnessed intense fighting between Houthis and allied forces loyal to the ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the Saudi-led coalition and pro-government forces, mostly southern fighters.
Tens of thousands of people were recently displaced from the fighting along the western coastline.
On Tuesday, Jamie McGoldrick, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Yemen warned of an escalation in the fighting along Yemen's western coast, "at a great cost to civilians."
He said over 17 million people are "unable to adequately feed themselves and are frequently forced to skip meals - women and girls eat the least and last."
"Seven million do not know where their next meal will come from and are ever closer to starvation," McGoldrick said.
The conflict in Yemen has pushed the Arab world's poorest nation to the edge of famine and international humanitarian organizations have been pleading for cessation of hostilities to help deliver basic needs to those displaced or besieged by warring parties.
Russia's Supreme Court on Wednesday canceled the conviction of prominent anti-Kremlin activist Ildar Dadin and ordered his release from jail, Interfax news agency reported.
Dadin, 34, was sentenced to three years in prison - reduced to two and a half on appeal - in December 2015 for a series of peaceful one-man protests against the Kremlin.
"Dadin is to be released from custody," Interfax cited the ruling as saying.
The motion came after the Constitutional Court on Feb 10 ordered a review of Dadin's conviction, arguing that a law that criminalized certain types of protests had to be applied more proportionately.
Dadin was the first person to be jailed under a 2014 law, adopted after big anti-Kremlin protests, that criminalized the violation of protest rules more than twice in 180 days.
Last November, Dadin said he was tortured in jail in northwest Russia. Jail officials dismissed the allegations, but the activist was subsequently moved to another prison.
Richard Jandrew packs a stack of papers in an oversized printing machine at his family business in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. He prints advertising fliers, posters and business forms for local clients in this resort town northwest of Phoenix, in Mohave County, Arizona, one of the most Republican counties in the United States.
Richards wife, Patricia, works on the books in the front office of the company.
The Jandrews are Trump supporters. Theres no punches to be pulled, theres no secrets, said Patricia, who like her husband is a native of Syracuse, New York. He tells it the way it is, she says of President Trump.
Richard Jandrew says they understand Trumps blustery style. Hes always been that way. Thats Trump, he said. Were New Yorkers. We know thats how he's always been.
They look to the president to offer tax relief for their business.
Everybody needs to pay taxes, said Patricia. I get that, but we need a little help, especially in these rural communities. Lake Havasu City has a permanent population of just over 50,000, but it soars to 80,000 in the winter months when visitors come from California, as well as from more northern and colder U.S. states and Canada.
The Jandrews bought the business, called Jet Printing, from its founder in 2015. Patricia says she did not realize how much they would be taxed.
She says she would love to be able to give benefits to her nine employees, who are the backbone of the business, but cannot afford to. She says that under President Barack Obamas Affordable Care Act, her familys medical insurance premiums have soared to more than $2,300 a month, adding to business costs and taxes that leave them struggling many months to make ends meet.
Both husband and wife are committed Republicans who believe that Democrats have pursued a losing strategy.
You cant keep taxing the rich because eventually, they aint going to want to pay, says Richard. What are they doing again? Oh yeah, moving away.
Offshore competition worries their son, Tristan, an account executive with the family company and part-time student in business communication at Arizona State University. At 23, he is the oldest of the family's three children.
Calling himself a political moderate, Tristan says he was impressed with Democrat Bernie Sanders, who lost his partys nomination to Hillary Clinton. So far, hes not impressed with Donald Trump.
The main issue for him? Definitely jobs coming back, he says, but jobs not in old industries that were not really expanding in any more. I know that China is doing a lot of big things with solar energy. Trump has said he wants to compete with China, and should be creating jobs in sustainable energy, he says.
He considers what he has seen from Trump so far as a smokescreen. But hes reserving judgment.
Were going to see if the checks and balances of our system work, said Tristan, and if he's going to actually do something that is going to be viable in the long term.
Divided over Trump, this family agrees on one thing: they want the economy to work for all Americans. The parents think Trump can do it. The son, a skeptic, says he is cautiously watching.
The head of the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) says the government there should make sure that aid agencies can reach people who are starving.
On Monday, three U.N. aid agencies declared famine exists in two counties of South Sudan. UNMISS chief David Shearer said the government was still blocking aid by delaying paperwork that allows agencies to distribute relief items. In addition, he said, soldiers have erected several military checkpoints approaching famine-stricken areas.
Shearer said that in recent days he'd had to intervene on behalf of UNMISS workers who were trying to access places where people were starving. He said the government blocked the mission from reaching Wau Shiluk when the U.N. wanted to assess humanitarian conditions in the area. Shearer said peacekeepers were also blocked from traveling to Kajo-Keji County of Yei River State, where fighting between government and the armed opposition forced hundreds of civilians to flee into the bush.
"I would be delighted if we were able to see a reduction in a number of those violations and to say to the security council the situation is getting better," Shearer said. "I think that will be positive on both sides on the government and U.N. side. I would like to see a greater degree of compliance with the agreements that have been signed some time ago."
President Salva Kiir and SPLA-IO leader Riek Machar agreed to allow unfettered access to aid workers and peacekeepers to all areas under their control in previous cease-fire agreements.
South Sudan Deputy Information Minister Akol Paul Kordit said lawmakers of the Transitional National Assembly had yet to draft "practical measures'' to ensure that aid agencies were not blocked from reaching people in need of help.
"The parliament shall convene another session to discuss the speech of the president, and once the speech is discussed, the parliament shall then form or refer the speech to specialized parliamentary committees, whereby sections of the speech, including that of easing the access to humanitarian organizations, will be addressed by relevant parliamentary committee," Kordit said.
Bureaucratic snags
Shearer said the government's process of issuing clearances for UNMISS officials entering South Sudan was tedious and overly bureaucratic. The South Sudan government signed a "status of force agreement" with the United Nations in 2011 that allows the U.N. to deploy peacekeepers in the country and guarantees freedom of movement for U.N. peacekeepers. The UNMISS chief said the mission was still waiting for the government to approve the visas of additional peacekeepers deployed to South Sudan.
"There are some problems within the bureaucracy of the government, which is not allowing them to be able to get into the country," Shearer said. "This is a real problem and it interferes with our effective operation of our forces."
On Tuesday, Kiir said his government would ease access for humanitarian aid agencies, but he did not elaborate. Kordit said the government would look into the complaints from UNMISS.
"We will look into this and assess and examine it, and once truth is found in it, then the government will definitely take appropriate measures," Kordit said.
Aid agencies say time is running out because heavy rains are expected to hit parts of the country over the next few months, making it difficult to distribute aid in areas most affected by the famine.
Nicolas Peissel, a South Sudan project coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, said medical aid workers still struggle to reach people in need. He said it's become impossible for MSF to open new hospitals or clinics, or even refer patients to other health facilities for care in parts of Unity State where famine was declared, due mostly to insecurity.
Emergency intervention
"In the past few weeks, we have encountered extremely high levels of malnourishment above the yearly expected rate and we have set up an emergency intervention to provide health care to malnourished children in those counties of Maynedit and Leer," Peissel said.
MSF has identified high levels of malnutrition in Dablual and Mirniyal in northern Mayendit county. Peissel said a quarter of patients under age 5 had global acute malnutrition and at least 8 percent had severe acute malnutrition.
Deepmala Mahla, a South Sudan country director for Mercy Corps, a global humanitarian organization, said aid agencies could save lives and stop the famine from spreading if they received more money for food assistance and medicine. But she added that humanitarians would have to come up with other ways to respond to long-term recovery assistance.
"For example, we give a family or a village food supplies or food rations for a few weeks. That is not sustainable," Mahla said. "In addition to that, we can help them plant vegetables or a staple crop so that they have a safety net or something to keep the family going on. And these sorts of relief efforts, if they are compounded with recovery, then we can think of a sustainable future where this population will not stay in cyclical problems of food insecurity, but stay out of it."
On Wednesday, Britain announced a new support package for Somalia and South Sudan. International Development Secretary Priti Patel said $125 million would go toward relief work in Somalia and another $125 million for humanitarian work in South Sudan.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has outlined policies that could result in the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly released the guidelines Tuesday specifying how his department will carry out a pair of executive orders President Donald Trump issued last month.
Under the previous administration of President Barack Obama the focus on deporting people who entered the country illegally was on those who committed serious crimes.
Kelly rescinded those policies, saying now priorities for deportation are people who are convicted or charged with any crime, have committed acts that constitute a chargeable offense, abused a program to get public aid, or in the judgment of an immigration officer pose a public safety or national security threat.
WATCH: New guidelines issued for immigration enforcement
The new guidelines do not roll back Obama's executive orders deferring action against people who came into the country illegally when they were children, or undocumented parents of people who are either U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
Trump won election in November promising to make securing U.S. borders and going after undocumented immigrants a priority. He has issued a number of executive orders, including one to suspend the nation's refugee admittance program and another banning entry to people from seven Muslim-majority countries. The entry ban order has been suspended by the courts, but Trump is expected to issue an updated version soon.
Effective immediately, Kelly said in his memo, department personnel shall faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States against all removable aliens.
He called for hiring ten thousand Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and five thousand Border Patrol agents, while also working to expand a program that allows state or local law enforcement officers to be designated as immigration officers.
Senator Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, said the Trump administration is "going backward" with its immigration policy, which has a tone "suggesting that undocumented immigrants are criminals."
"What is clear to me is that they are going back to a secure communities kind of policy where they are charging local law enforcement with the responsibility to enforce immigration laws," Harris said. "They are lowering the bar and suggesting that anything, even that somebody may have committed a crime, might qualify for deportation. That's just extreme and outrageous."
WATCH: Kamala Harris on new policy
House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer criticized the new plans as not doing anything to keep Americans safe.
"Democrats agree that removing violent criminals is a priority. However, it is reprehensible that the administration is taking steps to round up and quickly deport non-violent immigrants, waste limited resources, and weaken due process and privacy rights," he said.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Republican, praised what he called the end of the Obama's administration's "disastrous policies."
"I applaud President Trump and Secretary Kelly for taking the actions needed to help end the surge of illegal immigration at the Southwest border and restore the integrity of our immigration system," Goodlatte said.
The new guidelines also call for regular reports from Homeland Security detailing the citizenship, nature of crimes, and custody status of undocumented immigrants who have been apprehended.
The new guidelines also call for regular reports from Homeland Security about undocumented immigrants who are apprehended. The information will include their country of citizenship, nature of crimes, custody status, and if they are released, the reason and location of that release.
Kelly called for ending so-called "catch-and-release" policies, with a surge in immigration judges and asylum officers to more quickly deal with cases and expanded detention facilities to handle keeping more people in custody during the process. He said anyone caught crossing a border should be sent back to the country they crossed from, not their country of origin.
DHS will also establish an office aimed at providing victims of crimes by undocumented immigrants with information about offenders, including their immigration and custody status.
"The Department will no long afford Privacy Act rights and protections to persons who are neither U.S. citizens nor lawful permanent residents," Kelly said.
The American Civil Liberties Union criticized the new policies, saying it is "ready to fight."
"The Trump administration is willing to trample on due process, human decency, the well-being of our communities, and even protections for vulnerable children, in pursuit of a hyper-aggressive mass deportation policy," said Omar Jadwat, director of the group's Immigrants' Rights Project. "However, President Trump does not have the last word here -- the courts and the public will not allow this un-American dream to become reality."
The Trump administration is expanding enforcement of U.S. immigration laws that could result in immediate deportation for millions of undocumented migrants.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the new guidelines Tuesday. Previous policies focused on deporting illegal migrants convicted of so-called serious crimes.
The new policies greatly expand that to include anyone in the country illegally who is guilty of just a minor offense, such as shoplifting, or even suspected of a crime.
"Effective immediately," the document read, "department personnel shall faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States against all removable aliens."
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly also says the agency plans to hire thousands of enforcement agents and assign local authorities to act as immigration officers.
Immigrants who cannot prove they have been in the country for at least two years would be subject to "expedited removal."
The new guidelines also call for enforcement of a seldom-used law that lets the U.S. send people caught trying to cross the Mexican border back to Mexico for detention, no matter what country they originally came from.
Approximately 750,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children known as "dreamers" are unaffected by the expanded policies.
Approach to DACA
Last week, Trump told the media during a news conference he plans to deal with those covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program "with heart," a subject he called "very, very tough."
"You have some absolutely incredible kids, I would say, mostly," Trump said. "I find it very, very hard doing what the law says exactly to do, and you know the law is rough."
But immigration groups and civil libertarians say millions of people will be terrified to step out of their front doors, fearing they could be arrested and deported for no clear reason.
"These memos confirm that the Trump administration is willing to trample on due process, human decency, the well-being of our communities, and even protections for vulnerable children," the American Civil Liberties Union's Omar Jadwat said Tuesday.
But the expanded policies should not be a surprise. Trump promised throughout his campaign to get tough on illegal immigration, saying the safety of the American people and the security of U.S. borders were paramount concerns.
He made building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border a theme of his presidential campaign.
Agents 'to operate unfettered'
"Virtually every immigrant is now a priority for detention and deportation. Immigration and border agents will increase dramatically in number and are empowered to operate unfettered," Joanne Lin, American Civil Liberties Union senior legislative counsel, has said in a statement.
"State and local law enforcement agencies, including those with records of racial profiling and police brutality, are encouraged to become immigration agents," Lin said.
A federal appeals court has upheld a lower-court ruling blocking Trump's executive order banning immigration and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries. The president says a revised executive order could come later this week.
A speech by President Donald Trump will be the highlight of this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), energized by Republican control of the White House and Congress for the first time in 10 years.
This year's gathering of thousands of conservatives is taking place at a Maryland hotel, just across the Potomac River from Washington, and it was controversial even before the gathering started.
Organizers Tuesday canceled a keynote speech by Milo Yiannopoulos, who resigned as an editor of the right-wing Breitbart News website Tuesday amid controversy.
A darling of the far-right, Yiannopolous fell out of favor with mainstream conservatives because of recently unearthed remarks in which he appeared to endorse sex between men and teenage boys who had not reached the age of consent.
His comments also cost him a book deal. Yiannapolous called his own remarks "outrageous" and condemned pedophilia.
But his presence would have been a huge distraction from the main purpose of CPAC: rallying conservatives of all strains to back the Trump agenda.
Not all have endorsed Trump's brand of conservatism, and his past appearances at CPAC have drawn mixed reactions. Many of his stated and past positions on issues put him at odds with conservative orthodoxy.
3 kinds of conservatives
But CPAC leader Matt Schlapp told VOA that there was an "alive and vibrant" coalition made up of three kinds of conservatives: those who care about the culture, those who simply want less government and lower taxes, and others who say the country needs a strong defense.
Schlapp said all were discouraged about what has been happening in Washington in recent years. "They just feel like no matter how many elections they win, they lose ground, and government grows and taxes increase," he said.
While conservative Republicans gather in Maryland, opposition Democrats will meet in Atlanta to choose a new leader of the Democratic National Committee.
Former Obama Labor Secretary Tom Perez and U.S. Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota are the front-runners to lead the party, which is trying to pick up the pieces after November's election losses.
The moderate-voiced Perez has the backing of more mainstream Democrats, while the outspoken Ellison is supported by the more liberal elements of the party.
But all sides say the Democrats need a leader who can harness the anger and energy coming out of anti-Trump protests and put the party back in control of Congress in next year's midterm elections.
Tensions are on the rise between Turkey and Iran. A growing war of words between the countries' diplomats has brought to the surface simmering competition for influence in the region.
Iran is an important neighbor to us. We have always been in dialogue with Iran. But it does not mean we will ignore Irans efforts in penetrating the region, said Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin in the latest thinly veiled threat between the countries during his weekly news conference.
Kalin was responding to comments by Ali Akbar Velayati, a key adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who told Turkish soldiers to leave Iraq and Syria, or the people would kick them out.
They are very serious, I mean the competition between Iran and Turkey, everyone knows it, it's like two elephants in a small room, warns political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners. Iran is clearly an expansionist country, their goal of building a Shia circle all the way from Tehran to Lebanon is no secret, at least from the Turkish perspective.
Experts say religious sectarianism underscores the tensions between predominantly Shia Iran and mostly Sunni Turkey.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan likes to present himself as a protector of Sunni Muslim rights and has accused Iran of pursuing a policy of religious sectarianism, a charge Tehran denies. Earlier this month, Erdogan accused the Tehran-backed Hezbollah movement of being a terrorist organization.
Danger of overreach
But there are voices in Turkey questioning whether Ankara is in danger of overreach. What is our military strength, what is our foreign policy strength, what is our intelligence strength, asks former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, suggesting Ankara should consider tempering its confrontational stance. Are we a regional power? Yes. Are we a global power? No. Are we a regional power which can have its way in all issues? No, we have to work with other regional powers like Iran.
Erdogan has been turning to other Sunni countries in the region for support.
This month, he visited Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States for talks observers say focused on curtailing Irans influence. Analysts suggest Ankaras assertive stance could be influenced by U.S. President Donald Trump.
With Trump, flexing his muscles against Tehran, Ankara may have sensed an opportunity to bring this antagonism into the open and to finally resolve this longstanding low level conflict in Syria and Iraq space, suggests consultant Yesilada.
Proxy wars
But he warns Ankara could pay a heavy price. That of course is also very costly, for one thing we have a gas deal with Iran, we have great hopes of economic cooperation. And finally of course Iran is not a country that easily gives up on its strategic advantages and currently it holds the upper hand in Iraq and Syria, said Yesilada.
The repercussions for Ankara are not likely to be confined to trade, with Tehran being an expert in fighting proxy wars. Regional reports say Tehran is seeking to court Kurdish insurgent group the PKK and its affiliates across the region.
Iran may use the Kurdish card. Turkey has been accusing Iran in the past of somehow harboring and assisting the PKK, claims political columnist Semih Idiz of the Al Monitor website. But there is a dilemma. Iran has its own problem with its own restive Kurdish minority, is it could get its own hands burned.
Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the PKK a terrorist organization.
Iran unshackled
Despite the dangers of confronting Tehran, analyst Yesilada suggests Ankara believes it has little choice. Iran, unshackled from international sanctions from its nuclear expansion, will hem Turkey in and we will be unable to trade with our Arab partners, once it completes its Syria and Iraq project, predicts Yesilada.
Analysts suggest Iranian-Turkish tensions are set to continue to rise as they jockey for influence.
Both countries, historic regional powers, have a long history of managing their conflicting interests and balancing rivalry, and cooperation is often how bilateral relations are characterized. Idiz predicts the latest bout of tensions will test that balancing act.
We are coming to a very decisive moment in Syria and Iraq and these [Iranian-Turkish] tensions are a product of that. But the two countries have a tradition of trying not to allow differences to boil over. But what this latest diplomatic exchange has done has shown everybody that the two countries are very much on different sides in the Middle East. The danger is if some kind of accident, if there is a clash between Iranian and Turkish-supported forces, then things could get out of hand given both countries have very nationalistic populations, said Idiz.
A few thousand Ukrainians rallied Wednesday to demand a change of political leadership in a demonstration that coincided with the third anniversary of the ousting of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych amid mass street protests.
The rally was organized by three right-wing parties who accuse the government of being too weak and conciliatory in the face of Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and its support for pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.
The crowd chanted "Glory to Ukraine!" and carried banners with slogans such as "The government should fight [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, not Ukrainians."
Kyiv resident Vasyl Volskiy said he was taking part in the demonstration because he believed the authorities had failed to deliver on promises to reform the economy.
"There has been no improvement, it has even become worse compared to what it used to be. The army still has no resources, just like before. People have become three times poorer and the authorities are not doing anything," he said.
None of the three groups behind the rally the nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party, the far-right Right Sector and the newly formed National Corps party founded by members of the Azov battalion are currently represented in parliament.
Yanukovych has lived in exile in Russia since fleeing Ukraine on Feb. 22, 2014. His successor, Petro Poroshenko, has tried to move Ukraine toward the European Union but the country is still dogged by poverty and corruption, and the conflict in eastern Ukraine remains unresolved.
Ukrainians are also now concerned that U.S. President Donald Trump may roll back sanctions imposed on Russia over its actions in Ukraine.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday that 20 million people in four countries face famine unless the international community steps in to prevent it.
"The situation is dire," Guterres told reporters. "Millions of people are barely surviving in the space between malnutrition and death, vulnerable to diseases and outbreaks, forced to kill their animals for food, and eat the grain they saved for next year's seeds."
The United Nations has declared South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and the northeastern part of Nigeria on the brink of famine in the next six months. The world body already has declared that about 100,000 people in two counties of South Sudan's Unity State currently are coping with famine.
"Famine is already a reality in parts of South Sudan. Unless we act now, it is only a matter of time until it affects other areas and other countries," Guterres said. "We are facing a tragedy; we must avoid it becoming a catastrophe. This is preventable if the international community takes decisive action."
He said a staggering $4.4 billion is needed by the end of March just four weeks away. For the entire year, a total of more than $5.6 billion is needed for these four countries. The U.N. is ready to step in, but needs the funds to do it.
Worryingly, Guterres said the United Nations has only received $90 million just two cents for every dollar required.
"The lives of millions of people depend on our collective ability to act," he said. "In our world of plenty, there is no excuse for inaction or indifference."
Guterres said a combination of factors have thrown these regions into an acute food crisis mainly the combination of conflict and severe drought accelerated by climate change.
Famine is a technical term that requires certain thresholds to be met before it is declared. The last time the U.N. declared a food crisis so severe was in 2011 in Somalia.
"The lesson from the 2011 Somalia famine was, by the time that we declared famine broadly as a world, half those who died had already died," U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said. "This is why we are sounding the alarm now, so that we can actually make the difference to avert the catastrophe."
Disaster by the numbers
Throughout South Sudan, almost 5 million people desperately need food; famine has already been declared in two counties; 1 million people are on brink of famine; 270,000 children are suffering severe acute malnutrition.
Across North-East Nigeria, some 5.1 million people face serious food shortages; nearly half a million children are suffering severe acute malnutrition.
2.9 million people in Somalia urgently need food and livelihood assistance; 185,000 children are suffering acute malnutrition.
Yemen is facing the largest food insecurity emergency in the world, with an estimated 7.3 million people needing help now.
The United Nations has scaled up its response in all four countries: In Northeast Nigeria, humanitarians are reaching more than 2 million people with food assistance. In South Sudan, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners aim to assist 5.8 million people this year; in Somalia, 5.5 million people, and in Yemen, 8.3 million.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared evenly divided on the right of Mexican parents to file a lawsuit in American courts against a U.S. border agent who killed their teenage son by firing a shot across the U.S.-Mexican border.
Justice Anthony Kennedy and other conservatives on the court voiced skepticism about the parents' lawsuit, while the court's four liberal justices indicated they supported it because the 2010 shooting occurred near the border in an area the two countries jointly maintain.
A 4-4 split among the justices would leave in place a lower-court ruling dismissing the claims brought by the parents against the agent, Jesus Mesa. However, the court could delay a ruling in the event of a tie vote and wait to see whether the Senate confirms the nomination of a conservative appellate court judge, Neil Gorsuch, to fill the open, ninth seat on the court. The Supreme Court could then hear new arguments in the dispute.
Kennedy said the Mexican and American governments should resolve the case, noting that the border "is one of the most sensitive areas in foreign affairs."
The court case stems from an incident that occurred in a cement culvert that separates El Paso, Texas, from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
The circumstances of the shooting remain in dispute, but it is clear that Mesa was on the U.S. side of the border when he fired a shot, killing Sergio Hernandez on the Mexican side. The high court is weighing what rights foreigners have to file a lawsuit in the U.S. judicial system.
The border area remains at the forefront of U.S. immigration concerns, with President Donald Trump vowing to build a wall to thwart illegal immigration into the United States.
On Tuesday, the U.S. announced tougher rules aimed at deporting undocumented immigrants who have been charged with crimes or convicted, while adding thousands of new agents to patrol the border.
Dutch police have detained a security official in the group responsible for protecting anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders on suspicion of leaking classified information, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The extent of the security breach and whether it has had any effect on the tight security cordon that constantly surrounds the far-right Wilders was not immediately clear, but the leader of the populist Party for Freedom reacted angrily on Twitter.
"If I can't blindly trust the service (DBB) that has to protect me, I can no longer function. This is unacceptable," Wilders said in a tweet directed at Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Wilders has lived for more than a decade under around-the-clock protection and in anonymous safe houses following death threats.
Dutch media reported, citing unnamed sources, that the suspect is a police officer with a Moroccan background who had passed on information to a Dutch-Moroccan criminal organization. The story first appeared on the website www.NRC.nl .
Wilders was convicted last year for anti-Moroccan comments and, while campaigning last weekend, referred to ``Moroccan scum'' who commit crimes in the Netherlands.
The revelations came three weeks before the Netherlands holds a parliamentary election. Wilders' party is riding high in the polls, although mainstream parties have said they will not form a coalition with him if he wins the popular vote because of his hard-line anti-Islam stance. His manifesto includes closing Dutch borders to all migrants from Muslim nations, banning the Quran and shutting all mosques in the Netherlands.
In an indication the government is taking the alleged leaks seriously, the Dutch prime minister and the minister for security and justice on Wednesday visited the heavily-guarded wing of Parliament that houses Wilders' party offices. Rutte declined to say if he had met Wilders or to discuss the nature of his visit.
Wilders later tweeted that the security breach "is a serious case that fortunately is also being taken seriously by the Cabinet."
Police spokesman Dennis Janus revealed few details of the case, saying it was still under investigation. He said an officer from the DBB security team was detained Monday on suspicion of "sharing classified police information in the private sphere."
The DBB is responsible for security around politicians, the Dutch royal family and diplomats based in the Netherlands.
By any means necessary.
That was the mantra of black activist Malcolm X, who was assassinated during an address in New York City 52 years ago today at the age of 39.
Schooled by the Nation of Islam while in prison for burglary at the age of 21, Malcolm became a loyal follower of its leader Elijah Muhammed and later an effective minister, known for his fiery oratory.
The Nation of Islam advocated black nationalism and racial separatism and condemned Americans of European descent as immoral devils.
His adopted brand of activism was decidedly at odds with Americas civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr., who followed the pacifist protest ideology of Indias Mahatma Gandhi. By contrast, Malcolm advocated self-defense and separation from the white man.
In late 1963, Malcolms suggestion that President John F. Kennedys assassination was a matter of the chickens coming home to roost prompted Elijah Muhammad, who believed that Malcolm had become too powerful, to suspend him from the Nation of Islam.
A few months later, Malcolm formally left the organization and made a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, where he was profoundly affected by the lack of racial discord among orthodox Muslims. He returned to America as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and in June 1964 founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which advocated black identity and held that racism, not the white race, was the greatest foe of the African American.
Malcolms more moderate philosophy became increasingly influential in the civil rights movement, especially among the leaders of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
A week before he was shot to death by members of the National of Islam, he home was firebombed.
Thomas Hagan was the only man who admitted his role in the murder. Hagan was sentenced to 20 years to life imprisonment after being found guilty at trial with two others in 1966. The other two men were released in the 1980s and have long denied involvement in the killing.
Hagan was paroled in 2010 after serving 44 years in prison.
The worlds oldest leader, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, turns 93 Tuesday. The European Union marked the occasion by renewing sanctions against the president and members of his government.
Zimbabwe state media broadcast the first part of its sit-down interview with President Robert Mugabe on the eve of his 93rd birthday.
"This man is not going," said Mugabe. "The call to step down must come from my party... I will step down. But what do you see? The opposite. They want me to stand for elections. It's their voice I heed and the voice of no one else.
The Zanu-PF Party recently selected Mugabe as its candidate for 2018 elections. Last week, his wife said people will vote for him even if he were dead and it were just his corpse on the ballot.
However, there are signs of opposition. Mugabe faced unprecedented protests last year over the failing economy and fresh allegations of rights abuses. And some activists have called for his birthday party to be canceled.
The celebrations are set for Saturday in Matopos in the southwest. The ruling party puts the price tag for celebrations at about $2 million. Activists say that money should be used to address economic problems Zimbabweans are facing.
On Tuesday, the European Union gave Mugabe a birthday present that he might not like. The EU voted to extend its travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo for another year. The sanctions have been in place since 2002 over allegations of election rigging and rights abuses.
Independent political commentator Chamunoda Mutasa was not surprised at the renewal.
"It confirms that the administration still has a long way in terms of implementing reforms and reversing archaic moves that they implemented and called for sanctions in the first place, said Mutasa.
The president has not responded to the renewal of sanctions. In the past, he has said they were imposed to push him to abandon a policy of taking land from white farmers.
A court in South Africa has ruled against a government plan to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The plan to withdraw from the Hague-based court system was ruled unconstitutional Wednesday because parliament was not consulted before the notice of withdrawal was filed.
The South African court has asked the government to revoke its notice of withdrawal.
South Africa announced its intention to withdraw from the ICC last year following a controversial 2015 visit by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted for alleged war crimes by the ICC.
Under the ICC agreement, member countries are legally obligated to carry out arrest warrants on behalf of the court. But South Africa refused to arrest al-Bashir, saying the agreement violates its diplomatic immunity law.
The South African government has said that after it revokes its notice of withdrawal, a new withdrawal bill will be introduced into parliament.
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
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued two new memos outlining the implementation of President Donald Trumps executive orders to stop illegal immigration while deporting undocumented immigrants out of the U.S.
The documents, issued Tuesday by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, expand the priority list for immigrants who face immediate removal, summarize a plan to hire thousands of enforcement agents, and assign local authorities to act as immigration officers to apply immigration laws.
Effective immediately, the document read, department personnel shall faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States against all removable aliens.
The memos, first leaked to the media on Friday, have only one exception: the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients immigrants who came to the United States at a young age and have been protected under a program established by former President Barack Obama.
WATCH: White House press secretary spicer on DHS memos
Approximately 750,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States at a young age known as "dreamers" depend on the program to live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation.
Trump told the media during a news conference last week he plans to deal with DACA "with heart," a subject he called "very, very tough."
"You have some absolutely incredible kids, I would say mostly," Trump said. "I find it very, very hard doing what the law says exactly to do, and you know the law is rough."
Tuesday's memos are a direct interpretation of the January 25 immigration executive orders signed by Trump.
Kelly's directive on border patrol focuses on a proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall as a necessary tool to deter and prevent illegal entry of immigrants.
Immigrants rights advocates say new immigration policies of the Trump administration are intent on inflicting cruelty on millions of immigrant families across the country.
Virtually every immigrant is now a priority for detention and deportation. Immigration and border agents will increase dramatically in number and are empowered to operate unfettered, Joanne Lin, American Civil Liberties Union senior legislative counsel, has shared in a statement.
State and local law enforcement agencies, including those with records of racial profiling and police brutality, are encouraged to become immigration agents, said Lin.
The DHS memos are different from Trump's reported new executive order to ban travel from seven majority-Muslim countries. The original order has been blocked by federal courts, and a newly written order is expected this week.
New Changes to Crimes (Amendment) Bill
At the end of last month, the Minister for Justice, the Hon Neil Costa, published a Bill for a new Crimes (Amendment) Act 2017. This introduces a new offence of Revenge Porn.
This Bill also includes amendments to the offence of grooming in Gibraltar to bring this offence in line with the equivalent offence in the United Kingdom.
Grooming currently applies to an adult who communicates with a child on at least two occasions, and who subsequently meets or arranges to meet that child in order to commit a sexual offence. The new proposed amendment will reduce to one the number of occasions on which the defendant must initially meet or communicate with the child with the intention of committing a sexual offence. Thus, a single such meeting or communication will qualify as grooming.
Following the publication of the Bill, Minister Costa was approached by the Gibraltar Womens Association who welcomed it and offered their support. The GWA suggested that the Bill could go further and that a new offence was needed to target paedophiles who communicate sexually with a child. In the UK, such an offence was introduced by the Serious Crime Act 2015.
Minister Costa has considered the GWAs proposal and is pleased to announce that he has given notice to the Speaker of Parliament that he will be moving amendments to the Bill at Committee stage to include sexual communication with a child as an offence in Gibraltars Crimes Act.
This will make it a criminal offence for a person aged 18 years or over to communicate with a child under 16 years old if the communication is sexual or if it is intended to elicit from the child a communication which is sexual. The offence applies only where the defendant can be shown to have acted for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification; ordinary social or educational interactions between children and adults, or communications between young people themselves, will not be caught by the offence. The offence is subject to a two year maximum prison sentence and will lead to notification requirements.
The Minister for Justice, the Hon Neil F. Costa MP, said: I would like to thank the Gibraltar Womens Association for their support in this area and for proactively coming forward with proposals. We are all agreed that sexual offences against children are terrible crimes and that it is vital to protect children from falling victim to such abhorrent behaviour. There is already legislation in place in Gibraltar which enables the prosecution of individuals for a range of existing offences, depending on the circumstances. It is important, however, that we continue to adapt our laws, particularly to reflect changes in technology and communications which have given potential offenders new ways of contacting children to encourage or prepare acts of abuse.
I am certain that the creation of this new offence will provide a further tool for our law enforcement authorities to ensure that children and young people are fully protected by the law. It will also allow the authorities to intervene earlier to prevent more serious offending. This, together with the changes to the grooming offence already in the Bill and the recent restructuring of the Child Protection Committee, shows that this Government is serious in doing all it can to safeguard and protect Gibraltars children.
Careers Fair 2017
The Gibraltar Careers Fair will be held on Tuesday 28th February 2017 at the Gibraltar Cruise Terminal. The event, which has been organised by Westside School , Bayside School and the Gibraltar College, will run from 5pm to 8pm.
The Careers Fair offers students an opportunity to obtain careers advice from a wide range of professionals in various fields of employment. Over 50 different organisations will be in attendance at the event, with representatives from the Finance, Banking, Gaming, Health, Communications, Engineering and Construction sectors confirming their participation in the event. In addition there will be representatives of various Government Departments, Essential Services and Higher Education Establishments.
Students from Bayside School, Westside School, The Gibraltar College, Gibraltar High School For Girls and the Gibraltar Boy's School will receive tickets in order to attend the event.
These tickets will be distributed by the respective institutions prior to the event.
Photo: Netflix
Today in teen gossip: Maddox Jolie-Pitt, 15, got an executive-producer credit on Angelina Jolies Netflix movie about life in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge regime. Maddoxs involvement in First They Killed My Father isnt entirely surprising: Jolie adopted him from Cambodia in 2002, and she has said she took on the adaptation of Loung Ungs memoir to immerse her family in Cambodias cultural history. Its not that credit for Maddox is totally undeserved Jolie told the Guardian that Maddox was involved on the production (he read the script, helped with notes, and was in the production meetings) but a Hollywood Reporter story about Jolies upcoming projects suggests that the teens EP credit is part of Netflixs larger efforts to appease Jolie. The company reportedly spent over a million dollars on travel and accommodations for Jolies family and entourage, and premiered the film near the famed Angkor Wat temple even though the location was a logistical nightmare, according to THR. Executive-producer credit: Its what every famous teen will be asking for come Christmas.
The Costume Designers Guild handed out their awards last night, with the Excellence in Short Form Design category pitting Jude Laws Pepsi commercial against Beyonces video for Hold Up. Costume designer Ami Goodheart was the winner for the impressive design work in the long-form Pepsi commercial Momotaro, which beat out the iconic yellow gown and colorful streetwear in the Lemonade segment (and, because this category contains multitudes, the costume designer for Wes Andersons H&M ad was also nominated). The winning ad reimagined a Japanese folk tale, with Law playing an ex-monk who turns into a demon gladiator when hes betrayed and banished by the village he protected. As the bad guy, Law battles the young warrior Momotaro (Peach Boy). Pulling inspiration from London punks in the 70s and ancient Shogun everything from a child king in a 28-foot cape covered in thousands of hand-painted gold feathers, to a dog-boy raised by wolves in the Andes has been realized, Goodheart told the guild. For what its worth, Young Pope Lenny would be very displeased His Holiness is more of a Cherry Coke guy.
Photo: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
If the National Enquirer seems to be short one salacious gossip article in its next edition, it will be because self-proclaimed warrior Nick Cannons valiant Instagram lashing scared the tabloid from publishing a salacious gossip article about him. According to Billboard, the Enquirer is allegedly planning to run a story claiming that Cannon has suffered a nervous breakdown and that his ex-wife Mariah Carey plans to take full custody of their twins, Monroe and Moroccan. The article which would presumably run alongside a column about Kristen Stewarts body odor and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwalls stint in royal rehab is also peppered with a factual event in Cannons life, his departure from NBCs Americas Got Talent, to give the insiders knowledge more weight.
Upon learning about the yet-to-be-released article, Cannon threatened the publication on Instagram with a lawsuit for defamation and slander (though he probably meant libel). The comedian was particularly upset about the Enquirers claims about his children. So the @enquirer wants to play around with my children, Cannon wrote. Only Evil operates in this manner. What is the purpose? Except to exemplify pure immoral wickedness. In addition to the lawsuit, Cannon warned that he is a warrior, and no weapon formed against me shall prosper! Read his wrathful post below, and gossip columnists, beware.
These days, its hard for Brian Tyree Henry to go anywhere without someone yelling Paper Boi! But after tonights heartbreaking episode of This Is Us, fans might start asking the versatile actor to slow-jam with them instead.
In Memphis, Henry plays a cousin of William Hill (Ron Cephas Jones) in both past and present timelines. He also belts out a gorgeous original song, We Can Always Come Back To This, which connects Williams childhood in Memphis to his new relationship with his biological son, Randall Pearson (Sterling K. Brown). Working on the episode was like a coming home of sorts for Henry, who is godfather to Browns elder son, and knows Jones from the New York theater circle.
While filming Irreplaceable You in New York City, Henry spoke to Vulture about finally performing with his best friend, getting emotional on set, and why hes nervous about unveiling the song, which is now available on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, and Google Play.
You and Sterling K. Brown are best friends. Youre both having a lot of success at the same time. How did you end up on his show?
Its a dream come true, man. I really, really have been waiting for the day to share this opportunity with him. And what better way to jump on the show and play his distant cousin? The people at NBC were just so gracious and so kind to allow me the opportunity to be a part of the show and work with Sterling and Ron Cephas Jones, who I have a history with in theater back in New York. It was so much fun. Ive been hanging out with Mandy [Moore] and Milo [Ventimiglia] and Chrissy [Metz] and them before filming. Weve been at a lot of events together, and we all just really hit it off. It was like going on set to be with family. Go play. It was an amazing experience, all around.
When you say you had been waiting for this opportunity, what do you mean?
To act with Sterling in this way. Wed always have the opportunity to share the stage, but we never shared scenes together, which I always thought was hilarious. So to finally get a chance to be in a show where we actually get to play with each other, its great. And also to play family members, know what I mean? Because he is my family. It was just an awesome opportunity. Also, I got to be in really dope 70s clothes. I feel like that was my era anyway, so when I got to put on the costumes, I was in heaven. It was so much fun.
How did you and Sterling meet?
We met in the New York theater scene over ten years ago. You know Tarell Alvin McCraney, who wrote Moonlight? He and I were classmates at Yale and he did a play he was workshopping at the Sundance Theater Lab in Park City, Utah, so he cast Sterling and me. Thats where we met. Weve all known each other for so long and its so great to see all of us shining at the same time. Its so great to see this happening for all of us, because weve always supported each other artistically and creatively for so many years. Theyre my brothers. [Editors note: McCraney wrote a drama school project In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, which director Barry Jenkins used as the foundation for Moonlight.]
When did you work with Ron Cephas Jones?
We used to do workshops in plays together in New York. I think it was a workshop at the Public Theater around 2009 or 2010, and we also did a workshop of a Tarell Alvin McCraney play together, actually. Tarell brings people together, man. His work is so phenomenal. Im so glad that everyone is finally recognizing how amazing he is and, you know, hes got so much more to do. It was like a big reunion for me to be on that set. One of my classmates, Amanda Warren, is also in the episode. She plays Williams mom. It was one big reunion of all these brilliant talents that Ive known for a very long time in this one episode.
Your song was so beautiful. It really showcased what a beautiful voice you have. Do you find yourself singing it sometimes?
Its so catchy. Im always singing it in the shower. Its so reminiscent of Otis Redding and Sam Cooke. Those guys could sing these ballads that break your heart, but its just so smooth, like you know theyre singing from the bottom of their hearts. Its a beautiful, beautiful song. Sometimes it was hard for me to get through it because I would get choked up.
Did you help write it?
No, [This Is Us composer] Siddhartha Khosla and Chris Pierce wrote it and then they brought it to me. They trusted my voice to put my flair on it. We wanted it to showcase the relationship between Randall and his family and his father, you know? We have that verse that says, Look up, look up, not down, which is what William tells Randall all the time, which is what Williams mother told him. Its beautiful.
In those club scenes, youre working with Jermel Nakia, who plays the younger William. It looks like a lot of fun. Was it?
I wanted to have as much fun as I could with Ricky. Hes not much different from [Atlantas] Alfred in certain ways, because he has this cousin who is also in the music business, and he sees the potential of his cousin, and he wants him to just be great and go out and get everything he wants in life. I feel like Ricky is the guy who always believed in William, and really wanted to show him that life is to live in it. He reminds me so much of those friends and those family members that see more in you than you see in yourself. Also, Ricky is just the coolest dude in the world. He was really fun to play.
And you get to play him as an old man, too. I thought the make-up artist did a great job.
I showed them a picture of my father because they aged Ricky to 76 years old, which is the age of my dad. They made me look exactly like my dad. It was the most uncanny, craziest thing. That makeup and hair department is the bomb. I got kind of overwhelmed from time to time when I was looking at myself in the mirror. I was like, Oh my god, Im looking at the face of my father. Which is basically the storyline of this episode, you know what I mean? No matter how far you go, the face of your father is right there with you. It was remarkable. I was very emotional some days when I was on set in my older makeup. I cant wait to see what my fathers going to say. I know hes going to drop to the floor when he sees me. Hes going to go crazy. I mean, they made me look exactly like him, from the glasses to the haircut to the mustache. It was unbelievable.
Were you bummed you didnt get to go to Memphis with Sterling and Ron?
You know what? A little bit. Its so funny because my friend Amanda Warren, who plays Williams mom, she went to Memphis. Since I didnt get to go, she shipped me a box of ribs and barbecue from this spot called Rendezvous. And I was like, You know what, thats just as good, thank you. Ill just take these ribs.
As an old man, you have the jam session with Randall and William. You finally get to act with Sterling. Was that a big party?
It was the hardest thing not to break character. I was like, Is he scatting? It was really funny to watch Sterling get up there and take over the stage with us. There were a lot of takes because I was like, Im going to break. This is hilarious. But it was unlike anything Ive ever experienced. Hes such a pro. He and Ron are such pros. Everything I learned about how to be an actor and how to do what Im doing right now, I learned from Sterling. To watch him work like that, it was really cool. For us to get a chance to watch each other work, it was definitely one of the best moments of the year for me so far.
Theyre totally believable as father and son, right? They just have it.
Theyre absolutely fantastic. I had to make sure that if I went on this show, I was like, You gotta make them look good. Dont embarrass them. I hope it came through that way. I feel like it did.
I really like the scene when William tries to apologize to Ricky and Randall keeps geeking out that hes meeting his cousin.
Thats Randall. Hes just such a loving person. He looks at everybody with fresh eyes. He doesnt pass any judgment. He really wants to see the good in everyone. This episode really shows him that family is important, even if you havent known them for a long time. Family is where you make it. You get to see Randall and William experience that journey. Thats why I love that its a road trip I love taking road trips all the time. You get a chance to discover all these different things about yourself that you didnt know. Thats much like life: If youre willing to sign up for the journey, it makes it so much more worth it.
Lets talk about how busy youve been since Atlanta. A lot has happened in less than a year.
Im very grateful, first of all, for my friends and my family because they keep me grounded and they make sure Im taking care of myself and that Im keeping my sanity about me. The fans have been the most unbelievable people in the world because they got the news that we wont be back until 2018 and they took that with such grace. But you know, Ive been busy. Im here in New York right now, filming a movie, and Ive got some other projects on the burner that Im excited to get going. I stay in contact with my castmates from Atlanta almost every day. Im still in shock about us having two Golden Globes. Its so strange that its now two Golden Globewinning Atlanta. And we just won the Writers Guild Award the other night. Im just glad the people are recognizing that we made this universe and this world of these stories, of these people, and theyre giving us their props. Theyre willing to go along on the ride with us.
What movie are you working on?
Its Irreplaceable You and its starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who is one of my favorite actresses. Shes an absolute delight to work with. Its a romantic comedy, but the subject matter is a little dark. Its all about what happens when life throws a wrench into the plans you thought you had with the love of your life. How do you move on and make sure that theyre okay, if you have to move on apart? Its been a great project and I like that Im filming in New York for once. Its so rare that I get to film in the city that I live in.
What about Vice Principals? Will you be on that again?
Im only on the first episode of the second season because at the end of the first season, they ran the Brown family out of town. So they definitely succeeded in getting her fired.
You were also on How to Get Away With Murder as a lawyer. Very different than This Is Us or Atlanta.
I still cant believe that happened! The first day on set, its just me and Viola Davis and Cicely Tyson. Am I really in this courtroom with Viola and Cicely Tyson on my first day? That cast is just so incredibly welcoming. Aja Naomi is one of my good friends. Shes a fellow Yalie and Ive known her for years, so it was so fun to have this opportunity to jump on these sets of my friends who are doing so well on these great shows. To play a lawyer, that was just icing on the cake. You couldnt beat that one. It was really a cool experience. I will say that law jargon is really hard. I have to tip my hat to these cast members because I was like, If I have to say the word impugn one more time
I dont think impugn came up on This Is Us. But sadness sure did. Did you cry when you saw tonights episode?
Of course I did. I dont think people are ready for what this episode is going to dig up. This Is Us is so good at giving you a reason to have your Kleenex next to you every week, but this one, I cant wait to see how people react to it.
Do you think people will be surprised that Paper Boi has those pipes?
Yes! Im nervous but Im excited at the same time. I love the element of surprise, throwing people off of what they think they know about what I can do and who I am. I just want to keep doing that.
Louis C.K. Photo: Kevin Mazur Photography/Getty Images for The Bob Woodruf
Netflix is investing big in the comedy business. The site announced today that it will debut two stand-up specials from Louis C.K. The first, titled 2017 and certain to be pretty political, was filmed in Washington, D.C., and will premiere on April 4. C.K. is just the latest big-name comedian to head to Netflix, as the site has recently announced deals with Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, and Jerry Seinfeld. We imagine that, in the style of Netflixs Marvel series, all these comedians will eventually cross over into each others universe for one big Avengers-style event: a roast of BoJack Horseman.
Moving Montana State Parks from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to the Montana Department of Commerce would elevate parks importance as a driver of recreation, a Bozeman legislator argued Tuesday.
But as Republican Rep. Kerry White urged the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee to vote for House Bill 454 as a means of supporting state parks, opposition came from both affected state agencies contending that the move would come with unintended consequences and expenses.
An apparent rift between parks and the typically higher profile fish and wildlife divisions has become perhaps the thorniest issue new FWP Director Martha Williams says she has faced since taking her role this month.
HB454 is the second piece of legislation that would put the hiring of a State Parks executive director under the Montana State Parks and Recreation Board while attaching parks to an agency administratively. Democratic Cascade Rep. Bradley Hamletts bill to attach State Parks administratively to FWP already passed committee and a narrow floor vote, and was heard in House Appropriations Tuesday.
The bill drew support from the Montana Trail Vehicle Riders Association and Citizens for Balanced Use.
Speaking for the latter, Jim Brown noted a shift in Montanas economy toward recreation.
This bill is a recognition that the recreation economy should be well represented and that is done by separating the parks and recreation out from the fish and wildlife side, he said. The impression is of course, is that the commission and the department have not paid enough attention to the recreation side, that its subservient to the hunting and fishing portion, and this would give a delineated entity to promote that.
The first two opponents to HB454 were Commerce and FWP.
Commerce Interim Director Doug Mitchell testified that accepting State Parks would be a mismatch of expertise and is not prudent fiscally.
When I stand here to urge you to oppose the transfer of the responsibility of the administration of State Parks to the Montana Department of Commerce, I do so as an individual who wants what is best for the state parks system, and as a government official responsible for providing this administration and this Legislature my best counsel based on research and my thoughtful consideration, Mitchell said.
Commerce is largely an expert in tourism with little experience in recreation management, particularly with law enforcement, he said. The transfer would also mean a 50 percent increase in Commerce employees from 200 to 300, which would require additional administrative staff.
Williams reiterated to the committee her support for State Parks as the new director. Parks fits squarely within FWPs mission with 50 percent of parks on lakes and rivers. They also share resources, such as a vehicle fleet and staff that works across divisions on projects such as real estate deals, she added.
Lets turn this narrative around and put it in the positive light it should be, Williams told the committee. Lets roll up our sleeves and do our jobs.
Under questions from committee members, Williams acknowledged that it is unlikely all of State Parks problems, including serious budget concerns, will be solved by the time the Legislature adjourns.
I think these issues took some time in the making, but I think we have a chance to correct them with a new director and parks administrator going forward, she said.
Conservation organizations such as Trout Unlimited, the Montana Wildlife Federation and Skyline Sportsmen also came out in opposition to HB454.
White closed on the bill saying he has a real passion for parks, but lamented growing visitation while seeing a decline in maintenance. He said HB454 is an important step in at least elevating the conversation around State Parks, and White pointed to the divisions strategic plan as a path forward.
We have strategic plans for our parks. All we need to do is start implementing them, he said.
The committee took no immediate action on HB454.
In the last couple of weeks Montana has lost three legal titans who shaped decades of Montana's legal and judicial system. We have lost three good friends.
Mike Greely served three terms as Montana Attorney General, 1977-1989, and both of us served under him as assistant attorney generals. During our respective tenures he defended the State of Montana against a challenge to its coal severance tax and professionalized the legal representation of the state. We became good friends with him and his family and he taught us not only a balanced approach to the law but fly-fishing on the Missouri River, which he loved until his death a couple of weeks ago at his cabin on the river.
Judge Gordon Bennett -- we both can still hear his distinctive voice -- served as a district judge in Helena Montana for 18 years, deciding many important cases, including the challenge to plans to build the Colstrip coal fired generation plants. He then became a master mediator, resolving cases before they came to trial. Dorothy served as his law clerk for three and a half years (1978-1981), learning more about the law and lawyering than she learned in law school. He was her mentor and role model, and she followed in his footsteps, becoming a district judge in 1989. Bennett swore her in.
We met Karla Gray in 1991 when she was appointed a Justice of the Montana Supreme Court. We became close friends with her and her husband Myron. At the time, Dorothy and Karla were the only women judges in Montana and when Myron and Mike went to early judicial conferences with their wives they were given pink name tags. Things changed in the ensuing years when more women were elected judges.
A common thread we shared with all three was their respect for the law and the respective roles of the branches of government; their common sense; and their integrity. Greely was elected as a Democrat and we both worked for him, Dorothy subsequently for Republican Attorney General, then Governor, Marc Racicot. Dorothy and Karla were initially appointed to their judgeships by Stan Stephens, a Republican Governor. Mike was appointed Workers' Compensation Judge in 1993 by Republican Governor, Marc Racicot; they met and worked for Mike Greely when Greely was attorney general.
All three were role models, mentors and good friends. We will miss them and hope that we have passed on to others the guidance and wisdom they provided us.
Dorothy McCarter (1st Judicial District Judge 1989-2013)
Mike McCarter (Montana Worker's Compensation Judge 1993-2005)
Englewood, Florida
As I understand the states current fiscal dilemma, there is a revenue shortfall. So we can cut services and the ever-growing list of unfunded infrastructure projects, or we could raise taxes. To be honest with you, the No New Taxes Oath that I have been hearing for a couple decades now is growing really old. Our government all the way down to city hall needs more money to continue to provide the services we all expect, but dont like to pay for. Unfortunately, there is no free lunch. Adding a tax to payers earning over $500,000 is punitive to only a select few and not near enough. Cutting the Highway Patrol Budget you cant be serious.
Every single one of us benefits in some way from state programs. So lets all get on board and help fund the problem. I suggest raising the top income tax rate to 7.9 percent. Only those earning above about $20,000 would be affected. Those in the $30,000 - $40,000 bracket would hardly feel a difference. Those in higher brackets would pay more, but could save 15 to 40 percent of that increase through a larger federal deduction.
If the line at Starbucks is any indication, we can all afford a small contribution to help fund the current shortfall. The small increase in taxes might save the fees and interest associated with bonding that dont buy $1 worth of infrastructure. Lets pay our way as we go and not mortgage our future income.
Don Meek
Helena
Im writing to urge Sen. Tester to stand firm against President Trumps nominee for the Supreme Court. This lifetime appointment could have serious consequences for my family and me. As an LGBTQ Montanan happily married to my wife, Im concerned that our basic civil rights would be compromised should Neil Gorsuch be confirmed. Sen. Tester understands that dignity and fairness are fundamental Montana values. I expect him to vote against Gorsuchs confirmation, which threatens families like mine. Many of Trumps nominees have terrible records when it comes to basic LGBTQ protections around housing, employment, and public accommodations. Gorsuch himself, under the guise of religious freedom, has supported companies like Hobby Lobby in denying birth control to female employees. He also argued in a dissent for defunding Planned Parenthood. LGBTQ Americans cant risk having an anti-LGBTQ ideologue on the highest court in the land. Join me in urging Sen. Tester to stand up for the Constitutional rights of all of us and strongly opposing Donald Trumps extreme SCOTUS pick.
A growing movement against a new landfill in the West Highway 84 corridor has gained an important ally: Waco Councilman Jim Holmes.
Holmes told the Tribune-Herald this week that a landfill would hamper the quality of life and growth prospects for the area, which he represents.
The Waco City Council hired a firm in August to design and permit the new landfill on a 270-acre tract along Old Lorena Road, adjacent to the existing landfill, which would close sometime in the next decade.
Adjacent landowners have sued the city over the landfill plan, saying it would violate their 1992 agreement with the city that the current landfill would not be expanded.
Holmes said his main concern is the incompatibility of the landfill with ongoing development.
Twenty-five years ago, that was only Harris Creek and a lot of pasture land, and it probably seemed a logical place to put a landfill, he said. Now there's SunWest, Riverside, Hidden Valley, a lot of really strong, vibrant neighborhoods in close proximity, and it doesn't make sense to put a landfill there in 2017.
Holmes plans to meet with the West Highway 84 Neighborhood Association about the issue at 7 p.m. March 2 at Harris Creek Baptist Church, 401 Stageline Drive. Association President Nathan Embry said he expects 100 to 200 people.
A lot of folks I'm hearing from haven't had a lot of opportunity or voice in this issue, he said. It seems like the system is bypassing them. It's raising some passion among people who live out here.
Brad Holland, a physician who lives in the Twin Rivers neighborhood, has emerged as a leader of the opposition, starting a petition that has garnered more than 400 names.
Holland said he bought his house six years ago with the understanding that the existing landfill would be reclaimed.
We were told the landfill was going to be full, that it was going to be green space, he said. we had something to look forward to. Now we're told they're going to expand its use.
The new site would be only 0.75 miles from Holland's home.
They say it's not an expansion, that it's a new site, he said. That sounds like someone trying to sell you snake oil. It's not a forthright and honest appraisal of what they're going to do.
Mayor Kyle Deaver said the council is scheduled to discuss the landfill at a work session March 7.
Deaver said the Old Lorena Road site is well-suited for a landfill, but he would be willing to expand the scope of the landfill study to consider other sites.
There are significant geological advantages to using that location, from a watershed protection standpoint, he said. Obviously, it's also close-in, and that helps with the cost of transporting garbage. But I understand the neighbors' concerns, and we are going to ask the staff to give us some options and let us know the cost difference. That's what we have to look at: What is the cost to all our citizens? I am concerned about any increase in garbage fees."
Deaver said there is some urgency in finding a new site, because it takes five or six years to permit a new one, and the current landfill has only eight to 10 years of life left.
Holmes said he would like to find a new site that's reasonably close to Waco but that would not tarnish any neighborhood's quality of life.
I think it's incumbent on the city to come up with a Plan B, he said. I know it's an economic issue, that ostensibly it costs more to put a landfill somewhere else, but I'd like to get more granular information about that.
Deanna Leach, who is running against Holmes in the May 6 general election, said she's still learning about the landfill issue but also wants to consider other locations.
I'm always concerned about environmental impact, and that certainly could be an issue, Leach said. Also, I feel like if the city made an agreement not to expand the landfill but is now building a landfill next to it, that seems like semantics to me.
Local leaders still would like to widen and rebuild Interstate 35 through Waco in a single project but passed a resolution Tuesday saying they would accept a two-phase approach. The first phase would tackle the stretch between South 12th Street and North Loop 340 in Bellmead at a cost of $300 million.
The Texas Transportation Commission had suggested the widening between Robinson and Bellmead take place in two steps, saying it could offer no guarantee that the $433 million cost of the entire project, if done at one time, would be available.
The policy board of the Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization, which includes some members of the Waco City Council and the McLennan County Commissioners Court, voted unanimously to express its gratitude for any money the transportation commission commits to the Waco project.
Members made it clear they would prefer a single-phase project but would accept a two-phase approach. They will forward the resolution to the Texas Transportation Commission, which will announce Thursday how it will allocate discretionary money on projects across Texas, possibly including the widening of Interstate 35 locally.
Metropolitan Planning Organization director Chris Evilia said no formal presentation to the transportation commission is planned.
"We asked for their help, and this is what they said they could do for us," Evilia said, commenting on why there is no need for a local contingent to travel to Austin for an appearance before the commission. "We are supporting what they already have communicated to us."
The Metropolitan Planning Organization also is pursuing $35 million to create an interchange at U.S. Highway 84 and Speegleville Road.
"The interchange would take Highway 84 traffic up and over the roads, and frontage would be extended to McGregor Airport," Evilia said.
The MPO expects to receive $200 million from the Texas Transportation Commission over the next 10 years, and it will earmark $80 million to the first phase of widening I-35, Evilia said.
"As we've said, we would love to do the whole thing at once, but that does not appear to be an option. The resources are not there at this time," he said. "This is an opportunity for us to get the most important work moving forward. Work will start in 2019 and last about four years. We're talking about widening the interstate one lane in each direction, but the most important aspect is reconstruction."
Highlights of the expansion will include rebuilding the bridges of the main lanes over the Brazos River and reversing the South 12th Street interchange "so that instead of 12th going up and over the interstate, the interstate goes over," Evilia said.
Residents may view Interstate 35 through Waco as heavily traveled, but it doesn't come close to other roads in Texas, said Bobby Littlefield, district engineer the Texas Department of Transportation in Waco.
"But our problem is that it is not one of the 100 most congested stretches in the state when compared to larger communities," Littlefield said.
Fortunately, the Texas Transportation Commission has set aside $1 billion for non-congestion projects, he said.
Local officials have made widening of I-35 through Waco a priority for years, and it appeared a pair of tax measures voters recently approved would help pay for the project.
One of the initiatives, Proposition 1, is funded by oil and gas revenue. The other, Proposition 7, is funded by state sales tax.
Evilia has said Proposition 7 was expected to yield $2 billion in the next biennium, but if sales tax trends hold, the fund may only get $500 million.
The Waco Downtown Farmers Market is one step closer to securing a temporary home for its March move.
McLennan County commissioners approved an agreement that would let the farmers market use the county parking lot across Washington Avenue from the courthouse for a year.
The farmers market board still would have to sign on before a decision is finalized, but if approved, the first Saturday at the new spot is expected for March 18, said Megan Henderson, executive director of City Center Waco, which is brokering the move.
This definitely gives them an approved location, Henderson said.
The board just needs to dot the is and cross the ts and ensure all levels of feasibility are secure before moving forward, she said.
The market has until March 11 to find a temporary home. Work on the public-private Brazos Promenade development will take over the farmers markets tree-shaded riverfront site near Webster Avenue and University Parks Drive.
The Waco Downtown Farmers Market attracts 2,000 to 3,000 visitors on Saturdays in peak season, has more than 60 vendors and creates about $500,000 in gross sales per year, according to the agreement.
Road, bridge districts
Also at the meeting Tuesday, commissioners voted 3-1 to approve a resolution that would allow the county to consolidate its road and bridge districts into a single countywide unit.
The move would require an exception to state law, and the resolution starts the process.
County Judge Scott Felton and Commissioner Ben Perry in November vocally supported pursuing the move, and in December, the court updated the desired qualifications for its open county engineer position to include experience with a unit road system.
Perry and Felton have said the move could take the politics out of the road system, moving responsibilities from commissioners in their precincts to a county employee who would oversee all road and bridge work.
Commissioner Kelly Snell, who opposed the resolution Tuesday, said the commissioners should not adopt a resolution regarding the system when they havent decided if that is the direction they plan to take.
There hasnt been a full discussion on the potential move except for a few brief minutes during the last budget cycle, Snell said.
He has said the county is too large for one county employee to oversee all the road and bridge work throughout the county.
Felton said during the meeting that Commissioner Lester Gibson, who did not attend the meeting, asked to have the agenda item deferred.
Indigent defense
Commissioners also formally accepted money Tuesday from the Texas Indigent Defense Commission. The commission awarded the county $274,904 in part of its formula grant.
The money will go to attorney fees, defense investigator costs, expert witness costs and other direct litigation costs in the countys indigent defense system.
We also encourage the county to use this money to help fund indigent defense improvements, such as a project or plan that would have remained unrealized absent this funding, the state commission wrote in its letter to the county.
However, the states contribution barely puts a dent in the full cost of required indigent defense for the county and has continued to decline over the years.
Felton has said the countys legally mandated cost could exceed $5 million within a year. The Texas Indigent Defense Commission is working with state legislators in hopes of having the state cover the whole cost of counties indigent defense responsibilities.
Texas is among 17 states that cover less than half of the cost of indigent defense, and 27 states provide full funding, according to the Texas Association of Counties.
DALLAS The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board declared three congregations, including Lake Shore Baptist Church in Waco, outside of harmonious cooperation with the state convention because of their views on same-sex relationships.
Carrying out a policy adopted at the BGCT annual meeting last November, the board voted 63-6 to consider Lake Shore Baptist, Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas and First Baptist Church in Austin outside the bounds of harmonious cooperation.
Prior to the 2016 BGCT annual meeting, First Baptist in Austin already had performed same-sex weddings and ordained LGBT deacons.
Wilshire voted in mid-November to permit all its members to participate in congregational life on the same basis as other members, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Soon after the BGCT annual meeting, Lake Shore approved a change to its bylaws declaring the church a welcoming and affirming community of Christians that allows all people into its membership and permits them to participate fully in the life of the congregation.
David Russell, board chair and member of First Baptist Church in Amarillo, noted resolutions approved at BGCT annual meetings in 1982, 1992, 2005 and 2009, as well as motions approved at the 2016 annual meeting and at Executive Board meetings in 1996, 1998 and 2010 all indicate that Texas Baptists have consistently held that the Bible teaches that any sexual relationship outside the bounds of a marriage between a man and woman is sin, including same-sex sexual behavior.
The 2009 annual meeting resolution reaffirmed that churches should seek to minister to all persons and that the love of God embraces all persons and instructs all Christians to share Gods love with others, he said. Sharing Gods love with others requires speaking the truth.
This (removal of churches) is not something we expect to have to do often. It is not something we relish doing.
Russell, an attorney, likened the boards position to the role of jurors who are asked to render a verdict according the law regardless whether they like the law.
Even so, some board members expressed concern about voting to remove congregations from the BGCT.
Grant Lengefeld from First Baptist Church in Hamilton emphasized he could not speak for his congregation or the region of the state he represents, but said he could not in good conscience vote in favor of the motion.
Is there not a 3rd path?
Doug Diehl, pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church in San Antonio, asked, Is there not a third path between removal and approval?
We believe the Bible is clear about the crucial issue of homosexuality and the related matter of transgender and transsexual people. Yet the Bible is equally clear about the crucial issue of unity of the Spirit, which we are encouraged to make every effort to keep in the bond of peace, he said.
Diehl cited the biblical example of the Apostle Paul and how he dealt with issues of sexual misconduct in the church at Corinth.
Paul challenged the individual church to deal with the issue about which he opposed them, but he never suggested rejecting them as a church in fellowship with him or other churches, he said.
In fact, Paul offered harsh words to the congregation but continued to seek the fellowship and support of the church, he said.
I dont believe these churches (in Austin, Dallas and Waco) have made their decisions to thumb their nose at Christ or the Bible, Diehl said. They are trying to do missional theology in the same human frailty and limited wisdom in which we do it.
Rather than remove them from fellowship, could we not state clearly our continued stance on the issues, ask them to consider the tension they are creating in the fellowship and reconsider their stance, and affirm that because of the conventions stance, we will not place openly gay or transgender/transsexual people on boards and agencies of the convention?
What appears to be judgmentalism will drive a deeper wedge. Mercy might inspire a way toward peace.
Pastors respond
Pastors from the three affected congregations were not at the board meeting, but they responded to a request for comment.
Wilshire Baptist Church wants to thank Texas Baptists for our 65 years of partnership in the gospel. We regret that selective exclusionary practices based upon differences in scriptural interpretation by autonomous congregations, which first became the norm in the Southern Baptist Convention, have now become operational policy for the BGCT, Pastor George Mason said.
We acknowledge the right of Texas Baptists to take this decision, but we do not believe it is right. Churches should at least be shown the courtesy of due process before being voted out of a longstanding cooperative relationship against their will. We should be able to reason together spiritually, talk and listen to one another as we discern the will of God together. Nevertheless, we pray that grief over this parting of the ways will soon give way to a new flourishing of the gospel among all parties concerned.
Pastor Griff Martin, of Austin, expressed regret regarding the BGCT action but emphasized new opportunities.
The First Baptist Church of Austin and her people lament this regressive move by the Texas Baptists, a decision which creates further divisions in Christs body and will continue to create divisions. However, as a community, we proudly celebrate who we are and where we are today, Martin said.
As a result of this action, we have received countless letters and calls of support, have welcomed many new members who are looking for an open and loving community of Christ following, and we are in several exciting conversations about new and broader ways of doing state fellowship and missions. We believe we are exactly where God has called us to be and will continue to offer inclusive love for all people.
Lake Shore pastor
Lake Shore Pastor Kyndall Rothaus noted she has talked with parents of LGBT children who were on the verge of giving up on the church because the faith community is not open to a conversation about sexual orientation and gender identity.
Im sad any time the church does anything that will make suffering and alienation and despair worse, she said. I firmly believe no one at the BGCT intends to cause suffering. But the unintended consequences of this decision are still very much real. My understanding of Christ is that he ran toward the brokenhearted and the outcasts.
Narrow fixation
Rothaus also lamented an overly narrow fixation on same-sex attraction that dominates the church, while sexual assault is such a huge and widespread evil in our country and yet so rarely addressed from our Baptist pulpits.
Why are we so much more worried about same-gendered love than we are about violence and abuse? This is incomprehensible to me, she said.
Even so, she noted with appreciation Christians who have offered her congregation assurances of continued friendship and support, regardless whether they agree on the matter of same-sex marriage.
After all, we still share a remarkable bond in Christ our Savior, and that bond will always transcend denominational affiliation, she said.
All aboard!
My congratulations to the Waco Tribune Herald for publishing a very encouraging edition of Sunday Focus on Feb. 19. First, the resident liberal writers shared with us their respect for the Constitution, separation of powers and the rule of law. These were unprecedented for them, and one even mentioned freedom and values.
Finally, famous Texas entrepreneur Drayton McLane described plans for a Texas high-speed rail line. He disclosed that it is to be privately funded!
Conservatives have seldom found so much encouragement in the editorial section. Maybe these are indicators that we are on our way to Making America Great Again.
Charles Wedemeyer, Waco
Zeppelin, anybody?
Our national rail service nearly died in the early 1950s. The entire system was dated, and railroad companies still had crews driving spikes into cross-ties with sledgehammers. Yet, as trucking had not fully evolved in terms of transporting goods, the rail system remained the most cost-effective system to move freight across the United States.For moving tonnage, rail is still the best option. Moving passengers, not so much. Try to book a trip to Denver on Amtrak. If youre on vacation and have plenty of time great, because you will need it. Dallas to Chicago, Chicago to Denver? Hmm. Isnt there a more direct route? Why, yes, but it isnt available for passenger service.
Rail service, high speed or not, is passe. When you arrive at your destination, you still must seek additional mass transit links to your final destination bus, rental car, taxi or whatever. Maybe the leaders of big business should invest and resurrect zeppelin service as there is no need to buy or seize rights of way via eminent domain. Makes much more sense and consider the view from 1,000 feet up.
Spectacular!
Dan Dayton, West
Lets keep us safe
To the bleeding hearts who are demonstrating against President Trumps immigration policies, I pose this question: What is more important? Political correctness or the security of the American people in their own country? In the more than 15 years since some 3,000 people were viciously murdered by radical Muslims who, one by one, sneaked into this country, have you become so desensitized by the other random but less sensational terrorist attacks? If you dont love your country enough to approve of any means available to ensure the safety of your loved ones and friends and co-workers,
you probably are never going to approve of anything Trump does.
Sure, some of these people trying to enter our country legitimately will be temporarily inconvenienced. But havent we all been since the state of the world deteriorated?
Ed Wortham, China Spring
ASHLAND When the 2017-2018 school year begins, Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools will have its own school psychologist and speech/language pathologist on staff.
At their regular meeting Monday night, the Board of Education voted to approve hiring a full-time psychologist and speech/language pathologist. Both will replace contracted services from Educational Service Unit 2.
The district currently contracts with the ESU for a psychologist four days a week and a speech/language pathologist three days a week. The new positions will be full-time.
Superintendent Jason Libal emphasized that, even though the new positions will serve students an increased number of days per week, the district will actually save money.
Its across the board less, he said about the psychologist, adding its more time, at a smaller investment when discussing the speech/language pathologist.
In both cases, the ESU was planning to raise rates for the 2017-2018 school year, Libal said. And in both cases, the school district was planning to increase the amount of time these positions would be utilized.
If we didnt do this, I think we all agree wed have to contract for five (days a week), Kristin Fangmeyer, the school districts special education/student services coordinator, told the board.
Hiring a psychologist and a speech/language pathologist means the school district will be more in control of what training these individuals receive, Fangmeyer added.
However, adding positions can also be a challenge to find more space in an elementary building that is bursting at the seams.
Well make it work, said Elementary Principal Teresa Bray.
The school board also approved hiring a new language arts teacher for grades 9 to 12. Julie Carr was approved to replace Britteny McBride, whose resignation takes effect at the end of the school year.
Secondary Principal Brad Jacobsen said Carr previously worked at Lincoln Lutheran before leaving to attend grad school full-time.
There were a total of 25 applicants for the position, Jacobsen added. Carr will start at the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year.
Also looking ahead, the board approved the school calendar for the 2017-2018 school year. Libal said the biggest change to the new calendar is the addition of a full vacation day for students on the day before Thanksgiving. Previously, students attended a half day. The day will be a half day in-service for staff.
The board also approved setting grade level capacities for open enrollment for the 2017-2018 school year. Based on current enrollment and anticipated figures, kindergarten, second and fourth grades will be closed to open enrollment students next year, as well as special education classes at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
YUTAN The Yutan City Council approved a new ordinance Tuesday night that will require residents get to a permit from the fire department before any open burning within the city limits.
Fire Chief Don Dooley told the council how it aligns with Nebraska state statute.
Nebraska is technically always in a burn ban, Dooley said.
The new permit is a way to regulate people to protect people, Dooley said.
An open fire on Feb. 19 that got out of control almost started two structure fires, Dooley said.
The new ordinance prohibits residents from burning yard waste on their own in bun barrels or in the open.
Burn barrels are gone, Dooley said.
The permits will not be issued for any resident that wishes to burn leaves.
Dooley said there are much safer ways to get rid of leaves, like composting or mulching.
Currently the city does not take leaves at its dump site, but is working on a solution to that, said Yutan Mayor Darin Egr.
The new burn permits will allow permit holders to operate within a 30 day window.
Part of the permits stipulations is to contact SaundersCounty dispatch when the permit holder plans to use their permit to burn.
Even if a resident has a permit, they might not be allowed to use it on their desired day due to weather conditions, Dooley said.
This is important for permit holders to pay attention to, as burn conditions can change hourly.
You can wake up and the weather is fine, but later in the morning a strong wind could produce a burn ban, Dooley said.
Not following the letter of the law on permits could result in a citation that is a class four misdemeanor, Dooley said.
Other stipulations for the burn permit include the burn being at leas 15 feet away from residences, burning between sun up and sun down and not on wooden decks and, Dooley said.
Youd be surprised, but Ive seen it, he added.
The permit holder must be present for the entire burn and be able to present the permit at the burn site if law enforcement or the fire department shows up at the site.
This will be a difficult transition process for city residents that have not gotten permits in the past, said Yutan City Councilman Jim McLaughlin.
The council discussed several ways to make the public aware of the new ordinance, including putting it on the citys highway marquee or sending a mass mailer out.
To obtain a burn permit, contact the Yutan Fire Department or city offices and those entities will get in contact with Dooley who distributes the permits.
Exceptions to the burn permits are recreational fires that are used for backyard leisure or cooking only, Dooley said.
Approved fire pits are purchased commercial structures with screens, Dooley said.
And even with those, you cant just throw your garbage in there, Dooley said.
In other business, the council discussed getting public input regarding the Yutan trail.
At present, the city has set aside $100,000 for the trail, but the cost of the trail far exceeds the citys original thoughts for its completion.
It will cost close to $250,000 to get out of the trail project or at least $750,000 to complete the trail, Egr said.
Completion of the trail could involve a bond issue, said Yutan City Clerk Dawn Schmidt.
Councilman JC Long said the disparaging cost estimates have been an ongoing issue.
I feel misled and we were fed the wrong numbers right from the start, Long said.
Egr said the potential $750,000 bond would be a 20 percent match with other grant funding.
Egr said the city is also worried about the safety issues concerning pedestrian traffic across railroad tracks as children walk to school.
MEAD The Mead Fire and Rescue Department is now licensed for Advanced Life Support (ALS).
Mead Rescue Captain Andrew Eckart reported that the department received word about its license process being approved earlier this year.
Generally, nobody knows what that means, but it can be a big deal, he said.
When any rescue squad responds to a call, the services they provide are dictated by whether they are licensed for Basic Life Support (BLS) or ALS.
ALS means that there are 20 medications that can be administered by paramedics and the paramedics also have the training to read updated cardiac monitors to better help hospitals when they arrive with patients, Eckart said.
Mead Fire and Rescue has been working on the process of becoming licensed for ALS for approximately six to eight months, Eckart said.
Weve been talking about it for a long time, but there have been several calls recently where it would have made a world of difference, Eckart said.
One of the fire and rescue calls within the last six months is where the group all got on the same page.
For example, if someone is diabetic and unconscious, medications can now be used to bring them out of a diabetic coma, Eckart said.
There are also mediations that can stop seizures and others for pain control.
Studies have shown how a person can get better if they have pain management while being treated. It keeps their blood pressure down, he said.
Pain medication can also be used in other situations.
If someone falls and breaks their hip, pain mediation can now be administered to ease the transition in loading them into the ambulance, where before it was not.
Another part of being ALS certified is having a medical director. The medical director for Mead is Dr. Eric Ernest, who is also the state medical director, Eckart said.
He oversees the rescue squad, writes the guidelines that say what we can and cannot do and equipment we can and cannot carry, Eckart said.
The Mead Rescue Department has two ambulances and two paramedics, Eckart and Tyler Bonnicksen.
The initial cost of becoming licensed for ALS was a primary inhibitor to the transition.
The cost of the medications, upgrades to the cardiac monitor and airway devices were the main cost exceeding $10,000, Eckhart said.
The Rural Fire Board approved the expenditures.
But the ongoing costs are minimal based on restocking medication.
We will stock medication appropriately according to call volume, he said.
Eckart said the county is now covered with ALS licensed rescue from the eastern border of Saunders Coun-
ty to the furthest western district of Wahoo, as Wahoo and
Yutan rescue squads are both ALS certified.
Eckart said this is especially important in the small towns of rural Nebraska.
Everybody knows everybody. The patients we see on calls are our families, Eckart said. Were now giving the highest level of care we could give.
For a rescue squad, theres nothing on the other side of ALS. Its as advanced as it gets pre-hospital, Eckart said.
House Republicans on Tuesday touted plans they say will help clean up misspending in the states health department and free up millions that could go to offset losses in the budget to care for elderly and disabled.
House Majority Leader Rep. Ron Ehli, R-Hamilton, introduced what hes calling Robin Hood legislation. House Bill 439 would eliminate additional supervisor pay for those who oversee up to five employees. Ehli said theres up to 1,000 supervisors around the state who oversee, in some cases, only a single employee.
Were helping Montanans at the levels they need it most, he said at a press conference surrounded by more than 20 Republican members of the House. Were trying to fill in the voids for those most in need.
Rep. Jon Knokey, R-Bozeman, also discussed his House Bill 334, which passed out of the House last week. He said it will stop money from being robbed from Medicaid. The legislation would allow money appropriated for Medicaid services only be spent on providing or administering Medicaid services.
But Democratic Gov. Steve Bullocks budget director, Dan Villa, questioned Republicans' pitches, saying the states pay system doesnt award people more money for being supervisors and that moving money appropriated for Medicaid around the health department is allowed by law.
Ehli said his bill would trim $65 million from the states payroll that could be directed to the Department of Public Health and Human Services for services like senior and long-term care, which saw its funding slashed last week both by Bullocks budget as well as by the joint appropriations committee that sets the departments budget.
A spokeswoman for House Republicans said that the number of employees and savings came from the Legislative Fiscal Division, though it was unclear how it was calculated.
Ehli said Tuesday he hopes the bill will start a conversation between the Legislature and the governors office over how to fund programs that serve Montanas neediest populations.
Villa said state employees are not paid more for being supervisors, but receive new job titles when overseeing employees is added to their duties. He also said some employees may appear on an organizational chart to supervise only a few people but are being paid their rate because they are department or division directors and responsible for many more employees than who they directly supervise.
Youre paid for the responsibilities you have, Villa said. Total compensation for state employees is about $990 million.
At the press conference, Knokey told those gathered that Montanans deserve to know why state money is being spent in ways not intended by this branch and its the elderly and disabled being short-changed. He added that money appropriated for Medicaid has been spent to pay for lawsuits and a building remodel.
Earlier this session Bullock used a $10 million Medicaid reimbursement from the federal government to help offset project delays the Department of Transportation had projected because of a lack of money in the state fund to pay for the work.
The state appropriates Medicaid money based on projections that take into account caseload, utilization of services and the number of people who will enroll.
Villa said last session all the money spent for senior and long-term care wasnt spent down, so it was transferred to the Child and Family Services Division of the health department, which had spent more than it was appropriated. Under Knokeys bill, Villa said, the money not spent in Medicaid could revert to the general fund, and Child and Family Services would have come to the 2017 Legislature with a request for more money to finish out the fiscal year.
Money appropriated to Medicaid goes unspent when there are not enough services for people who need them, Villa said. Republicans have often cited wait lists for people hoping to receive services as part of the reason reform is needed.
Villa used the example of a person in a small town who is eligible to move into an assisted living facility but one isnt available in the town. Knokey said if the state spent the money to increase rates to Medicaid providers, there would be more of them, but Villa questioned that line of thinking, saying the frontierness of Montana limits where some services are available regardless of compensation.
Rep. Nancy Ballance, R-Hamilton, who is on the subcommittee, said that while some divisions of the department were cut steeply, overall the health department is ending up with 2.4 percent more than it was appropriated last year, or about $4.36 billion. As the budget stands now, the Legislature is only off $36 million from the budget Bullock proposed, according to numbers from the Legislative Fiscal Division.
Bullock's spokeswoman released a statement Tuesday saying paying for care for the most needy in the state is important.
Were pleased to see the Legislature agrees critical community services are necessary for seniors, children and Montanas most vulnerable and we ask them to work on a realistic solution its too important for politics to get in the way," the statement said.
The chief architect of the state budget in the Senate has proposed two bills to help schools pay for major maintenance projects, which will likely compete with three other measures previously introduced.
There is no free ride, at least in any of the bills Im involved in, Sen. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, said Tuesday, noting his proposals would require districts to have committed some local funding to unlock state dollars.
Senate Bill 307 would change the rules about how districts can use their existing building reserve accounts. It also creates a new kind of limited, permissive levy that schools can use to fill that fund with money for maintenance projects in addition to new state aid payments scaled to the level of local investment. Jones expected the Education and Cultural Resources Committee to move the bill to the full Senate soon.
Senate Bill 260 would divert some coal severance tax revenues not needed for bond payments into a new subtrust of the Coal Severance Tax Trust Fund that would flow into a new Schools Facilities Special Revenue Account, providing the Legislature with money it can then spend on projects. A similar technique was used to build up the subtrusts that now fund the Treasure State Endowment Program that pays for some types of local infrastructure projects. Jones noted the bill would need to be tweaked by the Finance and Claims Committee, which he leads, to not interfere with a proposal to spend some of the same coal trust monies to keep two public pensions afloat.
Its time to get a little coal dust on schools across the state, Jones said, borrowing a line from a Colstrip senator noting that money from the coal trust has been used for decades to fund a variety of state infrastructure projects but never education.
Asked by Sen. Ryan Osmundson, R-Buffalo, Jones conceded that the ability to build the new subtrust would hinge on the state continuing to collect coal severance taxes, something many Montanans fear will decline as pressure mounts to switch forms of energy production.
Legislative leaders from both parties had promised to help districts by creating a permanent funding source for school facility projects. Two previous programs became defunct when riverbed rent collections disappeared after a lawsuit and as timber sale revenues declined. Two district court rulings have dinged the Legislature for failing to fulfill components of its requirements in the Montana Constitution to provide a public education, specifically noting the state should help districts maintain buildings.
The average age of a school in the state is 55 years old and more than two-thirds of them are more than 45 years old. Many of the proposals considered by the Legislature this session came out of the School Funding Interim Commission, which heard education advocates testify that there simply is not enough tax base in local communities, particularly rural ones, to increase levies or request voter approval for debt to finance major repairs such as replacing roofs, windows and boilers or to do the kind of major rehabilitation typically suggested every 30 to 50 years.
Three other proposals to help fund school facilities have not yet advanced out of committee.
Earlier this month, Rep. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, introduced HB134, which would create a grant program from which schools could request assistance if they provided a matching amount of local funds.
It became apparent weve got a cultural problem in the state, Essmann said at the hearing. We can raise the money to build it but it doesnt seem like we have a culture where we can raise the money to take care of it.
Education advocates supported the measure as helpful, but said they have concerns about grants as the funding mechanism. Under the previous Quality Schools Grant Program, only a handful of the states more than 400 districts received funding each year. Advocates argued schools that could afford grant writers had an unfair advantage applying.
The measure faced opposition because of a piece of the patchwork funding sources: lottery funds, workers compensation dividends refunded to state agencies, money designated for STEM scholarships, and local taxes collected by some urban renewal areas or economic development districts. Cities, counties and economic development groups argued the bill would gut their efforts.
Essmann said he received drafts of bill amendments on Tuesday, so he hopes to move the measure out of committee soon.
Sen. Tom Facey, D-Missoula, admits that it is unlikely Republicans will advance two proposals from his party given that Jones bills address the same problem and employ similar strategies.
Butte Rep. Amanda Curtis is carrying HB66, authored by Facey, which would use a portion of trust land timber revenues to deposit a small amount each year in, essentially, savings accounts for each school to use toward facilities projects with a sliding-scale match of state funding. Sen. Jon Sesso of Butte introduced SB98 to create a new subtrust, similar to the one proposed by Jones, but allow a wider variety of infrastructure projects to be funded.
Facey said he supported Jones bills, noting they included some of the same concepts as Democratic proposals, including funding for every district rather than a grant.
Thats what they wanted, Facey, a former teacher, said. Something predictable.
By Austin Hancock
Belleville, MI The Yankee Air Force/Museum, known for operating a gorgeous outfit of WWII heavy iron, is seeking to add to their ever unique collection of aircraft. Along with the B-17, B-25, and C-47 flying, the YAF has an arsenal of static display planes which is equally impressive. The ground-based birds include a PB4Y-2 Privateer, and a B-52D Stratofortress. The Yankee crew now aspires to add a US Navy EC-121 Warning Star to the static-fleet. Based on the Lockheed Constellation (USAAF C-69), the EC-121 was used as an early-warning and control radar surveillance aircraft. Vital during the Cold War, the Distant Early Warning Line served as a radar area that was monitored for activity from Soviet missiles. The EC-121 that Yankee wishes to acquire served an integral role in giving the US peace of mind during those trying times.
The US Navy asked the Yankee Air Force to help save the EC, and they gladly accepted the challenge. The plane is currently being disassembled at its location in Rantoul, Illinois. Assistance is needed, however, to continue the effort beyond this point. Unfortunately, thats (recovery) only half the job, states the YAF website. Help us restore this iconic craft with a contribution toward the expert work that lies ahead. The Warning Star your Warning Star is completely unique with its preserved spyware and instruments, a historic forerunner to the Sentry AWACS to come. The Yankee team plans to restore the EC-121 to static condition, as to best represent the Star as she looked during her days of Cold-War fighting. From here, the aircraft will continue to serve a vital role, this time in education.
This EC-121 Warning Star will get the setting it deserves as one of the centerpiece aircraft at the new Yankee Air Museum. Set inside the historic Willow Run Bomber Plant, the new space will be a stunning exhibit showplace for the aircraft collection. The Yankee Air Force is actively seeking support for the continuation of the Warning Star Rescue Project. For more information, or to make a contribution, visit the project website at http://yankeeairmuseum.org/rescue/.
POLSON Less than three hours after authorities asked for the public's help in locating a Kalispell man accused of threatening to bomb the Lake County Courthouse, the suspect was in custody.
Michael Furbush, 27, was arrested by a Flathead County Sheriff's deputy at approximately 2:45 p.m. Wednesday, Lake County Undersheriff Ben Woods said.
Just before 11 a.m., Lake County Sheriff Don Bell had advised the public that Furbush had allegedly threatened on Tuesday to bomb the Lake County Detention Facility, located in the basement of the courthouse, and kill detention officers.
The press release said Furbush was believed to be armed, and should not be approached. He was last seen riding in a newer white Jeep Cherokee with a roof rack and Flathead County (7) license plates.
Furbush had been booked into the detention facility on Dec. 2, 2016, according to a booking photograph that accompanied the press release.
Court records indicate Furbush was also arrested on Dec. 11, 2015, when he was allegedly found injecting methamphetamine while in a car parked behind a Polson business. He was later released on a bail modification that required him to wear a meth patch and have no contact with his partner.
Bell said Furbushs partner is currently incarcerated in the Lake County facility.
Furbush allegedly texted the bomb threat along with pictures of guns and a knife to an unidentified person Tuesday.
That person alerted the sheriffs department.
A $100,000 bond warrant for his arrest had been issued.
Woods said Furbush would be transported to the Lake County Detention Facility within 24 hours.
Retail has had a rough and ready couple of months, but some companies are hitting it out of the park.
Shopping centre owner GPT Group has singled out jewellery retailer Pandora and cosmetics chains Mecca and Mac as star performers.
"Over the past 12 months, total centre sales were up 3.2 per cent, with an improvement in department stores (up 4.2 per cent) and supermarkets (up 2.4 per cent), while the discount department stores [were] still showing declining sales growth (down 2.6 per cent)," GPT, which controls a $4.9 billion retail portfolio across 14 centres, told investors.
Discount department stores include well-known brands such as Target, Kmart and Big W.
Is Peter Dutton deliberately trying to sabotage the deal to resettle refugees from Manus Island and Nauru? Or is the Immigration Minister simply just insensitive, undiplomatic and incompetent?
Either way, the Immigration Minister is flirting with fire when he asserts Australia will not take any Costa Rica refugees from the United States until the Americans deliver on their agreement to take refugees from Manus Island and Nauru.
He also revealed that not only he, but Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, misled the Australian people when they asserted point blank, repeatedly, that there was no connection whatsoever between the two arrangements.
Dutton's interview with Andrew Bolt on Sky News was extraordinary in several respects, but mostly because it implied a lack of trust in the United States to deliver on the deal Malcolm Turnbull negotiated with Barack Obama.
The Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO), Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, met the Japanese Ambassador to Belgium, H.E. Mr. Masafumi Ishii, at the Headquarters of the WCO in Brussels, Belgium on Wednesday 22 February 2017 for the exchange of a Note Verbale on the contribution by the Government of Japan to fund the implementation of the Security Project in the Asia/Pacific region.
Global terrorism poses a variety of challenges, not only to the security and safety of people, but also to economic development and political stability, making it imperative for Customs administrations to further strengthen their efforts to secure borders and protect the international supply chain.
Our new Customs counter-terrorism initiative demonstrates the collective determination of the Customs community to effectively fight global terrorism and its negative impact on the international trade, said WCO Secretary General Mikuriya. This initiative enables us to actively support Customs administrations and other relevant stakeholders in the region to implement all necessary measures to further secure the supply chain and combat terrorism, he added.
H.E. the Ambassador, Mr. Masafumi Ishii, stressed that Japan attaches great importance to cooperation in the field of countering terrorism, particularly the WCOs efforts towards strengthening border control and security to prevent illegal and destructive cross-border activities. Moreover, he emphasized that the funded projects would render much deeper and stronger cooperation and mutual trust not only with the WCO, but also with Asia/Pacific Members. In conclusion, he wished the WCO every success with the projects.
At the G7 Summit held in Ise-Shima, Japan on 26 and 27 May 2016, the Leaders adopted the G7 Action Plan on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism, which made specific mention of the WCO Security Programme as a means of enhancing border security and assisting WCO Members to counter the threat posed by terrorists and other criminal organizations.
In line with the G7 Action Plan, to further expand the reach of the WCO Security Programme, the WCO, with financial support totaling seven million US dollars from the Government of Japan, has decided to launch a new initiative for Customs administrations in the Asia/Pacific region, specifically focusing on border-security-related challenges in South East Asia.
The key components of this new Customs counter-terrorism initiative include:
On 21 February 2017, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya participated in the Global Illicit Trade Summit, an event organized in Brussels, Belgium, by The Economist, which brought together more than 100 policymakers, regulators, government officials, lawyers, academics, researchers and brand owners.
Mr. Jean Jambon, the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Security and Internal affairs, delivered a keynote address on combating the underground economy in the 21st century. He particularly highlighted the efforts made by Belgian law enforcement agencies in countering illicit trade and maintaining security. In addition, he described the challenging situation Belgium faces a situation which became apparent after the 2016 terrorist attacks and the ways in which the government is tackling it.
The WCO Secretary General opened the first panel session, which touched on reducing the appeal of illicit trade, by explaining the different types of illicit trade as well as emerging and evolving threats, such as those linked to the development of e-commerce and the challenges it poses in terms of controlling a growing amount of small packages and parcels, or those linked to free trade zones (FTZs) when they are located outside Customs controls. He also highlighted the work of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on measuring the impact of counterfeiting on the economy, and the cooperation between the WCO and the OECD in this area.
The particular role played by the private sector, given its knowledge of supply chains and the data that it holds, was brought up during the discussions on how to counter illicit trade in practice, and more especially on how to improve risk management. In addition, the role of other agencies and actors, including prosecutors and judges, was also emphasized, as stopping goods at the border is only the start of a process which should aim at dismantling illicit networks and arresting criminals.
Other panelists included: Mr. Rolf Alter, Director for Public Governance and Territorial Development at the OECD; Mr. Antonis Kastrissianakis, Director for Security, Safety, Trade Facilitation, Rules of Origin and International Cooperation at the European Commissions Directorate General on Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD); and Ms. Monica Ramirez Gil, Global Director of Regulatory and Public Policy Affairs at AB InBev.
During the discussion, other speakers highlighted the critical role Customs authorities play in countering illicit trade, and more specifically when it comes to enforcing intellectual property rights, and concluded that adopting a coordinated approach between enforcement agencies is essential in tackling this problem.
More information
Follow the event on Twitter: @EconomistEvents #EconIllicitTrade
DECATUR Ask Leah Pelz what city she lives in, and she's apt to reply, Huh. I don't know. I'm a bit of a nomad.
The 30-year-old Decatur native has earned that moniker, having just hiked the 67-mile section of the Appalachian Trail that wildfires forced to her to skip last year during her 4-month, 2,100-plus-mile journey.
It took 3 days to go from Dicks Creek Gap near Hiawassee, Ga., to the Nantahala Outdoor Center near Bryson City, N.C., where she wrapped up Monday afternoon.
I know that officially I completed the miles Dec. 2, but that section was eating away at my conscience, Pelz said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Franklin, N.C. I had to go back and finish.
It was perhaps that same drive and desire for excellence that led her to New York City after earning a master of fine arts in costume production in 2014 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
In New York, while working for a commercial costume shop and running wardrobe for The Lion King on Broadway, she realized she was unhappy.
It was too busy, too crowded, too bright and loud, she said. I was working all the time, and this is not how you're supposed to live.
Pelz found refuge in remembering a childhood of spending every Fourth of July week in western North Carolina with her family. She is the youngest of four children born to Jerry and Carol Pelz of Decatur.
Walking the portion of the Appalachian Trail that ran nearby was such a happy memory, Leah Pelz decided that hiking the whole thing was just the change of pace she needed.
She actually had to work twice as hard for another year to save up enough money to make it happen. However, after the lease on her apartment was up June 30, she had her mother drive her Baxter State Park in Maine and the northernmost point of the trail is at Mount Katahdin.
Pelz set off July 11, unable to wait and do what most people do, which is start at Springer Mountain in Georgia in the spring and go north.
I don't like to do the things the way other people do, she said.
Her average mileage varied greatly, depending on the terrain, the weather and the water supply, but she tried to cover at least 20 miles a day, sometimes alone and sometimes with other hikers. She kept three to five days' worth of supplies in her pack, replenished them from nearby towns, and stayed in shelters along the trail or in the tent she carried with her.
It's not like I was seeking solutions to life or anything, Pelz said. It was nice to have nearly five months where all I really needed to worry about was: 'Am I going to be warm and dry, and do I have enough food, and is there a good water source nearby?'
Everything was much more under my control.
With all the usual life stressors off the table, such as jobs and bills, Pelz found she could connect with the people she met on the trail more quickly and on a deeper level.
It allows you to get down to the topics that are really, actually important and really matter, she said. Spending one day on trail with somebody is like knowing them for several months.
The closest Pelz came to a fire was Nov. 25 at Newfound Gap between Tennessee and North Carolina in the Great Smoky Mountains. At that point, it was a new fire, but it was the one that burned Gatlinburg, she said.
She and her companions hiked about a mile and half with bandannas over their noses and mouths before the smoke cleared.
Pelz also wore out two pairs of shoes on the trek and broke in a third.
After spending Christmas in Decatur, Pelz has used sister's cabin near Newland, N.C., as a base while working odd jobs and figuring out what happens next.
She hopes to hike the 500-mile Colorado Trail next summer after spending a few weeks creating costumes for the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City.
The freedom of having everything I needed on my back was awesome, and I want that feeling back, Pelz said. I've never been happier.
DECATUR A judge has ruled that seized evidence 27 pounds of cannabis and a quarter kilogram of cocaine cannot be used in the prosecution of a Decatur man.
In a Feb. 15 ruling handed in Macon County Circuit Court, the judge agreed with a defense motion that the Constitutional rights of Keith Halliburton had been violated. His lawyers now say he should be released from custody, and a hearing on that issue is set for Thursday.
Nichole Kroncke, first assistant state's attorney with the Macon County State's Attorney's Office, said the ruling will be appealed soon. She said she had no other comment.
The crucial point the case turned on is the moment when Decatur police executed a search warrant against Halliburton, 37, who was arrested in March and accused of being a major drug dealer. Working with the U.S Postal Inspection Service, police said they had intercepted a 19-pound cannabis shipment in two parcels sent to Decatur.
Having determined drugs were inside, tracking devices and electronic alerts that indicate when the parcels have been opened were inserted. Police then conducted a controlled delivery of the parcels, and Halliburton's lawyers say he was seen picking them up, putting them in a vehicle and later transferring them to another vehicle.
Defense attorney Todd Ringel argued that the police had been issued with a anticipatory search warrant which allowed them to search when a triggering event (the opening of the packages) took place. Ringel, of the Johnson Law Group, argued police jumped the gun by stopping and arresting Halliburton and searching his vehicle before the packages had been opened. Ringel said this was a violation of Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.
Todd Ringel ... provided case law to the presiding judge clearly demonstrating that not waiting for this triggering event violated Halliburton's constitutional rights, his law firm said in a statement Tuesday. At the time, police had also seized an additional 8 pounds of cannabis they said they had found in the vehicle, along with 328 grams of cocaine.
Having suppressed much of the physical evidence, Ringel said the judge also ruled that all evidence derived from the seized drugs, including allegedly incriminating statements made to police by Halliburton, would not be admissable at trial, either.
DECATUR -- Macon County Sheriff Thomas Schneider learned a lesson early in his career about illegal immigration and deportation.
Unless we had an illegal alien on a serious felony, Immigration didnt want to hear about it, he said.
All that could change soon after a new plan unveiled this week by President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration is greatly expanding the number of people living in the U.S. illegally who are considered a priority for deportation, including people arrested for traffic violations, according to agency documents released Tuesday.
The decision represents a sweeping rewrite of the nation's immigration enforcement priorities.
The Homeland Security Department memos, signed by Secretary John Kelly, indicate that any immigrant living in the United States illegally who has been charged or convicted of any crime and even those suspected of a crime will now be an enforcement priority. That could include people arrested for shoplifting or minor traffic offenses.
The memos eliminate far more narrow guidance issued under the Obama administration that focused strictly on immigrants who had been convicted of serious crimes, threats to national security and recent border crossings.
Past policies on immigration for local officials have been, in the words of Schneider, disheartening.
Specifically, he recalls a case just over a year ago when an illegal immigrant was being held in the Macon County Jail in connection with a sexual assault case. But Immigration took little interest when Schneider contacted them about the case, and the individual soon bonded out of jail.
If you had a family member who was a victim of sexual assault and you knew the person suspected of that sexual assault was an illegal, and I told you that they just bonded out of jail, I think that as a family member or a person of the community you would think, well that just isnt right, Schneider said. Well, that happened right here locally.
Unlike other cities, Schneider said the contacts his department has with illegal immigrants are few and far between. At most, his department deals with a "handful" of cases per month, and even fewer that are serious crimes.
The number of cases is not a big surprise, considering the demographics of the Decatur area. The Hispanic population in the area is a little more than 2 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureaus 2010 data. That percentage is well below the national average of 17 percent.
Regardless, Schneider said his office will follow the guidelines set by the federal government and police as his office sees fit.
The national directives do not have any impact on President Barack Obama's program that has protected more than 750,000 young immigrants from deportation. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals remains in place though immigrants in the program will be still be eligible for deportation if they commit a crime or otherwise are deemed to be a threat to public safety or national security, according to the department.
Astros take World Series title over Phillies in six games
Advertisement
By West Kentucky Star Staff
Feb. 21, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY
By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 21, 2017 | 06:53 PM | PADUCAH, KY
Police are looking for a suspect in a shooting Tuesday morning.
The Paducah Police Department has started an investigation after responding to North 10th Street about 4:15 am. Someone called dispatch saying a man was knocking on doors and telling them he had been shot. Officers found 40-year-old Perry Morris on the front porch of a home and he had a gunshot wound in his arm, so he was taken to Baptist Health Paducah for treatment.
A detective's investigation led him to name 44-year-old Myree Marshall as the suspect in the shooting. A warrant has been issued for Marshall on a charge of 2nd degree assault.
Marshall is described as a 6'2" tall black man, weighing 205 pounds. Anyone who encounters him should use extreme caution since Marshall is considered armed and dangerous. If anyone has information about Marshall's whereabouts, they should call Paducah Police at 270-444-8550 or call CrimeStoppers at 270-443-TELL.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 22, 2017 | 04:14 AM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY
A suspicious vehicle led to a drug arrest early Wednesday morning.According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Department, just after midnight, a deputy saw a vehicle make a quick turn into a private drive and turn its headlights off. Once the driver believed the deputy had left the area, the vehicle backed out of the drive and quickly sped away without its headlights on.A traffic stop was conducted on Murray Avenue where deputies could reportedly smell the odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. The driver, identified as 29-year-old Jose Harmon, of Paducah, had a suspended operators license and active warrants for his arrest. A search of the vehicle revealed marijuana, as well as over three grams of crack cocaine.
Harmon was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle on a suspended or revoked operator's license, possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana. He was also served two warrants out of Fayette County.
He was lodged in the McCracken County Regional Jail.
By WestKyStar and Murray State Staff Feb. 21, 2017 | 09:40 PM | MURRAY, KY
These campaigns represent the collaborative work of our alumni, development and marketing teams. They are dedicated to their work in an effort to advance Murray State Universitys reputation and afford new opportunities for our Racer community, said Dr. Adrienne King, vice president of University Advancement. Im pleased to see their outstanding work recognized by these two outstanding professional organizations.
The CASE District III Conference, which took place Feb. 5-8 in Nashville, Tenn., held an awards competition with more than 900 entries submitted from universities throughout the region.
In the Alumni Relations Fundraising Project, Event, or Program category, Murray State received a special merit award for the #RacerHolidays crowdfunding project. In celebration of the holidays in 2015, Murray State issued a giving challenge to various constituents including students, faculty, staff, alumni and other supporters. The campaigns theme of showcasing the diversity of the campus community included an effective integration of several marketing communications including video, social media, print, web, design, photography, and public relations. The campaign raised $19,391, resulting in 39 scholarships as well as University study spaces for students.
In the Crisis/Issues Management Plan category, Murray State received a special merit award for the Sole Mates series, which encouraged members of the campus community as well as alumni, to share their story of meeting their future spouse at Murray State. The Universitys long-standing Shoe Tree tradition states that when two students meet at Murray State, fall in love, and marry, they will have good luck if each partner nails a shoe to the shoe tree. Past shoe trees had been removed on campus due to lightning strikes or safety concerns, but the Sole Mates series revitalized the campus tradition in 2016 as stories were shared by many couples who had met at Murray State. These stories were extended through social media and made available on a customized web page.
University Advancement also received recent awards from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) East Central District, which includes seven states. The aforementioned #RacerHolidays campaign received a Merit Award while a pair of recruitment-based projects each received a Diamond Award.
The #ChooseMurrayState recruitment campaign was a multi-tiered marketing effort to attract prospective high school students from the southern Illinois region to consider attending Murray State. Within the campaign, the Racer Reps social media brand ambassadors team included 14 prospective students who were identified in the local area and were charged with completing a series of challenges on social media designed to highlight the University among their friends and classmates. Overall, the campaign proved to be extremely successful with a combined 26 percent increase in applications from the target areas. In addition, 13 of the 14 Racer Rep brand ambassadors enrolled at Murray State in August 2016.
The #MyOpportunity recruitment website involved the creation of a central online communications hub for prospective students. Both the design and messaging of the site provided students with a personal experience, walking users through the admissions process step-by-step with direct calls to action. With a simple, high-engaging site that incorporated bold colors, visuals and video, initial data and feedback indicated that the site resonated with the high school demographic, with visitors spending at last three minutes at a time on the site. The site was also recently featured at a national higher education technology conference and described as out of the box with a perfect focus on prospective students.
Murray State University provides an Opportunity Afforded for more than 10,000 students through a high-quality education with experiential learning, academic and personal growth and the ability to secure a lifetime of success. Since 1922, the true value of higher education has been found at Murray State University, where our commitment is to afford endless opportunities for developing leaders in the community, the country and the world. The Universitys main campus is located in Murray, Ky. and includes five regional campuses. For more information on Murray State University, please visit murraystate.edu.
Murray States University Advancement division recently received several regional awards for projects and initiatives.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 21, 2017 | 05:51 PM | PRINCETON, KY
Police say a person has been arrested and faces charges related to a shooting last Monday that resulted in a teen's death, but the suspected murderer has not been found.According to the Princeton Police Department, officers have charged a 17-year-old juvenile with 1st degree robbery. The charge stems from the investigation into events related to the shooting death of 15-year-old DeAryn Hamilton on the night of February 13.The juvenile, whose name was not released, was taken to McCracken County Juvenile Detention facility.Police found Hamilton lying in the street around 8pm on February 13, and he later died at a local hospital from a single gunshot wound.Police say their murder suspect, 20-year-old Deshaun LaKeith Palmer (AKA Shaun P) of Madisonville, has not been found.Palmer is considered armed and dangerous, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest. Anyone who knows Palmers whereabouts should contact Princeton Police or local law enforcement.
Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required.
Your Full Name: (optional)
Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required.
Loading...
Holly Williams, WhatsOnStage
"You'd have to have a heart dry as an old sunflower seed not to moved by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth's musical version of The Calendar Girls. Based on the by now very familiar story of a Yorkshire WI group who posed for a nude calendar to raise money after the husband of one of their members, Annie, died of cancer, the musical follows the hit film and play of the story (both also by Firth). "
"It's a cosy affair, with a pleasing score from Barlow, but not without flaws. Structurally, the show is lop-sided: they don't hit on the calendar idea until the interval, giving the first half the slight feel of treading water, even if it does let us get to know the dying man who plants sunflowers "because they always find the light".
"The Girls blossoms into a feel-good hit as bright as a field of sunflowers. Sometimes, we need to turn towards the light."
Michael Billington, The Guardian
"Take That's Gary Barlow and Tim Firth have collaborated on a delightful musical that is far superior both to the 2009 play, Calendar Girls, and to the 2003 movie on which it was based. Rather than seem like a piece of cynical exploitation, the show suggests the story has now achieved its ideal form."
"Sometimes Firth's jokes have a touch of the Carry Ons: at other times, as when a harassed mum declares, "If Jesus had had teenage kids, the Bible would have been very different," you hear an echo of Alan Bennett. But the musical works beautifully because it suggests the calendar was a way of vanquishing private demons. These women strip to conquer."
"[One of the reasons] for the show's success is that it destroys the traditional demarcation between composer demarcation between composer and lyricist. Barlow and Firth collaborated so closely, with each invading the other's territory, that the show has a seamless quality rare in jointly authored musicals."
Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard
"The Girls is certainly agreeable, but definitely from the cosy rather than groundbreaking school of theatre."
"The perpetual problem confronting Firth, who also directs, has been the inherent lack of conflict in this overwhelmingly feel-good narrative."
"This new reworking is the most sensible, using the disrobing for the calendar and the deployment of the best line, 'We're going to need considerably bigger buns' - as an end point."
"The songs are pleasant, with poignant ballad "Scarborough" the standout number. Riding is touching and the rest of the cast are undeniably game."
Paul Taylor, The Independent
"There is no covering up the fact that this show is a fresh and joyous attempt to reinvent the material rather some tired rehash with songs."
"The lyrics have a wry observational wit that's ideally suited to tracing the permeable boundary in the show between quirky humour and heartbreak. It's because they are rooted in everyday reality that Joanna Riding's superb Annie is able to achieve such unforced poignancy when she delivers the two beautiful ballads "Scarborough" and "Kilimanjaro". "
"If you think that "wiping away tears of laughter and sorrow" is one those activities that, like "rolling in the aisles", only happens in reviews, you give should this show a visit. I suspect that it's going to be on a long time. "
Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out
"Unfortunately Barlow has gone a bit 'method' for this musical version of Tim Firth's hit Britcom Calendar Girls... There are a couple of nice ditties (notably "Sunflower") but Barlow pretty much joins in with the prevailing British musical theatre trend of sprawling, patter-heavy songs full of kitchen sinky observations on the minutiae of life in rural Yorkshire."
"Joanna Riding makes for a warm, dignified lead, and Firth who directs weights it all nicely: John's declining days are dealt with gracefully, and there's a good balance found between heart-warming MOR cosiness and actively quite ribald humour (ie there are boobs)."
"It's nice, then, but the songs meander and so does everything else: it's an hour longer than the film, but tells less of the actual story (the musical finishes with the photoshoot; the film; the film deals at length with its aftermath)."
Mark Shenton, The Stage
"Like Billy Elliot, it stays faithful to its sense of time and place, but also deepens and amplifies the sense of intimate connection to the audience with a series of instantly catchy and moving songs, co-written by the film's original co-screenwriter Tim Firth, newly joined by pop songwriter and performer Gary Barlow."
"There's a hauntingly beautiful and radiantly lovely performance from Joanna Riding, who we see becoming widowed as her husband John (James Gaddas) succumbs to cancer, and she is gloriously partnered by Claire Moore, as her best friend Chris, a woman with an effervescent practicality."
The Girls runs at the Phoenix Theatre until 22 April.
Loading...
The world has gone mad in The Crucible, with the trial and execution of hapless citizens accused of witchcraft in late 17th century New England.
But it's gone mad so many times since, that it's no surprise Arthur Miller himself observed his most frequently performed play was something that probably and unfortunately is not going to be overwhelmed with irrelevance too soon'.
In Douglas Rintoul's gripping production, the escalating horror and disbelief at unfolding events is built with careful precision. It's punctuated with stage directions projected onto the set, a device which works not only to set the scene, but to give pin-sharp character summaries as key figures enter the action.
Lucy Keirl is a subtle, scheming Abigail, the only one to leave the devastation relatively unscathed, as she eventually skips off with a bag of cash and a ticket to ride.
Yet it's clear she had good reason to expect more of John Proctor, who is superbly played with complete conviction by Eoin Slattery. Victoria Yeates brings a gentle, unshakeable dignity to Elizabeth Proctor, the blameless wife whose arrest confirms that Salem really is turning upside down.
Charlie Condou brings a burning intensity and integrity to Reverend Hale, the deeply committed priest whose fervour is gradually quenched by the evident injustice of the proceedings, when even having a doll in the house is enough to get you hanged.
Ghastly, self-serving Reverend Parris who spies on girls dancing in the woods is carefully judged with strutting arrogance by Cornelius Clarke, and Diana Yekinni produces one of the play's most spine-tingling moments with Tituba's confession'.
There are occasional problems with audibility among the cast, but none from Jonathan Tafler, who creates a ruthless, roaring vigilante in Judge Danforth.
Designer Anouk Schiltz's set uses the full height of the theatre to great effect, while Chris Davy's lighting is crucial in creating the sinister changes of mood that accompany the play's denunciations and betrayals. Sound designer Adrienne Quartly also contributes an uneasy undercurrent with her unsettling score.
Arthur Miller was himself a victim of the twentieth century witch-hunt, otherwise known as the anti-communist crusade led by Senator Joseph McCarthy. His ruthless House Un-American Activities Committee wrecked the lives and careers of hundreds of US citizens in the '50s, and Miller's play was a direct response to its injustice.
The Crucible remains just as relevant, and just as shocking today just as Miller suspected it would.
The Crucible tours the UK until 17 June.
Dear Dr. Roach: At 64, I was in very good health except for moderate hypertension, which was treated with lisinopril. I then had an incident lifting a heavy load, which injured my back. Long story short, three years of pain drove me to have an L4-L5 vertebrae back fusion. I am now 67, and in hindsight, surgery was a bad decision.
Since my surgery, every injection I have received from three pain-management doctors has been ineffective. These included painkillers to target nerves for radiofrequency nerve ablation; steroids at several spots above and below the fusion; and a recent epidural at L6 that was supposed to travel up my spine. The doctors said that relief would come within the hour or several days. These injections have never brought ANY relief. But they do, however, aggravate my pain for the next several days. I jokingly asked my current doctor if he is injecting me with saline solution.
Is my system impervious to the desired effect of these injections? My only limited relief is with hydrocodone tablets, which have other side effects (opioid-induced constipation). It's sometimes as aggravating as the back pain.
-- R.S.
A: I don't know why some people respond well to injections and others do not. Most experts do not keep attempting injections if the first one (or maybe few) are ineffective. However, some people have a good response, so it usually is worth a try. There isn't outstanding evidence of benefit in trials (that is probably because there are quite a few people like you, who have gotten no benefit at all).
Your story is another reminder not to make the decision for back surgery lightly.
Throat cancer risk
Dear Dr. Roach: My husband has precancerous cells in his prostate. Is there a danger to me performing oral sex? What other types of diseases can be transmitted through this activity? A male movie star stated that he contracted throat cancer from performing oral sex on women. I'm very concerned for my own health and safety.
-- Anon.
A: I think you are concerned about human papillomavirus. Some strains of this virus can cause several types of cancers, especially cervical cancer in women and some cancers of the mouth and pharynx in both women and men. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are about 9,000 cases of HPV-associated throat cancers, roughly 80 percent of which happen in men. It is thought that oral sex is the usual way that the virus is acquired.
Prostate cancers are not HPV-associated, so there is no increased risk to you due to your husband's prostate cancer. It is unlikely, though still possible, for you to contract or have HPV, even if neither you nor your husband have had symptoms, such as genital warts, and if you have never had an abnormal Pap smear (associated with HPV infection).
The HPV vaccine is an anti-cancer vaccine. There is incontrovertible evidence now that it protects against cervical cancer, and most experts believe that the vaccine will protect against HPV-related throat cancers as well. The vaccine is indicated for all children and young adults up to age 26, and may be appropriate in certain circumstances for people even older.
The booklet on herpes and genital warts explains these two common infections in detail. Readers can obtain a copy by writing: Dr. Roach, Book No. 1202, 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803. Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 U.S./$6 Can. with the recipient's printed name and address. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery.
Hyperparathyroidism
Dear Dr. Roach: I am a 69-year-old woman. In routine lab tests, I was found to have a high calcium level. An endocrinologist and surgeon agreed that this was a problem with the parathyroid gland, but an ultrasound did not find any parathyroid problems, only two small nodules on the thyroid. I have had kidney stones, and each kidney now has a small stone in it. I dread the thought of surgery. Is surgery necessary?
-- S.P.
A: Surgery certainly is recommended for people with primary hyperparathyroidism and evidence of damage from it, such as kidney stones. I expect that you had a parathyroid hormone level taken, and that it was elevated, considering the level of calcium in the blood. With high calcium, parathyroid hormone should be low. If not, it strongly suggests that you have a parathyroid-secreting adenoma (a benign tumor).
When a parathyroid adenoma can't be found before surgery, the surgeon will visually inspect the four parathyroid glands and remove the enlarged one (or, rarely, two). Sometimes, parathyroid blood levels are measured during surgery to be sure the responsible gland has been removed.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/02/2017 (2084 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
As befits a play that centres on solvent abuse, Cliff Cardinals provocative one-man drama Huff is potent, disorienting and almost hallucinogenic in its effect.
Cardinal, who stands solitary on the stage for the 70-minute running time, skilfully plays multiple characters, but mainly communicates via Wind, a young man who introduces himself with a freezer bag duct-taped around his neck, as he explains that this is a suicide attempt, presumably not his first. He approaches a member of the audience to free him, because he also has his hands taped behind his back.
Its an effective way to announce that this is theatre at its most dangerous.
No XMP or IPTC Header Found
Once released from his death device, Wind explains all with a back story that plunges us into the visceral vicissitudes of rez life one thats all too common throughout Canada, including Manitoba.
Winds younger brother Huff is a benign innocent who nevertheless can lay claim to shocking experience, especially the suicide death of his mother. Winds older brother is Charles, a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome but also a predator. Winds father is a mean alcoholic, a warrior whose fight has been taken to the ones he is supposed to love.
The characters all inhabit an impoverished realm where self-destruction is largely normalized. Even Huffs would-be stepmother is sufficiently worn down by the sleepless Huff. She gives him a bottle of Lysol to settle him down for the night.
It would be a grim story and it is. Cardinals rage against the unfair hand dealt these characters is palpable.
But Cardinals genius is in the humour that layers itself through the Native Earth Performing Arts production.
He gives voice not just to the characters but to a dog, a gangsta skunk, and even a Sega Genesis video game. The Cree actor-playwright has superb instincts in the way he can portray the most tragic characters with comic grace notes.
The son of Metis actress Tantoo Cardinal, he is a most playful provocateur.
Supplied Cliff Cardinal is compelling as he plays multiple characters in the 70-minute one-man show Huff.
Huff would simply be too tough to handle without this quality. But even in the tougher scenes depicting suicide and sexual abuse, Cardinal, in collaboration with director-dramaturge Karin Randoja, offers up indelible flashes of humanity to light our way through a darkness that might otherwise suffocate us with despair.
randall.king@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @FreepKing
If you value coverage of Manitobas arts scene, help us do more.
Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism. BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.
VIENNA A group of state workers is planning a prayer rally Saturday as the state budget impasse drags on.
My Brothers Keeper is hosting the event at 10 a.m. at the Vienna City Park, not far from Shawnee Correctional Center and Vienna Correctional Center.
By the end of the week, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is expected to announce the results of a first-ever statewide strike authorization vote as talks with Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration have been at a standstill for more than a year.
An affirmative vote would not mean a strike is imminent, but would give the bargaining committee the ability to call for one if AFSCME leaders deem it necessary, said union spokesman Anders Lindall.
But an affirmative majority would undoubtedly intensify the feud with Rauner.
Marsha Griffin, who organized the faith-based rally in Vienna did not mention the strike authorization vote, but said the event was meant to show support for Corrections employees in dangerous jobs.
Griffin, who ran for state representative in 2016, said she organized the upcoming activity because I wanted to provide workers throughout our state a time to gather in solidarity and provide them with a day of hope as we gather to pray for our state, Southern Illinois workers and a resolution to the budget crisis.
It is vital that the budget impasse is ended, so we can attract industry and experience job creation, Griffin said.
AFSCME was among Griffin's biggest organizational supporters in her Illinois General Assembly campaign.
A strike authorization vote could lead to chaos at some of the largest facilities in Southern Illinois that provide critical services for vulnerable people,including Choate Mental Health and Development Center and the Illinois Veterans Home of Anna, Chester Mental Health and the Warren G. Murray Developmental Center in Centralia. State employees who help people sign up for food benefits and Medicaid also could walk off the job, if a strike were to be called.
The law prohibits correctional officers and lieutenants at state prisons, boot camps and juvenile justice facilities from striking, and instead would lead to binding arbitration as it relates to those specific job classifications. But prisons also could be affected by a walkout, as non-security support services personnel are not prohibited from striking.
Lindall said all union workers at mental health facilities would have the legal ability to walk off the job in the event of a strike, even though people in these facilities have been court ordered for treatment following involvement with the criminal justice system or through the civil commitment process because it has been determined they could be a danger to themselves or others.
The administration would have the right to hire temporary workers willing to cross a picket line. Dennis Murashko, the governors general counsel, said Rauner could fill spots by mobilizing the Illinois National Guard. However, the governor's office has not released any specific plan as to how it might respond to a strike.
Catherine Kelly, a Rauner spokeswoman, said, We continue to hope AFSCME chooses not to strike over the administrations contract that includes a 40-hour workweek, merit pay and the use of volunteers, and therefore remain committed on working with the union to implement the terms of the contract that is similar to contracts ratified by 20 other unions.
One of the main issues in the dispute is the employee cost of health care. The governor declared an impasse a year ago, and was upheld by the Illinois Labor Relations Board. The impasse declaration is the subject of a pending legal battle.
AFSCME strike authorization voting concluded this past weekend. The statewide tally will take place in an undisclosed location with results expected by the end of the week.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/02/2017 (2084 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
WestJet is trying to lure business away from ultra-low-cost airline NewLeaf by adding routes that compete with the Winnipeg-based company.
Calgary-based WestJet announced it would launch new routes in direct competition to NewLeaf and increase flights on other NewLeaf routes.
WestJet said it would offer direct flights between Winnipeg and Abbotsford, B.C., starting April 30; and between Winnipeg and Hamilton on May 1. It would increase non-stop flights between Abbotsford and Edmonton, and service between Winnipeg and Edmonton.
John Woods / The Canadian Press Files Jim Young, president and CEO of NewLeaf Travel
Those routes are all part of NewLeafs relatively small network. The airline launched Canadas first ultra-low-cost air service last July. Since then, WestJet has gone head to head against NewLeaf on a number of routes.
In early January, NewLeaf cancelled plans to offer flights from Calgary and Edmonton to Phoenix and had to refund tickets that had been sold after WestJet mirrored those routes.
A WestJet official would not address the apparent head-on competition with NewLeaf directly, but the optics are apparent.
NewLeaf offers direct flights from Winnipeg to Abbotsford, Edmonton and Hamilton. By April 1, WestJet will cover all those routes.
According to NewLeaf CEO Jim Young, its virtually an institutional policy at WestJet now.
We are just really happy we are doing all of WestJets network planning for them, Young said sarcastically. At the end of the day, they have decided to fly over top of every one of the routes that we started on.
Young said this type of response from the predominant player is not unexpected. He said because NewLeaf has lower overhead and solid 80 per cent-plus load factors it will continue to offer low fares.
These are routes (WestJet) did not think were all that important prior to NewLeaf starting, so you have to question that, he said.
Lauren Stewart, a spokeswoman for WestJet, preferred to talk about the excellent business strategy of a Winnipeg-Abbotsford route because of the economics and customer convenience rather than it being an out-and-out battle against NewLeafs newly acquired market share.
We have flown from Vancouver to Winnipeg for 15 years, and we know that when our guests land in Vancouver that its often not their final destination and that many go on to commute to the Fraser Valley, she said. It just made sense to provide another convenient option.
WestJet has been flying out of Abbotsford since 1996, and Stewart said the airline holds it up as an example for other airports because of its low service charges to carriers. She also made it clear WestJet is serious about defending its turf.
WestJet is Canadas low-fare leader with a track record of reliability, stability and growth, Stewart said. We have said for many years that we are going to defend our position in the market. That is exactly what we are doing.
Young said NewLeaf is not afraid of competition but is well aware airlines are not allowed to offer fares at rates below cost.
You have to ask the customer: is the competitor out there because they want the low-fare market or is he just out there to put us out of business? Young said.
He contends that WestJet fares on certain routes fluctuate depending on which days NewLeaf flies to those destinations, going up dramatically on the days NewLeaf does not fly.
Jim Scott, the CEO of Canada Jetlines, another ultra-low-cost carrier that is in the process of raising money with the hopes of entering the market, has been watching closely how the incumbents behave with the new competition.
We are monitoring WestJets treatment of NewLeaf very carefully, he said Tuesday. We have a law firm in Toronto building a file. The rules are clear you can compete, but you cannot go below your costs if you are the predominant airline. Thats considered predatory pricing under the Competition Act.
Even though NewLeaf is based in Winnipeg, with offices in the same building as the Winnipeg Airports Authority management team, the WAA does not play favourites.
Tyler MacAfee, spokesman for the WAA said, More options for travellers from Winnipeg is always a good thing. WestJet is an airline we have a really great working relationship with. It is an airline that is always looking to expand the market here in Winnipeg.
martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2017 (2083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
I am starting to suspect no one takes me seriously as a writer because I have never written anything serious.
So I have decided to write something deeply serious to capture the current political zeitgeist (literally something in German) in hopes that I can sell it to a producer for a great deal of money.
Initially I thought Id write a best-selling novel or a thought-provoking screenplay that could be translated into a cheesy multimillion-dollar movie, but that seemed like too much work.
So what Ive done instead is hammer out a pithy one-act play that makes a scathing statement about todays political climate. If someone can figure out what that statement is, please let me know.
Anyway, that is enough beating around the literary bush. Grab your seats and be quiet, kids, because the lights are going down and the play is about to start.
Play Title: Donald Trump and the Scary Swedish People
Character Name: Donald Trump, the brash, buffoonish president of the United States.
Character Name: Sean Spicer, the diminutive White House press secretary
Scene 1
(The president of the United States is sitting at his Oval Office desk fiddling with his TV remote control when his press secretary, obviously out of breath, stumbles in.)
Sean Spicer: Whew! That was a challenging morning news conference.
The President: Spicey, baby, sit down, relax. What seems to be the problem? I can totally fix it. There is no greater problem-fixer person in the world than me. Everyone says that.
Sean Spicer: Thanks, boss. Ive just spent an hour trying to explain to the Fake News Media what you were trying to say about Sweden the other night.
The President: Ooh! Right! Sweden. Scary place, Sweden. Remind me: what did I say about Sweden? By the way, I love the Swedish people. Theyre all so um so blond.
Sean Spicer: Well, sir, at that rally in Florida on Saturday night, you expressed shock about the terrible terror incident in Sweden.
The President: Ooh, right. Terror in Sweden. That was really terrible. It was a yuuuuuge incident. Yuuuuuuge! Very, very, very not good. Believe me.
(The press secretary takes a handkerchief out of his suit pocket and beings to mop the sweat from his brow.)
Sean Spicer: Well thats sort of the point, sir. There actually wasnt a terror attack in Sweden, so all the Swedes are sort of wondering what you were talking about.
The President:Look, Spicey, I saw a report about it on Fox News. Youre not saying Fox News is Fake News, too, are you? I mean weve gotta draw the fictional line somewhere.
Sean Spicer: Not at all, sir. Im just saying that, maybe, in the future, it might be a good idea for you to stick to the talking points in your briefings instead of shooting from the lip, so to speak.
(Puffing out his lips in apparent concern, the president plops his remote control on the desk and holds both hands in front of him at a 45-degree angle with the palms facing each other.)
The President: I hear you, Spicey. Lets forget Sweden. Hundreds of people, some of them fashion models, have told me that Sweden is a really screwed up country. But there are other places I am even more worried about. Believe me.
Sean Spicer: Places like
The President: I just saw on TV there was some really, really, really bad violence in Texas, possibly Arizona, definitely some place with a lot of desert in it.
Sean Spicer: And what was happening there, boss?
The President: It was the worst violence you have ever seen, Spicey. Im talking terrible. terrible violence. For example, there was this creepy-looking coyote and he kept trying to kill this really cute road runner.
(The press secretary raises a finger and starts to speak, then thinks better of it and slumps into a chair.)
The President: You should have seen it, Spicey. Very very very bad violence. The coyote has some terrible weapons of mass destruction. For example, he had this dehydrated boulder and when you add water to it
Sean Spicer (interrupting): The boulder rehydrated, then squashed the coyote as flat as a (bad word) pancake, right sir?
The President: Exactly, Spicey! But he never dies, and he gets all this scary stuff from the Acme Corporation: earthquake pills, jet-powered roller skates, you name it. And he can walk off a cliff and just hang in mid-air, until he looks at his feet, which is when he falls to the canyon floor.
Sean Spicer (sighing): Im sorry to tell you, sir, but thats just Looney Tunes.
(Clearly confused, the president shakes his head and scowls.)
The President: What did you say, Spicey?
Sean Spicer: I said its Looney Tunes, Mr. President.
The President (turning bright orange and pointing an accusing finger): I am the sanest man in the entire world. Everyone tells me how sane I am. So sane.
Sean Spicer: No, sir, I meant
The President: Im sorry, Spicey, but YOURE FIRED!
(Shaking his head, the press secretary slinks out of the Oval Office while the president resumes fiddling with his TV remote control. End of Scene.)
doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/02/2017 (2084 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA Canada will sponsor 1,200 Yazidi refugees and other survivors of the Islamic State this year with many of them destined for Manitoba, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen announced Tuesday.
The decision follows a motion passed unanimously by the House of Commons last October to commit Canada to providing asylum to Yazidis, particularly women and girls who were kidnapped and turned into sex slaves by ISIS.
We in Canada have a very long and progressive tradition of welcoming those in need of sanctuary from war and persecution and this initiative. . .is in line with that tradition, Hussen said in the National Press Theatre Tuesday afternoon.
ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Ahmed Hussen speaks during a news conference, Tuesday, February 21, 2017 in Ottawa.
About 400 of the 1,200 survivors are already in Canada, and about 74 per cent of them Yazidis. The program will largely focus on women and girls and boys who were forced by ISIS into sex slavery and forced military service.
The Yazidis are a religious minority of about 800,000 people who mostly lived near the Iraqi/Syrian border. In 2014, IS launched a campaign against the Yazidis, and at least 5,000 have been killed, and from 3,000 to 5,000 women and girls enslaved.
There are about 400 Yazidis living in Canada, about half in Winnipeg and the other half in London, Ont. The government does not intend to publicize much information about the whereabouts of the Yazidis because their extreme vulnerability and ties to family members who are still being held captive by IS is too risky to breach their privacy. However Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta are listed as the main destinations for the resettlement.
Conservative Immigration Critic Michelle Rempel, who campaigned hard for the government to accept the atrocities against the Yazidis as a genocide, said Tuesday the world, including Canada, took far too long to help what she says is the most vulnerable population in the world today.
She said there are problems with the United Nations refugee processing that meant there were no Yazidis identified to Canada on lists of refugees in need of help among the 40,000 Syrians sponsored by Canada in 2016.
I hope todays announcement awakens the global community, said Rempel.
The government will also help facilitate the private sponsorship of additional Yazidi refugees from groups like Operation Ezra, the multi-faith organization that has come together in Winnipeg to sponsor Yazidi refugees. Thus far the group has privately resettled 35 Yazidis, and expects that number to almost double by the end of this year. Two more families will arrive in Winnipeg this week.
Hussen said Canada learned lessons from Germany, which last year resettled 1,000 Yazidi women and girls, and realized the depth of the trauma and the high needs of the population when it comes to physical and mental supports.
Operation Ezra spokesman Michel Aziza was pleased by the announcement but cautious.
Its not as large a number as we were expecting but we are aware of the difficulties in resettling and we hope this is just the beginning, said Aziza.
He said if three-quarters of the 1,200 are Yazidis, that will triple the size of the Yazidi community in Canada. He said in recent days the local Yazidi community in Winnipeg has been meeting with settlement organizations to prepare for the arrival.
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/02/2017 (2084 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA Canada has no plans to introduce legislation to stop the flow of asylum seekers who are dodging border guards and pouring over the border into Canada in unauthorized ways.
Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said there isnt any piece of legislation being contemplated now that would address a loophole in an agreement with the United States that requires asylum claimants to make their claim in the first country they land in.
The Safe Third Country Agreement means if someone makes a refugee claim at a land border crossing with the United States, border guards will send them back to the U.S. However, international law dictates that Canada must provide a fair hearing to asylum claimants who make a claim from within the country. That means if a refugee claimant can make it into Canada without stopping at the border, Canada cannot send them back to the U.S. and will process their claim here.
WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Footprints in the snow leading from the U.S. border to Emerson along a path used by refugee claimants.
Fear of changing immigration policy in the United States has propelled an influx of claimants risking their lives to walk across the border in subzero temperatures. But Hussen said the United States asylum system remains in place and there is no reason for Canada to suspend that agreement, as has been requested by refugee groups and the NDP.
The U.S. continues to meet its international obligations (for asylum), Hussen said.
Canada continues to monitor the situation, and additional resources will be provided to the RCMP or Canada Border Services Agency as needed, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Tuesday. He also said he wanted to congratulate residents of Emerson for their compassion and generosity towards the asylum seekers during this time.
Hussen acknowledged there has been an increase in those coming across the border in stealthy ways and making a refugee claim this year but says there have been fluctuations in this practice over the last several years. Since January 1, 104 people have done so in Manitoba, many of them walking for hours in the darkness in freezing temperatures. Some have lost fingers and toes due to frostbite.
In January and February 2016, the Canada Border Services Agency reports there were no claimants crossing in Manitoba. There have been more than 500 since April 1 however, almost a 50 per cent increase over 2015-16, with still more than a month before the end of the fiscal year. In Quebec, RCMP reported 452 people crossed the border to make a refugee claim in January, an increase of 230 per cent over the year before.
It is an offence under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to cross into Canada without presenting to a border agent. However, if someone who has done so claims to be a refugee, they are processed as refugees and given a hearing.
Conservative MPs Tuesday pushed the government to put a stop to the practice.
People running across farmers fields illegally cannot continue, said Candice Bergen, the Conservative house leader and MP for Portage-Lisgar.
Conservative Immigration Critic Michelle Rempel said it is incumbent on the government to look at that loophole that allows the claimants to request refugee status in Canada if they bypass normal border procedures. She said the government also has to issue a strong statement that it is not safe to make this crossing and emphasize the United States remains a safe country.
Nobody wants to see someone risk life or limb in a Manitoba winter, said Rempel, who noted she spent the first 24 years of her life in Manitoba and knows what the weather can be like in January and February. She is now an MP for a Calgary riding.
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2017 (2083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux planned to sleep overnight Wednesday in the hallway of the Manitoba legislature to protest alleged Tory inaction on immigration issues.
Lamoureux has vowed to stage a sit-in 24 hours a day outside the office of the minister responsible for immigration until she gets answers about years-long delays and rejections of applicants.
She met in late afternoon with Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart, but didnt get what she wanted.
WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux is taking part in a sit-in at the door of Tory Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart.
Lamoureuxs office issued a statement in early evening: The meeting discussed positive solutions to improving the Provincial Nominee Program but the answers provided were not enough to provide PNP applicants and sponsors assurances on their issues; as a result the sit-in will continue. Lamoureux has committed to a 24-hour post outside of the ministers office until concrete assurances can be provided.
The Burrows MLA told reporters Wednesday morning shes had more than 30 cases brought to her office from people waiting more than four years to bring relatives from overseas that theyve sponsored to come to Manitoba.
Ive got a sleeping bag and cooler Im staying here until I get written responses, said Lamoureux, who said she had slept on the legislature floor in 2004 when her father Kevin Lamoureux then an MLA, now an MP held a protest.
She said that the provincial nominee program has not run properly since Gary Filmon was in office in the 1990s. The NDP destroyed the program, Lamoureux said, and now, under Wishart, the program not only runs just as badly, but theres a $500 fee.
The first thing they do is install a $500 fee for a cash grab, Lamoureux said, backed by about two dozen supporters.
Wishart was in a cabinet meeting when Lamoureux started her sit-in Wednesday morning, and later went to a caucus meeting. Lamoureux said that Wisharts absence was convenient for him even though she chose to launch her protest at the same time that MLAs are aware is the regular meeting time for cabinet.
Wishart later issued a statement that he hopes to have cleared up by the end of March the backlog of applications the NDP left behind, and to reduce processing to six months.
There should be more focus on family reunification and less on skilled workers under the provincial nominee program, Lamoureux said.
Akshay Sosa, a doctor in India who works here as a clinical assistant, told reporters hes been trying for two years to sponsor his sister Parul to join him from India. Shes 35, qualified in India as both an architect and engineer, but her application was rejected because she didnt understand Manitoba geography and said she planned to live in Thompson rather than Winnipeg.
Ankita Pathak said her mother waited for more than three years before having her application rejected. Her mother is a 53-year-old physical education teacher in India.
Whenever we called, they said, Wait, check the website, wait,, Pathak said. We hold our lives for three years.
Pathak showed reporters a letter from the province which said that her mother was otherwise eligible, but, You were not able to demonstrate a long-term contribution to the labour market in Manitoba.
Wishart said in an emailed statement that, We are working to ensure all provincial nominees will be given the best possible opportunity to find employment, raise their families and make Manitoba their home.
The MPNP is an economic immigration program created to address Manitobas unique labour market needs. We are renewing the program to focus on its core mandate, welcoming skilled workers and their families and providing them with the necessary supports to ensure they can succeed, said Wishart.
Our government is on track to eliminate by the end of March the MPNP application backlog that ballooned under the former government, he said. Program improvements will ensure all applicants receive a higher standard of service, including better information sharing and processing times of less than six months.
nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2017 (2083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Immigration is fuelling a remarkable growth in public school enrolment unseen since the last millennium, just as the prospect of cost-cutting rumbles through the education system.
Manitoba public schools grew by 2,085 students in the year ending Sept. 30, 2016, and many of those newcomers are children who immigrated to Manitoba or came as refugees. Its the third straight year of enrolment growth but by far the greatest influx of public school students in decades.
Every school division in Winnipeg and Brandon has significant growth. Even St. James-Assiniboia grew by 196 children, which is meaningful because that division had more than 20,000 students in the 1980s but was in steady decline due to a lack of new housing and an overabundance of empty nesters keeping their homes.
The large number of newcomers is placing tremendous pressure on school systems that are under orders from the province to control costs.
Simultaneously, the school systems will have to cope with major changes that are not directly related to the large number of newcomers. Education Minister Ian Wishart said Tuesday he is already implementing the most profound and far-reaching overhaul of Manitobas public school system in memory.
Wishart said he is scrapping and replacing the complex and confusing funding formula thats been in place for decades. Hes considering involuntary school division amalgamation and will listen to plans to close small schools. He is talking to First Nations about greater integration of the public and reserve school systems.
We anticipate having a completely different funding formula in place by next year, Wishart said.
Despite the concurrent changes, the large number of immigrants provides challenges that must be addressed promptly. The minister said there were 4,000 new students enrolled in English-as-an-additional-language (EAL) programs this school year. The province estimates at least 15 per cent are Syrian refugees.
In the first year of the Pallister governments austerity plan, whose severest effects have yet to be revealed, funding for EAL programs went up $1.16 million or 9.9 per cent.
It certainly does put pressure on the funding, Wishart said.
It also puts pressure on the school boards, which Wishart has directed to keep spending and property tax increases under control. The average per-student spending in Manitoba is $13,016 before next years higher costs kick in, so either school trustees find another $27 million in property taxes to educate those new students at current levels, or overall per-student spending is going to go down.
Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press FILES School boards face mounting costs because of increased demand for programs geared toward new arrivals, such as English-as-an-additional-language courses.
Growth isnt limited to Winnipeg as remarkable as it is to have every city division grow in the same year. There is growth through immigration in Steinbach, Winkler, Neepawa and other areas, Wishart said.
Its our new normal, said Louis Riel School School Division superintendent Duane Brothers. The days are gone when we could have one program in one school to help kids. We want our kids to go to their neighbourhood school.
His division has seen EAL enrolment triple in the last three years many students need more than one year and spread across the division. We were quite shocked when we started crunching the numbers, he said.
Its not just language learning, its citizenship, its learning to live in a liberal democracy, he said.
Nor is it a simple matter of teaching the English language, said Brothers. Teachers are working on numeracy and literacy in an unfamiliar language with some children who havent been in a school in years and have suffered through trauma.
What we have to get better at is helping the teachers teach kids for whom English is not a first language, he said.
Brothers said there are programs such as A Peaceful Village at Glenlawn Collegiate and Gordon Bell High School, which are attended by 50 to 60 students every day from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. to work on their English and their adjustment to Canada.
Across the division, We have kids who arrived three or four years ago from Syria or Somalia, sitting in a classroom with kids who came three months ago. What an asset they are! Brothers said in delight.
Said Rita Chahal, executive director of the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, Theres a lot of people trying to do their very best to get them settled in the system.
nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2017 (2083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Manitobans love to open their hearts and their wallets.
Our province is one of Canadas three most charitable provinces or territories, according to a new Statistics Canada study on charitable donors in 2015 released on Wednesday.
Using data from tax filings, the StatsCan study showed Manitoba was in the top three for increases in charitable donations in 2015, up 5.7 per cent from the previous year, and top two for increases in number of people donating.
The largest increases in charitable donations were in the Northwest Territories (8.1 per cent) and British Columbia (7.1 per cent).
The study showed Manitoba (0.4 per cent increase) and B.C. (0.7 per cent increase) were the only provinces/territories to have the number of donors increase in 2015, and that 227,460 Manitobans donated to charities in 2015. The median, or average, donation was $420.
Kate Brenner, managing director of Winnipeg Harvest, said the food bank did notice a bit of an increase in donations in 2015 and 2016 from previous years.
We think Manitobans are the most generous people in the country. At Winnipeg Harvest, we cant operate without the support of our donors. One hundred per cent of the money we use to operate this organization comes from donors, Brenner said. Without those donors, without volunteers and without the food donors we could not possibly exist here so its very, very important that we make sure that we are getting donations coming in here.
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
She said the organizations operational budget has doubled over the past seven years to nearly $3 million. It does not receive government funding to stock the food bank to help feed people in need.
Its the second straight year that Manitoba was in the top three in the country for increases in charitable giving. It was second in 2014 with an increase of 4.6 per cent from the previous year.
Nunavut, with a decrease of five per cent, had the largest drop in charitable donations by provinces or territories in 2015. The largest decrease in the number of donors was also in Nunavut with a drop of 7.2 per cent.
Total charitable donations by Canadians in 2015 increased by 3.8 per cent from 2014. Canadians gave $9.1 billion to charities in 2015.
However, the actual number of people in Canada donating fell to 5,495,900, a drop of 0.9 per cent or 47,840 fewer donors.
Nationally, the average or median donation was $300 in 2015.
Winnipeg was among the StatsCan census metropolitan areas with a higher average donation per tax filer than the national level at $400.
AbbotsfordMission, B.C., had the highest median charitable donation per tax filer at $720. Saskatoon and Vancouver tied for second, each with median donations of $450, followed by Calgary with a median donation of $440, Victoria at $430.
Winnipeg had 146,860 donors in 2015, meaning 25.6 per cent of all tax filers in 2015 in Manitoba gave to charities.
Thousands of demonstrators turned out Monday across the U.S. to challenge Donald Trump in a Presidents Day protest dubbed Not My President's Day.
The events on the federal holiday didn't draw nearly as many people as 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."
A rally in downtown Los Angeles also drew thousands. Demonstrators there called attention to Trump's crackdown on immigration and his party's response to climate change and the environment. Organizers said they chose to rally on the holiday as a way to honor past presidents by exercising their constitutional right to assemble and peacefully protest.
In Chicago, several hundred rallied across the river from the Trump Tower.
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., 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 crowd marched to push back against Trump and his administration's stance on such issues as the environment, immigration, free speech and Russia.
A small but unruly group of protesters faced off with police in downtown Portland, Ore., with some arrested.
Hundreds of Trump opponents and supporters turned out in Rapid City, S.D.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/02/2017 (2084 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The man accused in the high-profile homicide of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine was arraigned on his second-degree murder charge Tuesday as the case heads directly to trial without a preliminary hearing.
A clean-shaven Raymond Cormier, 54, appeared briefly in court Tuesday. The formal charge of second-degree murder was read to Cormier, but he was not required to enter a plea.
The preliminary hearing scheduled for May will no longer be held. A jury trial is expected late this year or in early 2018, defence lawyer Tony Kavanagh said.
SUPPLIED Raymond Joseph Cormier
Tinas case prompted calls for a national inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous females. Her body was found wrapped in a duvet cover in the Red River in Winnipeg in August 2014. She had only been in Winnipeg a couple of weeks after leaving her great-aunts home on the Sagkeeng First Nation, about 70 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
Kavanagh said his client was looking forward to the preliminary hearing and feels his rights have been pushed aside as a result of the direct indictment, which was approved by the office of Manitobas attorney general for reasons the Crowns office is not required to share with defence counsel.
Manitoba Justices policy on direct indictments states they may only be used in exceptional circumstances that outweigh the benefits of a preliminary hearing.
Direct indictments are allowed when concerns arise involving the protection of witnesses, protection of the accuseds right to trial in a timely manner and protection of ongoing police operations, for example.
The provincial policy says a preliminary hearing may not be helpful in a case that relies on Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenges to the admissibility of evidence, since those arguments must be heard during trial.
The Crowns office declined to comment on the Cormier case.
Cormier is pursuing a Law Enforcement Review Agency complaint against the Winnipeg Police Service, accusing police of fabricating evidence against him during their lengthy investigation into Tinas death.
Cormier was arrested in Vancouver by Winnipeg police officers who had used an undercover-officer sting as part of their investigation.
Kavanagh said he doesnt know whether Cormiers allegations against police are related to the Crowns request to skip the preliminary hearing.
Its hard to know, Kavanagh said Tuesday. All I can say is Mr. Cormier is obviously quite upset. I mean, he was looking forward to the prelim. He was looking forward to the opportunity to see what the evidence was in person, and his belief is that his rights have been sort of pulled away from him. Its not a surprise, hes spoken publicly about how he feels that the police have taken advantage and pushed him on this matter, and that was the focus of his complaint to LERA. He feels this is yet another thing thats been taken away from him in trying to mount his defence.
Cormiers LERA complaint is proceeding separately and is to be rescheduled to a later date.
katie.may@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @thatkatiemay
DI+POLICY.PDF
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2017 (2083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
With the clock ticking down to provincial budget day, an anti-poverty coalition is urging the Manitoba government to wake up to the needs of its lowest-income population.
We are calling on the province to live up to their promise to develop a comprehensive poverty-reduction plan in budget 2017, Make Poverty History Manitoba chairman Josh Brandon said Tuesday in Winnipeg.
Were concerned with budget day coming up in a few weeks we see the province may be stepping back from the promise made during the (2016) election campaign.
The budget is expected to be unveiled by the Progressive Conservative government sometime in March.
The government completed pre-budget consultations in October.
The last contact Make Poverty History Manitoba had from Families Minister Scott Fielding and Finance Minister Cameron Friesen was in a letter, received Jan. 11, that made no firm commitments.
So far, all weve seen is talk about tax cuts and social impact bonds, but those arent the priority that weve heard from the community about what should be a poverty-reduction plan, Brandon said.
What we hear is that there needs to be an emphasis on raising the incomes of the lowest-income Manitobans up closer to the poverty line and then a comprehensive plan of supports and programs to lift all Manitobans out of poverty.
There should be consultations. The people living in poverty are the best advocates for themselves as to what programs work and what steps should be taken to help them.
In November, a national report card authored by Sid Frankel, University of Manitoba associate professor of social work, said the provinces child-poverty rate was among the highest in Canada.
The most recent data available (collected from 2014) show one in 3.5 children in Manitoba is living in poverty.
Thats a number exceeded only by the territory of Nunavut, the report said.
Under the Poverty Reduction Strategy Act, the Manitoba government is required to implement a long-term strategy to reduce poverty and increase social inclusion in the province. A five-year review of the strategy is mandated to be completed by May.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/02/2017 (2084 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Manitoba public education system is about to look a lot different from the system the Tories inherited from the NDP.
Education Minister Ian Wishart recently rolled out the first sign of the Pallister governments austerity plan when he increased the provinces share of funding the $2.33-billion system by $13.1 million or one per cent the lowest increase since the lean years of the 1990s.
FUNDING FORMULA CHANGE
This time next year, the funding formula with its confusing complexity, its dozens of categories based on even more complex criteria and calculations will be replaced.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart and Fort Richmond MLA Sarah Guillemard are gifted with homemade cards from students after they read to the kids in the library at Ecole James Nisbet. Feb 01, 2017
He wouldnt give any hints Tuesday, but Wishart said it may be phased in: We dont want any shocks going through the system. Well be looking at traditional factors like enrolment and assessment. We will be looking at the size of the divisions.
Special needs education will be handled differently, said the minister, declining to elaborate.
Just this year, Wishart did away with the NDPs zero guarantee, which had assured divisions they would receive at least the same provincial operating grants as the year before. Instead, he guaranteed at least 98 per cent of the previous years money.
AMALGAMATION CONSIDERED
There has been no amalgamation since the NDP imposed it in 2002, reducing 55 divisions to 37. Wishart noted that voluntary amalgamation has not produced any takers, and acknowedged that the NDP overlooked some candidates for amalgamation in 2002, such as 720-student McCreary-based Turtle River, and neighbouring Flin Flon and Kelsey S.D. in The Pas, both with dwindling enrolment and low assessment bases.
Wishart would not rule out amalgamation within Winnipeg, but would not speculate on a city-wide division as other major Canadian cities have.
You have to do a decent analysis, said Wishart, who pointed out there have to be economic and efficiency reasons to merge divisions. Above all else, his priority is to improve student academic performance.
MERGING SCHOOLS
Wishart said hes willing to listen to requests to close small schools when the NDP imposed a moratorium in 2008, 13 schools were slated to be closed. Four schools have closed since, but only because parents transferred the few remaining kids to larger schools.
Wishart said hes also talking to the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre about what he called some form of integration of their systems. The MFNERC is overseeing a new First Nations school board of 12 reserve schools which Ottawa will fund at provincial levels most reserve schools continue to receive federal funding at per-students of $4,500 or more below the public schools.
He cited the success that Waywayseecappo First Nation has had in becoming a partner in Park West School Division.
Why would you develop another completely separate system when you can work together? Thats what were suggesting, (similar to) Waywayseecappo and Park West, said the minister.
RESTRAINT EXPECTED
Wishart again urged school boards to hold down their spending. We showed restraint we did expect school divisions to make an effort. Everyone is feeling fairly heavily taxed.
Wishart again insisted that there are ways to hold down school division spending without reducing the number of teachers employed, starting with administration costs.
He refused to speculate if Premier Brian Pallister and Finance Minister Cameron Friesen will reopen public sector collective bargaining agreements. Asked recently if teachers will receive the three per cent increase due in 2017-2018, Pallister would not say they wont, but neither would he say they will.
nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2017 (2083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
In 2004, when American journalist and historian Thomas Frank wrote Whats The Matter With Kansas?, he was asking an important question: why do so many Americans vote against their economic and social interests? The politics of spin has certainly played a significant role in this outcome. Herein lies the Republican machines biggest strength: namely, its ability to convince the electorate including the working class to vote against its best interests.
Donald Trump is the fourth Republican U.S. president since Ronald Reagans inauguration in 1981. During each of these presidencies, national debt and unemployment increased, while government regulation decreased. Reagan, who remains the figurehead of the Republican Party, championed trickle down economics as a solution to increase American growth.
This theory remains foundational to the GOPs economic plan and was adopted as part of Trumps 2016 presidential campaign. These policies of limited regulation, which favour a minority of the population, are ultimately what led to the 2008 financial crisis. The fallout did not affect the CEOs of Americas biggest banks; rather, it was a disaster for working-class Americans, many of whom voted for billionaire Donald Trump.
Andrew Harnik / The Associated Press U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as he arrives at the White House in Washington, Monday.
Trumps latest push, to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act the key piece of regulation designed to prevent a new financial crisis highlights how little Republican politicians care about the financial concerns of their core constituents. The repeal involves removal of specific sections of the law that require all retirement account advisers to work in the best interests of their clients. The removal of such regulatory burdens is not just unethical; it would, in fact, fail to hold accountable those who commit a breach of trust.
Furthermore, Trumps promise to repeal and replace Obamacare undermines the basic medical needs of his own voter base. A Kaiser Family Foundation study found that 43 per cent of Americans view Obamacare unfavourably versus 39 per cent who view it favourably, despite the fact that 57 per cent admitted they did not have enough information to know how a repeal of the law would affect them.
In addition, the overwhelming majority of Americans responded in favour of the individual components of the law, yet when those same components are labelled as Obamacare, citizens responded in disgust. Though the Affordable Care Act was not without complications, for millions of Americans, this was their first chance to experience health care. In some estimates, repeal would mean loss of coverage for as many as 24 million citizens. Despite this, voters turned to Trump to resolve their health-care woes.
Trump has also focused his policies and rhetoric on making the United States safe by bringing back an America first policy. Many of his executive orders have lacked research, planning or proper execution. His refugee ban, for example, is likely to do just the opposite of what he claims. The Washington Post reported that dehumanizing certain minority groups, especially Muslims, increases their chances of supporting violent forms of protest and makes them less likely to report suspicious activity in their neighbourhoods. This could be catastrophic to American national security, as research has shown that the best way to prevent terrorism is engaging and building trust with the community in question.
Targeting Muslims is also problematic because it shields a more important reality concerning terrorism in America. The New York Times recently reported that the main terrorist threat in the United States is not from violent Muslim extremists, but from right-wing extremists. Moreover, there have been more than 215,000 murders in the United States since 9/11. For every person killed by Muslim extremists, 4,300 homicides have occurred from other threats. Yet the president remains largely silent on right-wing and other types of domestic terrorism.
JOHN MINCHILLO / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Supporters react as Donald Trump appears for his inauguration. Trumps promise to repeal and replace Obamacare undermines the basic medical needs of his own voter base.
Regardless of Donald Trumps campaign rhetoric, those wishing to make America great again will be waiting longer. In an era of post-truth sloganeering, Americans must sift through Trumps cliches to understand that gut feelings are no substitute for hard data. Without a rational basis for public policy, the electorate will continue to vote for leaders who have other interests in mind.
Graham T. Gould Maule is a graduate student at the department of biochemistry, microbiology and immunology at the University of Ottawa.
Opinion
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2017 (2083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
With the dates for provincial and federal budgets approaching, now is a good time to consider how both can shape and define a vision for Manitoba and its future.
First, at the federal level, the government should establish active regional offices reflecting the needs and priorities of territories and provinces. These can be traditional ministerial offices initially intended to advocate for regions in a federal framework, part of the Canada Infrastructure Development Bank (CIDB) or, preferably, a combination of both.
Regional offices would unify public, private and citizen efforts to address provincial and territorial issues, while also streamlining efforts and eliminating duplication of federal constituency associations. Moreover, regional offices would facilitate municipal-provincial-federal negotiations, collaboration, procurement and implementation of joint projects.
JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Manitoba Finance Minister Cameron Friesen
Second, they should present with the fiscal budget a carbon budget as part of the proposed national carbon-pricing scheme to demonstrate progress in achieving a low-carbon economy and our international commitments and responsibilities. They also should introduce legislation requiring emissions and water-quality impact assessment of projects in addition to financial considerations that in the 21st century are no longer a sufficient sole benchmark or indicator for project approval.
National and provincial carbon budgets would highlight that Manitoba will be essential in a low-carbon economy. This province could be a leader in sustainable practices.
It is important to keep in mind Manitoba Hydro has a pivotal role to play in a Canadian clean-energy strategy essential to a low-carbon, diversified economy. Through interprovincial hydroelectric agreements and a diversified renewable energy portfolio, Hydro has the potential to launch Manitoba into the 21st century as a national and international leader in green energy and sustainability.
There are other opportunities in this province. The Port of Churchill, Canadas only deep water port, has the opportunity to significantly contribute to our provincial and national economies through trade and connections with the international community. CentrePort, described as Canadas centre for global trade, already provides a unique framework to facilitate an international trading hub in the province of Manitoba.
Lake Winnipeg, through the industries it nourishes including fisheries and tourism, is central to Manitobas economy. Investment in green infrastructure initiatives such as Lake Winnipeg and a Lake Winnipeg watershed strategy as part of a national freshwater strategy is key to a progressive vision for Manitoba and Canada founded on social, environmental and economic sustainability.
If modelled after the public funding agency Caisse des Depots et Consignations, established in France in 1816 to address infrastructure and public-good needs, the CIDB could contribute to transit and social housing initiatives that create equitable and just societies. In Winnipeg, an efficient and well-planned transit system not the current token gesture, where potential passengers wait, frozen, in windswept fields next to Jubilee would reduce emissions and revitalize the city.
Renewable energy projects in northern and remote communities, driven by the needs, desires and goals of community members, would reduce a reliance on diesel and create local employment, self-sufficiency and hope. Investment in social housing through partnerships with Habitat for Humanity and centres for social enterprise such as BUILD Inc. would create employment and improve quality of life for those overlooked in our society. Continued and accelerated research and development on infrastructure and materials in cold climates (such as heated sidewalks found in Reykjavik) could redefine snow-clearing practices and associated exorbitant costs throughout the province.
A strong, vibrant arts community that renders both Winnipeg and Manitoba unique and enviable tourist destinations and cultural hubs can be sustained and celebrated only with dedicated provincial and federal investment focused on preserving our heritage and retaining that which is unique. Underused heritage buildings such as the Bay downtown offer a wealth of potential for recreating vibrant social and cultural spaces, through employment in restoration, re-use of materials and accompanying emissions reductions, while preserving a history that defines our identity as a province and nation.
At the time of year when priorities are set, the words from Paul McCartneys song Let Em In come to mind. Lets open the door and let innovation and quality of life into the room of plans and priorities, to realize a vision for Manitoba and Canada founded on hope and a sustainable future.
Jennifer Verlaine Lukovich is a research scientist in climate change in the Arctic at the Centre for Earth Observation Science, University of Manitoba.
Opinion
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2017 (2083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
There is an expression in international diplomacy that serves as a counterbalance to the hostile dust-ups sometimes seen in times of conflict. Its called soft power the ways a country can show its at odds with another nations agenda, to push back in a meaningful but constructive way.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus friendly engagement with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington last week was in line with the constructive approach. More meaningful, however, was Canadas success in moving the new Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) to approval by the European Union.
CETA, dubbed the Canadian trade model, gives Canadian producers, manufacturers and exporters duty-free access for 99 per cent of goods currently under tariff in Europe. It has been extolled by Europeans and other nations as the way to go.
FRANCOIS LENOIR / POOL / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signs CETA with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker (left) and European Council president Donald Tusk in October.
Canada is rightly proud of this achievement. It is exemplary of soft power because, in the face of growing protectionist sentiment and threats south of the border to overturn established trade deals, our nation persisted. It never wavered on its belief in global trade tearing down, not constructing, walls in international relations. Think of it this way: our trade relations can be seen as the other liberal-democratic bookend to Canadas open arms on immigration.
Trade is critically important to Canada, supporting some 60 per cent of its GDP, and 3.3 million jobs. It is just as important to Manitoba, where fully half of the GDP and the jobs of 240,000 residents are tied to trade.
Trade matters.
Lesser known, perhaps, is that Western Canada and specifically Manitoba have played a key role in championing trade and investing in trade-enabling assets to get the job done.
Canadians today are hearing a lot about the vital connection between trade and strategic infrastructure investment. The easy way to imagine this is that trade is the heart of Canadas economy and trade-enabling infrastructure rail, air, marine and inland ports and highways and border crossings makes up the arteries that keep the blood moving, the heart pumping.
Long before trade and the need for trade-enabling infrastructure landed the national attention now seen, the Western Canada Roadbuilders & Heavy Construction Association, of which we are a member, was leading the ground work that established the now widely accepted connection between seamless, efficient trade links and definable returns to the economy. Those links were laid out in two reports by the Canada West Foundation, in 2012 and again 2014, commissioned by the Canadian Construction Association and based on the associations lead.
In fact, based on policy developed in the 1980s by the association and then advanced with national organizations, successive federal governments starting with the Chretien Liberals in 1993 were persuaded to craft national infrastructure investment strategies, leveraging other public and private dollars with multi-year building funds.
The current Building Canada Fund is the latest iteration of the concept, which stands as one of Western Canadas best exports to the rest of the country.
So, back to CETA. Getting that agreement inked means Canada stands to boost exports and imports. It is an investment in the economy; the West has to be ready to meet the potential it holds.
Western Canada, again, is already working on that. The association and its provincial member associations are encouraging governments, the private sector and business organizations to rally to a coordinated, strategic investment strategy for trade infrastructure. A proposal, called Trade Team West, has been circulating in the regions government departments, the premiers offices, business groups and associations since last summer.
It has an ambitious agenda, but basically its message is this: not every infrastructure project is created equal we must invest in those that will hold the greatest economic return. We must elevate projects that enable trade. The business plan must leverage private-sector dollars, alongside public-sector seed funding.
Trade Team West has had good reception. What is interesting is that its core principles, which echo those espoused for years by our industry, are increasingly getting picked up by national trade and business organizations. Last week, as the ink on CETA was drying, the Business Council of Canada sent a letter to Trudeau reiterating some of them streamlining the regulatory process for major private-sector infrastructure projects; adopting tax policy to boost competitiveness; making Canada an international trade hub.
This is all good news, for Western Canada and the country. And we say good on Trudeau for holding ground and keeping trade liberalization a hallmark of the Canadian way.
Its soft power, yes. But undoubtedly powerful.
Chris Lorenc is president of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association and the Western Canada Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association.
Opinion
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2017 (2083 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Hanover School Division recently announced it was dropping prayer prior to regular public board meetings, but before anyone thinks Manitobas Bible Belt is loosening, think again. Hanovers school board may have stopped opening prayers, but its 18 schools, including those in Steinbach, continue to practise prayer in a limited way, before the beginning of the school day.
The boards decision to finally remove prayer from its open meetings followed legal advice and reminders from the province about a nearly two-year-old Supreme Court of Canada decision on the subject of prayer being a part of a municipal council meetings in the Quebec community of Saguenay.
The countrys top court unanimously ruled that reciting a Catholic prayer at council meetings infringes on freedom of conscience and religion.
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILEs Steinbach Regional Secondary School
The state must instead remain neutral in this regard, the judgment said.
The Hanover School Board hasnt completely bowed to the courts decision. Chairman Ron Falk has suggested an opening prayer will continue to be said during closed-door meetings.
That sounds similar to what the schools in the division are doing to include the Lords Prayer in their buildings. In a historic 1992 Manitoba court case, the Court of Queens Bench struck down the use of prayer in schools. But for the past decade, using a loophole permitted by the province, schools in the Hanover district as large as Steinbach Regional Secondary School, with its more than 1,700 students, can allow and are allowing prayer by gathering a prescribed 60 names of parents on a petition every year. That opens the doors to opening prayers and Bible readings as long as they happen before school officially begins and in a space other than a classroom.
Interestingly, Steinbach, which is now Manitobas third-largest city, has achieved that status in recent years because of a farsighted strategic plan welcoming immigrants from every corner of the globe. And, one would hope, the diversity of cultures and religions that goes with that.
Not only does Steinbach reportedly embrace people from as many as 100 countries, but in doing so, the city has placed itself among the fastest-growing places of its census size and won a reputation for being a model for Canadian immigration.
Yet, as outward-looking and progressive in a business way as Steinbach has been since it was founded by Mennonite immigrants in 1874, the faith as practised by the dominant religion has, at times, clashed with the increasingly secular and diverse world it has warmly welcomed. Or, in some cases, not quite so warmly.
The Hanover board should not be looking for ways to bend the laws of the land to achieve something it wants. It should be teaching by example the fundamental rights and responsibilities that are part of the Canadian Constitution, instead of teaching how to avoid doing whats right.
If the school board members and parents want their children to say a prayer and read the Bible before school, they should do that in church, not within the walls of a public school.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)
Today
Mostly cloudy early, then sunshine for the afternoon. High 84F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..
Tonight
Partly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low around 70F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Question: We live in Minnesota but travel south for several winter months. Many other states only have a rear license plate. Why does Minnesota have two? Thanks!
Answer: Minnesota state law required two license plates on your vehicle with some exceptions.
Some vehicles are allowed to display only one license plate: motorcycles; a dealers vehicle or vehicle in-transit; a collectors vehicle with a pioneer, classic car, collector, or street rod license; a vehicle that is of model year 1972 or earlier (not registered as a collector vehicle), and is used for general transportation purpose.
License plates cannot be displayed in the front windshield or the rear window; they must be displayed on the front and rear of the vehicle.
All plates must be securely fastened to prevent them from swinging, displayed horizontally with the identifying numbers and letters facing outward from the vehicle, and mounted in the upright position.
The person driving the motor vehicle shall keep the plate legible, unobstructed, and free from grease, dust, or other blurring material (dirt, mud, snow, etc.) so that the lettering is plainly visible at all times.
It is unlawful to cover any assigned letters and numbers or the name of the state of origin of a license plate with any material whatever, including any clear or colorless material that affects the plates visibility or reflectivity. This also includes obstructing license plate brackets that block the state of issuance, and tabs.
License plates issued to vehicles must display the month of expiration in the lower left corner of each plate and the year of expiration in the lower right corner of each plate.
Why do we need to have two license plates? It is the law in Minnesota and from a law enforcement perspective it is safer to have two plates as it helps law enforcement a great deal in properly identifying vehicles for many different reasons. Properly identifying vehicles will help in locating possible impaired drivers, suspects in many different criminal activity events, hit and run and gas drive off vehicles, to name a few.
If you happen to lose or damage any of your license plates, order duplicates through the Minnesota Department of Vehicle Services (DVS). When you obtain your new plate(s), secure them to front and/or rear of the vehicle, typically to the bumper, as soon as possible.
You can avoid a ticket and a crash if you simply buckle up, drive at safe speeds, pay attention and always drive sober. Help us drive Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths.
The Fountain City Council has authorized forming an economic development committee.
Councilwoman Gwen Katula recommended setting up an economic development committee with a mix of five to seven council members and residents from the community.
Katula said it was good for Fountain City to get the ball rolling on having a development committee. The town has a lot to offer, she said.
The council designated Katula to play a lead role in forming a committee and obtaining assistance through the Mississippi River Regional Planning Commission and Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
Katula said it was important to have citizens from the community involved in development ideas.
City population decline was a concern, Katula said, and a committee should identify key issues to focus on, including discussion of related pros and cons.
A council committee also is working on long-term and short-term goals and plans for city parks and recreation.
More than 100 sixth- and seventh-grade students from Winona Middle School on Tuesday presented their work to the community from their honors social studies class, which empowered them to research a history topic of their choice and do a project.
Matt Schultz, sixth-grade social studies teacher at WMS, said the class and project centered on the theme Taking A Stand In History and he was impressed with the topics many of the students chose.
Schultz said the class and projects students worked on allowed them to think outside the box and research a history topic they might not learn about in a typical social studies or history class.
As teachers the most valuable part about this was asking the kids to become experts on a historical topic, he said. Some of the stuff they learned in class, but they also had to do a lot of work outside the classroom.
Cory Hanson, a sixth-grade social studies teacher at WMS, said the class teaches students lifelong skills theyll be able to utilize down the road some students made websites, others made documentaries and those skills help set up a foundation to succeed down the road.
Hanson added it allowed students to potentially discover a love for history.
It gives them an opportunity to fall in love with history and how it relates to their lives, he said.
Jasper Hedin, a seventh-grade student who made a project on Alexander Hamilton and his role in founding the National Bank, said he enjoyed learning about a topic in history on his own time.
Researching and learning how to create a website was really cool for me, Hedin said.
Abigail Ellenburg, a sixth grade student who researched Neville Chamberlain, Great Britains controversial prime minister before Winston Churchill, said she chose to do her project on him because his name isnt as commonly referenced in history as Churchill, despite his role in World War II and meetings with Hitler about keeping peace.
It was fun getting to learn about someone not everyone knows about, Ellenburg said. I learned a lot from my research that I never thought I would.
ALMA, Wis. Local officials in western Wisconsin are meeting with state transportation officials to discuss how to temporarily fix a collapsed bridge.
Buffalo County highway commissioner Bob Platteter said the county doesnt know what caused Monday nights collapse that resulted in two car accidents. No one was seriously injured.
Platteter said last summers flooding could have something to do with the failure of the 100-year-old bridge in the town of Waumandee. He says the highway department is also checking other bridges in the area for stability.
County officials have been struggling to put plans in place and line up financing to replace infrastructure destroyed in the August 2016 rains that inundated large swaths of Buffalo County, leading to flooded homes and washed-out roads and bridges.
Malaysian authorities want to speak with a North Korean embassy official and airline employee as part of their investigation into the murder of Kim Jong Nam.
The best thing to come out of President Donald Trumps surprise press conference Feb. 16 is that he once again demonstrated his mastery of the very media who created him. Its an odd love affair for a twosome that appears to despise each other. Its Love, American Style.
On Feb. 16, the president called a news conference to nominate his second candidate for labor secretary. The White House put out the announcement and sent the media scrambling to get all of its reporters in place. Granted, when the president calls a presser youre going to jump, but in this case it was designed to demonstrate his mastery over the national press.
Once the White House press corps was all assembled, the president let loose. Whether you support the new president or despise him, everyone can agree it was a press conference for the ages. No one had ever seen anything like it and, for some reason, the drive-by media was surprised.
This is the same guy that baited the press with his unusual campaign style. It was his unorthodox approach that grabbed headlines while they rushed to portray the man as crazy and out of touch. They failed. They may have thought they were crushing his campaign, but they actually were creating him.
The day after the presser, the morning news shows blared that this new president is unstable. They could not believe that the president would chastise them in this manner and it was now time for him to pay the price.
As they failed to kill his campaign, they are failing to kill his presidency. In fact, they have emboldened him. Its not necessarily that theyre completely wrong; its simply because no one believes them.
A FOX News poll shows that more people believe that the Trump administration is more likely to tell them the truth than the national media. Granted, the poll is statistically close, but it is a long way from the days of the Richard Nixon administration. In those days, President Nixon couldnt buy an audience that would believe him.
The national media is no longer trusted and Trump has capitalized on its self-inflicted damage. Any trust of the media capitulated with the complete lack of coverage over Hillary Clintons email scandal. It was exasperated further with the narrative that the Russians hacked the 2016 election.
The American people are smart enough to know the election systems were not hacked. They also are smart enough to recognize that the Russians did hack into the Clinton campaign machine. And they also recognized that the Russians did not actually write the emails.
Voters are even smart enough to recognize foreign governments always are attempting to influence elections. If that is not true, then why did then-candidate Barack Obama campaign in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East back in 2008? The American overseas vote certainly wasnt going to tip the scales.
If you follow the narrative that the Russians influenced the election, then how is it that Clinton actually won the popular vote? Accepting the lefts narrative, its conclusive that the Russians actually hacked the election for Clinton (they simply failed to recognize we vote as a democratic republic and not as an Athenian democracy).
Theres also the medias ridiculous notion that campaign representatives speaking to the Russian government somehow is an unspoken crime. Then-President Obama knew this information and said nothing. This is because, as it was often reported deep into the story, presidential campaigns reaching out to foreign governments is not unusual. If the Russians werent the current hot button, then why are we not hearing about the other governments Trumps people also spoke with during the campaign?
The national media spent a couple years misrepresenting the importance of the fact that Clinton not only breached national security while storing sensitive government information on her private server, the Russians almost proved it. If the Russians could get the emails of her campaign manager, how difficult was it to get the classified information she illegally stored in her closet?
On Feb. 17, the White House press corps, along with their national media subsidiaries, failed to recognize theyre losing to Trump. Theyre also embedding the support of the everyday people who voted for him.
The national press can keep to their one-sided messaging and continue losing the battle, or they can embrace Trumps unusual style. Either way, hell probably continue to make this a one-sided relationship suitable for a 1970s sitcom.
The Green Bay City Council recently discussed spending $80,000 to repair or replace a 9/11 monument thats in horrible condition.
The Holmen Village Board in La Crosse County approved $34,085 for two pickups, $4,500 for a digital camera, and $2,600 for a radar gun.
The Beaver Dam School Board committed $75,000 for Chromebooks for staff.
The DeForest Village Board approved an agreement with Dane County to reconstruct Highway CV.
All of that information and so much more appeared Thursday and Friday in meeting minutes published by local governments in local newspapers.
You might not care about some or any of those details if you dont live in those communities. But if you did, those decisions could significantly affect you and your family.
Thats why school districts, counties and municipalities are required by state law to publish at a discount the minutes of their meetings in their local newspapers. The Wisconsin Newspaper Association also publishes the notices and a slew of other community announcements on its searchable and free website at wisconsinpublicnotices.org.
The notices are a public service to the hundreds of thousands of citizens who read local newspapers in print and online across Wisconsin, as well as anyone who is curious and has access to the internet.
The result of wide dissemination of this public information where it is easy to find is a more involved and knowledgeable citizenry that knows whats going on with public money and policy.
Unfortunately, Gov. Scott Walker and some misguided state lawmakers want to hide much of this information where its hard for voters to find. They are pushing changes in the state budget and separate legislation that would bury meeting minutes and other public notices about local ordinances and budgets on obscure, often confusing and bureaucratic government websites.
Instead of just picking up your local newspaper and seeing all of the actions your local leaders are taking including those that dont lead to news coverage and big headlines citizens will have to search the internet hoping to find more detail about government budgets and decisions.
The politicians claim this will save a little money because local governments wont have to pay for as many notices in newspapers. What they dont say is public access to government will be diminished. And thats just what the politicians want, because fewer notices will mean less scrutiny and accountability for their actions. Over time, that will only lead to greater spending and waste, not less.
The full Legislature should reject Assembly Bill 70 and Senate Bill 42, which will reduce government transparency. Lawmakers also should strip from the governors budget any language limiting publication of government meetings and actions.
MADISON (AP) Wisconsin prison officials defended the use of solitary confinement at the states troubled youth prison, telling a legislative committee Tuesday that the facility is trying to minimize the practice but its needed to bolster safety and security.
Department of Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher told the state Assemblys Corrections Committee during a hearing that an average of 17 percent of the prisons population is in solitary at once, but eliminating the practice wouldnt be appropriate.
Short stays ... are part of what I call a safe and secure environment, Litscher said. But they are there for a reason.
Pressed by Rep. Joel Kleefisch on how long children typically remain in solitary, Shelby McCulley, deputy administrator of DOCs Juvenile Corrections division, said stays can range from a few hours to several weeks if an inmate commits another offense while in solitary. She also stressed that the children who end up in solitary are typically the most aggressive inmates.
Hearing that a child could be in (solitary confinement) for up to a week or two weeks gives me great concerns, said Kleefisch, a Republican from Oconomowoc.
The FBI is currently investigating allegations of widespread inmate abuse at the prison, which lies in the woods outside Irma in northern Wisconsin. Current and former inmates have filed a pair of federal lawsuits challenging conditions at the facility. One lawsuit alleges guards there use solitary confinement, mechanical restraints and pepper spray far too often for minor violations. The other alleges guards didnt do enough to stop a former inmates attempt to hang herself in her cell. Both suits are pending.
The Corrections Committee convened Tuesdays hearing to help new members gather information about DOC heading into the new legislative session. The committee wasnt scheduled to take any action. Still, members grilled Litscher and McCulley on the youth prison for two hours.
Litscher told the committee that problems at the facility began years before he took over as secretary early last year. He said the facility has implemented new policies under his watch, including specialized training for youth guards, body cameras for guards, expanded psychological services for inmates and a push to minimize solitary confinement, restraints and pepper spray use.
I didnt say eliminated, Litscher said. I said minimized. There are going to be some incidents where you have to get involved with youth because of the nature of what might happen. To eliminate (those practices) wouldnt be appropriate.
Kleefisch said its difficult for lawmakers to keep an eye on the prison because its so remote.
We dont want the juvenile correctional facilities to become springboards for adult prison, he said. The concerns that I hear ... give me great pause and concern these children arent being groomed for a life in society.
McCulley said inmates in solitary are released from their cells for several hours for education and recreation. One of the lawsuits alleged inmates are chained to their desks during their out time; neither Litscher nor McCulley was asked about that claim.
Rep. Bob Gannon, a Republican from West Bend, one of the most conservative areas of the state, said children who end up in solitary have earned the opportunity with severe behavior. He suggested prosecuting them as adults.
Olson Middle School (OMS) in Mauston could make some significant shifts to its instructional programming, starting with the 2017-18 school year.
OMS Principal Brian Bauer and Lynda Oleinik, director of teaching and learning for the Mauston School District, presented the changes to the school board during its meeting on Monday at the district office. Bauer believes the schedule change would meet the needs of students, based on results in math and literacy testing scores. The principal also wants to focus on deep learning tasks to develop higher-level learning skills.
Bauer said he has met with OMS staff to discuss the new schedule. He said the school is working with an outside consultant to develop a needs assessment to determine how the schedule should be changed.
As we move forward into March, we continue to look at some schedule options and were going to have another listening session with the staff, Bauer said. One of the biggest things weve talked about is giving ourselves more time so this isnt rolled out just before the school year and we can formulate an action plan.
Oleinik said curriculum will be adjusted during the summer. She said the course changes would expose students to a wide variety of classes, which would prepare them for high school and beyond.
All of the students would be exposed to a business class, along with agricultural and tech ed classes, so that instead of students selecting classes, they would have a rotation, Oleinik said. Thats building more of a pathway for students once they reach high school so they have more of a background in these subjects.
The board is likely to discuss the schedule changes in future meetings prior to the end of the school year.
This is going to be an ongoing issue, said board president Carrie Buss.
Summer school registration coming soon
While its still a few months away, administrators at Mauston are already planning for summer school.
Oleinik and summer school coordinator Diane Winker said registration will begin on March 10. This years summer school will have two sessions, June 12-June 30 and July 10-July 28. Classes will be held at the high school. The pool will be open this year and breakfast and lunch will be offered during school days.
Were planning to have some new course offerings this summer and theyll be geared more toward middle school students, Oleinik said.
At the high school level, a college algebra course will be offered, along with an Advanced Placement Literature class that will extend into the following school year. Administrators will send more information to parents next week.
Later in the meeting, the board approved this years summer school program.
I think the planning that has gone into this is great, said board member RJ Rogers.
Hines retiring
Darrell Hines, a fixture at Mauston High School for 33 years, will retire on July 1.
The board accepted his resignation request on Monday night. Hines teaches agriculture courses at MHS and is the FFA advisor. Board members agreed the district will miss Hines greatly.
Also on Monday, the district voted to not alter its boundaries. The petition was made by a family that lived close to the Reedsburg School District. The family was present when the decision was made and said they were not surprised and thanked the board for its consideration.
State Superintendent Tony Evers easily advanced through Tuesday's primary election and will face former Beloit and Whitnall superintendent Lowell Holtz in the April 4 general election.
Evers, seeking a third term as state superintendent, garnered about 69 percent of the votes counted as of late Tuesday night, well more than double what his opponents drew combined. Holtz received around 23 percent.
Third candidate John Humphries, a former Dodgeville School District administrator, drew about 7 percent of the vote and was eliminated.
Evers said the wide margin by which he secured a first-place finish in Tuesday's election was "a reflection of the work that we've done ever the last eight years."
"And more importantly, I really tried in this election, thus far and I'm going to continue, to focus on the 860,000 public school kids and their needs and try to avoid the issue of this policy and that policy and focus on kids," Evers said.
Holtz, who competed with Humphries for support among conservatives and is running for a second time for state schools chief, said he was not surprised to advance.
"I really believe I was called to run for this position," he said. "I want to dedicate my life to the kids of Wisconsin and I want to change things for them, and that's why I'm thrilled I'm one of the two. I know Tony, and I'm looking forward to competing with him."
In a statement, Humphries congratulated Evers and Holtz and said all three displayed a "commitment to improving educational outcomes for Wisconsin students."
"We may not have agreed on how to get there, but there is no denying we are all passionate about that outcome," Humphries said. "I remain convinced that Wisconsin students can achieve so much more with the right leadership at DPI."
Humphries said he encouraged voters to consider Evers' record and to learn more about Holtz's proposals.
Voters went to the polls after a tough last week of the race for Holtz and Humphries, during which Humphries released a document to reporters showing Holtz had sought a $150,000-per-year job on a three-year contract with the Department of Public Instruction if Holtz dropped out of the race and Humphries won in April, and the offered the same to Humphries if he dropped out of the race.
Part of that proposal suggested if Holtz dropped out he would be put in charge of a handful of large school districts and given powers to break apart districts and take over school boards -- abilities that do not exist in state law. Holtz said the proposals were just ideas from business leaders neither candidate would identify, and that they never went anywhere.
The race exploded into accusations of lying and doctoring documents between Humphries and Holtz and prompted liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now to file a complaint with the state Elections Commission alleging the job offer deal amounted to election bribery.
Holtz on Tuesday said he didn't think Evers would "degrade himself" by continuing to focus on the controversy.
"From my perspective, Tony's a classy guy," Holtz said. "It was a desperate action and obviously it didn't put me out of the race."
But Evers on Tuesday signaled the proposal to take over school districts would come up again.
"Trust and integrity matter to me and certainly matter to the folks of the state of Wisconsin," Evers said. "To kind of cut deals behind the scenes to break of up school districts -- that's a trust issue and yes, I think it's going to continue to be an issue in this race."
A bill introduced in the state Assembly this week would create the first charter school in Wisconsin specifically for teens recovering from substance abuse.
The bill, co-authored by Sens. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, and Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, would allow the UW Systems Office of Educational Opportunity to seek bids for a charter school operator to start a school for no more than 15 students who are recovering from addictions.
The bill also is supported by 10 Assembly Democrats, including Reps. Melissa Sargent and Lisa Subeck, both of Madison.
The school would be the first founded by the OEO, created in the state 2015-17 budget, which has the ability to bypass local school boards and authorize independent charter schools in Madison and Milwaukee. It would also be the first recovery charter school in Wisconsin.
The only recovery school in Wisconsin currently is Horizon High School, a private nonprofit school in Madison.
Nationwide, according to the Association of Recovery Schools 2016 annual report, there were 43 recovery schools operating or poised to open. Of them, 26 percent were charter schools.
Nygren said the operator of Wisconsins charter recovery school would be chosen through a request for proposal process, and that would likely dictate where the school would be located.
He said its hoped the school would be located in a higher-population area, like Milwaukee or Madison.
The school would be created as a four-year pilot project and be for students who have begun treatment for substance abuse and maintained sobriety for at least 30 days before attending the school.
Students would have to agree to be screened or tested for drug use, and the school would not be allowed to admit those who test positive.
Nygren said having a school where those who have been treated for drug addiction can resume studies is important, because students in recovery who go back to familiar people and places risk relapse.
They go back to the same environment they came from, going back to the same school, dealing with the same friends, same pressures, same triggers, that actually got them into that spot, Nygren said. So creating a school that is recovery-focused is really kind of the intent behind it. It lets us maximize the investment we have. If we can educate them in a way that will foster a long-term recovery, then its worth it.
Nygren said that while the project is a four-year pilot, he would like to see it evaluated sooner, so other recovery charter schools could be created faster.
The bill also allows State Superintendent Tony Evers to give up to $50,000 in grant funding in the 2017-18 school year to a charter school operator that wants to start the recovery charter school if the UW System can find matching funds.
State Journal reporter Molly Beck contributed to this report.
The leader of the state Senates Republican majority has authored a bill to further relax regulation of high-powered water wells that have been linked to dwindling lakes and rivers in some parts of the state.
The bill would allow drilling of wells that pump large quantities of ground water for farms and industry without review by state regulators if the new wells replace existing permitted wells.
Conservationists and groups representing waterfront property owners have fought similar proposals including several that failed last year because they would eliminate opportunities to adjust well operations when they cause problems for other water users.
It locks in the existing problems, especially in the central area of the state where lakes and streams are drying up, Amber Meyer Smith of Clean Wisconsin said Wednesday.
The law gives perpetual rights to whoever sticks their straw in the ground first instead of taking into account shoreline landowners and others who want to fish, boat and swim, Smith said.
Senate Bill 76 was sent on Tuesday to the Committee on Labor and Regulatory Reform. Smith said the referral was puzzling because the Senates natural resources committee has a high level of expertise on wells and ground water issues. Past bills have gone to that committee and a panel on agriculture.
The chairman of the natural resources committee, Sen. Rob Cowles, R-Green Bay, said in January it was crucial for the state to enact legislation this year to protect water while allowing industry reasonable access. Cowles wasnt listed as a co-sponsor of the new bill, and he wasnt available to discuss it, a spokesman said.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, a Juneau Republican, is the lead sponsor. He couldnt be reached for comment, but spokeswoman Myranda Tanck said the bill is identical to one that passed the Senate but failed to clear the Assembly last year.
Tanck said the labor and regulatory reform committee, like the natural resources panel, has senators with expertise related to well regulation.
The Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association has said high-capacity wells, which can withdraw at least 100,000 gallons a day, are important to its members. The association has argued against the findings of studies showing links between well operations and losses of lakes and rivers that are connected to ground water.
Fitzgeralds bill covers replacement wells in a variety of circumstances and ownership transfers, allowing them to happen without any review of how the well was affecting other water users.
It would also launch studies of receding surface water in several areas, requiring the state Department of Natural Resources to submit recommendations about needed restrictions on well permitting to the Legislature within four years.
Conservationists have said the study provision fell short because it would allow years of increased pumping before action could be taken. And the bill authorizes protection of affected lakes or streams only without mentioning drinking water wells.
While our lakes and streams are of grave concern, any private well owner whose well has run dry will tell you that there is much more at stake, said Rep. Katrina Shankland, a Democrat from Stevens Point whose district covers a portion of the Central Sands region where surface waters have suffered. It is the Legislatures duty to protect all waters of our state, not pick winners and losers.
Boom in industrial water use
Farmers, large animal feedlots, food processors and frac sand mine operators have driven a boom in high-capacity wells over the last decade. People who live near them have mounted legal challenges, saying the DNR wasnt placing enough restrictions on them.
Last year, as a new state-funded study was completed showing how increases in pumping coincided with lower levels of water in the Little Plover River, support faltered for legislative proposals to relax regulations.
A comprehensive bill on the regulation of new wells not just replacement wells was opposed by conservationists as failing to adequately protect public waters, while industry groups complained it wouldnt give them the certainty they desire.
Bills in the Assembly and the Senate were scaled back and amended, but the two houses couldnt agree. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, led an effort to ask Republican state Attorney General Brad Schimel for a formal opinion aimed at speeding up issuance of well permits.
Permits were being held up or denied because of court decisions that had led the DNR to do two things that frustrated industry: The department sometimes required pump operators to report how much water they were using, and it considered the impact on public waters of all surrounding wells when making permit decisions.
Schimels opinion, citing a 2011 law limiting state agency authority to regulate industry, prompted the DNR to loosen regulations. After the department began approving permits for new wells, Clean Wisconsin filed lawsuits over nine permits issued without consideration of the cumulative impact on lakes, rivers and ground water.
Fitzgerald and Vos this year have said they want to consider bills similar to last years scaled-back proposals, which would make it easier to obtain permits for new wells replacing old ones while launching studies of water problems in the Central Sands.
Last years Assembly version differed from the Senates by including a provision that expanded the right of property owners to sue pump operators.
While Schimels opinion and the DNRs relaxation of regulations could reduce the urgency some Republicans feel to pass new laws, two legislators who championed broad changes last year Cowles and Rep. Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa have been emphatic about the need to better protect water.
They were not among the initial co-sponsors of Fitzgeralds bill. Krug, who represents a district in the Central Sands, has said he anticipates several bills this session.
A member of the Sauk Prairie Ambulance Associations oversight commission has questioned a long-time practice in which Association members teach classes and collect payments on the side.
Sauk Prairie Ambulance Commission Secretary Cheryl Sherman, who also serves as Prairie du Sac Village President, raised the issue during a village board meeting Feb. 14. The village, along with Sauk City, provides funding for the agency.
Sherman said a handful of members from the Association teach American Heart Association classes such as CPR and first aid to local groups and businesses. Bills for the courses are issued on the Associations letterhead, but are to be made payable to Rikky Schiller, who has led the program. Sauk Prairie Ambulance Association Director Kevin Weber said the EMTs provide the service on their own and collect payments independently of the organization.
Schiller is a long-time member of the Association who recently stepped down from her position to join its oversight commission. Her husband, Dean Schiller, also is a member of the Association and has taught the class.
Questions arose about billing for the classes at the ambulance commission meeting Feb. 7 when commission member Robin Meier, a certified public accountant, asked why the payments werent going to the ambulance service.
Sherman said she wanted to make sure the arrangement was legitimate.
This just came up at the meeting; its something the ambulance association needs to be aware of, she said. We only reported it because it raised questions. Perhaps this is all perfectly innocent but I feel its my obligation to report this to the board.
Schiller said the Association has a group of instructors who offer the training courses to the public and other emergency departments.
Sauk Prairie Ambulance serves as a training center for the American Heart Association, she said.
Fees are negotiated by each instructor, Schiller said, based on what class is being taught and at what level, and also can depend on the size of the group they are training.
We have members of the ambulance association who are going out and teaching CPR, recertifying; and the money is negotiable, Sherman told the village board. This has been going on for years. Nobody remembers when this agreement was done.
An invoice for $767.50 issued Jan. 9 for a heartsaver CPR/AED class has SAUK PRAIRIE AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION written across the top and THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING SAUK PRAIRIE AMBULANCE AS YOUR COURSE PROVIDER!! across the bottom.
The Associations website also states it offers American Heart Association classes and allows users to request a quote for the service.
The Commission has asked its attorney, Steve Zach, to investigate the matter.
Weber said a distinction needs to be made about who is running the training program, and where payments go.
We will take all the facts and determine how to proceed, he said.
Schiller said the program is vital to the community.
The training we are able to provide helps not only our EMTs do their job better, but to be able to train others to provide care before we arrive on the scene is an incredibly important link in the chain to have a better outcome, she said.
The Ambulance Commission is expected to address the matter at its next meeting March 7.
Just before Christmas this past year, I remarked to one of my children that I thought I had been writing a column for the paper long enough. I am trying to downsize, working on a book of short stories and a family memoir. I cant even find time to just sit and stare these days which is something I have always enjoyed. I wrote a column for Editor Bob Anderson for five years when I first came to Sauk City. I have been writing for the Sauk Prairie Eagle for 21 years, a little over a quarter of a century in all. It is only in the last few years that my dear friend, Lola Huber, and I started writing on alternate weeks. Both of us found taking turns somewhat freeing.
Now, the Eagle has decided to take another direction for the opinion page.
Therefore, this column will be my last for the Eagle. You may find me writing in the Letters to the Editor section every now and then, when I just cant keep my mouth shut about some outrageous incident, but my column is being put to rest as we speak. Im still considering having, And Another Thing on my tombstone, because people who know me know Im never quite finished stating my case or telling my stories.
When Himself and I returned from our honeymoon in December 1958, having narrowly escaped from Cuba as Fidel Castro marched on Havana, Anderson came to get pictures and an interview. Because I had worked as a commercial writer for WMTV in Madison, he asked me to write our story. I agreed and when he read it, he said, So, what are you going to write about next week?
I had never lived in a small town and was feeling a bit like a duck out of water. I thought having a column in the local paper might help me get acquainted in Sauk Prairie, and it did.
It has been a great privilege for me to express myself, for all of these years, without reservation or fear of rebuke.
In 1964, Sauk Prairie got its very own radio station, WVLR, and I found another outlet for my opinions, stories, news and comments over the next 20 years. In 1996, Char and Bart Olson founded the Sauk Prairie Eagle and the rest is history. In all that time, not one word written in a column or spoken on the radio was ever changed or deleted, unless it was spelled wrong or somehow didnt make sense. Lord knows I have enjoyed my right of free speech.
A few thank yous: to my dear husband, who was Himself for all those many years, I want to acknowledge his kindness and generosity for reading the columns aloud to me for so many years. It made it easier for me to correct mistakes or redesign awkward sentences. He was my biggest fan. I want to remember Editor Bob Anderson, founder of WVLR radio Jim Kirchstein, and founders of The Sauk Prairie Eagle Bart and Char Olson, for allowing me to write whatever I felt like writing and to say whatever I wanted to say on radio or paper. I want to thank the several editors that have served at the Eagle and their girl Fridays who were always willing to make last minute changes. Most importantly, I want to thank the people who read my column, many of them religiously. God bless the ones that called, wrote notes, and stopped me in the grocery store or on the street to say they enjoyed my columns. Its no good writing something, if nobody reads it. So thank you, for your loyalty and the kind comments.
Good luck to the new columnists. I look forward to reading your work each week. Peace.
On February 22, by laying a wreath at the Eternal Flame of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and paying tribute to the victims of the Great Patriotic War, Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian began his official visit to Russia.
On the same day, negotiations and a joint press conference of Minister Nalbandian and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are scheduled to take place.
Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov, will then open an exhibition at the Reception House of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Russia.
In the evening Minister Nalbandian will meet with ambassadors of around four dozen countries accredited in Armenia.
Top officials in Armenia sometimes forget what they disclosed in the way of assets, now going out of their way to claim that they do not own this or that.
This is especially the case when officials are running for office; they want to project the image of a modest civil servant who can relate to the masses.
Such convenient amnesia was recently exhibited by Sedrak (Seyran) Saroyan, a ruling Republican Party MP who will be running in the April 2 parliamentary election to regain his seat.
In 2010, a woman named Ganna (Anna) Onishchenko gifted two parcels of land, adjacent to one another, in Ukraines Odessa region (village of Mizikyevich) to Saroyan for free. The plots were zoned for construction, but work was never completed.
Onishchenko took title to the land in 2005, and although she turned over the plots to Saroyan, she still pays for utilities.
Saroyan, at first, declared the Mizikyevich land in his disclosure statement. But now, he feigns ignorance.
Saroyan, in fact, owns several properties in the Odessa region. But hes only disclosed one of them. Given that there are more than one properties, Saroyan got confused and declared that property in Mizikyevich about which he now doesnt remember and which isnt registered in his name. Instead, he hasnt declared that property about which he talks, albeit with great reservation.
This reporter visited the address in question. A two-story building is located on one of the plots. The neighborhood seems to be populated by the wealthy, given the luxurious private homes.
We couldnt approach the house, where Saroyan and his family spend their summers, due to security patrols. We needed permission from Saroyan, who wasnt in Ukraine at the time.
Saroyan is said to have wanted to turn the uncompleted structure into a hotel. A lack of money stopped construction.
The building has 58 rooms. A married Ukrainian couple live on the premises and keeps watch.
Saroyan started to open businesses in the Odessa region years ago. He leases beach land on the coast and used to operate the Duduk restaurant. He closed in down four years ago, and its now run under the name of Art-Shar by Armenians from Artashat.
Armenia: Saroyan has declared the following property:
1) An apartment on Charents Street in Etchmiadzin
2) A two-story private house and adjacent land on Mashtots Street in Etchmiadzin
3) A parcel of land on the Etchmiadzin-Margara Highway
4) A two-story private house and adjacent land on Mashtots Street in Etchmiadzin
5) Farm land in the Armavir village of Haykashen
6) Two units off Azatutyun Avenue in Yerevan
Russia: Saroyan has declared the following property:
1) Residential house and land in Vsevoloshesk
2) An apartment in Sochi
Ukraine: Saroyan has declared the following property:
1) Two story house and land in Mizikyevich (Odessa)
Nevertheless, Saroyan says he doesnt own any of the above.
Saroyans revenues and cash assets have decreased according to the financial disclosures he filed from 2011-2015. His wife Liana Saroyan declares no income.
In 2011, Saroyan declared 47 million AMD in cash; 40m in 2012; 23m in 2013; 6m in 2014; and 5m in 2015.
Gevorg Stepanyan, Saroyans assistant, says any talk about his boss owning property is false. He owns nothing in Ukraine. I can assure you, said Stepanyan.
Recently, Hetq was able to talk to Saroyan. At first, he said he owned property a long time ago under his mothers name.
When I reminded him that he had declared ownership of a house and land in Ukraine, he seemed to remember, saying he goes and lives there from April to September.
Saroyan denied that he owns beachfront property in Odessa. All of Odessa is a vacation site. Even if I owned anything, who would I be afraid of? If I had, Id say.
Saroyan, who fought in the 1990s Artsakh War, says he doesnt have the skills to engage in business, leaving it to his two sons.
He also claims not to own any property in Armenia, saying it all belonged to his mother or father.
Today, Saroyan lives in a two-story private house, complete with swimming pool, at the entryway to the town of Etchmiadzin. He says the building served as the office for the agricultural department in the Soviet era and that his father was the director.
Saroyan claims he never wanted to obtain the building but others convinced him, arguing it would be a shame if it didnt stay in his family.
Its of note that Saroyan registered the building years ago as his property, but told Hetq that it belonged to his father. (The father, Firdous Saroyan, died in May 2102)
According to information in our possession, Saroyan owns a similar luxury building on Yerevans Azatutyun Avenue. He built it on land he owns there. I tried to find the place but was stopped by security guards.
Saroyan also owns a company called Sarkop, in Etchmiadzin, that produces wine, cognac, vodka, and fruit drinks.
Formed in 2009 by Saroyans mother Ofik, the company is now 50% owned by Sedrak Saroyan and the other 50% by Russian businessman Yuri Koptyev.
Sedrak Saroyan fully owns S. Saroyan Brothers, Ltd., founded in 2013 and registered in Etchmiadzin. It once was involved in retail trade but has temporarily stopped operating.
The Orendorf and Rice Lake Terrace Sites
June 7th - July 30th, 2021*
Fulton County, Illinois
NOTICE: The 2021 Field School is nearly at maximum enrollment.
Please email Dr. Alveshere to confirm availability before mailing in an application. Thanks!
The Orendorf and Rice Lake Terrace Prehistoric Archaeological Sites
The 2021 Western Illinois University (WIU) Archaeological Field School will focus on survey and excavations at the Orendorf and Rice Lake Terrace prehistoric archaeological sites along the Illinois River in Fulton County, Illinois.
The Orendorf site is a world-renowned Mississippian village and mound group located on a bluff top overlooking the Central Illinois River Valley. Orendorf has been the subject of WIU excavations since the 1970s, and has been found to comprise at least four distinct settlement sites, resulting from the relocation of the village several times over a period of 150+ years. In 2019, we began investigation of Settlement Area B, which was previously unexcavated. In the 2021 excavation season, we will continue these excavations, aided by a newly-completed remote-sensing survey, which is sure to expand our understanding of the sequence, duration, and character of Orendorf Settlement B, relative to the others. Settlements C and D were decimated by fire and abandoned with an amazing variety of artifacts left in place, frozen in time, on the house floors. Whether Settlement B met the same fate will be a major question for the 2021 season.
The Rice Lake Terrace site is located below Orendorf on the shore of Rice Lake, an Illinois River backwater lake. This region of the Illinois River was described by early European explorers as unparalleled in natural resources, with lakes having ducks so thick on the surface that they'd have to push them aside to pass through with a canoe. Rice Lake is still a major destination for duck hunters today, and appears to have been a favorite spot for millennia. The Rice Lake Terrace site has an extraordinary time depth, with Archaic (8000 BC - 500 BC), Woodland (500 BC - 1000 AD), and Mississippian (1000 AD - 1673 AD) cultures represented. Aside from brief surveys by Cultural Resources Management teams, Rice Lake Terrace has only recently been the subject of very limited professional investigations (during the 2017 and 2019 WIU Archaeological Field Schools).
Field school students will enjoy this rare opportunity to participate in the excavation of such an unusual, multi-component site. Investigating the relationship between the Rice Lake Terrace site and the famous Orendorf Mississippian village, just up the bluff, will be especially intriguing. Although the excavations will be conducted on prehistoric archaeological sites, forensic archaeological field techniques, and special considerations for forensic evidence collection, will also be discussed and demonstrated.
Academic Info
Comprised of 2-6 semester hours, the field school includes two courses:
ANTH 325 - Archaeological Laboratory Methods (1-3 credits)*
ANTH 326 - Archaeological Field Methods (1-3 credits)*
Logistics
* The first and eighth weeks of the session will be conducted off-site (assignments will be completed online). The first week will involve preparatory lectures and reading, and the eighth week will provide an opportunity for students to finalize and submit their field journals and laboratory analysis reports. The second through seventh week will comprise full days of field and laboratory work (Mondays through Fridays). All students will complete the online work. Students may attend the full six-week field component (registering for the full six credit hours) or, if necessary, may arrange a more limited field/lab schedule. Contact Dr. Alveshere to determine the number of credit hours to register for in accordance with your desired schedule.
Transportation**: During the six-week field season (June 14th - July 23rd), we will drive from Macomb each field day in a WIU van, and will conduct lab work in the (air conditioned) laboratory in Macomb on at least one day (or two half-days) per week (typically on Fridays, unless weve stayed in, or returned early, due to rainy or dangerously-hot weather earlier in the week).
Lodging**: Lodging will be available in the cabins at WIUs Horn Field campus, on the southern edge of Macomb for the six-week field season (check-in June 13th, and check-out July 23rd). The cabins have air-conditioning, bunk beds, bathrooms with flush toilets and showers, a grill and campfire area, refrigerators, microwaves, and free Wi-Fi. The Horn Field Lodge, with full kitchen and dining area, will also be available for most meals. For cabin photos, and more about Horn Field Campus, visit: http://www.wiu.edu/hfc.
All registered students will also have full access to all of the amenities of the WIU Student Recreation Center for the full eight-week term.
** We are optimistic that vaccination and other COVID-19 protocols will permit us to follow our established lodging and transportation procedures, outlined here. Should the situation not allow this, we will discuss alternate options with students and adjust transportation/lodging fees accordingly.
Cost
In addition to WIU tuition, all students will be required to pay a field school fee of $299.00, which will cover equipment, supplies, and other expenses for laboratory analyses and fieldwork.
Optional lodging in the Horn Field cabins will cost an additional $299.00 for the full six weeks, or $55.00 per week for shorter stays. Students will be responsible for their own food costs, but field school faculty will be happy to work with them to plan some low-cost group meals.
Application
NOTICE: The 2021 Field School is nearly at maximum enrollment.
Please email Dr. Alveshere to confirm availability before mailing in an application. Thanks!
Applications, due March 1st, 2021 for full consideration, must be accompanied by a non-refundable $100.00 deposit, made payable to Western Illinois University.
One-half of the remaining balance (e.g., $249 for those staying six weeks in the cabins, $99.50 for those with other accommodations in/near Macomb) is due by April 1st, 2021.
The final fee payment must be received by May 1st, 2021. Due to logistical constraints, unless your application is not accepted, or the field school is not able to proceed as planned, all field school fee payments are non-refundable.
Application form: http://www.wiu.edu/cas/anthropology/fieldschool/WIUFieldSchoolApplicationForm2021.pdf
Follow us on Facebook!
Daily photos and videos from the 2017 and 2019 field seasons, and updates about our preparations for the 2021 season can be found on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WIUFieldSchool/
Questions? Contact Dr. Andrea Alveshere:
a-alveshere@wiu.edu
309-298-1199
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.
The archives of the University of Michigan contain a bound typewritten manuscript entitled "Toonervilles of the Empire State" by Felix E.
Reifschneider, prepared in 1947. Among the fascinating summaries of tiny railroads and trolley lines that once crossed communities throughout the State of New York is a summary of the history of the Pelham Park and City Island Railway. I have written extensively regarding this railway that began as a so-called horse railroad. A bibliography of articles with links appears at the end of today's article.
Reifschneider's brief summary of the history of the railway stitches together various stories of the "Railway's" many iterations over the nearly forty years that some form of public transportation served the route between Bartow Station on the Branch Line and Belden Point on City Island. The Reifschneider summary is only a page long and is well worth a read.
"City Island Car"
Source: "Chapter XX: City Island" in History of Bronx Borough City Of
New York Compiled for The North Side News By Randall Comfort,
p. 62 (NY, NY: North Side News Press: 1906). NOTE: Click on Image
to Enlarge.
A 1.6 mile horse railroad named the "Pelham Park Railroad" opened between Bartow Station and Marhall's Corner near the Marshall Mansion on May 20, 1887. According to Reifschneider, the line was built with thirty pound rail at three-feet-six-inch gauge. Five days later a "companion enterprise" named the City Island Railroad "extended the operation another mile and a half to Brown's Hotel on City Island." As I have written before, people in the Town of Pelham -- particularly those who lived on City Island -- were furious because two fares had to be paid to the two inter-related railroads to ride the single short line between Bartow Station and Brown's Hotel.
"No. 28 -- All Aboard for City Island" An Undated Postcard
View of Passengers Boarding the Horse Railroad Heading
for City Island. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
Within a few years, the City Island Railroad track was extended several times until it finally reached Belden's Point at the southern tip of City Island, a distance of 1.8 miles. According to Reifschneider, "[c]ars made thru trips from Bartow to City Island over the single track, as the two roads were always operated jointly as one."
After the annexation of the Pelham Bay Park and City Island region by New York City in 1895, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company "[f]or some mysterious legal reason," bought the two horse car lines "so
as to use their charters as the basis of its vast subway-elevated system." A few years later, on July 9, 1914, the "Interborough disposed of them" to the Third Avenue Railway.
In 1910, the railway companies became involved with the Monorail Construction Company which led to a particularly famous (or, better said, infamous) chapter in the history of City Island. Reifschneider says the Monorail Construction Company "was probably looking for a likely place to try its invention." Clearly, the technology was unproven. An article published in 1910 called it "The One Legged Railroad of Tomorrow."
The monorail was constructed in early 1910 and began operation, according to Reifschneider, on July 15, 1910 from Bartow Station to the north end of the City Island Bridge near Marshall's Corners. There passengers disembarked and either walked the rest of the way or had to board a horse railroad car.
"THE MONORAIL IN PELHAM BAY PARK, BRON, N.Y., 1910-1914"
As Reifschneider noted and the image above confirms, the monorail car "
was rather narrow with wedge shaped ends. A single rail was supported on ties in the ballast in the usual manner, with a second rail supported by a steel overhead structure. Wheels on the roof of the car pressed against the overhead rail which kept the car upright, a much more expensive scheme than using two rails on the ground."
"MONORAIL CAR, CITY ISLAND R.R."
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
On July 19, 1910, while loaded with passengers, the newly-opened monorail derailed. The structure was badly damaged a number of passengers were seriously injured. The monorail car and the superstructure were quickly rebuilt and service resumed on November 14, 1910 "with speed restricted to 15 miles per hour."
The passengers injured during the monorail derailment, however, filed damage claims that forced the companies into receivership "
from which emerged a consolidated Pelham Park and City Island Railway Co. on July 1, 1913." Less than a year later, on March 16, 1914, the monorail was taken out of service.
The life of the little railway line between Bartow Station and Belden Point was coming to an end. According to Reifschneider, after discontinuing monorail service:
"
The company leased a gasoline bus and a horse drawn stage while new standard gauge track was being built. On August 17, 1914 thru operation began with 12 leased single truck storage battery cars over a 3-mile route, as a part of the Third Avenue Railway System.
The little battery cars were a familiar part of the scene on City Island, a favorite resort for fishermen and boat enthusiasts. But rising expenses forced abandonment of the line on August 9, 1919."
"Bartow and City Island Stage Coach Line."
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
* * * * *
"PELHAM PARK AND CITY ISLAND RAILWAY
The Pelham Park RR was a 1.6 mile horse car line built with 30 lb. rail, at 3 ft. 6 in. gauge. It ran from Bartow station on the NY New Haven & Hartford RR to Marshall's Corner, and started operation on May 20, 1887. Five days later a companion enterprise, the City Island RR, extended the operation another mile and a half to Brown's Hotel on City Island. Within the next few years, the track was extended several times for short distances until it reached Belden's Point, a total distance of 1.8 miles. Cars made thru trips from Bartow to City Island over the single track, as the two roads were always operated jointly as one line.
For some mysterious legal reason the Interborough Rapid Transit Co. bought the two tiny horse car lines in 1903 so as to use their charters as the basis of its vast subway-elevated system. The Interborough disposed of them to the Third Avenue Ry. on July 9, 1914.
In 1910, the companies became entangled with the Monorail Construction Co. The latter was probably looking for a likely place to try its invention. A single monorail car began operation on July 15, 1910 from Bartow to the north end of the City Island Bridge, where passengers had to transfer to a horse car to complete their trip. The car was rather narrow with wedge shaped ends. A single rail was supported on ties in the ballast in the usual manner, with a second rail supported by a steel overhead structure. Wheels on the roof of the car pressed against the overhead rail which kept the car upright, a much more expensive scheme than using two rails on the ground. On July 19th, the monorail car was derailed, damaging the structure and seriously injuring a number of passengers.
After reconstruction, operation was resumed on November 14, 1910 with speed restricted to 15 miles per hour. Damage claims from the accident had forced the companies into receivership, from which emerged a consolidated Pelham Park and City Island Railway Co. on July 1, 1913.
The monorail system was discontinued on March 16, 1914. The company leased a gasoline bus and a horse drawn stage while new standard gauge track was being built. On August 17, 1914 thru operation began with 12 leased single truck storage battery cars over a 3-mile route, as a part of the Third Avenue Railway System.
The little battery cars were a familiar part of the scene on City Island, a favorite resort for fishermen and boat enthusiasts. But rising expenses forced abandonment of the line on August 9, 1919."
* * * * *
I have written about the City Island Horse Railroad more than thirty times. For examples, see:
Wed., December 2, 2009:
Thu., June 23, 2005:
.
Labels: 1887, 1903, 1910, 1913, 1914, 1919, Bartow Station, City Island, City Island and Pelham Horse Railroad, Horse, Horse Railroad, Monorail, Pelham Park and City Island Railway, Transportation, Trolley
I am person who is uncompromisingly black and unapologetically gay. Deal with it.
I am person who is uncompromisingly black and unapologetically gay. Deal with it. Alvin McEwen
[image: 652353 origin 1]Published by BANG Showbiz English Wes Bentley has thanked Robert Downey Jr. for saving him from drug addiction. The Yellowstone a...
The cannon of Black horror films is limited. The cannon of horror films featuring Black queer characters, even more so. It's a sobering reality that Black ...
Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Kari Lake Says If She Were Governor, Arizona Police Would Arrest FBI Agents Enforcing a Policy That Doesnt Even Exist. Zacha...
Charlie Martin seeks to end a successful season with podiums at Portimao and maybe a class championship | Jamey Price Photography Despite a first-race po...
The Chairperson of the Republicans House Crackpot Caucus, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is demonstrating again how critical she is to the Loony Fringe contingen...
Deadline reports: A few hours after a story emerged that indicated theres little love for him among Twitter workers past and present, the services form...
China News on Women
Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page
In response to an executive order issued in January by President Donald Trump, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has laid out an implementation plan that could result in the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. The memo, sent by DHS Secretary John Kelly, details how various federal agencies would go about removing from the United States people who do not currently have legal residency status. Kelly calls for an increase in resources (judges, agents, officers, and other people involved in the enforcing of immigration laws) and more detention centers.
Trump's plan, unlike previous policies, targets all illegal immigrants, rather than focusing on those who have committed crimes beyond being in the country illegally. And while there will be a significant political reaction, there will also be a real-world impact on the United States workforce. Of the estimated 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. in 2014, 8 million were either working or actively looking for work, according to a research report from self-described "nonpartisan fact tank" Pew. That's 5% of the total U.S. workforce.
Putting politics aside, if DHS and the president follow through with mass deportations, a number of industries will be impacted. Lost workers will have to be replaced from a smaller pool of available people. That will likely push labor costs higher and could create a shortage of available employees in certain professions.
Which industries will be hurt?
While there is some debate over how the unemployment rate is calculated, the long-standing method used by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics places the current rate at 4.8%. That number only factors in people who are actively looking for work (not those who may have given up) -- and it's also right around the percentage of our workforce that could be deported under Trump's plan.
Removing that many people from the workforce will have a ripple effect across all industries, but there are four occupations that will be hit the hardest. These are areas that, according to a 2012 Pew Report, have unauthorized immigrants making up more than 10% of the total workforce.
If Trump's executive order is fully carried out, farming would be hit hardest, as 26% of its workers are here illegally, according to Pew. Industries like cleaning and maintenance (17%), construction (14%), and food preparation and service (11%) would also take big hits.
It's also worth noting that in most cases the jobs being held by workers who do not have legal status in the U.S. are generally not great jobs. Here's how Pew puts it:
Previous work by the Pew Research Center has found that unauthorized immigrants are far less educated, on average, than legal immigrants or the U.S.-born; they are both more likely not to have graduated high school and less likely to have attended college. That, and limits due to their status, helps explain their concentration in low-skilled occupations.
What happens in a labor shortage?
"Labor shortages mean increased costs," wrote Donald M. Atwater, Ph.D., and Heather Klass in a 2007 edition of Pepperdine University's peer-reviewed business school journal. Atwater, a professor of economics at the university's Graziadio School of Business and Management, wrote that "shortages are said to exist when cost-effective workers in a local or national market are not enough to meet demand."
It's also worth noting that jobs in farming, cleaning and maintenance, construction, and food preparation and service cannot be practically exported in most cases. That could make a shortage of workers more pronounced, forcing costs higher. Some of these jobs -- food preparation, for example -- could be automated. But that too comes with a significant cost.
What does this mean for business?
The shrinking pool of cheap labor won't affect each industry or company in a predictable way. If a construction company, a restaurant chain, or a farm has work that needs to be done, but no workers, then it has a number of options. It can raise wages until someone takes the job; that, of course, makes the cost of doing business more expensive. It can also increase automation, which is expensive in all cases and impractical in some. Lastly, the company/eatery/farm could simply decide that the work is not worth the cost. That could mean buildings not being built, farms lying fallow, and restaurants closing their doors.
The effects of mass deportation wouldn't be limited to industries that employ undocumented immigrants. There would be a ripple effect that reaches all industries, as there simply wouldn't be enough bodies to go around. That could be good for workers -- especially those willing to do less-desirable work. It could also have unintended consequences such as rising prices for everything from (but not limited to) food and housing -- two areas that are basic needs.
That said, we can't know know what will come next until we see whether Trump's order is fully implemented -- and, if so, whether it goes according to plan.
The $16,122 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook
If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $16,122 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies.
Daniel Kline has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Woonsocket High Schools CyberPatriot team consists of, from left, Jamie Coulombe, Kevin Nguyen and Andrew Berard, as well as their teacher, Nancy Koczera. Other team members not present are Victoria Mayers and Jack Gerrior.
Bruce Power awards more Candu extension contracts
22 February 2017
Share
Bruce Power has awarded L3 MAPPS a contract to replace the digital control computer (DCC) system of unit 6 of the Bruce B nuclear power plant in Ontario. Bruce Power has also awarded SNC-Lavalin contracts worth almost $28 million for its major component replacement program.
L3 MAPPs said three DCCs will be delivered. The first unit (DCC-Z) will be used as a maintenance platform and is due to be installed in the first quarter of 2018. The other two (DCC-X and DCC-Y) are "redundant units for plant operations" and are expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2019.
DCC systems are used to monitor and control the major reactor and power plant functions at Candu nuclear power plants. The new DCC system will feature SSCI-890 CPUs and will replace the Varian V72 computer systems and related equipment "to ensure continuous, safe and reliable performance over the service life of the plant", L3 MAPPS said.
"Our first DCC system, built in the early 1970s, was for the Bruce site. With this new project, we have come full circle, marking a new chapter in L3 MAPPS' DCC business," said Michael Chatlani, vice president of marketing and sales for L3 MAPPS Power Systems and Simulation.
Replacing the DCCs at the Bruce site is an important element of Bruce Power's operating period extension program to 2064, said Mike Rencheck, Bruce Power's president and CEO.
Bruce Power provides 30% of Ontario's power at 30% below the average residential price. The Bruce site hosts eight Candu reactors in Tiverton.
Bruce Power has also awarded SNC-Lavalin contracts worth almost $28 million for its major component replacement project over the past three months.
These contracts include "engineering scopes for detailed design of fuel channel and feeder reactor components", Bruce Power said. The design of these core components will enable the reactors, starting with unit 6 and applicable to the remaining units, "to continue to produce safe, reliable and affordable carbon-free power for another 30 years," it added.
SNC-Lavalin will also provide engineering, procurement and project management support services to assist Bruce Power in delivering automated and manual tooling to remove and reinstall fuel channel reactor components.
The fourth contract covers the preliminary design of visual inspection and vacuuming tools to clean and inspect the internal structure of the calandria vessel, "providing assurance all components are fit for use to continue generating power", Bruce Power said.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
Related topics
UK needs national lab to coordinate nuclear R&D
22 February 2017
Share
The UK's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) cannot fulfil the role its name describes while it relies on commercial work for part of its funding. That was the consensus of three expert witnesses to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee's inquiry into priorities for nuclear research and technologies.
NNL has been providing independent advice to the UK government and working with other national laboratories around the world since 2008. It has also been delivering research and technology to support the nuclear fuel cycle. Its major customers including the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Sellafield, Springfields, the Ministry of Defence, EDF Energy and the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).
The witnesses - Michael Bluck, director of the Centre for Nuclear Engineering at Imperial College London; Mike Tynan, CEO of the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) at the University of Sheffield; and Grace Burke, director of the Materials Performance Centre at Manchester University - told the parliamentary committee yesterday that NNL's role needs urgent attention.
Bluck said the contract work NNL does is principally for Sellafield Ltd. "If it is doing a good job in waste and decommissioning then maybe there's no particular reason to interfere because it may be a good system, but if this releases a paltry amount of cash based on that profit which it is only recently allowed to recirculate into research, then plainly it's not fit for purpose as a national nuclear laboratory," he said.
Tynan added that Sellafield Ltd is funded by the NDA, which is funded by government. "While NNL competes for work, there is certain work that only it can do. That adds some complexity to the situation [and] you could argue government is already funding a substantial part of it anyway," he said. But the committee "mustn't forget" the UKAEA and the "fantastic work" it does.
Based at the University of Sheffield with support from the University of Manchester, the Nuclear AMRC Tynan heads combines industry expertise and university innovation to help manufacturers improve capabilities and performance. It is also part of the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult.
Catapult centres were established by Innovate UK (previously the Technology Strategy Board) to promote R&D through business-led collaboration between scientists, engineers and market opportunities. HVM Catapult is one of these and comprises seven Technology and Innovation centres working with companies of all sizes to bridge the gap in - and accelerate the activity between - technology concept and commercialisation.
Asked whether NNL should have the status of a Catapult centre, Tynan said that was an "interesting concept" and "worth thinking about".
Nuclear AMRC's experience of four years working with NNL has been "very positive", he said.
"We find them supportive, collaborative and professional. They have unique experience in the United Kingdom and probably something like thousands of man years of experience in civil nuclear and the challenges that it faces. The difficulty for NNL is that the role as a national lab is unclear. It has a commercial remit and that has the potential to reduce its independence. It also [has] programs that are commercially driven and not necessarily on research priorities, so its resource can be diverted from possibly national imperatives by having to focus on commercial business.
"However, neither is NNL a university, so it's not purely academic. And so its current mission of having to sit in this quasi-commercial position and to some extent be an independent advisor to government, yet fund itself through commercial work and work with commercial clients, is a difficult role.
"There are some real challenges that NNL is specifically equipped to deal with and that's in waste management and decommissioning for the long-term program, but we shouldn't forget that they have the ability to do front-end work on new technology and fuel manufacturing. I have a positive view of NNL, but if it is to be the national nuclear lab, then its remit needs to be significantly clarified."
Burke said, "ideally", NNL should be solely government funded and "not diverted with commercial work". She said: "As it is, it's incredibly difficult to have NNL participants in research programs in which I know specific staff are uniquely qualified in the UK and in the world. It is exceptionally difficult, if not impossible, to have them formally involved with programs. So, if it is a national nuclear laboratory, and you intend to get the best and really world class research and development out of it, then in an ideal world it would be solely [state] funded and not have to rely on soliciting commercial contracts."
Where responsibility lies
Through its inquiry, the committee is exploring issues such as where responsibility lies for ensuring the UK has a coherent and consistent long-term policy for civil nuclear activities, as well as how the nuclear sector might benefit from a 'sector deal' as discussed in the government's Industrial Strategy Green Paper.
Tynan referred to the Nuclear Industry Council (NIC), which was established in 2013 as a partnership between the government and industry to provide high-level strategic direction to the country's nuclear sector.
The principal responsibility for a UK nuclear program "has to sit with government" and thus with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Tynan said. "There has to be a mechanism for delivering that responsibility and I think the formation of a new Nuclear Industry Council is a really positive step. That council should be the instrument for taking the strategy for civil nuclear in the UK forward."
Burke, formerly a consultant engineer at the Bettis Laboratory in the USA and an advisory engineer at Westinghouse Electric Corp, described the coordinating role of the Office of Nuclear Energy at the US Department of Energy (DOE). This is the "focal point for research" into nuclear energy in the USA, she said. In the UK, most of such funding comes from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, she added.
"There has been a great benefit by having the research councils link with the US system. This has been done in terms of the DOE's Nuclear Energy University Program. We have had several programs where we partner with colleagues in the US, the proposals are written and evaluated in the US under DOE guidelines, and the UK research council sponsors or funds the UK participants," Burke said.
"So, a team effort is developed. That's been incredibly effective, but has been very small scale generally. There are possibly three or four programs that are funded that way. I think that something along these lines could be expanded and it would maximise the benefit to the UK by partnering and basically doubling the funding that's going into research efforts. It's also good for international collaborations and getting excellent people, and the training as well."
Role of NIC
The committee asked the witnesses about the "expanded remit" of NIC compared to the previous role of the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board (Nirab), the term of which ran from January 2014 to December 2016.
Tynan said NIC "encompasses the entire scope" of a program for nuclear in the UK and "it's important to ensure that that we link civil nuclear with defence".
Nirab's principal role was limited to identifying R&D priorities. It had no oversight of those programs, nor was it responsible for their delivery, he said.
Bluck said universities are an "obvious candidate" to provide a focus on nuclear research, but coordination between them is "based upon the small number of modest projects that we have fought for together".
He told the committee: "We are a friendly club, but that's probably picking up fairly piecemeal activities, frankly, and not really engaging, or able to engage, in a large program. Any large program of new build or industrial activity would have to be supported by an appropriate educational strategy."
Although nuclear policy falls under BEIS, he said, "we are stretching out into different departments, such as the Department for Education and so on". There is a need, he added, for a coordinating entity with executive authority, "something tasked with meeting a strategy it can be measured against, rather than the piecemeal activities we currently have".
Burke added the USA's Office of Nuclear Energy "handles all of that" and interacts with the nuclear arm of the Electric Power Research Institute.
Coordinating funding
Tynan said there are "two pieces to the problem" in terms of coordination. One is coordination of funding, which he said was "an issue for nuclear R&D".
"There are different sources of funding. We now see a growth in potential regional funding, so Local Enterprise Partnerships can fund locally activities that they believe can create value. There is central funding that tends to come from BEIS and that could be on a business program or on innovation funding and the sources of those forms of funding are different, and then there's commercial income on collaborative work in R&D. There's an issue of, do we understand exactly where the funding streams are and are they addressing the right things."
A national nuclear laboratory should coordinate R&D activity, he said. "I'm not saying the National Nuclear Laboratory, I'm saying a national lab."
"We have a couple of organisations that fit the bill - NNL and the UKAEA - but there are a lot of other organisations that have an interest in nuclear R&D in the UK. It should be brought together under one executive authority and it should be responsible to BEIS, and BEIS's principal mechanism for its strategy would be the Nuclear Industry Council."
The government has "placed nuclear R&D back on its agenda", Tynan said, "probably after something like a 20-year absence". This process "started really in earnest" with the Beddington Report - a document the committee produced in November 2011 into UK nuclear R&D capabilities.
That focus should not be allowed to "slip back off the agenda", he said.
Tynan also referred to UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) - a government department working with businesses based in the UK to assist their success in international markets, and with overseas investors looking to the UK.
UKTI, which was replaced in July 2016 by the Department for International Trade, held a two-day showcase of the country's civil nuclear industry every year, Tynan said. "And I think there's scope for a UK R&D showcase."
Performing well
A spokesman for NNL said today it is performing well as a commercial business and receives high approval scores from its customers and stakeholders.
"However we recognise that the current commercial funding model of NNL is not perfect. It can limit NNL's ability to fulfil its remit as well as it might, since the level of NNL's 'earnings to reinvest' (essentially our operating profit) is currently insufficient to deliver a program of work which will fully realise the longer-term opportunities available. For example, on long-term R&D, NNL neither coordinates nor performs the breadth of research in advanced reactors (Gen IV) and fuel cycles needed to inform government policy or secure future value for the UK."
NNL's annual turnover is around 100 million ($125 million), of which more than 40% comes from Sellafield Ltd, where its work is focused on cleaning up the nuclear legacy on the Sellafield site. It also has major contracts with EDF Energy and Rolls Royce to carry out post-irradiation examination work. For EDF Energy this relates to fuel and graphite from the AGR reactor fleet. For Rolls Royce this concerns examination of fuel from the UK's nuclear submarine fleet. Collectively, Sellafield, EDF Energy and Rolls Royce account for over 80% of NNL's revenue, the spokesman said.
NNL receives no grant funding from government, but it sometimes performs work where a branch of government is the customer, to deliver specific packages of work.
"We do not advocate becoming solely government-funded, but we feel that a revised model might deliver a better balance and allow us to operate more effectively as a true national laboratory. Such a model would certainly retain a significant volume of commercial work to maintain efficiencies and customer focus, sustain skills and utilise facilities and generate revenue," the spokesman said.
"This could be augmented with some core funding from government that would enable NNL to lead longer-term, strategically important R&D that utilises NNL's capabilities alongside those of the UK supply chain of universities, national laboratories and industry in a collaborative and coordinated manner."
NNL plans to address these issues more fully in its written submission to the House of Lords inquiry, and when its CEO Paul Howarth gives verbal evidence to the committee in the next few weeks.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
Related topics
Christen McAllister
By: Emily Lewis WorldWideWeirdNews.com
(Scroll down for video) A beauty queen ended up behind bars after intentionally setting fire to her roommateas bed because she was angry with her, according to police in Kentucky.
Louisville police said that they have arrested 22-year-old Christen Marie McAllister, after being accused of setting fire to her apartment while her roommates were in the home, endangering their lives.
McAllister has been charged with one count of arson. She was booked into the Louisville jail, and her bail has been set at $10,000.
According to the police investigation, on Saturday around 12:15 a.m., Louisville firefighters were called to the 300 block of Armstrong Drive, on reports of a fire at The Retreat, which is a housing project for off-campus students of the University of Louisvilles Belknap Campus.
Investigators determined that McAllister had gotten into an argument with a roommate and then set the roommates bed on fire.
Two roommates were inside the home at the time of the fire, but luckily, no one has been injured. McAllister was selected as one of the top 5 in the Miss Kentucky USA 2017 beauty contest.
Cute cat (illustration)
By: William Martin WorldWideWeirdNews.com
A family managed escaped a house fire unharmed in middle of the night, thanks to their beloved cat, according to police in Canada.
Ther County of Grande Prairie Fire Department said that the cat is being credited with alerting the family to the fire in their home, around 3:30 a.m.
Firefighters responded to reports of a fire in the Hamlet of Clairmont. Firefighters worked quickly and were able to contain the fire to the underside of the mobile home.
The family escaped the home without any injuries. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The mother said that she woke up after her cat bit her on the arm.
It seems that the pet cat was the first to notice the fire and crawled into the coupleas bedroom. The cat then hopped into the womanas bed and bit her on the arm.
As soon as she woke up, the mother escorted her family out of the home. Firefighters managed to rescue the cat from the home safely.
The Red Cross Canada is assisting the family.
Isobel Lee and Mark Scruby
By: Tanya Clark WorldWideWeirdNews.com
A police officer lost his job after telling his boss that she looks just like a porn star, police in the United Kingdom said.
Sussex police said that 38-year-old PC Mark Scruby, has been dismissed from the force after showing the photo of the naked porn star to his boss and colleagues.
At a tribunal, Scruby admitted to breach of standards of authority, respect and courtesy.
According to the complaint, Scruby sent the photo of the naked porn star to Detective Sergeant Isobel Lee. He then sent her a message, saying that she resembled the woman in the photo.
Scruby also showed the photo to other colleagues, insisting again on the resemblance between the sergeant and the porn star.
Scruby then showed a porn video of the adult actress who looks like the police sergeant. The police officer apologized for his actions after learning that his boss was upset.
Scruby worked as an officer for 14 years.
Labour Alternative Council Budget Proposal Fails Hammered By Rival Councillors
This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Feb 22nd, 2017
Several alternative sections to the Councils budget was voted down today, with the Labour Group proposals branded as being done on the back of a fag packet.
The proposals contained in a set of a amendments for the proposed Council budget had the aim of freeing up 257,868 which the Labour Group said could be spent on adult social care, specifically the respite service.
Currently councillors get free access to parking at the Guildhall, a carpark that is open to the public at weekends and priced at 1 for up to an hour or 1.50 for two hours parking. The new proposal would have seen a charge of 300 a year for Executive Board members and 240 a year brought in for that privilege.
Proposals to also charge a lease fee for the infamous iPad devices they use plus a return to just eight Executive Board members rather than ten.
The full budget proposal is copied below, as after the meeting we sourced a copy, with councillors themselves only seeing a copy minutes before the start of the meeting. This presentation narked several councillors who said they had not had enough time to consider the plans, let alone be able to understand or scrutinise them.
With the election just weeks away the meeting was a feisty affair with more speakers and passion than we can remember for a long time. Battle lines were thickened with electoral jibes chucked about where previously one may have had a rebuke, but in the free for all anything appeared to go.
Prior to the festivities Council Leader Mark Pritchard provided an introduction of the Budget report, pointing out the long process it had been through including various consultations and previous council meetings.
After the presentation Councillor Dana Davies, the leader of the Labour grouping, stood and presented the Labour Group Alternative Budget, which consisted of five points (copy below).
Cllr Malcolm King spoke in support saying that the target of budget would provide just over quarter a million to develop services to bring old people home. However this point was later challenged by Cllr Joan Lowe, who said there was no pressure on the respite service and if anyone wished to access the service the funding is there within the budget, stating it was a case that Cllr King had his lines crossed.
Cllr Alan Edwards was first to disagree with the proposal based on how it was presented, saying he was an old fashioned councillor and he preferred to look through figures properly rather than just being given documents before a meeting.
He said: There are a few things I can go along with, but to come to a meeting and give a piece of paper and expect us to support it is wrong. I cannot do that.
Cllr Alun Jenkins gave a passionate wide ranging speech, explaining his quandary between acknowledging the need for a budget, but his unhappiness with the contents and the implications.
Describing the extremely worrying situation regarding cuts, giving anecdotal evidence on extra staff stress internal at Wrexham Council due to added workloads.
The process of democracy is also being impeded, with him relaying to the meeting how requests for further details when conducting Scrutiny has not been possible due to staff workloads saying it was a risk.
He added: The public do not understand what is going on or the extent of what is going on. When they find they are paying more on council tax, and are having to do more, and receive a lower service I can see why we have an angry public.
On the topic of the proposed alternative budget, Cllr Jenkins said it is impossible to sit in a meeting like this and have a paper given to us without time to read through it. However he continued onto acknowledge lots of good things in the document, but was unhappy that the contents had not been scrutinised or raised at workshops.
Cllr Rob Walsh said fair play to the alternative budget due to fresh thinking, however although he appreciated the efforts he could not support them as he felt some elements could be self defeating.
Cllr Derek Wright stated his concerns that if the amended budget was not accepted then the public would think the 52 members would be sat in their bubble, not understanding the difficulties the people of Wrexham are undergoing.
Quite an angry Cllr David A Bithell spoke explaining the rigorous process the budget had gone through, and then went on the attack over the proposed alternative budget, saying it was playing to the theatre of dreams and all about electioneering and putting a budget up thats not sound.
Cllr Bithell said he felt the 10% savings in the Highways budget would mean a 170k cut, and that he was proud of the work carried out by the current administration, increasing that budget by 2m.
Clr Bithell goes on says alt-budget on back of fag packet, says Labour are electioneering notes 170k cut to Highways budget proposed. Wrexham.com (@wrexham) February 22, 2017
The meeting then heard from the legal and finance officers of Wrexham Council regarding their views on the alternative budget, who explained that the final document was presented that morning to them, and as a result there was not time to comply with various procedural elements such as risk assessment analysis or consultation.
Specific issues were raised on the proposal points, such as the idea over reducing Executive Board numbers could in theory have a budget based decision made, however it was speculative as the decision on numbers was made elsewhere. Similarly the leasing of iPads may not fit the Independent Renumeration Panels guidance that states councillors should not be charged for such things, and therefore a budget decision could clash with that.
Overview for Clrs provided by relevant WCBC Officer on alt-budget TLDR: its not really a goer for a few reasons. Will Clrs take the advice?
Cllr Hugh Jones spoke about the process itself, noting that the budget preparation has been underway for several months, and that presenting an alternative on the day was irresponsible. Citing High Court action with a London based Local Authority he also said he had real concerns over the lack of consultation, and indicated he felt there could be similar issues if taken forward.
We relayed this outside the Chamber, with local MP Ian Lucas enjoying the moment:
Cllr Bob Dutton pointed the finger of blame to Mr Lucas and similar representatives, saying he approved of the laudable aims of the increase in budgets for social care with the alternative budget, however challenged the local Labour group to not tinker around the edges of the Councils budget, but to take the issue forward with Welsh Government and UK Government.
He said: We are not just talking about 200k, we are talking about billions. Time is running out, we need real money now, not tinkering around with budgets such as ours.
Cllr Dana Davies stood again to make a point of order about misinformation, however that itself was subject to a mini-challenge. Cllr Davies was allowed to finally make her points, explaining that the suggestions in the alternative budget were not out of the blue as they had been raised at previous meetings, and that Officers in Wrexham Council had been liaising on the numbers since January.
Cllr David Kelly took exception to Cllr Wrights comments earlier in the meeting, giving both barrels to Cllr Wright for suggesting that members were in a bubble. Cllr Kelly relayed how he interacts with members of the public daily and stated the biggest complaint he gets every week is the state of the roads and therefore endorsed Cllr Bithells comments earlier.
He also enquired if the alternative budget would see means testing of new councillors, asking if an unemployed person on benefits won a ward election and became a councillor would they have to pay the lease fee for an iPad to do the job.
Cllr Kelly was also critical over the parking proposal, noting he would be shortly qualifying for concessionary travel and could then take opt to take the bus so no savings would be made. He ended by relaying how some councillors car share, with several in one vehicle at times, so would therefore not be a true saving.
Cllr Geoff Lowe did not hold back either, describing the document as nothing more than an election statement. Speaking directly to the Labour Group, he added: God help them if you take power. If this is the best you can do, Wrexham will be in a terrible state.
At this point Cllr King attempted to make a point of order, where he explained how he felt such a alternative budget presentation was in keeping with the traditions of how the Council operate, and that the finance officer had been consulted around a month prior.
He said: To say something is wrong in process is entirely inaccurate, we are following the practice that has been set down by this Council over many years.
Just been a great Council Classic on points of order, sounds dull, but comedy yawns & tuts as Clr King goes back n forth with Mayor. Wrexham.com (@wrexham) February 22, 2017
With murmurs and audible this is not a point of order conversations taking place, Cllr Hugh Jones then made a challenge on the point of order, telling the Mayor that Cllr King was responding to issues raised rather than a point of order.
The interchange can be watched below via the power of Council TV you can of course view the whole debate here.
Council Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 4:00 pm Wrexham Council Webcasts
Unfortunately the webcast does not pick up the flavour of the room itself, with the comedy yawns, amusing audible heckles and the like missed.
The audio does just about catches the response to the Mayor asking Which standing order does this relate to?, with Cllr King retorting, It er.relates to the issue of standing orders! which generated further laughter.
Cllr Dutton rounded up the section of the debate with his own point of order, stating: Can I make a point of order Mr Mayor? Can I move progress?
The meeting did then progress, ending with a vote on the alternative budget proposals and the main initial budget proposal.
Alt-budget not passed, think 10 in favour, basically every other hand up against it. Prediction normal budget vote will be same, reversed. Wrexham.com (@wrexham) February 22, 2017
WCBC Budget passed as predicted. Basically Labour alt-budget addon defeated, and that group did not support the initial budget proposed. Wrexham.com (@wrexham) February 22, 2017
With things heating up in the chamber, you will soon get to choose who is sat there for the next few years.
Make sure you are registered to vote, and that your friends and family are also registered.
Finally, on polling day itself make sure you all actually go out and vote!
Top Pic: We had a feeling the meeting would require some popcorn, and girder based pop so we turned up to the all but empty public gallery well supplied.
Below Pics: Copies of the document that was circulated before the meeting.
Some 200 headstones at a Jewish cemetery in University City, Missouri, in the suburbs of St. Louis, were damaged or overturned by vandals late Sunday or early Monday, in the most serious in a wave of anti-Semitic threats and actions this year.
Ultra-right and anti-Semitic forces have been encouraged by the inauguration of Donald Trump, and particularly his elevation of Stephen Bannon, the former CEO of Breitbart News, to a top position at the White House. Breitbart has been a leading promoter of the alt-right, the online designation of the rancid milieu of white supremacists, anti-Semites and neo-Nazis.
No arrests have been made in the Missouri incident, and investigators have not yet formally determined that the attack was a hate crime rather than simple vandalism. But Karen Aroesty, St. Louis regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, told the press the Jewish community was alarmed. Anxiety is high, she said. Your loved ones are there. Your memories are there.
Both the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Missouri chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced the vandalism. ISNA President Azhar Azeez released a statement saying, We encourage our members to reach out to their local synagogue and Jewish neighbors to express their solidarity and support and to generously support the rebuilding of the recently desecrated cemetery.
The FBI has opened an investigation into a series of bomb threats that have targeted several dozen Jewish Community Centers (JCCs) across the United States since the beginning of the year. Eleven centers were threatened via telephone on Monday including in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin; St. Paul, Minnesota; Houston, Texas; Buffalo, New York; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Birmingham, Alabama
So far, all of the threats at the facilities, which provide recreational, cultural and child care services to Jews and non-Jews alike, have turned out to be hoaxes. It is still unknown who is responsible for calling in the threats.
This weeks incidents followed phoned-in bomb threats on January 9, 18 and 31. So far this year, there have been 68 bomb threats at 53 JCCs in 26 states and at one center in Canada.
Paul Goldenberg, the director of the Secure Community Network, an agency that provides security services to Jewish institutions in North America, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that it appeared to be the same caller as in the previous threats.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency released a recording at the end of last month of one of the threats that was made on January 18. In the recording, the caller chillingly threatens that a bomb is about to go off, killing a significant number of Jews.
Its a C-4 bomb with a lot of shrapnel, surrounded by a bag, an electronically modulated voice states. In a short time, a large number of Jews are going to be slaughtered. Their heads are going to be blown off from the shrapnel. Theres a lot of shrapnel. Theres going to be a bloodbath thats going to take place in a short time. I think I told you enough. I must go.
JCCs in the US have been targeted for attacks in recent years by anti-Semitic white supremacists.
In 1999, Buford O. Furrow, Jr., a member of the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations, injured three children, a teenage counselor and one staff member when he shot up the lobby of the North Valley JCC in the Los Angeles suburb of Granada Hills.
Neo-Nazi Frazier Glenn Miller killed three people and wounded two others in 2014 when he opened fire in the parking lot of the Kansas City JCC in the suburb of Overland Park.
The Trump administration has come under increasing pressure to respond to the wave of threats. Karen Aroesty of the Anti-Defamation League in St. Louis posed the question after the cemetery vandalism. What is the governments position relative to rising anti-Semitism and intolerance generally, and what will the government do to put a stop to it? she said. Weve been asking that for several weeks now.
After several weeks of silence from the White House about the bomb threats, Trump shut down two Jewish journalists at his news conference last Thursday when they tried to raise the question of the bomb threats and increasing incidents of anti-Semitic threats following his election.
Some of that anger is caused by people on the other side, Trump remarked to one of the reporters. It will be by people on the other side to anger people like you.
Finally on Tuesday, during a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Tuesday morning, Trump gave an interview to MSNBC in which he made obviously rehearsed remarksbut still poorly delivered and without genuine feelingdenouncing the recent anti-Semitic threats.
The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil, Trump stated blithely.
Soon after Trump spoke, Stephen Goldstein, the executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, released a statement denouncing the presidents remarks as a Band-Aid on the cancer of Anti-Semitism that has infected his own Administration.
His statement today is a pathetic asterisk of condescension after weeks in which he and his staff have committed grotesque acts and omissions reflecting Anti-Semitism, yet day after day have refused to apologize and correct the public record, Goldstein added. Make no mistake: The Anti-Semitism coming out of this Administration is the worst we have ever seen from any Administration.
Goldstein was referencing the White Houses official commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day last month in which it deliberately omitted any mention of Jews or anti-Semitism and instead lamented the innocent people killed by the Nazis during World War II. This move was seen as clear nod to the neo-Nazi alt.right, which seeks to empty the Holocaust of its significance and instead transform it into a general tragedy in which many people died.
Later in the day Tuesday, at a regular press conference, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked about the threats against Jewish community centers and skepticism over Trumps latest remarks. He characterized Trumps remarks Tuesday morning as unbelievably forceful. He was half right.
Responding specifically to the statement from the Anne Frank Center, Spicer complained, Its ironic that no matter how many times he talks about this, its never good enough.
Despite being given the opportunity, none of the journalists in the briefing room raised the fact that Trump has staffed his White House with rabid anti-Semites, most notably Trumps senior adviser and chief strategist Bannon, the former CEO of the far-right Breitbart News.
Bannon has brought with him a number of other White House staffers from Breitbart, a hotbed of white nationalism and anti-Semitism. People who were in daily contact with neo-Nazis six months ago are now in daily contact with the president of the United States.
The Munich Security Conference, which ended last Sunday, took place in an atmosphere of warmongering and pro-armament propaganda. Beforehand, President Donald Trump had threatened to withdraw from NATO if the European allies did not significantly increase their military spending.
European government representatives responded by warning that the United States could not be relied upon in the long term. In future, Europe had to take its security into its own hands. A systematic military upgrade was therefore imperative. Before the start of the security conference, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced a massive rearmament of the Bundeswehr (armed forces) in a document entitled We have understood.
More than 25 govenrment leaders, 80 foreign and defence ministers and over 500 security experts from around the world participated in the conference. Von der Leyen repeated what she had written beforehand in the Suddeutsche Zeitung: We Germans and most Europeans have for far too long relied for our security on the broad shoulders of our American friends. And yes, we know that we have to bear a larger, fairer share of the burden for the common Atlantic security.
In Europe, she said, the willingness to do so was greater than ever. The European armed forces had learned military skills and the prudent trust of others in numerous joint operations over recent decades.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would honour its commitments and spend more money on NATO and rearmament. We are committed to the two-percent target, she said, referring to the requirement that NATO member states devote 2 percent of their gross domestic product to military spending. We will make every effort to achieve it, she added. Currently, Germany allocates about 1.2 percent of its gross domestic product to its military budget. We will do significantly more for defence policy, Merkel stressed.
At the same time, she warned the US against withdrawing from NATO. No one could deal singlehandedly with the problems of the world, the chancellor said. This was understood as a criticism of Trump and his anti-NATO statements.
The head of the Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, was even more explicit. In interviews, he sharply attacked the new US president. In the Berliner Tagesspiegel, the former German ambassador to Washington said, The United States no longer counts as the political-moral leadership symbol of the West. Europe had to fill the resulting vacuum and take on more leadership responsibilities.
The German government is using the widespread opposition to the nationalist and racist policies of the Trump administration to advance its plans for European rearmament. The Munich Security Conference played a central role in this.
Three years ago, at the same conference, German government representatives announced an end to military restraint. Now, the demand of the new US administration that the Europeans do more for their own defence serves as a welcome pretext to drive forward the military buildup.
At the beginning of the conference, Ischinger published an anthology with contributions from high-ranking politicians and security experts under the heading Germanys New Responsibility. In his introduction, he calls for closer planning and coordination of EU defence budgets.
The increase in defence spending to two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) demanded by the US government and adopted by the NATO member states in 2014, was too small, according to Ischinger. At least three per cent of GDP was necessary. To achieve this, budget items for crisis prevention, development aid, diplomacy and defence had to be reorganized and directed into a military buildup.
This would mean raising the German defence budget, currently 37 billion euros, to nearly 100 billion euros. Such a gigantic hike in military expenditure would require massive cuts in all areas of social spending and would be opposed by the vast majority of the population.
That is why the Munich Security Conference, which reaffirmed the decision to step up German and European rearmament, was accompanied by shrill warmongering from the media. The recurring mantra runs: By electing Trump, America has abandoned its leadership role in the Western alliance. Germany must understand this as a wake-up call and an opportunity.
The lead article in the news weekly Der Spiegel is headlined Beyond NATO. It begins with the sentence, Donald Trump is right. Seventy years after the end of World War II, Europe had to take on responsibility for its own security. While it was premature to write off America as a partner, it was also reckless and naive not to adjust to the fact that Europe can no longer rely unconditionally on America.
There follows the memorable sentence: The description junior partner can finally be consigned to the rubbish heap of history. Until now, only far-right groups had spoken of Germany freeing itself from American hegemony and paternalism and enforcing its sovereignty.
Such nationalist tirades have not been heard since the Sturmlied, the anthem of the Nazis, with its refrain Germany, awake! Trumps slogan America first! is regarded as a blow for liberation in Germanys editorial boards and party offices. Finally, there is a feeling of release from all inhibitions. The call to arms can be linked to the old chauvinist slogans.
Christiane Hoffmann, the author of Der Spiegel s lead article, is married to the Swiss parliamentary deputy and former ambassador in Berlin, Tim Guldimann. In her article, she articulates the views within leading diplomatic circles, which are being discussed ever more openly.
The Suddeutsche Zeitung headlines its editorial comment on the Munich Security Conference Forced to be self-confident. It reads: The European Union has received a wake-up call. It should be understood primarily as an opportunity. The American president thinks the European partners must do more for themselves. His vice president embellished the formula: We are there for you when youre there for us. This conditionality is new. It forces the Europeans to agree on their goals.
In its latest edition, the political weekly Die Zeit asks the question, Does the EU need the bomb? It regrets the fact the Bundeswehr cannot freely make use of the American nuclear weapons stationed in Germany and is allowed to use them only...if Washington gives the green light. Some Europeans could now imagine their own deterrent, independent of the US.
That Die Zeit specifically means a German atomic bomb is clear from the next few paragraphs. The authors regard with skepticism whether the two European nuclear powersFrance and Britainwould grant the German government joint decision-making power on the use of the weapons in an emergency. The British prime minister had already made clear how she intends to use this poweras a lever in the Brexit negotiations with the EU. And in France, it is completely open who will set the tone after the presidential election.
The authors of Die Zeit s artricle strongly regret the fact that Germany is a pacifist country. The Germans, according to Die Zeit, had forgotten how to think in nuclear terms. In other words, they had forgotten how to think in terms of the destruction of millions of human lives. Apparently, they need to be taught it again!
Jan Techau, in the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, is even more explicit. He refers to the endeavour to stand there morally clean after every undertaking, which supposedly runs through the foreign policy debate in Germany, as neurotic. The exaggerated moral standard for measuring behaviour leads to an isolating neurosis.
The director of the Richard C. Holbrooke Forum at the American Academy in Berlin traces this moral neurosis back to the collective trauma of a society that at the end of World War II had to realize that all its energy, its idealism, its readiness to suffer deprivation, its ambition, its creativity, its discipline had flowed into the most terrible of all human projects.
A remarkable formulation! Will Techau have us seriously believe that Hitlers followers supported him out of idealism and only noticed that he was a criminal at the end of the war?
In any case, he vehemently advocates the surmounting of moral scruples and basing the debate on security policy on political interests and responsibility instead of the satisfaction of ones own moral requirements.
Foreign policy, according to Techau, almost always takes place in a moral grey area, in which one, if one wants to remain capable of action, is forced to make painful compromises in ones own moral invulnerability.
He refers to the military as the crowning discipline of foreign policy. He declares that The willingness to expose oneself militarily determines in times of new strategic uncertainty in Europe, more than any other factor, whether a country is a reliable partner and ally The political costs of making ones moral invulnerability the main national interest can thus be enormous.
Techau too raises the question of whether Germany needs its own nuclear weapons. He concludes with the threat, In the coming years, Germany will face foreign policy and security challenges of which the country cannot even dream today. Possibly not even in its nightmares.
Six candidates are vying for two seats on the Madison School Board this year: Seat 7 - top row, from left: Ed Hughes, Matt Andrzejewski, Nicki Vander Meulen. Seat 6 - bottom row, from left: Cris Carusi, Ali Muldrow, Kate Toews
Over the past decade, Australian governments have drastically reduced the countrys already-limited public funding to the arts. In the last three years alone, the Liberal-National coalition governmentfirst under Tony Abbott and now Malcolm Turnbull, who previously postured as a friend of the artshas cut more than $300 million from federal arts spending.
Thousands of jobs have been eliminated in the sector and the career hopes dashed of hundreds of young people in the visual and performing arts, literature, film and music.
While the cuts are part of the governments social austerity measures on all social spending, its actions are not just driven by financial considerations. The national arts budget, after all, is miniscule compared to the billions spent on tax cuts for the rich, or new weaponry and the promotion of militarism. The assault on state-funding of the artsin Australia and around the worldis motivated by deeper political considerations.
In its struggle against the decaying feudal order, the bourgeoisie in previous centuries sought to lift societys intellectual and cultural climate in order to challenge the old aristocratic regimes. It championed artistic freedom, recognising its role in enhancing the critical capacities of the population.
Today, such sentiments are anathema to the ruling elites, who regard genuinely critical and creative voices with suspicion or outright hostility.
To maintain political power and justify unprecedented levels of social inequality, attacks on democratic rights and preparations for war, governments everywhere seek to keep the population ignorant, demoralised and in a state of political confusion. That means eviscerating anything that inspires thoughtful reflection, humane sensitivity and honest artistic work.
This is the essential purpose of the Australian governments gutting of the Australia Council for the Arts, the countrys nominally independent arts funding body, and the network of federally funded museums, libraries, art galleries and other key cultural institutions.
Prior to 1967, federal arts funding in Australia was virtually non-existent. Apart from small amounts to a few well-known authors via the Commonwealth Literary Fund, which was set up in the late 1930s, and the establishment of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1954 to assist large performing arts companies, Canberra gave nothing to assist or encourage artistic activity.
The Australian government is turning the clock back to these dark days, forcing artists to rely on corporate sponsorship or rich benefactors.
Last May, after a $100 million reduction in government funds, the Australia Council was forced to cut its grants to 62 small- and medium-sized arts organisations, many of them outside the major state capitals and in remote areas. Grants to individual artists were also drastically reduceddown from over 1,140 in 2014 to just 700 in 2016.
While it is not possible here to list the scores of organisations destroyed by these policies, the damage caused and the social implications have been far-reaching. Nothing short of a cultural wrecking operation is underway that impacts most heavily on young artists, the smaller arts companies and those providing vital arts programs in regional and marginalised communities.
The destruction of ArtStart and numerous other financial assistance schemes for young writers, visual artists, musicians and others, for example, prevents all but the sons and daughters of the wealthy from working full-time in their chosen artistic field. Without these grants, it is impossible for young artists to live while devoting adequate time and effort to their workto study, experiment, take risks, make mistakes and gain the necessary experience to expand their creative vision and skills.
Australia Council cuts to regional arts communities and remote indigenous settlements have been equally devastating. Arts programs in many indigenous communities play a vital role in enhancing social well-being. In many cases they provide the only source of employment or creative outlet in these desperately poor areas.
As well, arts programs for the disabled and the mentally ill in cities and towns across Australia have been targeted. Starting this year, funding will cease to 13 organisations that deliver remedial treatment arts courses to over 16,000 people across Australia.
David Doyle, head of Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts in Western Australia, told a 2015 Senate inquiry into federal funding that the cuts were catastrophic. Community arts programs for the disabled, he said, were being hit by a perfect stormthe Australia Council cuts, government reforms of national disability and health services and falling sponsorship caused by the collapse of the mining boom.
Helen Bock from Community Arts Network SA told the same inquiry that the government cutbacks would mean that ordinary Australians will have less or no access to the arts I have always talked about the arts as the haves and the have nots. Now what we are going to have is the haves and the have mores
Bock correctly observed: Ordinary Australians will miss out on that transition to appreciating the arts. Organisations will miss out on having their lives improved, having opportunities to build their self-esteem and confidencea stepping stone and having the experience of creating things
Another part of Canberras wrecking operation is the annual efficiency dividendan Orwellian cost-cutting measure first introduced by the Hawke Labor government in 1987 and imposed on federally funded cultural institutions and all public sector agencies.
Labors efficiency dividend policy, which has been retained by consecutive federal governments, forces management at the National Library, National Museum, National Gallery and other important cultural bodies, including most recently the Australia Council, to reduce annual operational costs by up to 2.5 percent. This has led to the destruction of hundreds of jobs and a serious decrease in servicesshorter opening hours, fewer resources, fewer exhibitions and in some cases outright closures.
The Australia Council cuts run parallel with growing demands in government and right-wing media circles for grants to be stopped to individuals and arts organisations that dare to speak out against the government or challenge policy.
George Brandis, then arts minister in the Abbott government, made this abundantly clear in 2014 when he ordered that the Australia Council establish new grant guidelines. Any artist who rejected corporate sponsorship for political reasons should not be given Australia Council funds, he declared.
Brandis diktat was in response to a decision by nine visual artists who withdrew their work from the Sydney Biennale because the event was sponsored by Transfield, one of the companies running Australias repressive offshore asylum seeker facilities. The arts ministers demands were echoed by various right-wing columnists and radio shock jock commentators.
Tim Blair at the Murdoch-owned Daily Telegraph supported Brandis and denounced the Australia Council as a multi-million-dollar tax playpen.
The Council, Blair said, had perpetrated a spineless movement of grant-dependent tax sucklings and should be shut down, along with just about all arts funding. This would save close to $700 million per yearabsolutely guaranteedand would result in better art.
What sort of society is being created by these demands? How distant is this from the direct censorship of anything that fails to conform to the political status quo? Or from the measures introduced in Nazi Germany and Mussolinis fascist Italy to suppress oppositional art?
Those demanding that artists remain silent about Australias concentration camp-style refugee detention centres and other anti-democratic violations will soon be calling for direct censorship against anyone daring to speak out against militarism and war.
And what happens if the so-called efficiency dividend regime is applied across the board to individual artists? Should painters be forced to cut back on art supplies, or writers to produce novels, or poetry, at a faster rate? Should a choreographer or composer be required to use fewer dancers or musicians, or be obligated to organise more performances of their works?
The Turnbull government, with bipartisan support from Labor and the Greens, claims there is no money. This is a lie. A massive $495 billion military acquisitions program is being carried out over the next decade, to purchase submarines, warships, F-35A strike fighters and a fleet of new battle tanks and other infantry vehicles. Moreover, more than $500 million has been allocated, as part of the promotion of the centenary of World War I, to funding scores of government-commissioned works and events aimed at fostering militarism and fanning the noxious fumes of nationalism.
Scores of arts colleges, galleries and libraries, not to mention schools, hospitals and other vital social facilities, could be financed and staffed with such resources. And countless regional arts organisations and disability arts programs could also be funded.
Art seeks to cognise life and provide a deeper understanding of the world and society beyond what is immediately revealed in everyday life. That is why, if artists are unable to survive and do their work, then society as a whole suffersintellectual life is denuded and critical thought compromised.
The development of serious art and the nurturing of those who carry out this work, however, is a complex social process, and, in the 21st century, the necessary conditions cannot be created or sustained by ordinary individualsi.e., those without wealthy patrons.
State-funding of the arts is essentialand on a far higher level than currently provided by any country in the worldto create the conditions to train and develop those involved in genuinely creative work and as an essential component of the struggle for a genuinely humane society.
Artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians and other cultural workers have sought to fight the cuts over the past two years via fruitless appeals and protests to government and opposition MPs. But in order to confront the government onslaught, artists and other creative workers need to frankly confront what these measures reveal about the existing social order, what kind of struggle is required and on the basis of what political perspective.
The dangerous undermining of the arts by the Australian government is not a national issue. Nor is it simply the fault of the predilections of individual politicians. Its retrogressive policies, along with the official promotion of xenophobia, ignorance and militarism, are inseparable from the social war being conducted against the working classthe destruction of its jobs, living standards and basic rightsin every country.
In Britain and Europe state-funding of the arts is being eliminated, while the Trump administration plans to destroy what little remains of US government support for the arts. Its targets include the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and it aims to sell off the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
These far-reaching attacks are another measure of the fact that the capitalist socio-economic order, where everything is measured according to its ability to generate profits, has reached an historic impasse. While extraordinary advances have been made in science, technology, and human productivity, which provide the objective conditions for a new and humane social order, the continuation of a society based on private ownership of the means of production and embedded in the system of rival nation states, offers only a dystopian future of social destruction, dictatorship and war.
The democratic right to art and culture has become a revolutionary issue, intimately bound up with the struggle for a new and higher social order. Serious creative and intellectual endeavour has no future under this moribund system.
As Leon Trotsky, revolutionary Marxist and co-leader with Lenin of the 1917 Russian Revolution, explained in 1938, on the eve of World War II: To find a solution to this impasse through art itself is impossible. It is a crisis which concerns all culture, beginning at its economic base and ending in the highest spheres of ideology.
Art can neither escape the crisis nor partition itself off. Art cannot save itself. It will rot away inevitablyas Grecian art rotted beneath the ruins of a culture founded on slaveryunless present-day society is able to rebuild itself. This task is essentially revolutionary in character. For these reasons the function of art in our epoch is determined by its relation to the revolution.
Those wanting to fight the cultural vandalism now underway need to be equipped with an understanding of the complex theoretical and political conceptions, based on the historical and scientific socialist perspective of Marxism, that found their highest expression in the October 1917 revolution and in Trotskys struggle against the Stalinist bureaucracy. These liberating ideas, which, in the first decades of the 20th century, attracted the most far-sighted artists, writers and intellectuals, provide the only progressive solution to the explosive political and social issues facing humanity today.
Theresa Mays Conservative government has reneged on any commitment to provide asylum in the UK to lone child refugees languishing in desperate conditions near the port of Calais in France.
Last year, at the height of Europes refugee crisis, thousands of children and teenagers were living unaccompanied in the Calais refugee camp known as the Jungle. Such was the public outcry that Labour peer Lord Dubs proposed an amendment to the Immigration Act 2016, to bring 3,000 Calais children to Britain.
A child refugee himself, Lord Dubs came to England via the Kindertransport, a scheme organised by Sir Nicholas Winton between the years 1938, after Kristallnachtthe beginning of the pogroms and incarceration of Jews in Germanyuntil the start of World War II. Lord Dubs was one of thousands of Jewish children, taken by train from Prague, Czechoslovakia, to the safety of Britain to avoid almost certain death in the Nazi concentration camps.
Parliament finally allowed a hollowed out version of the original amendment, which just scraped through by 294 votes for against 276. While the number of children to be helped was left open, the government was to make arrangements with local authorities to relocate and support a specified number of unaccompanied child refugees from Europe to the UK.
A total of just 350 children will be acceptedmeaning another 150 by March, when the scheme will closeas 200 are already in the UK.
The government ditched the amendment on the eve of the last parliamentary recess. Dubs condemned the closure by saying that the bad news was buried while most eyes were focussed on the Brexit debacle ...
This inhumane decision is of a piece with the governments policy of lining up with the xenophobic, nationalist and protectionist administration of US President Donald Trump.
Even before the announcement to end all assistance to refugees, the Help Refugees charity took out a judicial review against the government, on the grounds that The government has failed to lawfully calculate the number of available places for unaccompanied children, because it failed to properly consult with local authorities as the statute required it to.
The government tried to justify the reduced figure of 350 places for refugees by saying the figure was calculated on the basis of local council constraints. This was a lie.
Councils such as Hammersmith and Fulham, West London, had offered to take in more refugees, but the government ignored their offer. Council leader Stephen Cohen declared that he wrote to Baroness Williams just last week to point out that we have offered to take in an extra 15 more children, but despite our offer and despite our pestering they have only given us 13.
Announcing the measure, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said that taking in more child refugees would be a pull factor and encourage child trafficking. We dont want to incentivize journeys to Europe, she cynically declared.
Such language is designed to appeal to the pro-Brexit forces among Tory MPs and the Tory party, with the government committed to slashing immigration and opposing the free movement of labour in Europe, as part of its strategy of exiting the European Union.
Theresa May has boasted about government aid of 2.3 billion to build what would be in effect concentration camps to resettle 20,000 refugees back into the Syrian region over the next five years. Britains pledge, like those of the other imperialist powers, is in order to keep the millions of refugees they have created with their wars away from their doors.
Barbara Winton, daughter of the architect of Kindertransport, Sir Nicholas Winton, was among many who berated the government for abandoning children fleeing war zones. Nicholas Winton is often compared with the German industrialist Oskar Schindlerwho saved the lives of 1,200 Jewish children and their families under the noses of the Nazis, by employing them in his factory in Poland.
It should be pointed out that the British government only agreed to the Kindertransport schemewhereby unaccompanied children fleeing the Nazis, whose parents agreed to stay behind, would be temporarily admitted to Britainbecause all the financial costs would be borne by private, not public monies.
In an open letter to May, Barbara Winton reminded the prime minister of May's own words to her father at a memorial meeting, that his life will serve as an inspiration to us all and will encourage us to do the right thing. Winton added, As the world once again teeters on the edge of dark times, I ask you to remember those words.
Some of those who arrived in Britain on the Kindertransport joined in condemning the governments decision.
Susi Bechofer and her twin sister were three years old when they were evacuated from Germany, on one of the Kindertransports earliest missions. There were 10,000 children and every child had somewhere to go. ... Todays numbers are only 3,000 so it is not really beyond our capabilities to help them, she said.
The heartfelt sympathy of the Kindertransport children contrasts with the crocodile tears of leading Labour MPs, Diane Abbott, Yvette Cooper and Stella Creasy.
Labour has mounted no campaign against the governments decision, and has accepted as a fait accompli that only 150 more lone refugee children will be allowed in. Labours Shadow Home Secretary Abbott asked in Parliament, How does the secretary of state [Rudd] plan to find, screen and process what Abbott described as this 150 extra children, and from which countries will the remaining 150 Dubs children be transferred?
This is from the same party that in the 2015 general election advertised its policies with the words, Controls on Immigration proudly emblazoned on its merchandise.
In a Channel 4 News TV interview, Creasy said that 50 children a day are turning up in Calais, and that meanwhile the British and French government are playing chicken over who should take responsibility. She told Home Secretary Rudd, These children are our responsibility.
Although Creasy did not mean it in this way, successive governments including Labour, Conservative and Conservative/Liberal Democrat are indeed responsible for the refugee crisis, which is a product of the imperialist-instigated wars in the Middle East and North Africa.
There are up to 95,000 unaccompanied migrant children in Europe who have fled the mass sociocide orchestrated by the major imperialist powers and their regional allies in their homelandsincluding Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, the Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan. The war aimed at toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad alone has resulted in the mass exodus of 4.8 million people, while 6.6 million are displaced within the country.
Since the French authorities demolished the Jungle refugee camp in Calais last year, dispersing the 9,000 refugees to centres throughout France, Calais remains a focal point for refugees seeking to come to the UK.
Charity workers in Calais estimate there are about 200 refugee children sleeping out in the open and existing in near-feral conditions in the woodlands near the demolished camp. Amanda Burr of Help Refugees told the Guardian that night-time temperatures in January were around a perishing 5 below zero Celsius, so they gave the children sleeping bags and blankets at night. She said, When we came back the next day, the blankets (were) frozen.
The French police told student volunteers not to give tents to the children because it was illegal, so the children have to sleep without shelter, many ending up in hospital with hypothermia.
The persecution of the refugees has continued unabated at the hands of the Paris authorities. Police have seized food and blankets from the children, screaming at them to get out of France. Some children have been beaten or tear-gassed, according to the Independent.
The Guardian reports that in Serbia refugee children are likewise sleeping rough on the streets in sub-zero temperatures. Up to 10,000 children may have disappeared, many no doubt into the hands of traffickers.
In Greece, there are more than 1,000 children on waiting lists for places in childrens shelters. Some boys are prostituting themselves to keep alive.
Facing numerous practical barriers imposed by the European authorities that prevent their right to legal entry into fortress Europe and the UK, refugees are forced to embark on hazardous sea journeys that too often have fatal consequences. Last year alone 5,000 refugees including children drowned in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas.
Several thousand people demonstrated in Parliament square Monday evening, as MPs debated a petition calling for US President Donald Trump to be denied an official state visit to the UK.
The petition, signed by over 1.8 million people, raised objection to the proposed state visit of Trump, at the invitation of Prime Minister Theresa May, as it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.
The London rally attracted a largely middle class audience, but was also young and included groups of school and college-age pupils, refugee organisations, delegations from a number of universities, including SOAS, University of London, University College London and Kings College. Some of those attending were hard-line supporters of the European Union, with a large EU flag flown throughout as well as homemade placard declaring slogans such as I love the EU and We love the EU.
The political line given by a platform with at least 20 speakers--including Guardian journalist Owen Jones, Labour MPs John McDonnell and Dianne Abbott, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and National Union of Students President Malia Bouattia--was a moral appeal to oppose Trump on the basis of his being a racist and sexist.
The protest was a setback for the main organisers, the Stop Trump Coalition, as they had previously hyped up the expected size of the rally, ahead of further protest during Trumps actual visit, which they claim, in a Guardian article, will be the biggest demonstration in British history.
Numbers were around a tenth of the size that converged--with just one-days notice--on Downing Street on January 30, after Trumps anti-Muslim ban was ordered. Far from mobilising mass opposition to Trump, the genuine sentiment of opposition to his reactionary programmeand support by Prime Minister Theresa May for himis being systematically de-mobilised by Jones, et al thanks to their own reactionary political agenda, which is support for the EU against the United States. Through this movement, the pro-EU faction of the ruling elite who lost last years referendum on UK membership, are seeking to win broader public support.
Speakers had virtually nothing to say to the fundamental concerns of working people regarding social inequality, poverty, low-paid jobs, unemployment and the evisceration and privatisation of vital public services including health, education, housing and welfare benefits. Speaker after speaker instead described Brexit and its supporters as racist and painted an entirely false picture whereby the majority of British people were culpable in creating a racist, sexist, misogynist, patriarchal society.
The danger of the US and Britain launching war against a host of countries, including Iran, North Korea and China was almost completely ignored. The only opposition to Trump on this score was on the right-wing basis that the main danger was that Trump was politically too close to a revanchist Putin regime in Russia.
In the build up to the march, Jones wrote in the Guardian of last weeks resignation of Trumps National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, For much of the 20th century, the left was relentlessly smeared for supposedly being in league with Moscow, thus posing a threat to national security. Even leftists who passionately opposed the Soviet regime were portrayed as being the accomplices of Moscow. Now the national security adviser of a hard-right Republican president has resigned for actually being in league with Moscow.
At the rally, Jones appealed to May, Tony Blair was sunk by his alliance with George W, Bush. We will sink you all over again if you ally with that despicable man [Trump].
To the extent that there was anything masquerading as a left alternative to that of the official organisers at Mondays protests, it was supposedly offered up by the Stand Up to Trump coalition--established by forces comprising the Stop the War Coalition (STWC)--led by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) splinter Counterfire and the Communist Party of Britain, together with the Peoples Assembly, Stand up to Racism, and the Muslim Association of Britain.
Jones has launched a McCarthyite witch-hunt against his putative left opponents, focusing on depictions of the Socialist Workers Party as a rape cult for failing to seek a police prosecution of one of its leaders accused of sexual assault in 2013.
On Saturday, Stand Up to Trump organised a summit in London which attracted just 150 people and focussed attention on how it wanted to prevent at all costs being isolated from the Jones led-movement and the more substantial faction of the trade union bureaucracy gathered around him.
Alex Kenny, a member of the National Union of Teachers executive committee and an SWP supporter said, [T]his group is supporting the [February 20] demonstration, we are liaising with the demonstration on Monday. We want the closest possible liaison and working together around the demonstration when and if Donald Trump does come. We want to demonstrate this. We invited someone from Stop Trump to come and speak today and we will continue to do that. Once we get beyond Monday, which I think will be a great show of demonstration of unity in purpose, once we get beyond that, we will continue to look at how we can bring the groups together. How we can step forward towards unity, perhaps using the auspices of the TUC (Trades Union Congress) in doing that.
On this basis, Monday saw no separate demonstration by Stand Up To Trump as it had previously announced. Instead, the SWP appeared to have been side-lined, while a number of those who attended the Stand Up to Trump summit, including NUT General Secretary Kevin Courtney and the Stop the War official Murad Qureshi, spoke on the main stage alongside Jones.
In any case, the Stand Up to Trump coalition offers no alternative to the Jones-led Stop Trump. It also calls for May to rescind the state visit invitation and urges opposition to the US president to be diverted into appeals to the government to end the special relationship between the US and Britain and move towards a sane foreign policy.
The Stop the War Coalition has publicly pledged to water down its rhetoric to make it acceptable to virtually anyone. In a January 30 article, STWC leader and Stalinist Andrew Murray wrote, Such a movement needs to be broad and inclusive, reflective of all strands opposed to Trump, his policies, and Mays subservience to him. It must reach far beyond the left.
The rallies organised around the country Monday, mainly under the auspices of Stand Up to Trump, were attended by just a few hundred people in major cities including Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.
European politicians and media reacted to US Vice President Mike Pences tour of Europe as a chance to mend ties with the Trump administration. His remarks at this weekends Munich Security Conference and at the European Union (EU) in Brussels Monday, just after Trump sacked his pro-Russian National Security Advisor, General Michael Flynn, committed Washington to the NATO alliance with Europe, based on a war drive against Russia.
At the Munich Security Conference, Pence declared that the United States of America strongly supports NATO and will be unwavering in our commitment to this trans-Atlantic alliance. He said that the US government would continue to hold Russia accountable. He also echoed calls in the ruling class in Europe for stepped-up rearmament, particularly in Germany, demanding that Europe contribute a fair share to our common defense.
In Brussels, Pence reaffirmed 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.
After these remarks, EU officials moved to endorse the most right-wing administration in American history, opposed by overwhelming majorities of the population in most European countries. Even as the Trump administration openly prepares a mass roundup of immigrants in the United States and deep attacks on basic social programs, they hastened to accept as good coin Pences assurances that Trump is committed to freedom and democracy.
I heard words which are promising for the future, words which explain a lot about the new approach in Washington, EU Commission President Donald Tusk declared in Brussels after his meeting with Pence. We are counting, as always in the past, on the United States wholehearted and unequivocallet me repeat, unequivocalsupport for the idea of a united Europe.
Tusk made clear, however, that Pences remarks, while a turn away from previous positions, had not fully addressed EU concerns about Trump. Tusk alluded to some of Trumps statementson the use of nuclear weapons in Europe, dismissing NATO as obsolete, demanding that Germany buy more American automobiles, and hailing Britains exit from the EU, which Trump called a vehicle for Germanythat are unacceptable to the dominant sections of the European ruling class.
Too many new and sometimes surprising opinions have been voiced over this time about our relationsand our common securityfor us to pretend that everything is as it used to be, he said.
Tusks concerns were echoed by German officials before Pence spoke in Munich. Our American friends know well that your tone on Europe and NATO has a direct impact on the cohesion of our continent, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said at the Munich conference. She implicitly attacked Trumps statement that Washington is equidistant from Berlin and Moscow, declaring: There cannot be a policy of equidistance to allies and to those who question our values, our borders and international law.
The reaction of EU officials to Pences visit underscores that workers and youth seeking to oppose Trump cannot rely in any way on the European capitalist class. Having waged nearly a decade of deep austerity and attacks on immigrants, the EU powers have no principled objection to Trumps antidemocratic policies, such as his unconstitutional Muslim ban and his plans for mass immigrant deportations. Their concern is to work out relations with US imperialism that allow them to continue asserting their own imperialist interests internationally.
None of the historically rooted economic and strategic tensions between US and European capitalism revealed by Trumps statements against NATO have been resolved. Indeed, Washington and the EU are not publicly discussing them. Pence reportedly did not raise the failed TTIP trans-Atlantic free trade talks that German and French officials criticized last year.
Rather, Washington and the EU are recklessly using the war drive launched against Russia under Barack Obama, who allied with Berlin to back a 2014 coup that toppled a pro-Russian regime in Ukraine, to paper over their differences and justify a vast, unpopular increase in EU military spending. This aligns the EU with the Democratic Party in the United States, which is waging a press campaign to attack Trump from the right, as a tool of Russia.
Bloomberg News concluded that European officials got what they needed from the administration for now, citing Judy Dempsey of the Carnegie Europe think tank in Berlin: Its quite clear the message Merkel has given to the US: if the violence continues to rage in the east of Ukraine, how are you going to stop it? How are you going to get them to the negotiating table again? Are you going to let Putin set the agenda? And they listened.
At the Munich Security Conference, US Vice President Mike Pence made clear that his boss stands behind NATO and that the United States will meet its obligations to the alliance. In a time of general uncertainty, this is good news, wrote Germanys Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Europeans know that they must make more efforts on security policy, but they are also realists: without America, they cannot deal with really major threats.
Thierry de Montbrial, the head of the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) think-tank, told the New York Times that Pence had succeeded in delivering the gospel that people needed of the importance of the trans-Atlantic alliance. Montbrial also praised Pences support for European rearmament: [H]e said clearly that he wants Europe to be stronger, which in a way is a good change from the past, when Washington was skeptical about a stronger European defense.
Such praise of Pences tour notwithstanding, it is highly unclear how long the current thaw in Trumps relations with the EU will last. Not least among the problems such a thaw would face is the political conflict and instability developing inside Europe itself, amid escalating social anger in the working class, the electoral rise of far-right parties across the continent, and Brexit.
While admitting that Pence is toning things down with the EU, Le Monde wrote: Still, his comments were often very general, as if his administration wanted to be prudent, or to wait for a deeper dialogue with new leaders who, in a few months, will take office after elections in France, Germany, the Netherlands, possibly Italy.
Significantly, according to a detailed Reuters report denied by the White House, Trumps neo-fascist chief political strategist, Steve Bannon, spoke to German diplomats before Pences trip to repeat that the EU was flawed. He reportedly made comments similar to 2014 remarks he delivered to a Vatican conference, that he does not believe in this kind of pan-European Union and that Western Europe was founded on strong nationalist movements.
Reuters sources said Bannons remarks confirmed Berlins concern that Trump has no appreciation for the EUs role in ensuring peace and prosperity in post-war Europe. There appears to be no understanding in the White House that an unravelling of the EU would have grave consequences, [one] source said.
The EU countries are divided, however, and intense US-EU tensions remain. Yesterday, French President Francois Hollande announced a four-power summit in Versailles for March 6 between Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. We are the four most important countries, Hollande bluntly declared, and it is our task to say what we want to do with the others, together in Europe.
According to Le Monde, this reflects a change of policy in Berlin, which after the Brexit vote insisted on maintaining the unity and formal equality of the 27 remaining EU states. After Trumps election, however, ruling circles in Berlin reportedly changed course. They concluded that we cannot tie our destiny to obstinate member states, we have to be able to advance without waiting for unanimous agreement.
The Trump administration officially adopted new immigration enforcement policies yesterday that place all undocumented immigrants living in the US at risk of deportation.
The new policies were outlined in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memos leaked over the weekend. These memos were subjected to only minor changes before DHS Secretary John Kelly made them official on Monday.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer addressed the White House press corps Tuesday: Everyone who is here illegally is subject to removal at any time, he said. Spicer explained that the DHS memos establish guidelines for those undocumented immigrants who are the first priority for deportation, a staggering one million people.
These immigrants have already been found removable in court and are subject to final orders of removal. The government will also target immigrants with any criminal record, as well as those who have supposedly abused public services (a very broad category that includes anyone who filed a false Social Security number or gave a false answer on an official document about their immigration status) and those who have been charged with or are suspected of committing a crime.
But Spicer explained that after the government expels the first million immigrants, agents will move in stages against the remaining population: The president has made clear that when you have 12, 14, or 15 million [immigrants] here illegally, there has to be a system of priority. He added, We are doing this one step at a time in a very methodical way.
The language of the memos confirms this. Department personnel have full authority to arrest or apprehend an alien whom an immigration officer has probable cause to believe is in violation of the immigration laws," one memo said. "They also have full authority to initiate removal proceedings against any alien who is subject to removal under any provision of the [Immigration and Nationality Act]."
Spicers estimate that the Trump administration plans on ultimately deporting as many as 15 million immigrants nearly doubles an earlier estimate by the Los Angeles Times that 8 million were at risk. This much higher figure raises the specter that Trump will also seek to deport green-card holders, revoking their status as legal permanent residents.
Though the memos do not repeal Obamas executive order establishing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, covering 750,000 immigrants who were brought to the US as children, the DHS notes that the issue will be addressed in the future. However, DACA enrollees who have been convicted or charged with a crime or who immigration officials believe may have committed a chargeable offense can be slated for removal. One DACA enrollee was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Washington State last week.
We will have more [orders], Spicer said. Immigration is one of those issues [Trump] was clear and consistent on throughout the campaign.
The World Socialist Web Site outlined the DHS memos in detail yesterday. The construction of new detention centers and a border wall, the hiring of 15,000 immigration and deportation officials, and the deputizing of local police agencies to detain and deport migrants will result in a significant police-state build-up in cities across the country.
"These memos lay out a detailed blueprint for the mass deportation of 11 million undocumented immigrants in America," Lynn Tramonte, deputy director of America's Voice Education Fund, told USA Today. "They fulfill the wish lists of the white nationalist and anti-immigrant movements and bring to life the worst of Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric."
The Trump administration is fearful that the memos will set off a wave of mass social protest. A DHS official told the press yesterday, We do not need a sense of panic in the communities.
Both Spicer and the DHS have sought to downplay risks that the government is going to immediately round up and incarcerate millions and millions of undocumented workers. At his press briefing Tuesday, Spicer explicitly disavowed a suggestion that the goal of the new Trump initiative was mass deportation. The DHS official said: We do not have the personnel, time or resources to go into communities and round up people and do all kinds of mass throwing folks on buses.
In other words, the Trump administration does plan on deporting millions, but to do so at once would be physically impossible and to announce it as a goal would be politically dangerous. The deportations will likely speed up, however, once sufficient police manpower has been mobilized and once a large network of detention centers has been constructed.
The DHS official also said, Were not creating anything out of the whole cloth. The Trump administrations attempts to hide the qualitatively different scale and depth of their anti-immigrant attacks are disingenuous and false. However, Trumps immigrant program is an extension of the anti-immigrant policies of the Obama administration, which deported 2.7 million immigrantsmore than all his predecessors combined.
The statutory framework used by Trump to deport over ten million undocumented people was established in a bipartisan effort. The Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 would not have passed without the support of Democratic members of Congress and was signed into law by Democrat Bill Clinton. The Secure Fences Act of 2006, which Trump cites to justify his wall construction program, was supported by Senators Hillary Clinton, Obama, Biden, and Schumer.
Thirty seven of 48 Senate Democrats, including Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, voted to confirm Secretary John Kellythe signatory of the DHS memosto head the DHS earlier this month. Sanders said he hoped Kelly would have a moderating influence on some of the racist and xenophobic views that President Trump advocated throughout the campaign.
Adopting the fraudulent public safety narrative of the Trump administration, Sanders told NBC News last week, I think the vetting mechanisms are very, very strong. If theres any way to make them stronger, lets go forward. I dont think there is any debate that we want to keep the United States safe and we want to be 100 percent clear that anybody who comes into this country should not be coming into this country to do us harm.
The claims by both parties that immigrants represent a threat to public safety or national security are fraudulent. The Trump administration seeks to scapegoat immigrants for a social crisis caused by the capitalist system, in an attempt to pit workers against one another and prevent them from fighting their real enemy: the ruling class.
No significant opposition to these measures will come from the Democratic Party. The phase-in of Trumps deportation program will devastate the lives of millions of immigrants and their families, the overwhelming majority of whom are working class, and it is from the working class that opposition to these reactionary and xenophobic measures is emerging.
Immigrant and US-born workers must unite to mobilize against efforts by the Trump administration to deport their co-workers. Immigrants will receive no protection from the Democratic Party, from the trade unions who support Trumps economic nationalism, or from hollow appeals to change the minds of the politicians. The right to live and work with full citizenship rights must be available to all workers, regardless of immigration status.
The working class must rely on its own social strength to defend these rights through the establishment of committees in workplaces, neighborhoods, and schools aimed at developing a political strategy for blocking deportations and prohibiting the government from removing immigrant workers from the country.
In an extraordinarily foul outburst February 17, Bill Maher, the host of HBOs Real Time with Bill Maher, termed American intelligence agencies our last line of defense against the allegedly pro-Russian Donald Trump and referred approvingly to Egypt and Turkey as countries where similar agencies had intervened against a crazy dictator.
Maher has been pathological on the subject of supposed Russian interference in the US elections since the issue first arose. On July 27, 2016, in response to the hacking of the Democratic National Committees emails and unsubstantiated claims that Russian agents seeking to tip the election in Trumps favor were behind the action, Maher described Trump (who was semi-jokingly urging that Russian secret services hack Hillary Clintons missing emails) as the voice of treason.
Maher went on last July: Hes always taking Russias side. Plainly, Trump is a Russian agent. I mean, I dont know it for a fact, but a lot of people are saying it . Oh yes, Donald Trump: the spy who loved himself.
One month ago, on Inauguration Day, in his opening monologue, Maher observed, It really happened, we Americans have a new leader Vladimir Putinand also this guy Trump took an oath today.
One of his guests January 20, Keith Olbermann, asserted, We were invaded, is what it boils down to. Just because there was not blood on the streets. If the Russians had come in with Cossacks and put him [Trump] in, I think we would have had a different kind of reaction. And were now only debating at this point, after the story in the New York Times, how much the Russians decided our election.
Maher, who built a reputation for himself as an iconoclast during the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal and subsequently under George W. Bush, has claimed at various times to be a liberal, a libertarian and a progressive, a sane person. As we have noted previously: His sneering, cynical, anti-establishment posturing is aimed at taking in a certain section of those, especially among the young, disaffected with official politics and orienting them in quite a reactionary direction. His iconoclasm has never gone farther than skin deep.
Maher opened his February 17 program by asserting, in his monologue, that there was an unprecedented state of crisis in this country and that the resignation of Michael T. Flynn as national security adviser, because of discussions with Russian officials, was the most serious political scandal weve ever had in the United States. He described Donald Trump as a mental patient who thinks hes Hitler.
In the panel discussion portion of the program, Maher argued that our countrys hanging by a thread and that Trump was guilty of the crime of treason, the crime is colluding with Russia to fix an American election.
One of his guests, Malcolm Nance, who described himself as having formerly worked for US Naval Intelligence and the NSA, as well as having been loaned to other people (presumably, the CIA), claimed that the 2016 was the first time that a president was elected with the assistance of a foreign intelligence agency [i.e., Russias]. Nance did not provide the slightest evidence for his allegation, and, indeed, some time later, Maher was obliged to admit, We dont have the proof of that [Russian involvement], but that did not prevent either man from making the wildest statements.
Maher went on to suggest that the [US] intelligence agencies are crying out, We dont want to do a coup In the most startling part of his comments, Maher argued that President John F. Kennedy had been killed in 1963 by US intelligence, or at least that was one theory, because of his philandering. He was having sex with East German spies and mafia couriers and the intelligence outfits couldnt trust him [They said to themselves] He is too much of a danger to America.
Maher must rank as one of the first progressives to put a positive spin on the alleged CIA involvement in Kennedys assassination!
He continued, I feel like thats where the intelligence agencies are now [in relation to Trump] Now, they should not be violent, dont get me wrong. But they are saying through these leaks, This man cannot be president.
Nance, a fanatical anticommunist and the author of The Plot to Hack America: How Putins Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election, then chimed in: And you know why theyre saying that? Because what we have is a situation here where the person they would have to report to, the absolute pinnacle, the commander-in-chief, is a person who himself cannot be reported to. What theyre doing is theyre reporting and theyre taking it above his head to the ultimate commander-in-chief, which is the American people. This is an act of patriotism.
Maher went on: America is now in this place where we have watched other countries [which] we have had our nose up aboutEgypt and Turkeyplaces where we thought, Oh, you know, the dictator is crazy, so the intelligence services, thats not really the best option oh, wait, it is the best option. Theyre like our last line of defense now.
The HBO talk show host was presumably referring to the 2013 military takeover in Egypt, which brought to power the brutal and hated dictatorship of General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and the failed, US-backed coup in Turkey in 2016 against the regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Maher is identifying himself with murderous, right-wing forces.
Maher then noted that Trump was planning to appoint Steven Feinberg to oversee the intelligence. It looks like a purge in the making so that he can take over. Can Trump put his people in charge of the intelligence agencies? Because then we have no line of defense between the total coup. The host plaintively asked later, Where are the patriots? apparently suggesting that such patriots should somehow or other deal with Trump.
Mahers demented ranting points to several interrelated processes. First of all, there is the sharp turn to the right by all sections of the American political and media establishment, including its gadfly, late-night comic contingent. The latter is made up of wealthy, conservative people committed to the defense of the existing social order. They do not have a single ounce of genuinely democratic sentiment among them and have only contempt for the mass of the American and global population. The notion of a CIA-military coup in the US, with its terrible consequences, does not disturb Mahers sleep in the least. On the contrary, he is actively promoting such an operation. He obviously does not expect to lose his job or his income under a CIA-run junta.
Concretely, figures such as Maher are frightened by the growth of social opposition to capitalism, accelerated by Trumps right-wing policies, and are desperately seeking to divert it along reactionary lines, in this case the drive for a confrontation with Russia. Maher, an anticommunist and Islamophobe himself, helped create the atmosphere that made Trumps election possible. Despite his violent, abusive rhetoric, the comics differences with the new presidentlike those of the entire Democratic Party orbitare purely tactical.
That the talk show host is promoting the American intelligence apparatus, the perpetrator of countless crimes against various populations around the world, resulting in the deaths of millions, to an audience of primarily young people is an unpardonable political and ideological crime. In this manner, Maher is acting as a facilitator of authoritarianism and dictatorship.
The appointment Monday of Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, an active duty military commander, as national security advisor has been welcomed by both Democratic and Republican critics of the foreign policy being pursued by the Trump White House.
He has been hailed by virtually all sections of the corporate media as a warrior-scholar or soldier-intellectual, whose record supposedly stands in stark contrast to that of his recently ousted predecessor, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.), the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, a partisan Trump supporter whose worldview encompassed a global war against Islam.
Flynns forced resignation last week was the product of a bitter internecine struggle within the American ruling elite and its state centered on Washingtons conflicting strategies involving relations with Russia and US preparations for global war.
Trumps suggestion that Washington should shift from a policy of direct confrontation with Moscow to one of first preparing war against Iran and a showdown with China aroused intense opposition from within a military and intelligence apparatus that has devoted enormous resources to the buildup against Russia.
Officials from within the US intelligence agencies leaked wiretapped conversations held in the run-up to the Trump inauguration between Flynn and the Russian ambassador to the US that included discussion of anti-Russian sanctions that had been imposed by the Obama administration.
The claim that Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence about the content of these discussions and further leaks that the Trump administration had known about them for weeks provoked a firestorm of criticism, replete with overblown Watergate-style demands for an answer to the question: What did the president know, and when did he know it?
All of this was used to feed the anti-Russia hysteria that has been the stock-in-trade of the Democratic Partys opposition to Trump since the 2016 presidential election, when the partys presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her supporters attempted to paint Trump as an agent of Vladimir Putin and promoted unsubstantiated allegations that Moscow hacked Democratic National Committee emails and interfered in the election in favor of Trump.
McMasters appointment follows a series of statements made in Europe by other top administration officials, including Vice President Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mad Dog Mattis, during meetings of the G20, NATO and the Munich Security Conference. All three voiced US support for NATO, an alliance that Trump had described as obsolete, and made statements sharply critical of Russia, indicating that there would be no imminent agreement on military collaboration between Washington and Moscow.
Unease within Europe over Trumps policies remained, however, particularly given the unusual refusal of all three officials to answer questions following their prepared remarks.
With the naming of McMaster, however, there is a sense within Washington that the anti-Russian campaign unleashed against the Trump administrationreplete with multiple congressional investigationshas begun to have an effect.
Last year, McMaster headed up an initiative known as the Russia New Generation Warfare Study, designed to reorient the US military toward military confrontation with Russia. He is also the author of a 2015 report titled Continuity and Change: The Army Operating Concept and Clear Thinking About Future War, which calls for the Pentagon to prepare to prevent the aggressor from doing what Russia has in Ukraine.
In Moscow, the appointment was taken as an unmistakable signal. McMaster isa 100 percent threat to Russia from the US, and its not getting weaker or smaller. Defense and intelligence wing of Washington will carry out a Russophobic policy, the first deputy chairman of Russias Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Franz Klintsevich told Sputnik on Tuesday.
John McCain, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and one of Trumps most strident critics for going soft on Russia, was among those congratulating the White House on McMasters appointment. After having delivered extraordinary remarks at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend describing his own partys administration as in disarray, McCain issued a statement Monday giving Trump 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.
Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island also praised the naming of McMaster, declaring: Every time they add a grown-up into the equation we should all be happy. And I think McMaster is a certified, card-carrying grown-up and a very, very respected military officer [among] his peers.
The media response was similar. The right-wing editorial board of the Wall Street Journal commented: President Trump likes a government of billionaires and generals, and on Monday he chose another one as his National Security Advisor This could be an inspired choice if Mr. Trump heeds his counsel and White House politicos dont interfere.
The editorial acknowledged that with former Marine General Jim Mattis at Defense and retired Marine General John Kelly at Homeland Security, the Trump administration is top-heavy with distinguished Pentagon brass.
It continued: But someoneand we dont mean Mr. Bannonhas to plot and steer a strategy for reclaiming US influence as China, Russia and Iran press to drive the US out of what they consider to be their spheres of influence in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. This means turning Mr. Trumps America First instincts into policies that dont merely mimic President Obamas strategic retreat.
The Journal has ample grounds for trusting McMaster to pursue such a strategy. In addition to his anti-Russia credentials, the army general has voiced open opposition to the idea that the US can pursue its objectives by means of drone assassination strikes and special operations raids. He is a proponent of going in big and a critic of the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, who has close ties to US intelligence, was ecstatic. McMaster is the real deal, he said in a television interview Tuesday. He is a warrior intellectual; he is someone who has made his name through his career speaking to power.
The appointment of McMaster exposes the utterly reactionary and undemocratic character of the official debate surrounding the Trump administration. The Democratic Party has chosen to oppose Trump on the basis of a neo-McCarthyite campaign depicting the president as Putins stooge and demanding a more aggressive military confrontation with Russia.
Both Democratic and Republican critics of the administration are now openly placing their hopes on a cabal of generals controlling the majority of security posts to counter what they see as the destabilizing influence of Trumps fascistic chief White House strategist, former Breitbart news chief Stephen Bannon.
Neither of the two major parties and none of the extreme right-wing and militaristic factions contending for power within the Trump administration have anything to do with defending the democratic and social interests of the vast majority of the population, which are under unprecedented attack.
Rather, behind the scenes, elements within the state and its vast military and intelligence apparatus, unelected and unaccountable, are fighting out matters of US imperialist war strategy that have deadly implications for the population of the United States and the entire planet.
Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Tallahassee Police Department is investigating after the man suspected in a stabbing at a local Walgreens back in September was found dead.
TPD is currently conducting a death investigation in the wood line of 222 Ocala Road after a TPD Patrol Officer found the body while searching the woods for an unrelated case.
The Violent Crimes and Forensic Units are currently on scene at the Players Club Apartments processing both the immediate area and all known evidence.
While the investigation is in the very early stages, the death does appear to be a suicide.
The male has been identified as Tavon Jackson, who was the suspect in the 2016 murder of 23-year-old Javona Glover.
Investigators are asking anyone with information about the case to please call (850) 891-4200 or if they wish to remain anonymous to please call Crime Stoppers at (850) 574-TIPS.
BAINBRIDGE, Ga. (WTXL) - Police in Bainbridge need your help finding the people they say stole electronic equipment from Bainbridge State College.
Take a good look at these surveillance pictures captured on February 12.
Bainbridge police say they're looking for the slender white female driver and two male passengers of this white Pontiac Grand Am.
One of the male passengers is believed to have a slender build while the other is said to be heavy set.
You're asked to call the Bainbridge State College Police Department with any information at (229) 726-9371.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - This weekend the Tallahassee Museum is offering all college students free food and fun by inviting them to their College Student Appreciation event.
The event will give students free general admission to the Florida Wildlife Trail, 1880's Farm, Guest Animal Exhibit, and more.
Employees also note that the first 100 students to arrive will receive complimentary Swag Bags, filled with koozies, goodies, and coupons to local restaurants.
The museum will also feature live music on its outside stage during the event.
Students can enjoy the museum's amenities on Sunday, February 26th from 11:00a.m. to 5:00p.m.
For more information on the occasion, you can check out the museum's Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/1813197762285997/?active_tab=about.
A town hall-style meeting is planned Saturday to focus on concerns of constituents of Washingtons 4th Congressional District.
State Debate: Beloit Daily News wants citizens to have power to enact legislation at the polling booth
Before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left for his pivotal meeting with US President Donald Trump, he was heavily pressured by the settler leaders and their supporters to present a new agenda: Dropping the two-state vision, making moves to annex Area C and pushing for massive construction in the settlements. By doing so, they are hoping to put an end to any possibility of a future agreement with the Palestinians.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
At the White House press conference, President Trump spoke about the need for a deal that Israel and the Palestinians have to agree on, and as far as he is concerned, it doesnt matter if this deal is based on two states or one state, as long as the parties agree on it. He also asked the prime minister to hold off on the settlement construction.
Netanyahu chose his magic formula: Expanding the concept of security and the need for Israeli security control in all the area west of the Jordan River. Security also covers the main problem in his eyesthe Iranian threatif the US fails to stop the ayatollahs from making a breakthrough towards a nuclear bomb, and blocks the growing negative Iranian influence in Israels close surroundings.
Trump and Netanyahu. In the new era, the perception of Israel as an asset has diminished and an apparent misbalance has been created in its relations with the US (Photo: AP)
Four main objectives can be detected in the Trump administrations policy in the Middle East: 1. A commitment to destroy the Islamic State; 2. stepping up the attitude towards Iran; 3. building a relationship with the regions countries based on mutual returns (cost-benefit); 4. improving relations with Israel.
Netanyahu tried to gently tilt the scales and the American list of priorities towards curbing Iran, without Trump having to give up on his commitment to destroy ISIS. Assuming that Netanyahu managed to convince Trump to focus on the Iranian problem, disagreements are still expected between Jerusalem and Washington as to the way Tehran should be dealt with.
When it comes to the Syrian issue, for example, Israel stresses that preventing Iranian presence and the presence of Irans representatives in Syria is a condition in every future agreement, and the red lines it has set on Iranian and Hezbollah presence in southern Syria attest to that. It is not at all certain that the US will accept the Israeli demands on this issue, and there are signs that Trump may place the Syria case in Russias hands.
Americas relationship with Israel has been based on two layers throughout the years: Shared values and a joint strategic interest. As far as values are concerned, despite 50 years of controlling the Palestinian people in the West Bank, Israel remains a strong and stable democracythe only democracy in the Middle Eastwhich supports Western values. The supporters of annexation, who are interested in burying any option of an agreement with the Palestinians, are basically harming the values of democracy (for example, with the Regulation Law). At the same time, the US Jewrys support keeps eroding, primarily among the young generation and in bipartisan support.
The strategic layer, until the 1990s, was based on the organizing framework of the Cold War and the fact that Israel was at the forefront of the battle against the Soviet Unions influence in the Middle East. In the new era, the perception of Israel as an asset has diminished and an apparent misbalance has been created in the relations. While the US provides diplomatic, security and economic guarantees for Israels existence, Israel is not fulfilling its part of the dealfor example, when it comes to the Palestinian issue. And while Netanyahu used Trumps language to talk about the wide regional deal, Israel is not wanted as a member in any framework of a regional coalitionnot even the one being advanced by the US against ISISbecause it is not considered legitimate in the eyes of the Arab states, and mainly in the eyes of the Arab street, as long as no progress is made in solving the Palestinian problem.
The annexation and construction policy, alongside an implementation of the red lines on Iran, may lead to an escalation on the northern and Palestinian fronts. The potential of such an escalation is expected to clash with Trumps cost-benefit calculations and with Israels strategic valueturning Israel from an asset into a burden. All signs indicate that when that happens, the American president will not hesitate to stand up against Israel.
Plain Talk: Fake 'dairy' products should come up with their own names
Religion and politics are a dangerous mixture. Always. In Israel, as well as in any other place in the world. Last week, the Reform Jewish movement decided to oppose David Friedmans appointment as the US ambassador to Israel. What does a religious denomination have to do with political appointments? Nothing.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
Several days earlier, I got to sit with a group of Jewish leaders, including Reform rabbis. They presented difficult arguments about Israel. Some of them are justified. The Jewish state cannot ignore the largest Jewish denomination in the United States. Israel cannot ask for their support and then disregard them.
Every few months, they turn to the Israeli consuls and officially complain about the ultra-Orthodox monopoly and the control of religious services in Israel. The protest is received in Jerusalem in a telegram and placed in the drawer. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has many Reform and Conservative donors and whose second wife underwent a Conservative conversion, listens, expresses his solidarity, and brushes the issue aside. So does Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett, whose parents became Zionist through the Conservative denomination.
David Friedmans Senate hearing. Spoke like every other ambassador before him (Photo: Reuters)
I met with a few of those rabbis to let them blow off some steam, and also to make them understand that Israel is more complex than what they see from there. Religious pluralism is not a monopoly that belongs to Israels Left, and political views about the chances of peace and the two-state solution in the 1967 borders have nothing to do with the solution of religious disputes after 2000 years of Jewish arguments. I find it outrageous that the Haredim have turned them into outcasts. After all, both Haredi and Reform Jews are a new phenomenon in Jewish history.
In the end, I told them that if they want to make a difference, they should perhaps stop whining and come to Israel. Israelis dont live between the pages of Haaretz newspaper or in the Meretz party. The battle over the State of Israels character is taking place in the Bayit Yehudi party between the liberals and the conservatives, in the Likud and in all places where there is no hesitation over the need for a clear Jewish identity and a clear nation state.
We ended the conversation on good note. Both sides agreed that mixing religion and politics is fatal.
But last Friday it turned out that only others find these conclusions efficient. David Friedmans appointment brought the politics out of the Reform movement and made it completely identical to the liberal J Street organization.
Friedman is not a clean slate. In the past, he wrote a problematic article in the Besheva website. The words he chose to use in describing J Street were in the style of the Republican Tea Party or the radical right wing in Israel, but his opponents are not troubled by his choice of words, they are troubled by his political affiliation.
Here is what they wrote: Mr. Friedman lacks the basic qualifications for the position. Unlike every other past holder of this important position, Mr. Friedman has no professional foreign policy experience. He has never been involved in these issues other than as a zealous partisan and financial supporter of settlement activity.
Its safe to assume that if we were talking about a different FriedmanNew York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, for exampleeverything would appear different. If it were about him, the Reform movement would have likely published supportive ads in all newspapers. His inexperience and his support of a return to the 1967 borders would have been perceived as a badge of honor. The first Friedman, on the other hand, lacks basic qualifications.
I have never met the designated ambassador, I am unfamiliar with his qualifications, but I did follow his Senate hearing, and he spoke there like every other ambassador before him. His personal views in favor of the settlements even sounded restrained.
When he arrives, he will step into the shoes of Dan Shapiro, who was an excellent ambassador. Shapiro implemented President Barack Obamas policy even when he understood reality better. Friedman will implement Trumps policy when he decides what it is (and I am not convinced that there is a policy). Like Shapiro, he will have to get to know all parts of Israeli society, including those that are far away from his views. The most important qualifications he needs is to be a human being, to know how to shake hands and to smile at people. At some moments, he will have to have patience during boring ceremonies.
The Reform movements protest will not stop Friedman from reaching the US embassy in Tel Aviv or in Jerusalem, but it definitely harms the movements own path into Israeli society. We are responsible for them as the Jewish state. They are responsible to fulfill what they themselves are demanding.
Trinity College Dublin expressed regret Tuesday over actions of a group of protesters, whose demonstrations led to the cancellation of an event involving the Israeli ambassador to Ireland, Ze'ev Boker, at the college on Monday night.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
"Trinity College Dublin regrets that Israels ambassador to Ireland, Zeev Boker, was unable to take part in a question and answer session on Monday evening after protesters from inside and outside the university threatened to disrupt the event. The university regards what happened as an unacceptable attack on free speech," the statement began.
Pro-Palestinian protestors blocking the entrance
It went on to say that Ambassador Boker had been due to address a student society on Monday, but the event was cancelled before he arrived at the proposed venue amid security concerns, the statement continuted.
"University officials had unsuccessfully tried to get the protesters to leave an area surrounding the door to a lecture theatre," the statement explained.
The statement went on to emphasize their usual warm reception of Boker: "The ambassador has been a regular and welcome visitor to Trinity since his appointment. He had dinner in the university earlier in the same evening and attended another event in Trinity last week."
Trinitys Provost, Patrick Prendergast, criticized the protesters for preventing a guest from expressing his opinions. This was most unfortunate and represents the antithesis of what Trinity stands for. Universities should be able to facilitate the exchange of ideas. The protesters have violated that fundamental belief," he said.
Trinity will remain a home for debate and we will do everything possible to make sure that efforts to suppress the free exchange of ideas do not succeed. I look forward to welcoming Ambassador Boker back to Trinity to speak again in the near future.
SYDNEYBenjamin Netanyahu has arrived in Sydney on the first visit to Australia by a serving Israeli prime minister.
Netanyahu will start his four-day visit with talks with his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull at his official Sydney address on Wednesday.
Turnbull wrote an opinion piece in Wednesday's The Australian newspaper that backed Netanyahu's criticism in 2015 that the United Nations General Assembly had adopted 20 resolutions critical of Israel in the preceding year and only one in response to the Syrian war.
Turnbull wrote: "My government will not support one-sided resolutions criticizing Israel of the kind recently adopted by the UN Security Council and we deplore the boycott campaigns designed to delegitimize the Jewish state." Turnbull wrote.
Netanyahu flew into Sydney early Wednesday from Singapore.
The Israel Air Force allegedly attacked Syrian army outposts in al-Katif in the suburbs of Damascus early Wednesday, according to reports in Lebanon.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
According to the reports, Israeli warplanes were circling Lebanese airspace in the Baalbek area at around 3am Wednesday, carrying out the attack from over Lebanon.
Officials cited by Lebanese media estimated the attack was targeting Hezbollah military buses.
In a counter statement issued by Hezbollah, they claimed that the reports stating that the Israeli attacks targeted Hezbollah's outposts in Lebanon or Syria are incorrect.
File photo: Past attack in Damascus attributed to Israel
A rebel spokesman from the city of Yabroud in the Damascus suburbs told a Syrian media outlets identified with the rebels that the Israeli Air Force fighter jets attacked at 4am after circling the Lebanese airspace for half an hour.
According to the spokesman, several strikes were carried out, during which six missiles were fired at the Syrian army's 3rd Division outposts, as well as toward weapons caches in the northern mountains at Al Katif. As a result, vehicles apparently belonging to Hezbollah caught fire.
The Lebanese Elnashra News website reported that explosions could be heard in Nahla, a village in the east Lebanon mountain ridge.
Meanwhile, officials who spoke to The Voice of Lebanon Radio denied that Israel carried out the attack from within Lebanon, saying the Lebanese military scanned the border area with Syria.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Wednesday that his country remains supportive of a two-state solution for concluding the Israel-Palestinian conflict, while expressing his steadfast defense of Israel.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
The comments came during the first ever visit by a serving Israeli prime minister to Australia. Turnbull also told reporters that his country is a consistent friend of Israels.
Netanyahu speaking in Australia
X
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with PM Netanyahu (Photo: AP)
Moreover, the Australian premier emphasized that while Australia still backed the two-state formula, he criticized the United Nations and vowed to never support what he described as "one-sided resolutions."
Photo: GPO
"We support an outcome which has two states where Israelis, the Israeli people, the Palestinian people live side-by-side as a result of direct negotiations between them," Turnbull told reporters in Sydney.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Australia for being "courageously willing to puncture UN hypocrisy" on anti-Israel resolutions and added that any solution would need Palestinians to recognize Israel, which would also have security control of the territories.
Netanyahu's arrival in Sydney, Australia (Photo: Haim Tzach/Government Press Office
Turnbull marked the first visit to Australia by a serving Israeli leader by writing an opinion piece in The Australian newspaper that backed Netanyahu's criticism in 2015 that the United Nations General Assembly had adopted 20 resolutions critical of Israel in the preceding year and only one in response to the Syrian war.
Photo: AP
"My government will not support one-sided resolutions criticizing Israel of the kind recently adopted by the UN Security Council and we deplore the boycott campaigns designed to delegitimize the Jewish state," Turnbull wrote, referring to the December 23 resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and construction in east Jerusalem as a "flagrant violation" of international law.
Photo: AP
Photo: AFP
The United States abstained from that vote and Australia, while not a member of the Security Council, was one of the few countries to publicly support Israel's position.
Netanyahu said he was delighted to read the article at the start of his four-day Australian visit.
Photo: AFP
"Australia has been courageously willing to puncture UN hypocrisy more than once, including this absurd resolution that said the Western Wall, the most sacred site for the Jewish people for thousands of yearsthousands of years even before the rise of Islamthat this is occupied Palestinian territory," Netanyahu told reporters.
Photo: AFP
"So the UN is capable of many absurdities and I think it's important that you have straightforward and clear-eyed countries like Australia that often bring it back to Earth," he said.
Netanyahu and Turnbull signed agreements on technology and air services and also discussed expanding co-operation in various areas, including cyber-security, innovation and science.
Take the sentence and run, Elor Azaria. Embrace it with both hands and get as far away as possible from those trying to convince you to appeal it.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
For your lawyers, you are nothing more than a platform to boost their career. For all the instigators shouting outside the courthousetoday its for you, tomorrow theyll find someone else to incite for. Your defense teams reinforcement, attorney Yoram Sheftel, is nothing more than a clown who will cause you harm. Even Sharon Gal, the patron who took you under his wing, was sitting on the most decisive day in your life in the Big Brother house. Thats how important you are to him. Another hero at your expense.
Sit down by yourself, Elor Azaria, and reconsider. Believe me, you got off lightly. The sentence you received on Tuesday actually does you a favor. Considering the verdict , the court handed you a very lenient sentence. In the worst-case scenario, youll sit in prison for a few months. Thats a walk in the park compared to the act that was committed, to the bullet that was fired without any justification into the head of a dying terrorist.
Elor Azaria in court. Nothing good will come out of the instigation of people who dont have your best interest in mind (Photo: Tomer Applebaum)
Its not that the judges ignored the attenuating circumstances: A hostile scene, first operational incident, your devoted care for a friend that was wounded, the fact that you were an outstanding fighter, the contaminated trial, your parents healthnothing was left out. And although you did not express any remorse or show the court that you understand the severity of the act, there was a lot of thoughtfulness and compassion here.
So even if people try to spark anger in you towards the army, the court, the media, the leftistsyou really have no one to be angry at. Its true that mistakes were made, that a lot of unnecessary things were said, that too many people disrupted a process that could have been much smoother. And its true that the State of Israel puts its soldiers in complicated, sometimes impossible, situations. And that 50 years of occupation are leaving a mark and eating away at every good spot. And that the red lines have become brighter over the years, and that the black flags are becoming increasingly grey.
But you, Elor Azaria, you were lucky. You want to know why? Only recently, the Appeals Court ruled that the punishment for adult Palestinians who throw stones during a riot without causing injuries or damage is 18 months in prison. On Tuesday, the Military Court handed down an 18-month sentence against a soldier who was convicted of manslaughter, violating the supreme value of the sanctity of life.
So take the sentence and run, Elor Azaria. Nothing good will come out of the instigation of people who dont have your best interest in mind. All those who are telling you that youre a hero, that you did what had to be done, are doing a great injustice to you, to the IDF, to the state. As an outstanding soldier, as a combat medic, you should have known that.
The court had to convict you, Elor Azaria. Not because you are not everyones child. If it had failed to convict you, there would be no future here, neither for you nor for the rest of our children.
Minna Tomei: 5 Asian Kitchens is a small chain (two restaurants, one in a Haifa suburb and one in Tel Aviv) with an ambitious menudishes representing the cuisines of five Asian countries : Thailand, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and India.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
The Tel Aviv branch is in a swanky location, next to one of the citys most exclusive restaurants; yet the interior looks quite informal, with rather plain furniture, and even some tables with benches that do not have backs. Pleasant Indian music plays in the background.
The bilingual menu comprises five columns, one for each nations cuisine; and each column lists 6-8 dishes, progressing from appetizers to main courses. There are even gluten-free and vegan versions throughout.
The alcohol list, meanwhile, is only in Hebrew: cocktails, a limited wine list, and three brands of beer. A nice touch is that the affable waiter, who was fluent in English, offered samples of cocktails to taste. He also explained and recommended dishes, made sure we understood which were spicy, and gave tips on how to eat each one. Finally, he brought each dish we ordered as they became ready, so nothing would get cold.
Since there are plenty of restaurants in Israel covering three of the cuisines on offer, we chose to order from the Vietnamese and Korean selections. Fortunately, this decisions rewarded us with a couple of extraordinary entrees: in the case of the former, Ga Ga Curryroasted duck in a yellow curry and lemongrass sauce, with preserved mango and Saigon crepes. The attentive waiter brought us additional crepes, unbidden, as soon as he noticed we had eagerly finished our first serving.
Equally delicious, in a very different way, was the Korean chunky beef: Bulgogi sirloin, expertly grilled medium-rare, in a mustard sauce with soba noodles and pear slices. The quality of the beef and duck was impressive.
Once again, the dessert menu was not in English. We particularly enjoyed the Asian kiss fruit salad, with mascarpone cream.
With a range of dishes both familiar and exotic, Minna Tomei is a good choice for an Asian meal, for the adventurous or not.
Minna Tomei.
Not kosher.
Haarba'a St 17, Tel Aviv-Yafo.
Tel. 1-700-504-506
Taya is a suburban restaurant that takes a very different approach to pan-Asian. Rather than separate its cuisines by country, it categorizes its dishes more by major ingredient, and even indulges in creative fusion. The chef, who learned much of his trade in New York, draws his inspiration not only from the major Asian cuisinesThai, Japanese, Vietnamese and Chinesehe has also managed to incorporate Burmese and Indonesian dishes into the menu. Clearly, he has hit on a winning formula; now completing three successful years, the restaurant fills up even on regular weeknights.
The menu here is electronic, on an iPad, in three languages: English Hebrew and Russian. The alcohol menu reflects a full bar, including specialty cocktails, a limited wine list, and draft and bottled beers.
The food categories are starters, salads, sushi, rice plus, noodles, specials, and gyoza (Japanese dumplings). There are also separate headings for kids and vegan.
Another Thai-Japanese fusion hit is the perfectly fried shrimp tempura served not with with teriyaki but with sweet chili sauce.
The huge sushi boat is pure Japanese, of course; fans of this delicacy will certainly appreciate Tayas insistence on using only the freshest fish.
And then there are the restaurants totally original dishes, such as the pistachio noodles: egg noodles, red pepper, zucchini, tofu, coconut milk, scallions and cilantro in a sauce of pistachio, lemongrass and chili. Tayas owner says it is one of their most popular dishes.
Dessertson a menu that inexplicably suddenly switches to Hebrew onlycontinues the theme of originality, especially the coconut nemesis: chocolate truffle on coconut mousse, topped with vanilla mousse, toasted coconut and fresh strawberries (or other seasonal fruit). A superb sweet melange.
Taya offers business lunches at a 15 percent discount every weekday until 5pm. And in conjunction with the restaurant website Zap, there are buy-one-get-one-free deals on Sundays.
Taya may be deep in the heart of the Sharon countryside, but its kitchen boasts big-city props.
Taya.
Not kosher.
Haofeh St 1, Kadima.
Tel. (09) 772-8878
Fifi's, in turn, is starkly different from both Minna Tomei and Taya. This hole-in-the-wall in Levinsky Market contains only four tiny tables, with barely enough room for two people at each table. And there is no reserving a table; according to chef/owner Ifat Tvoua, even her family cannot reserve a table in advance.
The menu here is also very different. At Fifis, it is one short page, comprising a total of approximately 9-10 dishes: generally, two soups; several items that are permanent fixtures; a few rotating daily specials; and one dessert.
There is also just one house cocktail, always based on sake, which changes daily as well. We were treated to strawberry mint, which was slightly sweet, and quite refreshing.
The two soups usually include phoVietnamese noodle soup that is practically a meal in a bowl. Fifis duck pho starred morsels of succulent fowl.
The skirt steak tataki salad, with cellophane noodles, chili, lime, basil, broccoli and avocado, presented us with a nice interplay of flavors. Interestingly, the dish was topped with crispy fried onionsa garnish that turned out to be a recurring theme of the evening, even though it is hardly a staple of Asian cuisines.
That twistalong with a few dishes that had familiar names, but tasted nothing like what was expecteddrove home the fact that Fifis is unlike other Asian restaurants: its dishes reflect the chefs own interpretations of cuisines in ways that are unique and unpredictable.
As an example, one could hardly anticipate that the sole dessert on the menucrack piewould not be available. Instead, there was Indian halwa, a tiny portion of sweet flakes that may or may not be seen again.
Fifis.
Not kosher.
Zevulun St 5, Tel Aviv.
Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh addressed reports Wednesday which indicate that the incident in Umm al-Hiran last monthin which a Bedouin man who police say tried to run over soldiers with his car was shot deadwill not be classified as a terror attack.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
"I can't be responsible for any unofficial publications. I do know with certainty, from the head of the Police Investigations Unit, that conclusions have yet to be reached," he told Ynet.
"The investigation is underway, and therefore, we will uphold the law, unlike others, and refrain from addressing the issue before the end of the investigation."
Roni Alsheikh (Photo: Daniel Elior)
What we knew after the initial report, we told the public. When conclusions are reached, we will address those conclusions," he insisted.
"At the end of the day, we need to judge our officers based on what can be understood of that point in time. I don't know any other details from is known of the incident. When we do, we will address. We, as police, do not offer comments before the investigation ends. And that is what we will continue to do with no regard to attempted manipulations."
The comments come one day after Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said that authorities and the public should be more cautious in their choice of language when describing suspected terror attacksparticularly those over which confusion persists.
Speaking in reference to the Umm al-Hiran incident, Erdan urged that instead of liberally adopting the term "terror attack," people use the phrase "one-time incident."
He also said that rather than immediately resorting to the word "terrorist," some suspected terrorists should be described as "civilian."
Umm al-Hiran incident
X
During a visit to the south, Erdan stated that the incident and labels common in the public discourse should not sour relations with the Bedouin community.
"We had a difficult, unfortunate incident a few weeks ago in Umm al-Hiran, and it shouldn't overshadow our relations. No one should be allowed to take this one-time incident, in which unfortunately both a police officer and a civilian were killed, and use it to project on the entire relations between the Bedouin population and Israel's police and government, he said in an apparent mea culpa.
Sgt. Erez Levi, the Umm al-Hiran incident
"Once the Police Investigation Unit wraps up its investigation, we should draw our conclusions and take it from there. We should strengthen our relations with the dear Bedouin population, with whom we wish to live in peaceful coexistence in the Negev," said Erdan.
The incident occurred on January 18, when a police force arrived on scene to secure illegal home demolitions in the village.
During the operation, a vehicle approached the police force, which roused the officers' suspicion. They opened fire, injuring the driver, who then sped up in his vehicle and ran over and killed Sgt. Erez Levi, 34, who was on the task force. The driver, 47-year-old Yaqoub Abu al-Qiyan, died later of his wounds.
Gilad Erdan (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
Police claimed after the incident that the vehicle was speeding without lights, and that they fired warning shots at first.
A short while after the incident, prior to any orderly investigation, police and Erdan rushed to label it as a "terror attack" and the driver, "as a terrorist."
An hour after the incident, police announced that "the terrorist is an active member of the Islamic Movement and his affiliation to ISIS is being examined." The Shin Bet, on the other hand, stated that no affiliation could be found linking him with the terror organization.
Yaqoub Abu al-Qiyan's vehicle (Photo: Police Spokesperson's Office)
The family of the driver, who was a teacher and father of 15, claimed from the very first moment that he was an honest man, and that he was "murdered in cold blood."
According to the family, "he had already packed his belongings and was planning to evacuate his home without a fuss."
As time passed, the version of the police and the Interior Ministry began to crumble. Al Jazeera exposed footage which appeared to show that al-Qiyan had his lights on, which contradicted the police officers' statement.
A video that aired on Channel 10 news allegedly validated the claim that the shooting toward al-Qiyan occurred prior to his speeding toward the officers, thus rebutting another one of the officers' claims.
The police had stated earlier that "the vehicle was speeding in an unmistakable manner, hitting the officers. A vehicle careening toward police officers has an intention to kill."
The driver's cousin criticized the police's conduct : "Erdan was quick to respond, perhaps since the Police Commissioner or the commander on site misled him. Erdan wasn't around and received misleading reports. Two innocent people were killed in this incident, and someone has to pay the pricethe minister, the commissioner or the on-site commander."
The findings from the ongoing investigation eventually revealed that the incident was probably not a terror attack, and that there were serious operational failures in the police officers' conduct.
Investigators conmcluded that the warning shots toward the vehicles were premature, and the police officers' fire was disproportionate, which could have incurred multiple injuries among their own forces as they failed to take into account the officers' location.
Violent clashes in Umm al-Hiran (Photo: Reuters)
The officers who opened fire insisted however that they felt threatened, and that they interpreted the situation at the time as one of dangerous.
Investigators noted that it was dark, which made identifying the location of other police forces and possible threats in the area much more difficult.
They also pointed out that Sgt. Erez Levi, was killed as a result of being run over by Abu al-Qiyan's vehicle and not as a result of gunshots.
Despite the evidence, which has yet to be officially released, the Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh addressed the reports that the incident will not be classified as a terror attack.
"I can't be responsible for any unofficial publications. I do know with certainty, from the head of the Police Investigations Unit, that conclusions have yet to be reached," he told Ynet.
"The investigation is underway, and therefore, we will uphold the law, unlike others, and refrain from addressing the issue before the end of the investigation."
The final results are expected to be released shortly, following the analysis of various ballistic tests.
Two days after a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis Missouri was vandalized, family members of those buried continued to make their way to the gravesite, now littered with toppled tombstones, to discover whether their family members grave had been among those damaged.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
Officials believe that the anti-Semitic act was carried out sometime between Sunday and Monday morning when the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery cemetery was closed.
President Trump denounces anti-Semitism
X
Investigators are continuing to assess the CCTV footage as they seek to identify any clues which could help lead to the capture of the people who perpetrated the act which has rocked the Jewish community in the US.
Several Jewish community centers were also evacuated for a time on Monday after receiving bomb threats , the JCC Association of North America organization said.
Family members visit the vandalized gravesite (Photo: AP)
The managers of the cemetery announced that they would publish on Wednesday the names of all people whose tombstones were desecrated.
Many tombstones were toppled and we cant read the names on them or know what the damage is until we pick them up. We want to minimize all future damage and need to take appropriate preventative steps, one of the managers said.
One woman said that the increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the US could be directly attributed to what she described as bigots now sitting in the White House.
Photo: Reuters
Theres so much anti-Semitism now with all the cabinet members. Maybe I shouldnt say that but you cant put bigots ands people with so much hatred in a cabinet and not have them think that it is ok to hate everybody, the concerned woman said.
However, on Tuesday, President Trump issued a statement, directly confronting the issue of anti-Semitism, the end of a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, where he also spoke out against racism.
Photo: Reuters
The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil."
Trump's Tuesday comments were praised by several Jewish organizations.
Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish civil rights group that has been highly critical of Trump, called the statement an "important first step."
"I think the Jewish community has been looking for leadership from the president. I was encouraged to hear him step up and say that proactively and now we need to look for the follow-up so we can move from words to action," Greenblatt said.
Sean Spicer defends Trump on anti-Semitism
X
Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said in a statement that his group applauds "President Trump and his daughter Ivanka for their strong words in condemning these unspeakable actions."
Indeed, on Monday Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism, wrote on Twitter, "We must protect our houses of worship & religious centers," and used the hashtag #JCC.
Still, some said Trump had not done enough. On its Facebook page, the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect called Trump's Tuesday comments a "Band-Aid on the cancer of anti-Semitism that has infected his own Administration."
White House spokesman Sean Spicer pushed back against those remarks at a news conference Tuesday. He said Trump has spoken forcefully against hate, arguing, "It's ironic that no matter how many times he talks about this that it's never good enough."
Its not Elor Azaria who should have been put on trial, its all the leaders of the Jewish settlement in Hebron throughout the years. The trial should not have focused on morality in battle, but on the morality of their presence there. Some 900 settlers and yeshiva students have placed themselves among 250,000 Palestinians. Most of them are not preaching good neighborly relations and peace, they are agitators calling for a transfer.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
The IDF has hundreds of soldiers in Hebron. A soldier for every three settlers. Today, there are mainly conscript soldiers there. In the past, the army stationed reserve soldiers there. Year after year, on the day they were discharged, the reservists would write a letter to the chief of staff, informing him that they were no longer willing serve in Hebron. During the day, they suffered abuse. During the night, they were attacked with stones, dirty diapers and turpentine.
The late Rabbi Moshe Levinger, the founder of the Jewish settlement in Hebron, was prosecuted several times for unruly behavior against both Arabs and Jews. He curses, threatens and even physically attacks the soldiers who are watching over himhis own bodyguardsthe court ruled.
Elor Azaria with his mother in court. Its enough to take a look at the Facebook posts the family members wrote even before the Hebron incident (Photo: Moti Milrod, Haaretz)
After the Baruch Goldstein massacre at the Cave of the Patriarchs, then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin considered evacuating them. The shock and astonishment opened the door to evacuation. Legally, it would have been simple and easy: Canceling the expropriation orders for military purposes, under which the settlers are present there. The government did not lack legal cause, just a bit of courage. Instead of evacuating them, a long curfew was imposed on the surrounding Arab neighborhoods.
As a child, Elor Azaria was a victim of the education he received at home and of his political views. Its enough to take a look at the Facebook posts that his father, his mother and he himself wrote even before the incident: Kahane was right, Kill them all, Hit them where it hurts. As a soldier, Elor Azaria was a victim of the service in Hebron. As a culprit, Elor Azaria was a victim of his advisors, who drove him away from the argument that the terrorist deserved to die because he stabbed my friend, made a U-turn towards an imaginary self-defense claim, and then reversed to a claim that the terrorist had already been dead.
While the initial investigation was taking place, then-Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot issued a statement condemning Azarias act. The explanation was that the purpose of the condemnation was to prevent an escalation and revenge attacks. But the operational explanation clashed with the legal correctness, and mainly with the presumption of innocence. As soon as a decision is made to investigate, and there is a possibility of prosecutionsilence should fall on both sides. The defense minister went as far as to say that the rules of engagement would not be determined by gang leaders. Do we want an army that has become brutal, he asked, an army that has lost its moral backbone?
One of Azarias defense witnesses was the civilian security chief for Hebrons Jewish settlers, Eliyahu Libman. In his wild and dubious testimony, he lashed out insolently at the army and its commanders. Libman holds a personal merit certificate from the chief of staff. Yaalon is the chief of staff who gave it to him. During his service as Central Command chief, Yaalon was enchanted by the settlers pioneering magic. They reminded him of the guys from Kibbutz Grofit. He didnt realize that he was riding a tiger, just like later on he wouldnt understand the essence of the disengagement from Gaza, and then the need to realign in the West Bank, and finally the Likud DNA.
When a soldier arrives in Hebron, the local leadership expropriates the IDF authority, throws out the organizational envelope and digs its hoofs into him. From this moment and as long as he serves in Hebron, extreme right-wing politician Baruch Marzel is his prime minister, Libman is his chief of staff and Ofer Ohana of Magen David Adom is his direct commander.
The judges delivered their verdict after thorough and accurate work. The sentence is lenient but reasonable, weighing all the personal and general circumstances, as well as the spirit of the time and place. A judge, including a military judge, has neither a wallet nor a sword. All he has is the publics trust. The trial must be careful not to draw too further away from the public, and the public, unfortunately, fails to distinguish between a living, dying or dead terrorist.
In my opinion, the judges could have deceived the masses, outsmarted them even more and not sent Azaria to prison at all. Rather, they could have demoted him to the rank of private and thrown him out of the IDF with a mark of disgrace.
In this Jan. 21, 2017, file photo, protesters build a wall of signs outside the White House for the Women's March on Washington during the first full day of Donald Trump's presidency. Signs from the women's marches around the world are being saved as cultural treasures by museums, libraries and colleges. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
Israel has longed for it since its creation. From the 1930 Shaw Commission report to the Peel Commission of 1937 to the partition plan of 1947, Israel has had two fundamental goals: Establishing a Jewish homeland and living side by side, in peace, with its neighbors.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
Since then, we have witnessed repeated negotiation failures. Arab rejectionism has placed Israel in a state of permanent insecurity. Security requirements are flippantly dismissed as listeners grow tired of the same old story. Settlers supposedly pose obstacles to peace. Each side blames the other. More blood is spilled. And so the cycle goes on as generations fall victim to the concomitant animosity.
Prime Minister Netanyahu with PA President Mahmoud Abbas (Photo: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
But imagine if tomorrow Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas were able to sit down, reconcile their differences, accept the adjustment of boundaries which would oversee the creation of a Palestinian state and sign a peace agreement that would surely be considered one of the greatest documents of modern history. What if the two sides accepted it and their respective populations would know no more war, no more sorrow.
What if?
This article posits that peace between Israel and the Palestinians is as much a question of international acceptability as it is one of local attainability. It argues that the generally accepted paradigm of Israel-Palestine in which conflict resolution operates is flawed and that in fact any solution would inevitably be stymied by global intransigence.
To begin with, there are some important questions to consider as we look at the lowest levels of popular anti-Israel opinion. If peace were achieved tomorrow, would the public chants calling for Israels destruction such as Palestine to be free from the river to the sea cease to be heard on the streets of Europe and North America? Similarly, would cries such as we are all Hamas now be scrapped from the parlance of Palestinian solidarity marches? If peace were achieved, could we expect that belabored questions over the legality of the 1917 Balfour Declaration would no longer be raised? And would the world refrain from invoking the notion of the right of return for Palestinian refugees?
Would Zionism still be equated with racism or would it be embraced as the national liberation movement for Jewish people? Would the Jewish project be permitted to pursue its national and religious aspirations? Would Israel be given freedom to determine its own domestic and immigration policy, like all other states, without the constant international scrutiny which shadows its every movement?
Indeed, one would hope that questions such as these which call into question Israels conduct and the morality and legitimacy of its birth would surely be banished into the realm of moral redundancy and linguistic obscurity if a peace treaty were signed.
Alone, these chants, questions and incriminations pose no immediate threat. However, the crux of the problem is that they would have the political channels through which to translate them from words into action.
Hamas's new leader Yahya Sanwar (Photo: AP, EPA)
Indeed, there are the pernicious movements such as BDS whose founding leaders, such as Omar Barghouti, have demonstrated their incorrigible stance on the issue stating unequivocally that "an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank would not lead to the end of BDS because Palestinian people are not just suffering from occupationthey are suffering from denial of their right to come back home.
Another leader of the movement, Ahmed Moor, says that BDS should be the Final Showdownnothing resembling the two-state solution will ever come into being. Ending the occupation doesnt mean anything if it doesnt mean upending the Jewish State itself.
In other words, even if a ratified agreement were to carry the imprimatur of Palestinian approval, this would not be satisfactory to those who openly proclaim their determination to continue their onslaught against Israel and seek to deprive it of economic sustenance.
Are we to believe that the BDS movement, which is followed by huge number of radical activists committed to Israel's collapse, would lose its momentum and disband in the face of an agreement?
Then, of course, there are the resistance and liberation movements such as Hamas, which are unlikely to evaporate in the heat of excitement for an Israeli-PA-sponsored agreement. Even if such an agreement dictated the lifting of restrictions on Gazas imports, would this assuage Hamass minatory behavior towards Israel and would Hamas repudiate the genocidal endeavors expounded in its charter against Jews? Would Hezbollah follow suit? Would ISIS divert its gaze away from Jerusalem?
BDS in California
Finally, serious questions would begin to surface about the legal validity of any such agreement to which Mahmoud Abbas would be a signatory. Today he represents a leader and symbol of the PA. He is the statesman to whom people turn with hope of bringing about a peaceful resolution. But Abbass term has long expired and it would come as no surprise if, from the moment he concluded a peace treaty with Israel, the objections would begin. Would the world consider a treaty to be legally binding if signed by an individual bereft of a democratic mandate to speak for the Palestinian people or negotiate on their behalf?
These questions are not posed with the expectation that a peace agreement would be so comprehensive that all of these concerns would be allayed. Public opinion is diverse and Israel could survive with the continuing revisionist narratives of its history.
However, it does seem unlikely, given the zeal of Israels critics and enemies, that any agreement would release Israel from the burdensome realities outlined here. BDS would continue, Hamas and its influence would live on, low level public opinion would not subsequently welcome Israel as a regular state and, most importantly, Mahmoud Abbass tenuous claims to political authority would not carry sufficient weight to satisfy the millions who will not rest until Israel either ceases to exist entirely or who rigidly subscribe to the notion that any agreement must ensure that a future Palestinian state comprise nothing less than the pre-June 1967 borders.
BDS activists disrupt a lecture by Israel's UN Envoy Danny Danon
Thus if a peace agreement really could be forged between at least the majority of Palestinians and Israelis tomorrow, it is doubtful that it would ever satisfy millions of people worldwide who would have the tools at their disposal to render a peace treaty irrelevant.
Indeed, it would essentially amount to Israeli concessions without any reliable guarantees of normality or acceptance in the international arena. The likelihood of continuity of the respective methods of these resistance movements would only engender conflict and foment hatred that should have been put to rest by the Palestinians and Israelis alone.
This begs the question, therefore, which is rarely asked: With whom is Israel really expected to make peace: the Palestinians or the entire diversity of world opinion? If it is with the Palestinian people only, then a plausible case for the likelihood of success based on mutually acceptable concessions could perhaps be made. But if much of the world and radical factions would seek to undermine any agreement that even Israels new Palestinian peace partners would be powerless to stop, then Israel really faces a predicament which no negotiator can ever overcomepleasing everyone with an opinion.
Alas, the peace process is actually not restricted to the Israelis and the Palestinians, for the problem stretches far beyond the borders of the Holy Land. In reality Israel finds itself in a far more precarious peace process with a significant portion of the world.
Amid promises of continued religiously-motivated aggression, economic boycotts and public calls for Israels eradication, combined with Abbass questionable authority to sign any agreement, prospects of a successful peace do not bode well.
So what if peace between Israelis and Palestinians could be achieved tomorrow? The answer for much of the world lies in the question itself: So what?
An Amnesty International annual report, which was published on Wednesday, states that Israel unlawfully killed 110 Palestinians, including children in Israel and the West Bank in 2016. The report also claims that thousands of Palestinians were detained without trial by administrative orders.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
Israel allegedly tortured Palestinian detainees and mistreated them, and those responsible for the serious infringement of rights got away with impunity, the report continues.
Furthermore, the report stated that Israel continued to promote illegal settlements in the West Bank while retroactively attempting to legalize them after they were built on private Palestinian land.
Armed Palestinians in Gaza (Photo: AFP)
Conversely, the report did not spare its criticism from the Palestinian side, claiming that armed Palestinian groups in Gaza intermittently and indiscriminately fired rockets and mortars toward Israel, killing 16 Israelis and one foreign citizen.
The Palestinian government and the Hamas de facto government in Gaza did not seek to impose liability or punish those responsible for crimes committed by Palestinians and for executions of "collaborators" without trial.
Overall, the report covers 159 countries and claims that the principles of human dignity and equality between human beings have been targets for attack by political candidates, including Donald Trump, who won the presidential elections in the United States and entered the White House on January 20 of this year.
According to the human rights organization, Trump's "toxic" rhetoric has made the world a bleaker place.
Israeli aristrike in Gaza (Archive) (Photo: AFP)
War crimes in at least 23 countries during 2016
The world is facing a growing list of serious crises, including Syria, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Central America, the Central African Republic, Burundi, Iraq, South Sudan and Sudan. According to the organization, in spite of this list, international indifference to war crimes has become normalized, while the UN Security Council remains paralyzed because of the rivalries between its permanent member countries.
Worse still is the fact that four out of five of the permanent member countries (France, Russia, Britain and the United States) actively support the forces responsible for human rights violations.
Globally, governments have rejected refugees and immigrants, often using them as scapegoats. The report has documented how at least 36 countries have violated international law by sending refugees back to countries where they would be faced with danger. Trump's executive orders are only the latest prominent example.
The report also documents the killing of peaceful human rights activists in 22 countries, who were targeted for challenging economic interests, protecting minorities and small communities or resisting attacks on women's rights or the rights of the gay community .
Turkey on Wednesday called on the Israeli government to halt what it called "illegal settlement policies" on Palestinian land.
Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for President Tayyip Erdogan, made the comment at a news conference in Ankara. Erdogan has previously condemned Israel's decision to ramp up settlements in the West Bank as an "absolute provocation."
Israel announced plans last month for 3,000 more settlement homes in the West Bank. It has also retroactively legalized about 4,000 settlement homes built on privately owned Palestinian land, a move that brought condemnation from the United Nations and the European Union.
n a welcome sign of normalcy, a new Western-style indoor shopping mall complete with an international retail chain, three-story bookstore and bustling food court has opened in the Gaza Strip
The owners have overcome conflict and an Israeli-Egyptian blockade to build the gleaming 1,800 square meter (19,000 sq. feet) Capital Mall. Now, they just have to find enough free-spending customers to keep the place afloat.
In many ways, the center is a reflection of the fragile local economy, which has been flooded by consumer goods from Israel that few people can afford. Stifled by the blockade, Gaza produces very little on its own, and poverty and unemployment have soared. The mall, like the rest of electricity-starved Gaza, requires a generator to keep the power flowing.
In the short term, the mall appears to be thriving. Thousands of Gazans have visited as it slowly opened in recent weeks, buying shoes and clothes from the Turkish chain De Facto, searching for gifts and school supplies in the bookstore and heading up to the fourth-floor food court to enjoy burgers, pizza and ice cream. People can often be seen stumbling and giggling as they ride an escalator for the first time.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot asserted on Wednesday that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was all bark and no bite as his threats against Israel come while his organization is deep in crisis.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
Speaking in front of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee during a closed session, the IDF chief repeated past military assessments that while Hezbollah's involvement in the Syrian civil war allowed its fighters to gain significant operational experience, it sparked a crisis in the terror group affecting both its finances and its fighters' morale.
Eisenkot told the committee members that Nasrallah's recent threats to fire rockets at the Haifa ammonia facility and the Dimona nuclear reactor were meant to create deterrence and maintain the status quo with Israel as he sees it.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot (Photo: Ido Erez)
The IDF chief added that at present, he does not see willingness among enemies both on the northern front and in Gaza to initiate a military campaign against Israel.
He did note, however, the election of the radical Yahya Sanwar as the head of Hamas's political wing in Gaza proves that any distinction made in the past between the Gaza terror organization's political and military branches was now null and void.
Regardless of this, he said the Gaza front was at the top of the IDF's priorities and that NIS 2.4 billion have been invested this year into handling Hamas's terror tunnel threat.
The IDF chief also addressed the Syrian Golan Heights, saying that with the coming spring the battle for control over the Syrian part of the Golan may resume. Israel's interest, he said, was that we'll have a state organization and proper authorities to work with, alongside the withdrawal of foreign forces the return of United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
At the beginning of the closed session, the IDF Chief noted the goals he had set for the Israeli Army during 2016, saying that first and foremost was the IDF's continued preparedness, which he was satisfied that it had managed to secure. He also mentioned the improvement in the amount and quality of training, military intelligence and armaments.
Eisenkot noted that 2016 was quiet and saw very few security problems relative to the turmoil in surrounding countries, describing how the first six months were characterized by the same wave of terrorism inflicting the country from 2015, and how the national situation had considerably improved in the latter half of the year.
Mentioning some statistics to make his point, Eisenkot said that since the beginning of 2016, the IDF has killed 171 terrorists, almost half of whom were Israeli citizens. According to Eisenkot, a key way in reducing terrorism was the selective use of force that separates between terrorists and the rest of the populace, allowing an environment of education and work on the Palestinian side that is important to maintain at any given time.
Eisenkot then spoke about the Azaria sentence, saying that he completely separated the command aspect from the judicial aspect throughout the affair, so as to maintain an objective viewpoint. He also said that the outside interference by the government and media was unnecessary and often carried inaccuracies that were instilled in the public's mind, without any connection to facts or reality.
Though he stressed that the legal proceeding should have been allowed to take place without interference, Eisenkot nevertheless emphasizied that he supports the court's verdict. He also backed up the decisions made by Azaria's commanders' on the field at the time. He reasoned that he differentiates between a soldier's mistake, that needs to be learnt from, and between negligence or moral failure, that can't be backed or allowed.
One of the policemen who was involved in last months shooting of Yaqoub Abu al-Qiyan, a bedouin from Umm al-Hiran, told investigators that he never intended to hit the driver.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
The incident occurred on January 18, when a police force arrived on scene to secure illegal home demolitions in the village.
During the operation, a vehicle approached the police force, which roused the officers' suspicion.
They opened fire, injuring the driver, who then sped up in his vehicle and ran over and killed Sgt. Erez Levi, 34, who was on the task force. Al-Qiyan, 47, died later of his wounds.
Yaqoub Abu al-Qiyan
The officer, who was the first of four to open fire on al-Qiyans, vehicle recalled how the incident transpired.
The car proceeded in the direction of the policemen and didnt stop, even after they called on him to stop a number of times, he told the Police Investigation Unit (PIU) after the event. I fired a warning shot to make him stop.
The officer also claimed that the bullets were aimed at the cars wheels and were not intended to hit the driver but rather to warn him. Immediately after, he stated, the vehicle sped up, prompting other officers to open fire.
The investigation of the PIU concluded that the response did not constitute disproportionate use of fire that could have harmed other policemen at the scene.
An official acquainted with the details of the investigation said that a decision had to be taken within a fraction of a second, a fact which he said had to be understood as the reasons mistakes can be made.
Abu al-Qiyan received many warnings and did not heed them. He continued to drive, the official stated. When you are in the field in complete darkness and uncertainty, the policemen operate in a gradual manner and the car kept on travelling in their direction.
They sensed a clear and immediate life-threatening danger. It could be that from an objective point of view (al-Qiyan) didnt mean to do anything but what determines the conduct is what a person senses in that same subjective moment.
In conclusion, the official said: It isnt possible to ask the driver what his intention was, but it is expected that the moment there are warning shots, the driver stops.
Sgt. Erez Levi
Meanwhile the family of al-Qiyan have called upon Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh to resign.
The family made the demand on Wednesday following reports that began to circulate indicating that the incident would not be classified as a terror attack.
Ahmed, Yaqoubs brother, told Ynet that the incident was riddled with mistakes and failures.
It was an operational failure. There was the accidental killing of the police officer and as a result of this he died. In return my brother was murdered, Ahmed said.
That is the truth. There was a number of blunders, not one and not two. They were blunders on the part of the police and the policy makers.
Ahmed went on to say that the cover-up of the police should not be believed. Unfortunately, the police behaved in an irresponsible way, as has the head of the police. I am a bereaved brother and I join the bereaved families in the State of Israel...I am extremely disappointed in the conduct of the police.
According to Ahmed, Yaqoub asked for help from the policemen before he was shot. Then they came and shot him and killed him...This whole affair was a crime, and a symptom of the misguided policy and we want to turn it into a seminal event.
Just an hour before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boarded his plane from Tel Aviv to meet with US President Donald Trump for the first time, he stated, matter-of-factly: We have to take into account the new presidents temperament.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
The White House didnt appreciate Netanyahus comment, which could be interpreted to question Trumps judgment, or worse, whether he's fit for the office. But Netanyahus comment actually reveals more about himself than it did about his relationship with Trump. Netanyahu was fearful of the vast unknown he was walking into. Trumps pronouncements, especially when it came to Israel and the Middle East, are volatile and contradictory. Behind closed doors, would Trump give Netanyahu a carrot, or hit him with a big stick? Would he give the green light to settlement building, or pleadas he has beforeneutrality with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
The meetings with Obama, by contrast, were far more predictable: there was mutual disdain, clear expectations about what each leader would say, and the only aim was to maintain appearances of a warm relationship (mostly unsuccessfully). Netanyahus uncertainty about his meeting with Trump was heightened by National Security Advisor Michael Flynns abrupt departure. It was Flynn who was in charge of coordinating the meeting behind the scenes, and relaying information between the administrations.
Netanyahu and Trump at the White House (Photo: AFP)
During the meeting, Trump stunned the White House staff by departing from the decades-long US policy regarding the two-state solution. Im looking at two-state and one-state and I like the one that both parties like, he said, as if he were trying to decide whether he wanted Doritos or pretzels. This turned to be a gift for Netanyahu. Its understood by all that when the leader of the free world says "one-state or two, whatever you like," the real message is: no need for any action. Netanyahu can continue dragging his feet and maintaining the status quo, which has been his strategy from the start when it comes to the question of Palestinian statehood.
Netanyahu and Trump had something to bond over in their meeting: both leaders are at a low in terms of approval ratings. Netanyahu is under serious police investigation for corruption charges. Trump, on the other hand, had just suffered the pushback against his draconian executive orders, and is now dealing with a White House that looks more and more like a madhouse. Its hard to say whether Trump has a grasp of what the two-state proposal even looks like, and whether he has bothered to read about it. Its a world of a difference from Bill Clinton, who used to pore over maps and knew the layout of east Jerusalem like the back of his hand, or Obama, who could draw the proposed border between Israel and the would-be Palestinian state on a napkin.
Trump doesnt seem to understand that the one-state, under Netanyahu, would be an apartheid stateof a different form from South Africas version, but apartheid nonethelesswhere Israel would rule over millions of second-class citizens, who have no right to vote, and who have been living under brutal occupation for half a century.
Its no coincidence that throughout decades of US foreign policy, theres been bi-partisan agreement on the two-state solution. Two-states, for now, is the only game in town. When it comes to the relationship between Israel and Palestine, there are no magic formulas or wheels to be reinvented. But Netanyahu has no intention of accepting a full Palestinian state. He may settle for limited Palestinian control over some territories, but not full Palestinian sovereigntyand for this pseudo-state, Netanyahu would be right to say hes got no partner on the Palestinian side.
The meeting with Trump loosened Netanyahu from the shackles of the two-state proposal. Netanyahu doesnt have to freeze settlement building, or face threats and reprimands from Washington. Most importantly, he no longer has to fake interest in a peace process based on two states. Netanyahu left the White House elated.
When I asked him about the meeting with Trump at a press briefing at the Blair House, he spoke of Trump as if in love: I met many presidents, and Trump is the friendliest toward Israel. When asked about two-state versus one-state, Netanyahu made no commitments, except to say, I dont want to annex two million Palestinians (in West Bank) and I dont want them to be our citizens.
He may not want to, but thats what hes doing, and now fully backed by the White House.
Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh is likely to adopt a recommendation in which Lahav 433the unit incorporating the most important investigative units in the Israel Policewould be subordinate to him and not the head of the Investigation and Intelligence Department.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
The move has displeased some senior officials in the police, especially the new head of the Investigation and Intelligence Department, Assistant Commissioner Gadi Siso, whose predecessors were responsible for the unit.
Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh (Effi Shrir)
Former head of the Investigation and Intelligence Division, Yossi Sadbon, said, "This is a move that is not healthy for the organization and the commissioner himself doesn't have time to deal with all the responsibilities the unit requires."
Lahav 433 contains the National Financial Investigations Unit, the National Fraud Investigations Unitwhich deals with white collar crime and political corruptionand the Unit of International Crime Investigations.
Gadi Siso
Siso is currently the deputy head of Lahav 433 and is set to replace Deputy Commissioner Manny Yitzhaki, who has managed two investigations into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; the 1000 and 2000 cases, which concern the "Netanyahu-Mozes" affair and Netanyahu's alleged receiving gifts from Arnon Milchan.
Siso is expected to assume the position once the police forward their recommendation to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, which is expected to occur in the coming weeks.
With the new position, Siso will be promoted to the rank of Deputy Commissioner.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed US President Donald Trump's statement on the rise of anti-Semitism in the past few weeks, saying that "it's important that he took an aggressive stance against anti-Semitism, and it's important that we all continue to do so in the coming years."
Netanyahu said this in a synagogue in Sidney, during his visit to Australia.
In recent weeks there were bomb threats in Jewish community centers and desecrations of Jewish graves in Missouri. Trump addressed these incidents, saying that "anti-Semitism is a terrible thing. It's going to stop and it must stop."
An upgraded version of the Iron Dome missile defense system has successfully passed a series of tests in recent days, in which the new jointly-developed Tamir interceptor missile destroyed several projectiles.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
The experiments are part of a set, annual program conducted by the Ministry of Defense and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
Video courtesy of the Ministry of Defense (: ", )
X
Multiple missiles fired simultaneously (Photo: Ministry of Defense)
The experiments were conducted in the south and meant to test the ability of the Iron Dome to intercept a variety of targets fired simultaneously at different ranges.
The upgraded Iron Dome (Photo: Ministry of Defense)
The use of the Tamir missile is significant as the missile itself contains components that were jointly designed and built by both Israel and the United States under an agreement signed in 2014.
Footage of the interception (Photo: Ministry of Defense)
Under the conditions of the agreement, Israel is committed to having some components manufactured in the United States through Raytheon and the United States Missile Defense Agency.
The defense establishment is seeking to establish a national system for all of Israels missile defense systemsincluding Iron Dome, Davids Sling, Arrow 2 and Arrow 3in order to improve the economy of battle, thus shortening the amount of time required for target acquisition and the use of the appropriate missiles at the appropriate range, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars per unit.
Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman is asking Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to check whether or not MK Yoel Hasson (Zionist Union) committed a criminal offense when he wrote a fictitious letter of resignation for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a letter of resignation from his position as Minister of Communications. Two days later, according to Braverman, Hasson apparently spread a letter on Twitter signed by Netanyahu indicating that he had resigned as Prime Minister.
'Why just the ministry of communication? Here Netanyahu, I also made this for you, all that's left is to send it.'
MK Yoel Hasson (Photo: Dana Koppel)
MK Hasson was not satisfied with just forging the letter, but he also added a section saying why just from the Ministry of Communications? Here Netanyahu, I also made this for you, all thats left is to send it. I am confident of the severity of the act, a deliberate manipulation of a letter from the Prime Minister while using his signature, which is clearly an offense under the law, wrote Braverman to Mandelblit.
In response, Hasson said, I am honored to accept criticism from the master of Netanyahu fake news and forgeries. Its nice to know that the prime minister, who should be worrying about threats on the scale of Iran, Hezbollah or Hamas, prefers to go head-to-head with a Twitter joke. It is clear that Netanyahu understands his political end is near and as such, every Twitter jab becomes an existential threat to him. Even this violent and brutal move by Netanyahu will not stop me from working to replace him.
ISIS-affiliated groups opened a major offensive in the tri-nation border of Israel, Syria and Jordan, attacking various rebel factions and have managed to take control of four villagesAdwan, Saham al-Jawlan, Jalin and Tasilin addition to the strategic southwestern suburb of Daraa, which is the capital of Hauran.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
Areas change hands somewhat frequently, but a rapid victory on this scale has not been seen in some time. This could be one of the reasons why the Golan-area Khaled ibn Al-Walid Army has been getting a lot of screen time on ISIS media outlets.
ISIS forces advancing in the Golan
Images of fighters along with looted villages and graphic images of dead rebelsincluding those belonging to Islamist factionshave been published and documented.
Ahrar al-Sham, one of the Salafist groups fighting the ISIS affiliates, admitted to losing fighters in the area of Hait, which appears to be the focal point of fighting between the two groups.
Weapons caches from the Houran area
On the third day of fighting, the Amaq News Agency reported that 104 rebel fighters had been killed and ISIS was maintaining control of the villages despite fighting raging in other areas.
The leader of the Khaled ibn Al-Walid Armyan amalgam of the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, the Islamic Muthanna Movement and the Army of Jihadis Abu Mohammad al-Magdisi, a Palestinian by birth.
Map detailing ISIS advances in the tri-nation border
Despite the focus of ISIS being on other rebel groups in the area, Israel and Jordan are both watching events in the area closely, with the prospect of ISIS gaining more control in the area worrying to both countries.
IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, addressed the Syrian front Wednesday during a meeting with the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset. According to Eisenkot, it is possible that by spring, the fight for control of the Syrian Golan will begin anew. The Israeli interest, said Eisenkot, is that the other side be orderly, so that foreign forces will be gone and UNDOF will return.
Law enforcement agencies have opened an investigation after a bomb threat was phoned in Wednesday to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Headquarters in New York City.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said it appears to be no more than a threat, but that nevertheless, the organization is "taking it very seriously."
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt (Photo: PR)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he has directed state police to coordinate with federal and local law enforcement agencies investigating the phone threat.
The ADL said it is working with law enforcers to determine if the incident is connected to threats against Jewish institutions nationwide.
Cuomo also cited recent threats targeting Jewish community centers in Buffalo, Albany and Syracuse.
Greenblatt said the incident will not deter the ADL's mission to combat anti-Semitism and "hate against people of all races and religions."
The recent rise in anti-Semitic acts did not go unnoticed by the US government, with President Donald Trump addressing it Tuesday as a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.
Vice President Mike Pence similarly condemned the desecration of a St. Louis Jewish cemetery, where more than 150 headstones were damaged earlier this week, as a "vile act of vandalism."
The Judicial Selection Committee convened and selected four new Supreme Court judges Wednesday night.
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter
Yosef Elron, George Karra, Yael Vilner, and David Mintz were all selected following a discussion with Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked. The selection of these four judges is seen as a victory for the conservative wing, which is led by Shaked.
The Judicial Selection Committee (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)
The selection took place in the shadow of a bitter dispute between judges and politicians who were presented with a list of 26 candidates. The dispute centered on some committee members and judges being opposed to the appointment of Judge Yosef Elron, of the Haifa District Court.
According to the law, in order to be chosen for the position of Supreme Court judge, a majority of seven out of nine members on the Judicial Selection Committee is required.
Judge Yael Vilner (Photo: Yair Sagi)
Judge George Karra (Photo: Shaul Golan)
Judge Yael Vilner, the first religious, female judge was nominated by Shaked.
Judge George Karra, who was supported by Supreme Court President Miriam Naor and other Supreme Court members, competed with another Arab sector candidate, Khaled Kabub. Karra was also the judge who is noted for sentencing former President Moshe Katzav to seven years in prison.
Another judge that Shaked supported and managed to put on the list of candidates was Jerusalem District Court Judge David Mintz, who is a resident of Dolev in the West Bank. Shaked sees Mintz as a conservative appointment who will listen to the religious right and settlers.
Judge Yosef Elron
Judge David Mintz (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
Following the appointment of the four new judges, Shaked Tweeted, Welcome to the new Supreme Court judges Dr. David Mintz, Yael Vilner, Yosef Elron and George Karra. Finally, a diverse group that mirrors Israeli society. Good luck!
The Israel Bar Association said in response to the appointments, The association welcomes the decision of the Judicial Selection Committee. The appointments that were approved today are excellent appointments that will reinforce the Supreme Court. We would like to especially congratulate the President of the Supreme Court, Miriam Naor, and Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked, who despite their disagreements, managed to close the gaps and select four new judges.
A top aide of French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has been handed preliminary charges in an investigation into money spent on her party's European Parliament assistants.
Paris prosecutor's office said that aide Catherine Griset was detained for questioning Wednesday, and subsequently charged with breach of trust.
Le Pen's bodyguard Thierry Legier, who was also questioned, was released without charge.
Both were employed as European Parliament assistants.
Asked about the questioning, Le Pen dismissed the probe Wednesday as "political maneuvering" ahead of France's two-round April-May presidential election.
Prompted by a European Commission investigation into the case, the Paris prosecutor's office opened a judicial inquiry on potential charges including fraud, abuse of trust and organized criminal activity. Investigators are also looking at other National Front members' use of parliamentary aides.
Investigators suspect that members of Le Pen's National Front used legislative aides for the party's political activity while they were on the European Parliament's payroll. The party denies wrongdoing.
LINCOLN Nebraskas lopsided reliance upon property tax dollars to fund public education cannot continue.
That message was delivered to state senators Tuesday morning in the noisy capital rotunda just beyond the doors of the legislative chamber on the other side of which senators were churning through their day.
Tuesday mornings press conference was pulled together by the disparate members of Nebraskans United for Property Tax Reform and Education.
York superintendent Dr. Mike Lucas has been prominent in sounding the warning repeatedly, on the pages of this newspapers and anywhere else people are likely to see or hear it: The system of basing state aid to school districts almost entirely upon local property tax is a path to certain collapse.
The boot lands heaviest upon the wallets of farm families who must pay disproportionately because property tax, as currently calculated, leans far too prominently on valuation and includes much too little common sense.
York Public Schools, Lucas told his board at its last meeting, is the poster child the perfect storm to illustrate the problem.
Lucas, who has beaten the drum on this issue many, many times over years of time, gave it a pounding again Tuesday in Lincoln. Looking on were state education leaders, senators and fellow members of this unlikely new team effort.
The message Lucas pounds out to anyone who will listen is, Its not school spending that has the state in a sorry state, its a funding problem.
As valuation has increased the states responsibility for education has decreased, he said.
By way of illustration, Yorks state funds have nosedived from two and three million dollars a scant few years ago to zero, which is the amount the York board is counting upon in its next budget.
The present formula slides that responsibility, like piles of poker markers, over to local taxpayers. As valuations have surged upward that, in turn, has landowners and farmers in York County speeding toward a cliff with no one at the controls.
York School Board member Barb Skaden stepped to the podium and said, This needs to be a top priority.
Her commitment to do all she can to make it so, Skaden said, is why she drove to Lincoln for the press conference.
Jerry Stahr, a York County landowner and farmer, produced a three-legged stool when his turn came to speak, but this wasnt a typical stool as the accompanying photo makes clear.
On leg represents sales tax, a second is income tax and the third that great long one - is property tax. Stahrs clever piece of furniture makes clear the obligation forced on property owners eclipses either of the other two in terms of proportion.
It doesnt work, he said again, holding his stool high for all to see.
Stahr offered it up to anyone who would like to try such a balancing act. There were no takers.
Steve Nelson of Nebraska Farm Bureau opened the press conference, fielded questions at the end and then offered closing remarks.
The wildly diverse coalition partners, he said, are telling the story, So this critical issue does not get ignored.
Nelson acknowledged that many of the organizations that stand shoulder-to-shoulder trying to fix this wagon and get it tracking straight again have little else about which they can agree.
That, he said, made Wednesday a momentous day in Nebraska.
Speaking of the urgency here, that brought some strange bedfellows together in one cause, Nelson said, We have a clear understanding that how we fund education is not sustainable.
Wednesday the coalition also rolled out its two guiding principles:
Adequate and sustainable funding of high-quality K-12 education is imperative for the future of Nebraska.
A well-educated workforce is essential for economic development and high quality of life. Education reduces poverty, boosts economic growth and increases income.
In sum, education is one of the most important investments a state can make in its people and its future. Low levels of state funding for education is at the heart of Nebraskas property tax issues, not school spending.
Tax reform which reduces the over-reliance on local property tax is necessary to ensure our tax system is fair to all Nebraska taxpayers.
Nebraska must reduce property taxes to ensure a fair and balanced tax system in light of the fact the state ranks 49th in America for the percentage of K-12 funding that comes from the state. Nebraska also pays the seventh highest effective property tax rate in the nation. To fund the state budget will require a tax system that is fair and balanced for all Nebraska taxpayers. Nebraska K-12 schools receive 33 percent of their funding from state sources while the national average is 47 percent. Nebraska K-12 schools receive 49 percent of their funding from local property taxes while the national average is 29 percent.
Members of Nebraskans United for Property Tax Reform and Education include: Nebraska Farm Bureau, Nebraska Council of School Administrators, Nebraska State Education Association, Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association, Women Involved in Farm Economics, Gage County Property Tax Group, Nebraska Wheat Growers, Schools Taking Action for Nebraska Childrens Education, Nebraska Fair, Nebraska Corn Growers Association, Reform for Nebraskas Future, Nebraska Farmers Union, Nebraska Soybean Association, Nebraska Pork Producers, Independent Cattlemen of Nebraska, Greater Nebraska Schools Association.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Authorities say theyve arrested a man who fired at a Nebraska state trooper during a chase.
The chase began early Tuesday morning in Valley and ended when the mans car went into a ditch. The man took off running but was captured with the help of a police dog.
The man was taken to an Omaha hospital for treatment of his injuries. His name hasnt been released.
The trooper was not hit by the mans gunshots. The troopers name hasnt been released either.
Finding a job can be a challenge for anyone, but it is especially hard for young people with intellectual disabilities.
Soft skills such as how to make small talk, how to call in sick, personal hygiene, time management and customer service are often lacking. These essential elements of employability must be intentionally taught for these individuals to have workplace success.
Thats where Project SEARCH comes in. Each school year, Project SEARCH accepts up to five students who are in their last year of high school. It is an internship program designed to transition young adults with disabilities from the high school setting into employment within the workplace. The program provides real-life work experience combined with training in employability and independent living skills to help young adults with disabilities make successful transitions from school to productive adult life.
Project SEARCH participants complete three 10-week internships, rotating through different entry-level positions within York General Hospital, Hearthstone, Willow Brook and the West View Medical Building. The internships are unpaid, but the experience the interns gain from them is very valuable.
Young people from York, McCool, Shickley, Geneva, Utica, Milford, Wilber and Henderson have participated in the program in the past five years. Each year they have between 80 and 100 percent employment after graduating from the program and maintain a high rate of employment several years after graduation.
It is wonderful to see their growth, said Project SEARCH instructor/coordinator Nichole Wetjen. They come in scared and shy, and they leave knowing what they want to do and having confidence to do it. Wetjen credits the success of Project SEARCH to the team of service providers, instructors and parents who support the interns, as well as the supportive individuals and businesses that make up the community of York.
The funds Project SEARCH receives annually from United Way provide the interns with the means to travel to conferences and job fairs, as well as classroom supplies and materials. Wetjen says that their wish list includes new technology (the computers and tablets currently in use for helping students make resumes and research job opportunities are getting old) and a fund for purchasing uniforms for the interns, including scrubs and professional clothes.
If you would like to provide funds for Project SEARCH and many other worthy organizations in our community, please visit http://unitedwayofyork.org.
As part of our work in the community, we will regularly feature some of the agencies that receive funds from your donations to United Way of York. For more information or to make a donation for our community fund, see http://unitedwayofyork.org.
Tinker Reservists return from fueling the fight
More than 90 Citizen Airmen and four KC-135R Stratotankers from the 507th Air Refueling Wing here returned home Feb. 17 and 19 after supporting deployed air operations against the Islamic State group at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey.
The Reservists provided air refueling support to U.S. and coalition forces operating in U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility for Operation Inherent Resolve from Dec. 13, 2016, to Feb. 16.
The 507ths fleet logged more than 1,100 combat support hours during the deployment, while refueling the B-2 Spirit, the F-15E Strike Eagle, the A-10 Warthog and other various aircraft while providing direct maintenance support for multiple KC-135s and other aircraft stationed at Incirlik Air Base.
The Oklahoma Citizen Airmen joined a team of active duty, guard and Reserve Airmen from nine different bases, making up the 447th Air Expeditionary Group. The total force group became familiar with a multitude of airframes in order to work effectively with different nations.
Senior Airman Jennifer Wagoner of the 507th Maintenance Group said that working with different cultures was a great part of the deployment.
Im really thankful for our country, our team and what we did in our missions, Wagoner said. We were all very excited to come home. It didnt really hit us until the pilots announced to the plane, 35 minutes out, get everything ready.
Being separated from family during the holidays is a challenge, but Wagoners husband, Ronnie, said that frequent communication was key while his wife was away.
We even invested in the international text plan so we could talk, Ronnie said. We are just glad shes home.
The expeditionary maintenance unit worked around the clock in 12-hour shifts, working together on more than just the KC-135s. They also regularly provided support to fighter, cargo and bomber aircraft maintenance teams.
It was a good trip, said Tech. Sgt. Shannon Hielscher of the 507th Maintenance Squadron. We had a lot of really good people to work with while working some really long hours.
The 507th ARW is the largest Air Force Reserve Command flying unit in the state of Oklahoma, and the wings Reservists primarily live and work in the state. The wing regularly deploys in support of Operation Inherent Resolve with the next large deployment scheduled for this summer.
Reserve Affairs senior civilian visits 340 FTG
The 340th Flying Training Group hosted John Fedrigo, deputy assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Reserve Affairs and Airman Readiness, here Feb. 13. During the visit, Fedrigo was briefed on the 340 FTG mission and experienced the operations firsthand.
As a member of the Senior Executive Service charged with planning, establishing policy for and implementing activities for the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, as well as Total Force Airman Readiness, Fedrigos work at the Pentagon has a direct impact on the 340 FTGs citizen airmen.
Group leadership met with Fedrigo before joining the headquarters team for a mission brief. Fedrigo commented that he greatly appreciated having this special time to listen to airmen here at Randolph and to engage with the 340 FTG leadership team.
Im honored to meet and spend time with the stellar men and women of the 340 FTG, said Fedrigo. As in all Total Force Integration organizations across the Air Force, Reserve airmen are indistinguishable from their Regular Air Force counterparts.
He also participated in an orientation flight with the 39th Flying Training Squadron where he was able to experience the skill and knowledge of the Reserve pilot instructors that augment AETCs flying training mission.
Its our job in SAF-MR to provide the guidance and policy to ensure integrated efforts, such as the flight training here at Randolph, and across the Air Force, run as smooth as they can, said Fedrigo. Just as important: we have to ensure that the Air Force is taking care of airmen, regardless of component.
Fedrigo reiterated this sentiment at a ceremony later in the day that honored retired Lt. Col. Todd Ernst for his efforts to take care of the families of fallen Reserve and Guard personnel. Ernst was instrumental in helping bring about the legislative change that now ensures Reserve and Guard personnel and their families will receive survivor benefits equal to those provided to the surviving families of active duty service members.
Fedrigo presented Ernst with a letter of appreciation and coin from the office of Air Force Manpower and Reserve Affairs.
Reflecting on the day, Fredrigo said, I had great discussions with the 340 FTG leadership team and look forward to working with them and the folks back at the Pentagon to ensure these talented airmen continue to excel at the amazing job they do producing the next generation of Air Force pilots.
I remember her smile and the Spanish word that often came with it: "linda" (pretty).
She used that word for our daughter Emily, she of the wild, dark curls whom we had adopted in Paraguay in 1992. She used that word about many other children under her care in that tiny, one-story house on Hazel Terrace, the one with the backyard sandbox near the wooden swing.
When Emily was about 18 months old, and we needed child care, we brought her to the one all of us would call "Tia" (aunt) for long after.
Those terms of endearment are part of what shapes the memory of that diminutive women with outsized spirit who has now left us.
Silvia Alvarez Dominguez died on Thursday, Feb. 16, after suffering long with Alzheimer's. She was 82.
An account of her life from Keefe Funeral Home in Arlington provides some background, and I add other details:
She was born on Jan. 23, 1935, in Santiago, Chile, to General Rene Alvarez Marin and Silvia Boza Trocheu.
While attending law school, she met the love of her life, Carlos Eugenio Dominguez Vial. They married in 1958.
In the early 1970s, she cofounded Chile's Christian Left party and served as its executive secretary. She fought for the rights of workers as well as of women and children living in "Las Poblaciones" (shanty towns).
Following the military coup in 1973, ousting President Salvador Allende and launching murderous years under Augusto Pinochet, she and her husband were exiled and came to the United States, as refugees. They came with a suitcase each and their four daughters, age 6 to 14 years old. They settled in Arlington.
Soon after, Dominguez became one of the first family child-care providers licensed by Massachusetts, and for more than 30 years, she was known as "Tia" to hundreds of children and their families. She was a loving caregiver and small-business owner. Through hard work, she achieved her dream of owning a home.
Dominguez remained active in politics throughout her life and was a strong supporter of the Democratic Party and, in particular, women running for office.
Liberation theology
She was a devout Catholic and followed liberation theology, an interpretation of Christian theology that emphasizes a concern for the liberation of the oppressed.
Her husband was honored at the annual Martin Luther King birthday observance in 1993, the year he died at age 61 at then-nearby Symmes Hospital. Under Allende, he had been Chile's senior executive for agricultural foreign trade programs for the Andean region.
Soon after becoming a widow at 58 years old, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She continued to work and learned how to drive a car, while beating the disease.
Silvia loved chocolate, old movies, Frank Sinatra, the color red, a good bourbon and was an avid reader of mysteries.
I remember her reading them, but not as she sat in her backyard, surrounded by playing children, Emily among them. In the years my daughter was there, before she attended the Stratton, I recall how Emily wanted to help with the young charges. Tia encouraged her.
Now 24, Emily cares for children at Bright Horizons, a living legacy of what her "aunt" has passed on.
Dominguez is survived by her four daughters, Maria Ester Dominguez Roy, Silvia Dominguez, Maria del Carmen Dominguez and Rosario Dominguez; two sisters, Marcela and Loreto; three son-in-laws, Rick Roy, Fabricio Franco and Jim McLeod; and her grandchildren, Trey, Marcela, Zach, Matias A., Matias F., Mikaela, Rachel and Carlos.
In lieu of flowers, friends are encouraged to make a donation to the Alzheimer's Association in Dominguez's name.
A service was held at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 20, at Saint Agnes Church. A celebration with family and friends followed in Arlington.
This news story including opinion was published Sunday, Feb. 18, 2017, and moved to the site's blog entries Feb. 22. Before it moved, the piece had 696 hits.
This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company.
As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism.
We hope you are equally as excited as us.
This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers.
Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited.
In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy.
Happy shootin' my friends!
Buying Guides:
Firearms
Firearm Accessories
Ammunition
Gun Safes
Scopes & Optics
Hunting
Air Rifles
Best AR-15
Best AR 15 Scope
Best Hunting Rifle
Best Gun Safe
Best AK 47
Best AR 10
Best Glock Triggers
Best Glock
Best Home Defense Shotgun
Only if you perform due diligence and are ready to sign on the dotted line immediately, said many seasoned real estate agents.
Theyre still highly sought after by clients, said Tristan Rowland, a Brisbane-based Place Aspley agent. The wait lists are huge, he told the Domain Group. If I get a listing, it sells within days or the day I list them. You have a look on the internet theyre all under contract.
Tristan cites a splitter block at 85 Fallon Street in Everton Park, Queensland, as an example. The 1,225 square-metre block was already listed on two titles but had the option to reconfigure to three titles. Needless to say, demand from developers and investors was intense when it was listed.
I cant give you an exact sale price as its not unconditional yet, but I can tell you it went for over $1 million, Rowland said. Considering a standard 405 square block sells for around $400,000 around here, the total re-sale price would be about $1.2 million for the three blocks.
Though the profits might seem big, he said theres often too many costs involved in developing the land to make it worthwhile for inexperienced investors.
The profits come from the redevelopment. A lot of the guys we have buying these splitter blocks are full-time builders. They build the new contemporary homes themselves thats where they make all their money because the demand for brand new contemporary homes is insatiable, he said.
According to Anthony Hunt, area manager at Coronis, making money by investing in splitter blocks is a lot harder than it used to be. The gloss has worn off splitter blocks over the past five years because the costs associated with them are pretty huge, he said. It can cost $30,000 to $40,000 to remove the house. Add in all the associated development and services costs and it stacks up very quickly.
The total cost of turning over the average splitter block depends on the individual circumstances of each block. For the standard 810 square-metre block that will be split into two, an investor would have to fork out about $70,000 to $75,000 for the process.
The biggest component of that is the infrastructure charges ($28,000) and then you have the cost of surveyors, town planners and the actual physical cost of installing the services, said Scott Entwistle, planning manager at Brisbane-based urban planning firm DTS. In a best case scenario, this process takes three months but sometimes that can blow out to double or triple that time.
Entwistle also warned mum and dad investors to perform due diligence before signing anything. Among other things, investors should ensure that the storm water drains into a lawful point of discharge.
Rowland said the biggest challenge for investors wanting to snag a splitter block is competition from moneyed developers.
You have to be so quick. Developers have got cash in their pocket and it can be impossible to compete with that, he said. Theres still a lot of money to be made were talking $80,000 in a week but youve got to be prepared to move quickly and have your research already done.
A typical sales pitch offers investors a guaranteed rental income for a year, three years, or longer. While these returns might appear attractive, theyre actually a trap as developers use this ruse to keep flooding the market with over-priced units.
Investors eyeing apartments in Brisbane and Melbourne, in particular, need to be extra careful. As reported by Cameron Kusher, head of research at CoreLogic RP Data, Brisbane is set to see the biggest uplift in total unit stock followed by Melbourne and clearly in more immature unit markets this carries a risk.
Kusher highlighted inner-city locations in Melbourne and Brisbane as carrying the most risk from an oversupply of units. If projected stock is completed over the next 24 months, unit stock in Brisbane Inner will increase by 33.6%, 33.3% in Inner-North, and 32.5% in Holland Park-Yeronga.
How the trap is set
Developers offer rental guarantees when theyre struggling to sell apartments at the prices they want.
For example, a developer has a block of 100 units and he needs to sell them for $350,000. However, prices are falling in an over-supplied market and the true value of the blocks has fallen to $300,000.
As the market is oversaturated, the rental market will only pay $300 a week. Moreover, at a sale price of $350,000, the gross return for investors is only 4.5%. They wont buy at these numbers and will look elsewhere.
By offering rental guarantees, developers can trick investors into making an unwise investment. The developer prices each unit at $350,000 and offers to guarantee rent of $400 per week for two years. This provides a return of 6%, which looks great to investors.
Investors see two years of income security and a great rate of return. Once the investor commits, the developer puts in tenants paying $300 per week (the true market rate) and secretly pays the $100 shortfall to the investor.
Over the two-year period, the developer pays $100 per week to make up for the renters shortfall. However, the developer has been paid $350,000 for a unit thats worth only $300,000. In a development of 100 units, he makes an extra $4m by selling units for more than theyre worth.
Once the two-year agreement expires, the investor now has to find tenants on the open market. Unfortunately, because the rental market remains oversaturated, the weekly rental stays at $300.
The investors return falls from 6% to 4.5%, and the yearly income drops from $21,000 to less than $16,000.
Additionally, the value of the unit has fallen because income has dropped. If the investor decides to sell, hes competing with developers selling units with the same deceptive rental guarantees.
The unit is now worth only $260,000 on the open market and the value of the investment has crashed by $90,000.
To avoid such financial disasters, the smart investor will look elsewhere.
Related stories:
Property Managers Should Be On Their Guard Against Email Fraud
Investors Get Duped: Tax Fraud Scam On Rise
New research by the University of Exeter shows that increased surface ocean temperatures during the strong 2016 El Nino led to a major coral die-off event in the Maldives, and that this has caused reef growth rates to collapse. They also found that the rates at which some reefs species, in particular parrotfish, are eroding the reefs had increased following this coral die-off event.
Similar magnitudes of coral death have been reported on many other reefs in the region, including on the northern Great Barrier Reef, suggesting similar impacts may be very widespread.
Professor Chris Perry and Dr Kyle Morgan, of the University of Exeter's Geography department, studied the impact of the 2016 El Nino event at sites in the southern Maldives and found that the event had not only caused widespread coral bleaching, a phenomenon whereby corals expel their photosynthesising algae when stressed by high temperatures, but that this had also led to extensive coral death in all shallow water reef habitats examined.
Advertisement
"A very major concern now is how quickly these reefs might recover. Recovery from similar past disturbances in the Maldives have taken 10-15 years, but major bleaching events are predicted to become far more frequent than this. If this is the case it could lead to long-term loss of reef growth and so limit the coastal protection and habitat services these reefs presently provide," Professor Perry said.
"The most alarming aspect of this coral die-off event is that it has led to a rapid and very large decline in the growth rate of the reefs. This in turn has major implications not only for the capacity of these reefs to match any increases in sea-level, but is also likely to lead to a loss of the surface structure of the reefs that is so critical for supporting fish species diversity and abundance."
Coral reefs are formed by the accumulation of coral skeletons (made of calcium carbonate) that builds up over 100's to 1000's of years, forming the complex structures that support a huge diversity of marine life. The so-called 'carbonate budget' of a reef, which represents the balance between the rate at which this carbonate is produced by corals and the rate at which it is removed (by biological or physical erosion or chemical dissolution), influences the development of these structures and how fast a reef can grow.
The effect these combined factors was a major decline in the carbonate budgets of these reefs, with an average reduction of 157%. Before the warming event, the reefs had been in a period of rapid growth, but after the period of higher sea temperatures a negative carbonate budget was recorded at all sites. Put simply, the structure of these reefs is now eroding at a faster rate that it is growing. Based on past studies the researchers suggest that given the severity of the bleaching impacts it may take 10 to 15 years for full recovery to occur.
The extent of the 2016 bleaching, which also affected reefs in other parts of the Indian Ocean and Pacific, was so severe that it was subsequently named the 'Third Global Coral Bleaching Event'.
Dr Kyle Morgan said: "Coral reefs provide a wealth of benefits. They are vital habitats, essential for a vast number of species and they are also important for tourism and food provision. The reduction in carbonate budget threatens these benefits and may well also lead to the structural collapse of reefs. The key issue to consider now is whether, and when, these reefs will recover, both ecologically and in terms of their growth. Based on past trajectories, we predict recovery will take at least a decade, however it all depends on the extent of future warming events and climate change."
University of Exeter scientists warned there could be further rises in sea temperatures owing to global warming with potentially devastating effects on coral reefs.
Professor Mat Collins, an expert in climate modelling at the University of Exeter, said:
"We expect El Nino variability to continue into the future which, when combined with rising temperatures due to global warming, means we will see unprecedented sea temperatures and increasing incidence of coral bleaching."
Bleaching drives collapse in reef carbonate budgets and reef growth potential on southern Maldives reefs is published in Scientific Reports.
After some fog clears Wednesday morning, south-central Wisconsin will see another record-setting warm day with highs in the 60s, but a big storm system is on the way that will bring major changes, according to forecasters.
The area will see mostly rain, with some possible thunderstorms and flooding, from the system expected to bring several inches of snow and possibly blizzard conditions to northern Wisconsin Thursday into Friday, the National Weather Service said.
The rain for south-central Wisconsin will change to light snow Friday night into Saturday, but only light accumulations are expected in the area.
Winter storm watches have been issued for southern Minnesota, including Minneapolis, and northwestern Wisconsin, and severe weather is possible in states south and east of Wisconsin.
The Weather Channel reported that Minneapolis/St. Paul hasn't seen an inch or more of snow since it recorded 2.2 inches on Jan. 25, while Chicago hasn't picked up an inch or more of snow since Dec. 16-18 when it received 3.4 inches. That already is the longest such snow drought in records dating back to 1884, and Chicago should get all rain in the late-week system.
The Weather Service has issued a flood warning for the Wisconsin River at Portage until early next week.
Madison set new record high temperatures at 62 on Saturday (Feb. 18), Sunday (Feb. 19), Monday (Feb. 20) and again Tuesday (Feb. 21), after just missing with 60 on Friday (Feb. 17). Madisons record high for Wednesday (Feb. 22.) is 60, while the highest temperature ever recorded in Madison is 64 on Feb. 25, 2000. Both would fall if Madison reaches the Weather Services predicted high of 65.
Five record highs in a row for February was last seen in 1930, the State Climatology Office said.
It is very unusual for February, Ed Hopkins, assistant state climatologist at the Climatology Office on the UW-Madison campus, told the Wisconsin State Journal on Tuesday.
But five records in a row and six straight days of 60 degrees or warmer this time of year is not unprecedented.
Hopkins, at the request of the Wisconsin State Journal, pored through spreadsheets from the past 150 years of meteorological record-keeping to find the longest record-breaking warm streaks in Madison history.
Madison has had three streaks of nine record-breaking high temperatures in a row since 1891, according to the Climatology Office records. The most recent, in 1953, saw highs in the upper 90s to 100 from Aug. 25 to Sept. 2.
Hopkins said weve also had two streaks of eight record highs in a row, in April 1879 and July 1936.
In Madison on Wednesday, look for patchy fog before 9 a.m., otherwise sunny skies, with a high near 65 and south winds at 5 to 15 miles per hour, the Weather Service said.
After an overnight low around 39 with some patchy fog after 4 a.m., Thursday features patchy fog before noon, a 40 percent chance for rain after noon, mostly cloudy skies, a high near 46 and northwest winds at 5 to 10 mph turning out of the east in the afternoon.
The chance for showers and possibly a storm is 90 percent overnight Thursday into Friday, with possible rain total of three-quarters of an inch to an inch, as the low falls to around 37.
The chance for precipitation is 60 percent Friday in the form of rain, with possible totals of a tenth to a quarter of an inch; 70 percent Friday night and Saturday in the form of rain before 11 p.m., rain and snow from 11 p.m. through 1 a.m., then snow after 1 a.m. to noon; 30 percent Sunday in the form of snow before 2 p.m., rain and snow from 2 p.m. through 4 p.m., then snow after 4 p.m.; 20 percent in the form of snow Sunday night; and 50 percent in the form of rain and snow Tuesday.
Skies over Madison should be mostly cloudy Friday, cloudy Saturday, partly sunny Sunday, mostly sunny Monday, and mostly cloudy Tuesday, with highs near 49, 30, 35, 40 and 47, and lows Friday night through Monday night around 27, 18, 20 and 31.
27 Storm Track meteorologist Branden Borremans forecasts areas of fog early giving way to sunshine and the warmest day ever in February in Madison, rain and possible storms Thursday night ending with scattered morning showers Friday, light snow or flurries late Friday night, flurries ending Saturday morning, flurries possible late Sunday, a light mix possible Monday night, and showers Tuesday.
Borremans said skies over Madison should be mostly sunny Wednesday, increasingly cloudy Thursday, mostly cloudy Friday and Saturday, cloudy Sunday, sunny with increasing clouds Monday, cloudy Tuesday, and mostly sunny next Wednesday, with highs near 67, 48, 45, 32, 32, 37, 45 and 36, and overnight lows around 39, 38, 28, 17, 19, 33, 22 and 28.
Tuesdays high in Madison was 62, 29 degrees above normal and breaking the prior record of 60, set in 1930.
Tuesdays low in Madison was 42 at 7:13 a.m., 25 degrees above the normal low and 57 degrees above the record low of 15 below for Feb. 21, set in 1873 and 2008.
Officially, 0.02 inches of precipitation was recorded at the Dane County Regional Airport on Tuesday, boosting Madisons February total to 0.71 inches, 0.32 inches below normal. The meteorological winter (December through February) precipitation total (rain plus snow converted to liquid) rose to 5.5 inches, 1.5 inches above normal. Madisons 2017 precipitation total rose to 3.47 inches, 1.21 inches below normal.
Madisons record precipitation for Feb. 21 is 1.54 inches in 1922.
With no snow on Tuesday, Madisons February total stayed at a trace, 8.2 inches below normal. For meteorological winter, Madison has received 33.8 inches, 0.8 inches below normal. For the snow season (since July 1), Madison has received 33.8 inches, 4.9 inches below normal.
Madisons record snowfall for Feb. 21 is 7.8 inches in 1993.
Bill Novak of the State Journal contributed to this report.
Garlic a day
Garlic a day: Researchers in Liverpool have found that 5ml of garlic extract lower levels of a disease-causing chemical by up to 48 per cent.
A Beaver Dam man called a "career criminal" by prosecutors was sentenced to six years in prison for making threats to police officers.
Steven Bilke, 47, was sentenced by Circuit Judge Joseph Sciascia in Dodge County Court in Juneau. Bilke will also have four years of extended supervision following his prison term.
"Bilke is a career criminal, with over 30 prior criminal convictions, and has been in an out of prison for the last 20 years," said Dodge County District Attorney Kurt Klomberg.
The conviction and sentence stems from an incident on May 9, 2016, when officers responded to a domestic incident in Beaver Dam involving Bilke.
"He confronted officers (at the scene) and then threatened three officers with a barrage of profanities later at the Beaver Dam Community Hospital, telling them he would come to their homes and beat them," Klomberg said.
A Madison man has been arrested for allegedly robbing a McDonald's restaurant on the North Side a week ago, the man telling police his motive was to get money to buy drugs.
Anthony Hinrichs, 29, was tentatively charged with robbery with threat of force, Madison police said.
The robbery happened the evening of Feb. 15 at the McDonald's at 2901 Dryden Drive.
Hinrichs allegedly ordered some cookies then stepped around the counter to take money from a register after the drawer was opened by an employee.
"The suspect turned himself in to police last week and confessed to the robbery," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain in updating the story on Wednesday. "He said he committed the crime in order to get money for drugs."
By DN Singh It has become a usual feature of the wildlife wing of Orissa to get off their state of inertness once the damage is done. A similar kind of amateur action threw three lives off balance. But thanks to the intervention of media and judiciary, the damage was undone. Earlier, a speechless animal is within the concrete confines of a zoo, trying hard to recover from the trauma after the sudden shift of habitat. One was put behind bars for taking its care. And third: a three-year-old child was made victim of a senseless and knee-jerk decision. With least regard to the ground realities, the top brass in the Wildlife Department still frown at the jailed tribal, supposedly the villain of the entire episode. And the lonely inmate in the zoo, an eighteen-month year old sloth bear brought from Keonjhar portrays a tale of tragic separation, shock, trauma and of a shattered symbiotic bond. About 18 months back a tribal, Ram Singh Munda, from Ruplisila village in Keonjhar district, stumbled upon a bear cub battling with illness in a ditch inside the jungle, perhaps after being separated from its mother. Unable to locate the mother anywhere around, Ram brought it home. The sick bear cub slowly recovered from her illness and the love and care of the man breathed a new lease of life into the little soul. Within months the cub not only became a part of the family but a real darling of the household; more so, the sweetheart of Ram`s three-year-old motherless daughter. A bond that can be best described as an example of symbiosis. Named Rani, the cub grew in absolute freedom, moving around, playing with the daughter and other kids of the village and even sleeping near Ram or his daughter. As she grew, Ram grew a little worried about her safety and once even informed the forest authorities. However, despite his meager family income, Ram never allowed Rani to be treated differently from his own daughter. This exemplary bond between man and animal could not escape media attention. A few days back it hogged the headlines and after that the forest department of Keonjhar suddenly came out its state of stupor and acted in a very amateurish manner. Dubbing his action as a gross violation of the Wildlife Act 1972, they dragged Ram out of his house and put him behind the bars and literally lifted Rani out of her home and dumped her in a concrete enclosure at the Nandankaanan zoo. Two souls were shattered with shock. Ram was left to languish in jail and Rani was abandoned in the confines of the zoo in absolute trauma. Almost for three days, the bear refused to touch food and water. And this became a cause for the soaring worries of the zoo keepers and the safety of Rani is still under a question mark. Can she survive the sudden alienation from her habitat and the love of Ram and her daughter? "The forest officials have in a knee jerk reaction seized the sloth bear " says Biswajit Mohanty, an ardent wildlife activist adding that " they have, in their zeal, forgotten to keep the interest of the bear in mind- which might die of loneliness after being abruptly detached from its keeper." An eighteen-month-old fairy tale has hit the block of an absolutely mindless decision taken by the babus in the Forest Department of Orissa who, of course, enjoy the unenviable reputation of being incapable in such exigencies. When this reporter contacted the state`s Principal Chief Conservator of Wildlife about the department`s wisdom behind detaching Rani from Ram and imprisoning the latter, the officer`s reaction could startle any one. "The action taken in this case was taken by the officers who belong to the Territorial wing, so I can not comment much on that.` That comes from an officer who heads the wildlife wing. Ironically, in this whole episode, the PFA played a catalysts role behind the bear cub`s immediate release from Ram Singh`s clutches and was found baying for the tribal`s blood for violation of the Wildlife Act ` 72. But, interestingly, in a press release in Bhubaneswar, the PFA Secretary had urged the state government not to arrest Ram Singh as the latter had never made any commercial gain out of Rani nor had tortured her! And the worst that has happened is that, after Ram Singh`s arrest, back in his home, his three year old daughter has been left to her fate. The child is in total trauma and there is nobody to take care of her. A reality that has not struck the minds of either the forest or the district authorities. As an after thought the local authorities have decided to offer alms to the child in the shape of food, twice a day. Nothing could be more appalling than this; an innocent child who is already sinking in a brooding gloom of separation, her fate has been entrusted to a few officials. On Monday, the tribal was granted bail by the local court, as its attention was drawn to the child`s fate. Now that Ram is out on a bail from the court, philanthropy is in the air. The state that earlier appeared anything but just, now, thanks to media and the judiciary, has thought of supporting Ram`s daughter in her studies and food etc.. Even the local unit of PFA also has gone a step forward. It has not only volunteered to take total care of Rams daughter, but it has also suddenly found a hidden virtue in Ram Singhs behaviour and expressed its willingness to employ him. For them, it appears, Ram can be a real animal caretaker.
A four-unit apartment building in Berlin is considered a total loss after fire engulfed the building Tuesday night.
Nobody was injured in the fire reported at about 8 p.m. at the Quarry Street Apartments, 125 Quarry St., Berlin police said.
Police and firefighters arriving on scene said the building was engulfed in flames.
All occupants were evacuated safely. The four families displaced by the fire were getting help from the Red Cross.
The cause of the fire was not known.
"Once we are able to investigate the scene thoroughly with the fire marshals, we hope to have more answers on the cause of the fire," said Police Capt. Kevin Block.
"Berlin is a close-knit community and will come together to help these families that suffered this loss."
The Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation has also been contacted to help in the investigation, police said.
Ghaziabad: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday demanded death penalty for four policemen who were involved in a more than two-decade-old staged shootout in Bhojpur, in Ghaziabad district.
At a hearing, CBI prosecutor Rajan Dahiya, terming the incident rarest of rare, said the motive of the policemen was to get promotion in the garb of a daring shootout, and they committed cold-blooded murder of Jasbir Singh, Ashok Kumar, Pravesh and Jalalludin.
"The society demands that the policemen be hanged," the CBI prosecutor said.
Countering Dahiya, defence lawyer Shammi Sharma said the shootout was not rarest of rare and only the prescribed punishment -- life imprisonment -- be awarded to the four.
Earlier, the court convicted the then Station House Officer of Bhojpur police station Lal Singh, Sub Inspector Yogendra Singh and constables Ranvir Singh, Surya Bhan and Subhash for being involved in the staged shootout on November 8, 1996.
Ranvir Singh died during the trial.
Lal Singh, Yogendra Singh, Surya Bhan and Subhash were sent to jail.
Imphal: Manipur Congress unit president T N Haokip today accused BJP of "trying to destabilise" his party's government in the state by "engineering defection of the party MLAs".
He also alleged that BJP had "instigated" United Naga Council (UNC) to launch an economic blockade to create unrest in the state which was their "plan B" to topple the Ibobi Singh government.
"After coming to power in Delhi, the BJP has been trying to destabilise Congress governments in the northeast by poaching on party MLAs. They tried the same trick here too.
"Their plan was to destabilise our government by attempting mass defection of our MLAs", he told PTI here.
Haokip, a sitting MLA from Saikot, alleged that BJP leaders were in touch with several Congress MLAs in the state.
"They were in touch with more than 20 of our MLAs. They tried to lure them with the promise of ministership and other things. But the BJP could manage to take only six of our leaders and MLAs," he said.
The BJP has fielded all six of them former ministers N Biren Singh, Yumkham Erabot Singh and Francis Ngajokpa, and MLAs Dr Kh Loken, Z Kikhonbou Newmai and Nemcha Kipgen in the Assembly elections.
N Biren Singh, a newspaper editor-turned-politician, is now a BJP spokesman.
Haokip alleged that after BJP failed to engineer mass defection from Congress, they hatched a "plan B" with the UNC to impose an economic blockade in the state.
"The BJP along with the UNC had engineered economic blockade. Their plan was to create unrest and turmoil so that President?s rule is imposed in the state. But they failed in this plan too as people understood their gameplan," he said.
An indefinite economic blockade was imposed by the UNC from November against the state government's decision to create seven new districts in the state bifurcating the existing ones.
Supply of essential commodities, including fuel, in Manipur was severely hit after the council declared indefinite economic blockade on NH-2 (via Dimapur) and NH-37 (via Jiribam) -- the two lifelines for the state.
Asked whether the bifurcation of the districts was done with an eye on elections, he said, "No, it was not done for that purpose. It was done for better governance."
On the allegations that the matter of creating new districts was not discussed with the Nagas, who are one of stakeholders, Haokip said, "The decision was taken in the state Cabinet and it has representation from every community."
"Do you expect us to go to the polo ground and announce the decision?" he asked.
Haokip also refuted the allegations of BJP that Congress wanted this blockade to sustain so that it could gain from the anger of the people in valley.
"No government will ever do such thing. This is absolutely a baseless allegation," he said.
A man who showed up with a gunshot wound at a local hospital early Tuesday morning was shot at while a robbery was taking place at an East Side residence.
The shooting was at a residence in the 2100 block of North Stoughton Road, Madison police said. The 21-year-old victim arrived at a local emergency room shortly after midnight.
"The Violent Crimes Unit detectives believe the victim was shot during a targeted robbery at the residence," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain.
The Madison man who was shot did not appear to be the one targeted in the robbery.
Police said it appeared there were two masked intruders. The victim didn't live at the residence, DeSpain said.
The shooting also was not connected to an incident the night before when four men were shot during a disturbance outside a BP gas station on Madison's Far East Side.
Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday recommended spending $803 million on building projects across the state, which would be the smallest total spent on new construction, repair and renovation since he took office in 2011.
Walker said he was emphasizing maintaining current buildings over new construction.
He rejected about $93 million in projects at UW-Madison and $31 million for a new, 72-bed skilled nursing facility in Madison for veterans, which was recommended in 2015 by a state veterans task force.
The proposed $450 million in bonding would be the lowest requested borrowing for building projects in 20 years, Walker said.
The capital budget request comes as the Republican Walker is emphasizing his conservative credentials in advance of an expected run for a third term in 2018. It complements the state budget he released two weeks ago that seeks to expand funding for K-12 schools and the University of Wisconsin System, cut UW tuition while also reduce income taxes and hold the line on property taxes.
Walkers proposed $803 million capital budget comes after $848 million was spent in the previous two years on building projects. In Walkers first two years in office, 2011 to 2013, the capital budget was nearly $967 million and rose to $1.5 billion between 2013 and 2015.
The University of Wisconsins capital budget would be $128 million over the next two years, far less than the nearly $795 million the system requested. The system received $451 million the prior two years, $703 million between 2013 and 2015 and $420 million between 2011 and 2013.
System officials can seek approval from the state Building Commission to access more money from a fund that pays for repairs and renovations across state agencies. Walkers budget calls for placing $361.3 million in that fund. Even if UW officials could obtain every dollar in that fund they still wouldnt have enough to complete every project they want to undertake.
We carefully developed a reasonable capital budget plan to perform a limited amount of work each year at a steady pace, UW System President Ray Cross said in a statement. The longer we delay these critical repairs, the more it ultimately costs students and taxpayers in the end.
Some of the projects Walker recommend be funded include:
$75 million replacement for the Wisconsin Department of Justice crime lab in Milwaukee. The facility will include space for DNA testing, toxicology reports, forensic imaging, evidence processing and law enforcement training, Walker said.
$5 million to buy a Department of Natural Resources science facility in Monona that is currently leased and to add a new chronic wasting disease processing center there.
$2.4 million to improve water quality at the veterans home at King, addressing concerns of residents and critics worried about the level of lead found in the water due to corrosion of the plumbing system. Over all, Walker is proposing about $14 million in new capital spending at King.
$3 million to construct a new filter/treatment building near wells with high levels of iron and manganese and make drinking water system improvements at the state prison in Fox Lake.
More than $33 million to repair Sandburg Hall at UW-Milwaukee.
$5 million for a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Innovation Center in Green Bay. The center will also house UW-Green Bays new mechanical engineering degree program.
$5 million to remodel and expand the 36-year-old La Crosse Center which is used for conventions, meetings, and banquets.
$11 million to remove and replace the Little Falls Dam at Willow River State Park.
The State Building Commission will meet to decide on these recommendations in March.
The Wisconsin State Journal contributed to this report.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Esward Nalbandian had a phone conversation with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/ and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini on February 20.
As Armenpress was informed from MFA Armenia, the sides discussed the preparatory works of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans visit to the Brussels.
Nalbandian and Mogherini also discussed the negotiations process on a new legal document between Armenia and the EU, hoping to conclude the negotiations in the near future.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The observation mission of the Armenian National Committee of Europe considers the Constitutional referendum held in Karabakh as exemplary and in accordance with the international standards, reports Armenpress.
Gaspar Karapetyan head of the observation mission of the Armenian National Committee of Europe, told a press conference in Stepanakert that the referendum was held in a professional and transparent way.
The Central Electoral Commission informed us that the conclusions and ideas of international observers were taken into account while holding the referendum. All observers of our mission concluded that the electoral officers managed to organize good and legal referendum, in a professional and transparent way, Karapetyan said.
The observers of the Armenian National Committee of Europe have been in 48 polling stations of 11 electoral districts and informed that the referendum was held transparent, calm and legitimate. The observers recorded the high percentage of the voter turnout, they have realized small shortcomings which, of course, didnt impact the referendum results. In general, an exemplary referendum was held, he said.
The Central Commission of the NKR referendum considered the Constitutional changes draft adopted. 69.540 citizens, overall, 87.6% of the voters, voted in favor of the constitutional referendum, and 7686 citizens voted against. 2202 ballots (2.8%) were declared invalid. 79.428 (76.5% of the total number of voters) out of 103.766 citizens took part in the voting.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The defense ministry of Nagorno Karabakh told ARMENPRESS the Azerbaijani defense ministrys report on the Nagorno Karabakh forces making a sabotage infiltration attempt overnight February 21 and retreating by suffering losses is a false report.
The Defense Ministry of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic announces that the entire text of the Azerbaijani defense ministrys report is made up. Moreover, by spreading such disinformation, the Azerbaijani propaganda machine tries to somehow justify the fact it bombarded Nagorno Karabakh positions overnight with artillery fire, which we reported earlier today.
In addition, as result of the Azerbaijani artillery strikes, the Defense Army of NKR did not have losses.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The Iskander missile systems, which were supplied by Russia during 2016, belong to the Armenian Armed Forces and the officers of the Armenian Armed Forces are in charge of them, defense minister Vigen Sargsyan told RIA Novosti in an interview.
It is obvious for everyone in my opinion that the Iskanders were supplied to Armenia, since everyone has obviously seen them. I can also with 100% confidence confirm the fact that they belong to the Armenian Armed Forces. And there simply cant be a second opinion here. Regarding all other questions, when, with what amount, what payment period etc: As you understand, all this is carried out top secret. We are in charge of them, whoever possesses it they are in charge of it. Here I can reveal the curtain of secrecy, Sargsyan said.
Asked again whether or not the management of the systems is in the hands of the officers of the Armed Forces of Armenia, who have undergone corresponding training, the defense minister stressed definitely.
The Iskander missile systems were for the first time displayed on September 21, 2016 during the military parade on the 25th anniversary of Armenias independence.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenia will continue the dialogue with Russia over acquiring armaments, Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan said in an interview with RIA Novosti, reports Armenpress.
He said the recent dynamics, progress of Russias military-technical potential creates a deep respect and a wish to develop that cooperation.
Contracts at several directions were implemented ahead of time, and this also makes us happy. We will continue the dialogue with the Russian side to acquire new armament from the Russian market. Given the fact that we acquire it within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), with the domestic prices of the Russian army, as well as considering the presence of privileged loans, of course, the potential of such cooperation increases. We are interested in this, Vigen Sargsyan said.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenias mutual cooperation with NATO has never been and will not be against the interests of strategic alliance with Russia, Armenias Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan said in an interview with RIA Novosti, reports Armenpress.
Our relations with NATO have always been built obviously open for our ally, partner countries. We have never kept any secret from it, and this mutual cooperation could have never been against the interests of our strategic partnership with Russia, he said.
He recalled that NATO carries out a number of UN-authorized peacekeeping missions. Participation in such multinational peacekeeping operations, the knowledge and experience is very important and useful for Armenia. It helps us to form our own peacekeeping opportunities, to have troops, and at the same time, to have more complete picture and understanding of international peacekeeping mission system, as well as taking into account the existing conflicts in our region, Vigen Sargsyan said, adding that Armenia-NATO action plan is directed towards first of all the development of democratic control system of the armed forces, the strengthening of the component which is built at the parliamentary system, as well as in case of many NATO member states.
We are carrying out several programs that contribute to the strengthening of our armed forces, and I am confident this will not damage in any way the interests of our allies, Minister Sargsyan said.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. On February 21, the UN Security Council held an open debate titled Maintenance of international peace and security: conflicts in Europe. With Ukraines Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin presiding, the meeting sought to assess existing threats to regional and international peace and security caused by conflicts in Europe. It was also intended to review responses to ongoing instability and to dangerous developments within European countries in post-conflict or protracted conflict situations, the foreign ministry of Armenia reported.
At the meetings outset, a minute of silence was observed in memory of the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation Vitaly Churkin, followed by statements in his tribute.
Opening remarks were delivered by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Lamberto Zannier, as well as the Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Helga Schmid, highlighting the UNs work with such regional mechanisms as the OSCE and the European Union in tackling the unresolved conflict situations in Europe. It was pointed out that no single factor could be blamed for conflicts in Europe, and that, in certain cases, agreements were simply not being implemented.
During the meeting, speakers exchanged views on the situations in Cyprus, Ukraine, Moldova and South Caucasus, including on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, while many called for a full implementation of the previously agreed measures and underscored the importance of the regional dimension, and as well the need for greater conflict-prevention efforts.
The Permanent Representative of Armenia to the UN, Ambassador Zohrab Mnatsakanyan delivered a statement, highlighting that what identifies the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is a struggle for human rights, freedom and self-determination, in light of historical injustice and persistent discrimination. It is a struggle, which witnessed barbaric pogroms against Armenians in Baku, Sumgait, Kirovabad and other parts of Azerbaijan as a reaction to the legitimate aspirations of the people of Nagorno Karabakh to freely determine their future. It is a struggle for self-defence and physical survival of the people of Nagorno Karabakh as a result of an outright aggression, war and ethnic cleansing. It is a struggle against barbarity of a regime, which ruthlessly glorifies Ramil Safarov, a murderer, who in 2004 axes to death an Armenian officer while asleep, during a military training course. It is a struggle against a claim of jurisdiction by a regime, which persistently cultivates and inspires Armenophobia, hatred and intolerance against Armenians. It is a struggle for freedom and survival, - explained the Armenian Ambassador.
Referring to the renewed attempt of aggression by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh at the beginning of April 2016 and ensuing perpetration of atrocities and outright barbarity, Ambassador Mnatsakanyan noted that the Armenian side has consistently informed the Council, and that the international community should forcefully reject the use of force and any pursuit of a military solution to this conflict. It was highlighted that instead, immediate and genuine steps should be undertaken towards the implementation of the agreements reached at the summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg in May and June 2016, in order to create conditions conducive to the advancement of the peace process. In conclusion, the Armenian Ambassador expressed deep appreciation to the international community, to the Security Council and to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for their continued and unwavering support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, the only internationally agreed format of negotiations for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, to reach a lasting settlement as soon as possible.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The training of Armenias Armed Forces is carried out on the highest level, defense minister Vigen Sargsyan told RIA Novosti.
The administration system quality is very high in Armenia, the officer staff of the Armed Forces and all those involved in the administration system of the Armed Forces have passed a very serious combat path and have military academic education. I am sure, for experts who are familiar with the region it is no secret that the level of readiness of the Armenian Armed Forces significantly exceeds the term combat ready, the defense minister said.
According to Vigen Sargsyan, it is very important to give preference to quality rather quantity in forming the defense.
This namely is regards the system of armament acquisition, effectiveness of seeking partners and introducing such armaments which are able to give adequate response to existing risks and threats, he said.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Vigen Sargsyan, defense minister of Armenia, expressed satisfaction over the level of cooperation with Russia in the military-industry sphere, Sargsyan told RIA Novosti.
Russia is a strategic ally. This is how we view the entire cooperation, which happens with Russia, in both training for the military, military-technical sphere, and in military-political dialogue. We find this to be an indissoluble complex. We are open and ready for further intensifying such dialogue. The consultations on the levels of defense ministers and chiefs of general staffs are held regularly, Sargsyan said.
Sargsyan stressed that Armenian and Russian military officials are always exchanging high level visits. I am very happy that since my appointment I had the chance to receive the defense minister of Russia in Yerevan, within the framework of participation in the CSTO summit, and be on an official visit to Russia. Here we have received the delegation of the first deputy minister of defense of Russia, during the events on the 25th anniversary of the formation of Armenian Armed Forces. I find that the more visits happen, the better, because in reality our cooperation is aimed at fully studying the challenges and threats in our region, understanding mutual interests and building the foreign policy and military-political bloc policy in line with those interests, he said.
Vigen Sargsyan emphasized that the current level of relations is very high. Those subjects, which we discuss today in the background of developing the potential of scientific institutes of our countries, complete use of industrial capabilities and so on; all of this opens an entirely new layer of possible cooperation. We want to materialize it as soon as possible and we will work very intensively for this, he said.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Ashot Ghulyan, speaker of parliament of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, held a meeting on February 21 with lawmaker Brenda Austin from Argentine and representative of the Armenian Assembly of Argentine Nikolas Sabunjian, who were observers during the Constitutional referendum of Nagorno Karabakh.
Ashot Ghulyan welcomed the guests, expressed gratitude for their work and mentioned that suggestions of observers help Nagorno Karabakh to gradually improve procedures of holding referendums and elections.
Brenda Austin thanked for the invitation and said inviting observers to the democratic process, the referendum, speaks of the fact that the state institutions in Nagorno Karabakh are established.
I visited 7 polling stations and I am impressed with the high level organization of the voting process, level of supervision, work of the commission members, accuracy of the lists, unity and awareness of citizens. Even we, observers, were guided not to do anything out of the rules. It is obvious that long lasting and serious work has been done, the lawmakers from Argentina said.
Brenda Austin congratulated on holding the referendum on such high level and added : This proves the high level of democratic sense.
Afterwards, at the request of the observers, Ashot Ghulyan presented the pre-history of the constitutional reforms and held a Q&A.
At the end of the meeting, Ashot Ghulyan said : We are grateful for both personal and professional assessments, because we dont have a more functioning option for speaking about us with the world , than this option.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is satisfied with the CSTO stance which is clearly expressed in the statement on Nagorno Karabakh adopted at the CSTO Yerevan summit.
This stance was clearly stated by former CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha, Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan said in an interview with RIA Novosti, reports Armenpress.
This stance has been repeatedly discussed during the assemblies of heads of states, councils of defense, foreign ministers. You probably mean the stance of some CSTO member states in bilateral relations or their preferences and voting in other international organizations. Here really there are some issues which seriously concern us and our society, we openly speak about them and discuss them with our partners in the CSTO and within our public, Vigen Sargsyan said, stating that Armenia really believes that disagreement on stances over foreign policy issues in other international organizations weakens the CSTO. He added that Armenia highly appreciates the cooperation within CSTO.
Armenia repeatedly raised the issue on finding solutions to the existing issues. Thats why we really expect that the CSTO must continue increasing its potential, become more effective, and we see the component of doctrine as a very important base for the further development of forces and measures of that organization. Therefore we are proud that during Armenias chairmanship to the CSTO it became possible to agree on and establish the CSTO security strategy, Vigen Sargsyan said.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The 102nd Russian military base stationed in Gyumri, Armenia, is one of the important components of the countrys security, defense minister Vigen Sargsyan told RIA Novosti.
The minister reminded that the initiator of extending the agreement on the military bases stationing was Armenia itself.
I think this is one of the significant elements of our cooperation in the military-political sphere, and we think the base is an important deterrent factor. We find the Russian 102nd military base, stationed in Armenia, to be one of the important components of the countrys security system, Sargsyan said, adding currently there is no issue of increasing the personnel in the base.
Regarding increasing the personnel and armaments of the base, it is a tactical issue. In case of necessity, such issues are solved within hours. Thank God, all resources and capabilities exist for it. Increasing the number of personnel cant be an end in itself. It must respond to a specific challenge in a specific situation, Sargsyan said.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. More than 200 Armenian servicemen study in Russia, Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan said in an interview with RIA Novosti, reports Armenpress.
In fact the number is more than 200. They are at various levels, from the General Staff Academy to relevant educational institutions throughout Russia. We are really very grateful that many our future officers study in Russias best military educational institutions. This is a very important form of cooperation, he said, adding that while in Moscow he met with the Armenian cadets who study in the Russian military educational institutions.
We had a very informative and interesting talk on their studies. They were happy that they could use this opportunity. I visited the Academy of General Staff, presented our foreign policy and military-political approaches to the audience, filled with several hundreds of people. And we are very happy that there are Armenians among them. We are especially proud that our compatriot Marshal Baghramyan headed this military educational institution, Vigen Sargsyan said.
As Republicans in Congress look to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, theyre considering a return to high-risk pools like one in Wisconsin, which some considered a national model.
The states Health Insurance Risk-Sharing Plan, or HIRSP, insured about 21,000 people whose medical conditions prevented them from getting insurance on the individual market.
The program which ran from 1979 to 2014, when the federal health laws exchanges started was funded through premiums, insurance company assessments and reduced payments to providers.
Pooling the high-risk individuals together and managing their needs separately was a huge factor in the states success in offering a competitive insurance market, J.P. Wieske, the states deputy insurance commissioner, told the House Energy and Commerce Committee this month.
But while Wisconsin had the second-highest per-capita participation among 35 states with high-risk pools, HIRSP was too expensive for many people and left more than half a million residents uninsured, said Donna Friedsam, health policy programs director at UW-Madisons Population Health Institute.
It worked well for 21,000 people, Friedsam said. But it did not solve the problem of getting most of the people in our state connected to affordable coverage.
Wisconsins high-risk pool had a six-month waiting period for coverage of pre-existing conditions and a lifetime cap of $2 million, similar to high-risk pools in other states but unlike coverage under the federal health law.
HIRSP lost $6.9 million in 2011, roughly a third of which was offset by a federal grant, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The same year, programs in the 35 states lost a total of at least $272 million, according to the National Association of State Comprehensive Health Plans. The programs covered about 226,000 people.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and other Republicans have called for high-risk pools as a key part of dismantling the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Instead of requiring insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions, as the federal health law does, Ryans proposal says insurers should be banned from charging people more for such conditions if patients maintain continuous coverage.
People who cant get coverage could enroll in high-risk pools, which might keep premiums lower for healthier people who buy insurance on their own, Ryan and others say.
We believe that high-risk pools are a smarter way of guaranteeing coverage for people with pre-exisiting conditions, Ryan said at a CNN town hall meeting in January.
High-risk pools are used in many types of insurance, said Sean Dilweg, who was Wisconsins insurance commissioner from 2007 to 2011.
A high-risk pool is nothing unusual, said Dilweg, now senior vice president for government relations at Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. in Milwaukee. The idea is to take the most expensive members out of the system.
Wisconsins program had significant deficits during the 1980s, when the Legislature set rates and some state funding was used, said Joe Kachelski, a long-term HIRSP board member and CEO of the Wisconsin Statewide Health Information Network.
The program was restructured in the early 1990s to require 60 percent of costs to come from premiums and 40 percent from insurer assessments. Later, half of the 40 percent was designated to provider discounts.
It was viewed as a successful program around the country, Kachelski said.
If Obamacare is repealed, he said, you have to deal with the medically uninsurable somehow ... If its not high-risk pools, Im not sure what it is.
It could cost $178 billion a year to adequately fund the pools nationwide, according to a Commonwealth Fund report in 2014.
Ryans plan would provide $25 billion over an unspecified time period. Prices plan calls for $3 billion over three years.
HIRSPs insurer assessments were passed on to some employers but not others, because the assessments didnt apply to companies that are self-insured, said Phil Dougherty, senior executive officer at the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans.
The funding base for Wisconsins high-risk pool was too narrow and disproportionate, Dougherty said.
For consumers, HIRSP coverage wasnt cheap. In 2013, monthly premiums for a plan with a $2,500 deductible ranged from $354 a month for a 35-year-old woman to $847 a a month for a 60-year-old man. People with household incomes below $34,000 qualified for subsidies that reduced premiums up to 43 percent.
Its better than having nothing for people with significant health care problems, said Jon Peacock, research director for the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families. But its far inferior to having a working marketplace like the one that exists now.
Karen Chelcun Schreiber, 59, of Madison, paid $320 a month for a HIRSP plan with a $3,500 deductible. Now, she has Unity Health Insurance, purchased off the exchange, with a deductible of $6,550. The monthly premium went from $324 in 2014 to $610 this year, she said.
HIRSP didnt cover an annual MRI to screen for breast cancer. Schreiber has a relatively high risk for the cancer because of a rare genetic mutation, which led her to get her stomach removed to prevent stomach cancer. Unity covers the MRI.
Im paying for it either way, she said. I guess I dont have a preference.
Scott Trindl, 62, of Waukesha, was on HIRSP for about five years. After selling a credit union business in 2003, Trindl kept the insurance from his job until 2009, when he had a heart attack, racked up $50,000 in medical bills and was dropped by his insurer.
On HIRSP, Trindl paid $600 a month for a plan with a $2,500 deductible. Today, he pays $400 a month on the exchange, after a tax credit, for Dean Health Plan coverage with a $2,750 deductible.
He prefers the range of options on the exchange.
HIRSP was a good insurance provider, but I didnt have any choice of carrier, he said.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Foreign ministers of Armenia and Russia Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov are delivering a joint press conference in Moscow, after the press conference the ministers will hold a Q&A with reporters.
Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandians official visit to Russia began on February 22 with a wreath laying at the eternal flame for the Unknown Soldier Memorial and paying tribute to the victims of the Great Patriotic War.
During the evening Nalbandian will meet with Ambassadors concurrently accredited in Armenia from over 4 dozen countries.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Russia Edward Nalbandian and Sergey Lavrov opened the exhibition on archival documents in the Russian MFAs Reception Hall dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, reports RIA Novosti.
During this period we closely developed our allied and strategic partnership relations in a bilateral format, in the UN, CSTO, the Eurasian Economic Union, OSCE and other international organizations, Lavrov said at the opening ceremony of the exhibition.
The Russian FM said the exhibition will be the first among the events dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two states.
We have agreed on additional steps that are called to worthily celebrate that year, Lavrov said, adding that FM Nalbandian invited him to visit Armenia.
We accept that invitation, agree on its agenda and the program of that visit, he said.
Before the opening of the exhibition, the two FMs laid flowers in front of the portrait of Russias Permanent Representative to the UN Vitaly Churkin in the Russian MFA who died on February 20 in New York.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on February 22 visited the Center for Strategic Initiatives of the Government, press service of the Presidents Office told Armenpress.
Accompanied by the members of the Board of Trustees of the Center - Vice Prime Minister, Minister of International Economic Integration and Reforms Vache Gabrielyan, Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan, and CEO of the Center Alexander Khachaturyan, the President toured in the Center, got acquainted with the conditions of its activity, talked with the employees.
After the tour, the CEO of the Center presented the President the strategy of the Centers activity, priority directions and sectors, the works carried out on these directions, as well as short-term and long-term programs and the existing cooperation with other interested structures, organizations and individuals aimed at implementing those programs.
President Sargsyan welcomed the Centers consistency, which has been established several months before under the PMs initiative, the practical approach and dedication to the work and wished success for the implementation of programs.
He also presented his views and approaches on the ongoing works in separate sectors that are priority for the Center, and expressed readiness to assist the Center in case of necessity.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministries of Armenia and Russia are preparing the regular meeting of the Presidents of the two states, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after the meeting with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian in Moscow on February 22, reports Armenpress.
The discussions with Mr. Nalbandian were constructive, comprehensive and clear. We have discussed the entire circle of bilateral relations and discussed in-detail the agreements on coordinating our actions in the international structures. The Armenian-Russian cooperation continues developing at various sectors. Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyans recent visit to Russia gave an additional impetus to this cooperation, we prepare the regular meeting of the Presidents of the two countries, Lavrov said.
He added that the trade turnover between Armenia and Russia is at the highest level, recalling that it comprised over 1 billion USD based on the figures of the last year. Lavrov highlighted the fact that 40% of the investment of foreign capital in Armenia accounts for Russia.
Sergey Lavrov expressed satisfaction that the change in the agreement on visa-free regime visits between Armenia and Russia comes into force on February 23, according to which Russian citizens can visit Armenia with internal passports.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. There is no alternative to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship format on the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint press conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian in Moscow on February 22, reports Armenpress.
The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan supported this in the documents signed by them. OSCE all members also supported this co-chairmanship format, Lavrov said.
He assured that the co-chairs are not doomed to inactivity. The co-chairs have always supported intensifying and accelerating the negotiation process which was expressed in trilateral documents constantly released by them. A similar document was adopted during the recent Munich Security Conference which clearly states that the use of force, the military rhetoric within the frames of conflict settlement are unacceptable and emphasizes the necessity to fully implement the St. Petersburg and Vienna agreements, Lavrov concluded.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov received the parliamentarians of the Chamber of Deputies of the Plurinational State of Bolivia Alicia Canqui Condori, Nelly Lenz Roso, and Mario Mita Daza, who visited our country after taking part in the Constitutional Referendum of the Republic of Artsakh with observation mission. MPs Gagik Melikyan and Alexander Arzumanyan also attended the meeting.
As Armenpress was informed from the press services of the Armenian Parliament, welcoming the guests the NA Deputy Speaker highly assessed the development of the relations of the two states and in that issue, the parliamentarians role. In this context Mr. Sharmazanov expressed conviction that those relations will deepen and turn into new phase of development in future.
Mr. Sharmazanov highlighted the Bolivian parliamentarians visit to the Republic of Artsakh and their participation in the Constitutional Referendum with observation mission, noting that it once again proves that the Plurinational State of Bolivia is a propagator of freedom, democracy and protection of human rights.
As any people, so the people of Artsakh have the right of self-determination, the NA Deputy Speaker underlined.
On behalf of him and our country Eduard Sharmazanov thanked the parliament of Bolivia for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
The NA Deputy Speaker also touched upon the coordinated work of the delegations of the two states in the inter-parliamentary platforms and emphasized the supporting of each other in the issues of mutual interest.
Welcoming the Armenian parliamentarians, on behalf of the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and the Boloivians the parliamentarians of Bolivia stressed that Bolivia has passed through the struggle of self-determination and freedom, they understand well the fair struggle of Artsakh people.
Our hearts are with Artsakh and the Armenian people. It was an honour for us to take part in the Constitutional Referendum of Artsakh, which was a festivity for Artsakh people. The people should determine their destiny, which is welcoming for the development of the country, Nelly Lenz Roso noted.
The sides emphasized the rapprochement of the relations between the two states, the friendly mutual visits and the cooperation in the inter-parliamentarians platforms.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Ambassador to Egypt Armen Melkonyan on February 21 had a meeting with Cairo Governor Atef Abdel Hamid, press service of the MFA told Armenpress.
During the meeting the sides discussed the prospects on deepening the ties and cooperation at several sectors between the capitals of the two friendly states. Both emphasized the necessity to carry out mutual visits and form a respective legal framework.
Cairo Governor spoke with respect about the significant input of Armenians living in Cairo in Egypts social and cultural life.
The Armenian Ambassador thanked for the warm reception and highly appreciated the attention and friendly attitude of Cairo Governorate towards the Armenian community.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has always carried out the Astrakhan Declaration regarding the exchange of prisoners of war and the return of the bodies of killed servicemen, Armenias foreign minister Edward Nalbandian said during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.
Recently Armenia returned the body of an Azerbaijani saboteur, who had killed three servicemen in the territory of Armenia. The Azerbaijani side insisted he wasnt a saboteur; it was turning the situation upside down regarding the sabotage attempt of the last years end. However, when the body was returned, the saboteur was named a national hero by the special order of the Azerbaijani president. The formulation was very interesting, it said: For successfully carrying out the assignment. This means they tasked him to carry out sabotage and named him a national hero for that. Moreover, prior to reaching an agreement on returning the body, the Azerbaijani side was announcing that Armenia must return the body as a humanitarian act, Nalbandian said.
With surprise he stresses as to what humanitarian act they were talking about, when Azerbaijan was interrogating and violently treating an Armenian shepherd on camera, when the latter appeared on their side. As a result of all this, he was killed, and presented it as suicide.
In another case they killed again, announced he had heart failure. And during the April events, they were not only simply subjecting to violence the servicemen who had appeared on their side, but were simply cutting off their heads and displaying them in villages and cities. And the person who was displaying the severed head, was afterwards rewarded by the Azerbaijani president, and it was also reported on the official website of the president, Nalbandian said, reminding also the incident when Azerbaijan downed an Armenian helicopter, and didnt allow the evacuation of the choppers crew, who might have been still alive, by keeping the crash site under fire for several days.
Nalbandian said that agreements were reached in Vienna, St. Petersburg, Astrakhan, Sochi, which were afterwards refused by Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is signing those agreements, and then takes a step back. We cant get used to it, the international community also, however there is no alternative. We will continue to take efforts with the co-chairs, aimed at the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict and first of all creating conditions for advancing the negotiations process, Nalbandian said.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Extended board session was held at the Investigative Committee (IC) of Armenia which was headed by the IC Chairman Aghvan Hovsepyan.
As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Investigative Committee of Armenia, works carried out in 2016 were discussed, crime situation, dynamics, work carried out to reveal crime were analyzed at the extended board session. The IC Deputy Chairmen Aram Tamazyan, Hayk Grigoryan, Vahagn Harutyunyan and Artur Ghambaryan presented the work carried out according to spheres.
In 2016 18.764 crime cases were recorded in the Republic while the number of crime cases in 2015 was 17.143; crimes mainly against state service and management order, against property have increased. Grave crimes have decreased by 4.8 percent and particularly grave crimes have increased by 20 percent.
Pursuant to the reports, in 2016 preliminary investigation of 91.3 percent of criminal cases initiated on crime cases was conducted in the proceeding of the employees of the Investigative Committee of Armenia, the rest 9.7 percent - in the proceeding of Special Investigatory Service, investigative departments of National Security Service and State Revenue Committee.
The average workload of the IC investigators was 46.4 and in several subdivisions it was about 130 criminal cases.
Despite the overload consistent steps were taken to raise the quality and efficiency of investigation of criminal cases investigated in the proceeding of the Investigative Committee and in the result of planning and organizing the investigation correctly terms of preliminary investigation have been reduced, indices of disclosure of a number of crimes have significantly been improved. In the result of measures taken together with the operative-searching bodies, disclosure of about 90 percent of particularly grave crimes has been provided.
In 2015 1676 criminal cases were completed in up to two months period while in 2016 1736, at the same time, criminal cases investigated for more than a year have significantly decreased.
During preliminary investigation of criminal cases a number of constitutional rights of those involved are limited in the order defined by law and unnecessary delays of investigation are unacceptable. Circumstances shall be found and appropriate procedural decisions shall be made as operatively as possible. Disclosure of crimes only in short terms will contribute to formation of psychology of inevitability of punishment for the committal, mentioned the IC Chairman Aghvan Hovsepyan instructing to conduct daily monitoring over investigation of particularly complicated criminal cases and their disclosure.
Index N 1 of investigatory work is crime disclosure. The investigator is the procedural person who controls the actions of all those who should contribute to revealing crimes, obtaining evidence and fixing. The request from the community is presented to you, said Aghvan Hovsepyan.
Referring to the reduction of investigation terms the reporters mentioned that the conducted organizational works greatly contributed to it. For example, due to introduction of the electronic system receiving decryptions from communication operators on the base of court decisions the decryptions are received in short terms which contributes to verifying the hypotheses put forth more operatively.
Terms of conduction of examinations commissioned to find circumstances significant for the criminal case, as well as the quality in separate cases are still a primary problem for investigation.
It was reported that in the result of working discussions with Medical Psychology Chair of Yerevan Medical University after Mkhitar Heratsi in 2016 new mechanisms for cooperation have been developed which gives an opportunity to organize the conduction of forensic psychological examinations in shorter terms and for more affordable prices. The specialists of Medical University expressed willingness to conduct the forensic psychological examinations in the framework of criminal cases. Several forensic psychological examinations have already been conducted by the specialists of the mentioned Chair which took 45 days, only one case took 4 months as the criminal case was voluminous.
Thus, it was stated that the terms of forensic psychological examinations conducted by the specialists of the Faculty of Psychology of Yerevan State Medical University were satisfying. Currently working discussions are held with the relevant specialists of State Pedagogical University to involve them in conduction of forensic examinations, as well.
Considerable organizational work as well as work in investigators training has been done and all statistical data show that the quality and efficiency of investigation has raised, we should not praise ourselves, but we should carefully observe the issues, reveal the deficiencies and correct them with consistent steps. We should always be critical to our work as only in this way we can move forward, provide efficient preliminary investigation, mentioned A. Hovsepyan.
The speakers mentioned that in the result of comprehensive, objective and complete investigation conducted in the framework of criminal cases investigated in IC proceeding in 2016 actual data were obtained on crimes committed by specific units and, according to investigatory subordination, these cases were sent to Special Investigatory Service to continue the preliminary investigation. At the same time, more than thirty investigators were also sent to Special Investigatory Service to support to conduction of investigation of the mentioned criminal cases in the group.
Based on the results of discussion the RA IC Chairman gave a number of instructions highlighting the processing of the reports on crimes received in the Investigative Committee quickly, in the order defined by law. A. Hovsepyan draw the attention of the heads of territorial subdivisions to the significance of quick and proper legal assessment, in IC jurisdiction, of possible breaches or other criminal acts conditioned by electoral process during upcoming national elections.
We shall respond to reports on possible breaches in the order defined by law and as quickly as possible. Each case shall become a subject of investigation operatively, emphasized the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Armenia.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. By creating statehood in 1991 the people of Artsakh implemented its inalienable right to self-determination, Armenpress reports Chairman of France-Artsakh Friendship Circle Francois Rochblau announced, hailing the statement of French President Francois Hollande saying that Nagorno Karabakh conflict should be settled based on the principle of self-determination.
The Presidents announcement, clearly outlining the prospect for international recognition of this independence, should be praised. The mission of our Circle is to support any step aimed at regional peace and stability. Therefore, we support the proposal of President Hollande to organize a meeting, Rochblau added.
He underlined that in order to raise the effectiveness of the negotiations it is necessary to reaffirm commitment to the trilateral agreement of 1994 and bring the 3 sides, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh, together to the negotiation table.
During the annual dinner of the Coordination Council of the Armenian Organizations of France, President Francois Hollande talked about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, stating: Clashes are over, dialogue has started and ceasefire is reached but we cannot be satisfied by a ceasefire, since it is not a solution. We have to launch real talks aimed at the conflict resolution. It will be a huge mistake to think that the situation has stabilized. We have to refer to the elements necessary for the conflict settlement enshrined in the Madrid principles. We also know that when those principles are applied, they should be based on the right to self-determination of Nagorno Karabakh and for the purpose of taking this path France will organize a new meeting with Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Reporters digging into the ills of society and a newspaper picturing one of those ills on its front page, while weighing the ethics of such reporting, are contenders for the Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics.
Shadid, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, was a UW-Madison journalism alumnus and reporter for the Washington Post and New York Times who died in 2012 while reporting in Syria.
The award is given annually by the Center for Journalism Ethics for those in the business who had to look closely at the ethics of hard-nosed reporting.
The winner will be announced March 31 in Madison, and the award will be presented April 19 at the National Press Club.
The finalists for 2017:
Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer, who spent four months undercover as a prison guard in a privately run Louisiana prison, and dealt with the ethics of journalistic deception to get the story.
The Spotlight team at the Boston Globe, having to judge whom to identify when investigating sexual abuse at private schools in New England.
Associated Press
reporter Hannah Dreier, writing about the human cost of Venezuelas crumbling infrastructure and the difficulty of being objective while wanting to help victims.
Associated Press
reporter Kathy Gannon, reporting on the motives of men in parts of the world who torture and murder women, trying to maintain fairness and balance in the stories.
The
Palm Beach Post
, for putting photos of every person who died from a heroin overdose in the county in 2015 on the front page.
Reporter Lauren Wolfe of
The Guardian
who had to weigh the more harm than good aspect of her story about young girls being kidnapped and raped in a village in Africa.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian, who is in Moscow on an official visit, met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
As Armenpress was informed from the press service of MFA Armenia, following the private conversation between the two foreign ministers, expanded-format talks took place with the participation of the delegations.
Greeting Minister Nalbandian, Lavrov stressed the importance of the already traditional high-level visits for the development of the allied relations between the two states.
The Armenian foreign Minister, thanking for the invitation and the cordial reception, noted that the current official visit is symbolic, since it takes place in the year of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and it is also important since takes place ahead of the official visit of the Armenian President to Russia.
During the talks the Ministers discussed in detail the preparatory works of the upcoming visit of the Armenian President to Russia, the implementation process of the agreements reached between the two Presidents, as well as referred to other issues of bilateral agenda.
The FMs of Armenia and Russia discussed political, military-technical, economic, inter-parliamentary, humanitarian and cultural cooperation.
The sides also touched upon partnership in international organizations, including the UN, OSCE, CSTO, EAEU and CIS.
Nalbandian and Lavrov discussed urgent regional and international issues. The situation in the Middle East and the efforts to settle the Syrian crisis were touched upon. Nalbandian expressed gratitude to the Russian side for transporting Armenias humanitarian aid to Syria.
Nagorno Karabakh peace process was the key issue of the meetings agenda. The Armenian and Russian FMs shared the opinion that the peaceful settlement has no alternative. The importance of unconditional commitment to the 1994-95 trilateral ceasefire agreement, the inadmissibility of using force of the threat to use force, the necessity to implement the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg were highlighted.
During the ceremony following the meeting Sergey Lavrov handed the Order of Friendship to Nalbandian awarded to him by Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Afterwards, Edward Nalbandian bestowed Medals of Honour of Armenian Foreign Ministry on a number of Russian MFA diplomats.
After the meeting Ministers Nalbandian and Lavrov gave a joint press conference and answered the questions of the reporters.
Following the press conference, Sergey Lavrov offered official dinner in honor of Edward Nalbandian.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Citizen of Azerbaijan of Talysh nationality, who has asked for a political asylum from Armenia, has made a note on his Facebook page asking his relatives not to worry for him, as he is very well treated in Armenia. He also responded to those who criticized his step of asking for a political asylum from Armenia.
My dear nation, my beloved Talysh people, I apply to you from the capital of Armenia, Yerevan. I wish you peace and all the best. Here I am surrounded by Armenians and feel very well, though I miss my relatives and friends. I want my friends and relatives to calm down. I and my family face no threats here. I ask you not to worry. I was forced to flee to save me and my family from possible death, but I cannot understand why some Talysh people criticize me together with the pan-turkists and blame me for something that is done by the family of the Aliyevs, Armenpress reports Mirzoev wrote.
He added that such behavior is not appropriate for his nation. My dear, its not appropriate and is an alien mentality. I save my family by fleeing and at the same time put an end to the informational blockade of Talyshistan. I know you would never want to become the slaves of that clan, in that case tell me how to fight against them? I had to die in prisons or save somehow me and my familys life, my underage children. I have chosen this option since I am convinced I can yet do something for my nation, Shahin Mirzoev concluded.
By Oonagh Reidy
Entrepreneur Dick Smith has taken a pop at immigrants, blaming Australias unbelievable population increase for enormous house prices, Sydneys traffic jams and couples not being able to get on the property ladder.
You cant drive in Sydney at the moment the housing prices are enormous, young couples cant afford a house with a backyard anymore, Smith said on Sky News on Tuesday evening.
You think each generation will be better off yeah, you can buy more LCD TV sets and fly to Bali cheaper, declared the multi- millionaire, who made his name as owner of the Dick Smith electronics chain, which he later sold to Woolworths.
Also read: Extraordinary turmoil: Sydneys 120% house price boom vs Karrathas bust
The electronics chain shut its doors in 2016 under the ownership of Anchorage Capital.
The most fundamental right is to get a house with a backyard he declared, lamenting that young couples cant do that anymore.
The millionaire businessman blamed this in 95 per cent of the cases by the enormous population increase, mainly driven by ridiculous immigration.
House prices have risen dramatically in recent years especially in Sydney and Melbourne, although population growth appears to be slowing. In 2015, Australias population rose by 326,100 - well down from the peak level of almost 460,000 in 2008 and 422,000 in 2009.
Also read: First home buyers on struggle street
Smith, a former Australian of the Year, has been a vociferous opponent of immigration in Australia, and in 2010 made a documentary on population growth called 'Dick Smith's Population Puzzle.'
He has also thrown his weight behind Pauline Hansons One Nation party, which has campaigned on an anti-immigration and anti-Muslim platform.
Story continues
I agree with her views on immigration numbers, that is about 70,000 a year, not 200,000. But I do not agree with her views on Muslim immigration, he said last year.
Tax authorities became suspicious of the couple after they withdrew more than 300,000 euros in cash from Dutch banks using credit cards linked to foreign bank accounts, the FIOD said
Greece's debt needs "significant" restructuring, but debt forgiveness by the country's creditors is not necessary, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Wednesday, appearing to soften the lender's previous stance.
"Debt will have to be restructured appropriately," the International Monetary Fund's managing director told German television channel ARD after meeting Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
"At the present time no haircut is needed," she said, referring to a financial market term for debt write-offs by creditors.
But she also called for Greece to implement deep reforms.
"We had asked the authorities to consider two categories of reforms, pensions reforms, income tax reforms," she said.
"Those are the two key areas but there are many others that need to be conducted in order to improve the economic situation of Greece."
- 'Much more confident' -
Lagarde said she was now "much more confident" on the outlook for resolving the Greek debt crisis "after the progress made by the Greek authorities to come in the direction of the institutions to satisfy the requirements that we have".
By dropping any insistence on outright debt relief, Lagarde seemed to be departing from the IMF's previous stance, taking a major step towards the position of Germany which has ruled out debt forgiveness.
Greece's eurozone and IMF lenders have been locked for months in a standoff over debt relief and budget targets.
Instead, Lagarde said Greek interest payments should be lightened and the maturity of outstanding debt lengthened, meaning Athens will have more time to pay it off.
Such "significant" easing of the burden would, however, only come at the end of the current bailout programme once Greece had delivered on reforms.
"The more reforms, the more progress, the more improvement of the economic situation, the less there will have to be in terms of debt restructuring," she said.
Greece on Monday agreed to discuss new bailout reforms in a bid to break the deadlock.
Story continues
But the IMF, which has stayed out of Greece's huge 86-billion-euro ($91 billion) bailout agreed in 2015 until it gets more guarantees, said more work was needed.
- 'Discipline and reforms' -
The Europeans have been at loggerheads with the IMF over the Washington-based lender's demands for easier budget targets, and its concerns over the size of Athens' mountain of debt which it said previously had to be cut.
"There has been a lot of austerity in this country, a significant reduction of the whole economy of Greece, so what we need now is discipline and structural reforms that will help the country going forward," Lagarde said in Berlin.
Eurozone hardliners, led by Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, have ruled out any debt relief, while insisting at the same time that the IMF stay on board with the bailout.
Athens needs the latest tranche of bailout cash to meet seven billion euros of new debt payments in July or risk defaulting on its loans.
High water on Lake Koshkonong and at Ashton has prompted Rock County to declare a slow, no-wake situation on the Rock River.
The Sheriff's Office said the water level on the lake was over 8 feet and over 7 feet at Ashton, south of Janesville, so the speed restriction for boats on the river kicked into gear because of the water levels exceeding those numbers.
"Deputies will be placing slow, no-wake signs along the river at all public access points between the northern Rock County line to the West B-R Town Line Road bridge," said recreational patrol deputy Christopher Krahn. The bridge is just south of Afton.
The Rock River south of the bridge is not restricted yet, because the water level has not exceeded the 8.5 foot mark that is the signal for the slow, no-wake rule.
Lake Koshkonong also is not under a slow, no-wake order, just the river downstream from the lake starting at Newville.
Slow, no-wake rules mean boaters have to keep their craft at slow speed so as little wave action is made as possible, to keep river banks from getting damaged or having water overflowing the banks.
TOKYO Tenga Co., Ltd., as of October 2016, has shipped more than 50 million Tenga products worldwide.
Since the company's launch in 2005, each year has seen a steady increase in the number of Tenga brand items shipped. In its first year, it shipped 1 million units. By 2013, that number had grown to 30 million.
For context, if 50,000,000 Original Vacuum CUPs were laid end to end, it would stretch 7,750km. Thats almost the same as a round-trip of Route 66 (7,890km), the distance from Tokyo to Helsinki (7,813km), or 2,905 Mt. Fujis stacked one on top of the other.
Dream job alert: This company wants you to travel Europe and Instagram stunning shots for them
Were definitely not telling you to quit your job. But, if youre looking for a change of scenery (in more ways than one), then we have a stunning offer for you. According to Cosmopolitan, a company called Busabout wants you to travel to Europe and Instagram pictures for them. Um, hello? This is too good to be true, right? Wrong this is real.
Busabout is looking for a brand ambassador and a video producer to spend five months in Europe. Were talking Paris, Switzerland, Spain, etc. Plus, flights, accommodation, and other travel costs will be covered by the company.
Youll even get an allowance for food purchases!
This could be you! We're looking for two travel addicts to vlog, 'gram, Snap & blog their way across Europe on the trip of a lifetime. All expenses paid! Link in bio. #busabout A post shared by Busabout (@busabouteurope) on Feb 21, 2017 at 3:00am PST
The company aims to help the independent traveller hit the best cities and destinations in Europe and Asia while getting the most bang for their buck. Traveling on the Busabout Hop-On, Hop-Off network allows you to stay independent while also still being able to rely on a system that will get you to where you need to go.
Chances are Cinque Terre will steal your heart away. Better pack an extra one just in case. #busabout A post shared by Busabout (@busabouteurope) on Feb 9, 2017 at 2:36am PST
So, if youre dying to become a Busabout brand ambassador, all you have to do is submit a three-minute video via YouTube telling the company about yourself and your favorite place. Then, show off your Instagram skills with an Instagram post tagged with #busaboutambassador and @busabouteurope.
Can't argue with this view of Kotor from St. John Fortress. Montenegro is quite the hidden gem! Incredible by @duey_spargo from our Balkan Trek! #busabout A post shared by Busabout (@busabouteurope) on Jan 17, 2017 at 1:46am PST
Or, if video producing is more your vibe, submit a two-minute YouTube video showcasing your location and editing skills and provide Busabout with a list of your gear and software. Easy peasy!
Story continues
Don't leave Venice without a visit to the nearby tiny island of Burano. It's the cutest thing! #busabout A post shared by Busabout (@busabouteurope) on Jan 9, 2017 at 3:03am PST
Convince your travel-obsessed (18+) friend to apply with you and note in your application that you two are a team. Renew those passports, and make sure you have a clear schedule from April through September. You might be on the brink of getting your ultimate dream job so dont let anything get in your way!
You can read up on all the details of the job and more about the company on Busabouts website. The application deadline is March 5th, so get cracking! You wont want to pass up this opportunity.
Photo on left from The Associated Press, photo on right from Andy Kahn/Instagram.
The Statue of Liberty became a symbol of protest this week when activists unfurled a banner that said Refugees Welcome on the New York City monument.
The banner, which was nearly a metre tall and more than six metres wide, appeared Tuesday from the statues observation deck and was removed by park rangers about an hour later, according to the BBC.
Hanging signage of any kind from the statue is illegal, and police from the U.S. National Park Service police is investigating the incident.
An activist group calling themselves Alt Lady Liberty has told multiple news outlets the banner was theirs. They issued the following statement to CNN:
Almost all Americans have descendants from somewhere else. Immigrants and refugees make this country great. And turning away refugees, like we did to Anne Frank, does not make us great. Refugees are welcome here, Muslims are welcome here and immigrants are welcome here.
One the activists allegedly involved in the demonstration spoke with the website Fusion and described what it was like hanging the banner.
We left, and as we were taking the ferry home, [the banner] was still hanging, he told Fusion. I would imagine that the National Park Service staffers who also make this country great, who are working there I would be surprised if anyone who cares about the history of the Statue of Liberty did not agree with what we were saying.
The red and white banner was hung as U.S. President Donald Trumps administration announced new plans to begin aggressively enforcing immigration laws in the hopes of arresting and deporting the millions of illegal immigrants who now live in the U.S.
This development follows the U.S. presidents executive order to restrict travel access to foreigners from seven Muslim-majority countries while putting a hold on taking in Syrian refugees. The order was denied in court and the administration is reportedly considering a new draft to reimpose the measures.
Despite immigration being a divisive issue in the U.S., there seemed to be support for the demonstration online.
Story continues
"Refugees Welcome" sign appears beneath the Statue of Liberty and I thank whomever did it, cause we needed thatGod Bless America. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/dZQYGdEH7i Girls Really Rule. (@girlsreallyrule) February 22, 2017
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore."#RefugeesWelcome pic.twitter.com/W42UtKA2qW Alt Lady Liberty (@AltStatLiberty) February 21, 2017
MONDOVI As President Trump steamrolls his executive order machine across this country, trampling on civil liberties and upending environmental protections, he risks getting derailed by the issue of tribal sovereignty.
The status of American Indians goes beyond race, class and religion. As members of tribes, Indians are citizens of nations. There are more than 500 tribal nations, in fact.
A century ago, when tribes ceded land and natural resources, even giving up their own culture to exist as nations, treaties were signed with the U.S. government. Those treaties were based on a clear understanding that tribes were and would remain sovereign, governing their people as nations.
Tribal sovereignty affords tribes the right to fully engage the federal government on matters affecting their communities. When an Indian communitys way of life is threatened by a massive oil pipeline, the federal government cannot easily put corporate interests above tribal concerns.
President Trumps recent executive orders greenlighting two oil pipelines in the Dakotas that would impact the Rosebud and Standing Rock Sioux tribes show a blatant disregard of tribal sovereignty. They ignore the tribes longstanding rights as separate nations to have a say in this process. These rights are not within the presidents powers to simply ignore.
Of course, Trump is not the first president to disrespect tribal nationhood. Throughout history, Indian treaties have consistently been broken. From defending against the theft of land resources to ending culture-crushing white assimilation policies, tribes have had to rise up and forcibly remind the federal government to honor Indian treaties.
But the assault on tribal sovereignty continues. Recently, two North Dakota state legislators put forth legislation to urge the feds to turn jurisdictional authority over tribes to the states. What these lawmakers do not understand is that tribes would never allow states to control their affairs. Tribes signed their treaties with the U.S. government, not with state governments.
But the biggest challenge to upholding tribal sovereignty could happen along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Tohono Oodham Nation has announced it will not allow Trumps border wall to be built on its homelands. Many of their community members live south of the border as they have for generations.
In the early days of this country, it was very common for tribes to send delegations to Washington to meet with the president and other government leaders. In 1994, President Bill Clinton opened up the White House lawn for a historic meeting with tribal leaders. Clinton vowed to honor and respect tribal sovereignty.
Clearly, President Trump needs a primer on what nation-to-nation consultations with tribes mean. Meeting with tribal leaders representing Indian nations would be an important step for the president in gaining an understanding of tribal sovereignty.
The Liberal government is closely tracking the influx of asylum seekers illegally crossing into Canada, but opposition critics say much more must be done to keep migrants safe and to protect the integrity of the immigration system.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said today the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency are rearranging resources to ensure they can "deal effectively with the situation."
"Should they recommend changes or adjustments or additions to what they have on the ground now, obviously the government would be anxious to have their advice," he said.
Hundreds of people have been making the perilous, and illegal, journey from the U.S. into Canada, many of them fleeing a planned immigration crackdown south of the border
Goodale said the government will ensure Canadian laws are applied at the border and following the crossing of the border, and praised local communities for their "truly magnificent" response to the migrants.
"Obviously, they have concerns, but they've responded with compassion and with generosity and that is the kind of response that Canadians would expect both from themselves in terms of their common humanity," he said.
But as the government grapples with next steps, opposition critics have opposing views on how the government should respond to the influx.
Suspend agreement, NDP urges
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the government must immediately suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement, a 2002 agreement with the United States which requires migrants to seek refugee status in the country they reach first.
She said U.S. President Donald Trump's executive orders have created a "humanitarian crisis," causing people to risk life and limb to cross in to Canada illegally because they don't feel safe in the U.S.
"We have a desperate, desperate situation," she said.
Welcoming refugees
The day after Trump signed executive orders suspending the intake of Syrian refugees and banning travel from residents of seven Muslim-majority countries, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a message on Twitter welcoming refugees.
Story continues
"To those fleeing persecution, terror and war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength," it read.
But Kwan said Trudeau must match "welcoming rhetoric" with real action instead of forcing people to cross through frozen fields by suspending the Safe Third Country Agreement.
"What is Canada going to do about it? Are we going to be complicit because that's what we're going right now. We're just being bystanders watching this unfold," she told CBC News. "I would say this is a very important moment in our history, to stand up for compassion, for humanitarianism, to stand up for human rights."
Asked about the plan in the House of Commons today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government will continue to ensure that laws are enforced and followed while demonstrating the strength and integrity of Canada's immigration system.
"We will be welcoming, but we need to make sure that it's done properly at the same time by all officials in Canada," he said.
Deterring illegal crossings
Conservative public safety critic Tony Clement called for more resources for border agents and the RCMP to police areas that are under increasing pressure, which he said could help deter illegal crossings. He also called on the government to develop a comprehensive strategy to stop a situation he says is "spiralling out of control."
"Canadians are fair people, but they don't want queue-jumpers, they don't want people going around the system that we have in place, which is a very compassionate system," he said. "Canadians want the law to be applied."
Clement said trust in Canada's immigration system is at stake.
"I'm worried that if this snowballs and the hundreds that are migrating become thousands, it will test the integrity of our system, and that will not be good for anyone," he said.
"The safety of the claimants, the law being applied reasonably or fairly in our country...those things are at risk."
Students at Holland College are heading to the polls this week to elect the next student union president.
This year three candidates are vying for the top job, including two international students reflecting the growing international student population at the school.
Luke Ignace is a first-year business administration student from the Bahamas. He hopes to inspire change with strong leadership.
'It's all about the students'
"I think it's important for everybody to make a difference," he said. "It doesn't take one person. It takes each individual Holland College student to make a difference. We all come together and have that mindset of 'we're going to do this together'. That's where we're going to see change."
Templeton Sawyer, who also hails from the Bahamas, is in his first year of the events management course.
He said he'll take a hands-on approach if elected president.
"It's my goal to speak to other students, get feedback to what they actually want to make happen," he said. "At the end of the day, it's all about the students. My goal is to make an impact and a difference."
'Everyone feel at home'
Cassidy MacDonald of Cornwall is in her second-year of the events management course and said she wants to see more diverse events that are a true reflection of today's student population.
"We have such a large number of different students at the college," she said.
"I'd like to see some smaller things to make everyone feel at home, or some way for Holland College to make a difference in the community. There's always more that can be done."
This isn't the first time international students have run for public office at the college.
'Voice heard louder'
Edward Zhakata of Zimbabwe was elected student union president in 2012.
The number of international students at the school has nearly doubled over the past two years from 112 in 2014 to 220 this year.
Story continues
It's a sign of the times, said outgoing president Amanda Myers.
"It's fantastic that our international students want to get involved and have their voice heard louder," she said. "It's really great that international students are coming here and utilizing everything we have here and want to get involved."
Students will elect a new union president on Thursday.
- MORE P.E.I. NEWS I Charlottetown hands out heritage awards
- MORE P.E.I. NEWS I P.E.I. RCMP warn against snowmobiling across farm fields
Security
Rasputin Hacker Targets 60 Universities, Government Agencies
Image Credit: Recorded Future.
More than 60 universities and government agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom have been attacked by a well-known international hacker. Dubbed Rasputin, the Russian-speaking notorious financially-motivated cyber criminal [who] continues to locate and exploit vulnerable web applications via a proprietary SQL injection tool is behind the latest round of attacks, according to intelligence firm Recorded Future.
Commonly used SQL injection (SQLi) scanners including Havij, Ashiyane SQL Scanner, SQL Exploiter Pro, SQLI Hunter and countless others are used to automate the identification and exploitation of vulnerable websites and associated databases, the firm explained in a blog post. Over the last few months, Rasputin was able to breach databases at prominent universities, as well as federal, state and local governments using an SQLi tool that he developed himself.
Financial profits motivate actors like Rasputin, who have technical skills to create their own tools to outperform the competition in both identifying and exploiting vulnerable databases, Recorded Future wrote. North American and Western European databases contain information on customers or users that are historically valued at a premium in the underground economy. Buyer demand typically centers on access to American, Canadian or U.K. database access.
Recorded Future first discovered criminal activity targeting government organizations back in December. On Dec. 28, Recorded Future contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security. But SQLi attacks are nothing new, according to the firm, and have been around for more than 15 years since databases first appeared on the internet. Large organizations often fall prey to SQLi which is preventable, the firm wrote, with coding best practices. Until organizations have an incentive (carrots or sticks) to properly audit internal and vendor code before production use, this problem will continue into the foreseeable future.
The U.S. universities that were attacked are:
To see the complete list of affected universities and governments, visit the Recorded Future site here.
TUESDAY, Feb. 21, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Working with mice, researchers have learned more about how exposure to Zika virus early in pregnancy may increase the risk for miscarriage.
Normally, the placenta protects a developing fetus from viral infections. But, somehow, Zika seems able to cross the placenta in early pregnancy, the study authors said.
The mouse study also found that Zika-exposed fetuses that survive are more likely to be born with thinner-than-normal brain tissue, as well as brain cell inflammation.
The researchers believe that their findings highlight a point of vulnerability that could be a potential target for future Zika interventions.
"We need to find a way to stop transmission of Zika through the placenta into the fetus, because that is where the damage is being done," said study co-leader Sabra Klein. She is an immunologist and microbiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
"In the placentas of our mice, we're seeing a defense against Zika being mounted but falling short, especially in early pregnancy, a time that corresponds to the first trimester in humans," Klein said in a school news release.
It's important to note that the study by Klein's team was with mice, and research with animals doesn't always turn out the same in people.
The current study involved injecting Zika directly into the reproductive tract of pregnant mice, during a timeframe considered equivalent to the first trimester among women.
About 94 percent of the mouse pregnancies carried to term if they weren't infected with Zika.
But only 56 percent to 71 percent of mice infected with Zika were able to carry a pregnancy to term, depending on the type of Zika strain, the investigators reported.
The miscarriage rate dropped, however, when the mice were exposed to Zika only during the equivalent of the late second trimester. This suggests that perhaps the placenta barrier is stronger by this point. As the pregnancy progresses, it's possible that the more developed layers of protection are better able to block the passage of the virus, the researchers suggested.
In the same vein, mice born after Zika exposure during the first trimester equivalency were much more likely to have thin brain cortex tissue than those exposed during the late second trimester equivalency, the findings showed.
The researchers said it's unclear whether maternal exposure to Zika at any point might also pose a risk to future mouse or human pregnancies down the road.
"We don't know if the effects persist in future pregnancies," Klein said. "We're just dealing with the here and now. We have no idea what the long-term consequences are for the mother."
The study was published in the Feb. 21 issue of Nature Communications.
Scientists have been scrambling to find a vaccine against the mosquito-borne Zika virus ever since an outbreak began in April 2015 in Brazil.
Thousands of babies in that country have been born with severe birth defects after their mothers were infected during pregnancy. The most common defect seen has been microcephaly, where the head and brain are abnormally small. But other birth defects have also been spotted with increasing frequency, including ones that damage vision, hearing and the nervous system.
More information
There's more on Zika at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 22, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors often prescribe antidepressants to tackle conditions like migraine headaches for which they aren't technically approved. Now, researchers say such "off-label" usage mostly occurs without clear scientific evidence backing up the treatments.
A new Canadian study found that almost one-third of antidepressants are prescribed for pain, insomnia, migraine or other unapproved uses.
But just 16 percent of those off-label prescriptions were found to be supported by strong research.
Study lead author Jenna Wong described the findings as "eye-opening" but in line with the findings of prior investigations.
Wong, a doctoral candidate in epidemiology, biostatistics, and occupational health at McGill University in Montreal, said she hopes the findings raise awareness among doctors.
"Some physicians may not be aware that certain off-label antidepressant uses are not evidence-based, especially if the broader community of physicians prescribes antidepressants for these off-label uses so frequently that it seems like the norm," she said.
Doctors prescribe off-label for other reasons as well.
In cases where the approved medication carries major side effects -- such as insomnia drugs for older patients -- "physicians may prescribe antidepressants instead of thinking that these drugs are safer," Wong said.
The new findings stem from an analysis of more than 100,000 antidepressant prescriptions issued in Quebec, Canada, between 2003 and 2015. They were written by 174 Quebec doctors.
According to the study, trazodone was the most common off-label use for antidepressants. It's often prescribed to help people sleep.
In terms of class of drugs, tricyclic antidepressants like amitriptyline were the most likely to be prescribed off-label. This is a common migraine treatment.
Antidepressants known as selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) -- including fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline (Zoloft) -- were less likely to be used off-label. That was also the case for drugs like venlafaxine (Effexor), which is a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), the study found.
The researchers said 44 percent of the alternative drugs lacked any strong research backing up the effectiveness of the intended off-label purpose. Another 40 percent lacked evidence for the medicine at hand, but did have strong evidence supporting use of a similar drug in the same class for the intended off-label usage.
Wong said she expected "trends to be similar" in the United States, although she can't be sure.
The results were published online Feb. 21 in BMJ.
The author of an accompanying journal editorial, Daniel Morales, pointed out that off-label use "has always happened."
"Some off-label prescribing has strong evidence, but pharmaceutical companies may not apply for a license for a new indication because it is a complex and expensive process," said Morales, a fellow in the school of medicine at the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland.
The bottom line is that "the strength of evidence for using an antidepressant for a particular patient or condition" is equally important whether the antidepressant is used "on" or "off" label, said Morales.
Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center in New Haven, Conn., cautioned against painting off-label prescribing in a broadly negative light.
The practice "invites concern and caution, but does not necessarily indicate poor choices," he explained.
"I have prescribed off-label many times myself, and generally it was because my patient needed me to get creative to figure out how to help them when the more obvious choices had failed for various reasons," Katz said.
He agreed that because the regulatory approval process is so expensive, drug companies often stop after acquiring approval in one area of use.
"But to be clear," he added, "a product might work just as intended (or) hoped, even if there is no multinational randomized trial in the thousands to prove it," Katz added.
Wong and her team suggested more research is needed to examine the effectiveness of off-label antidepressant uses.
Also, "when evidence is lacking, we encourage physicians to prescribe conservatively or engage with their patients in a shared decision-making process to decide whether taking an antidepressant is the right choice for them," Wong added.
More information
There's more on off-label prescribing at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an attempt by Arkansas inmates to stop their executions over claims that their deaths would be "intolerably painful."
The 9 inmates asked the justices to review an Arkansas Supreme Court decision upholding a law that keeps secret the source of the lethal injection drugs.
The nation's highest court handed down decisions in a number of death row cases Tuesday.
Arkansas will not be able to immediately resume executions. One of three lethal injection drugs expired last month and has not been replaced, and the attorney general still must certify to Gov. Asa Hutchinson that all legal road blocks have been cleared and that executions may proceed.
"I will immediately provide the (U.S. Supreme) Court's order to the Arkansas Supreme Court, and once the clerk issues the mandate, the current injunction on executions will automatically be lifted," Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said. "Thereafter, I will inform Governor Hutchinson that executions may resume and request that dates be set for those who have exhausted all appeals."
Arkansas has not executed an inmate since 2005 because of legal challenges and the difficulty of obtaining execution drugs. One of Arkansas' execution drugs, potassium chloride, expired Jan. 1 and has not been replaced.
"Today's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court sets the stage for execution in the specified cases to proceed," Hutchinson said. "I will proceed in accordance with law and in a timely manner. Since (the) 'use by' date on one of the drugs has expired it will be necessary for the Department of Correction to make the acquisition."
Under a 3-step procedure listed in state guidelines, executioners would first use midazolam to calm and sedate the inmate, then use vecuronium bromide to paralyze the inmate and stop the inmate's breathing, then administer potassium chloride to stop the heart.
Attorney Jeff Rosenzweig says the inmates are disappointed by the decision and that their lawyers are studying their options.
Executions to Resume in Arkansas
A high court ruling in the nation's capital Tuesday means executions can resume in Arkansas.
The U.S. Supreme Court's denied a petition for writ of certiorari by a group of Arkansas death row inmates concerning the State's method of execution. There are 34 men on death row in Arkansas.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge released the following statement after the ruling was announced:
"Today's decision from the nation's high court ends this case, which means that executions can move forward in Arkansas, and families of the victims will see justice carried out for those who committed heinous crimes against their loved ones," said Attorney General Rutledge. "I will immediately provide the Court's order to the Arkansas Supreme Court, and once the clerk issues the mandate, the current injunction on executions will automatically be lifted. Thereafter, I will inform Governor Hutchinson that executions may resume and request that dates be set for those who have exhausted all appeals."
Governor Asa Hutchinson also released a statement on the court's decision:
"Today's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court sets the stage for execution in the specified cases to proceed. The next step is for the mandate to issue and upon notice by the Attorney General for the dates to be set. I will proceed in accordance with law and in a timely manner. Since 'use by' date on 1 of the drugs has expired it will be necessary for the Department of Correction to make the acquisition."
In a related ruling Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a challenge to Alabama's method of lethal injection, which employs a drug used by at least 4 other states to carry out the death penalty.
Thomas Arthur, who faces execution for killing a man in a murder-for-hire-scheme, contended that the state's use of a drug called midazolam amounts to cruel and unusual punishment because it does not reliably induce a condition of deep unconsciousness, leaving a condemned prisoner susceptible to searing pain caused by follow-on injections of other chemicals intended to cause death.
| Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com
Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!
Source: Associated Press, February 22, 2017Source: nwahomepage.com, February 22, 2017
Die Suchergebnisse enthalten die Sicherheitsmodelle Ihres Unternehmens mit allen Anderungen. Aktualisierungen von Zugriffsberechtigungen fur Gruppen werden zeitnah berucksichtigt, sodass Nutzer nur Inhalte finden, fur die sie die Zugriffsberechtigung haben.
By Emily Chow and Reem Shamseddine KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's state oil firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and Saudi Aramco are expected to sign an agreement to collaborate in Malaysia's Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project, two industry sources said on Wednesday. Petronas and Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of Saudi Arabia, appear to be closer to agreeing to terms after sources told Reuters last month that Aramco was suspending a planned partnership in RAPID, a $27 billion (22 billion pounds) refining and petrochemical complex in Malaysia's southern state of Johor. An agreement is expected to be signed on Monday, said one of the sources who has knowledge of the matter and declined to be identified, during a visit by Saudi Arabia's King Salman to Malaysia. Neither of the sources had any firm details on the particulars of the agreement. Saudi Aramco declined to comment and a Petronas spokesman said the company could not "offer any comment at this point in time." The Malaysian government said King Salman is expected to arrive in Malaysia on Sunday in the first leg of his tour to Asia. It is Saudi Arabia's first official visit to Malaysia in over a decade. King Salman will be accompanied by ministers and business leaders. A business forum is also being planned in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. The RAPID project is designed to process 300,000 barrels a day of crude oil and produce 7.7 million tonnes a year of petrochemicals. The facility is planned as part of Petronas' Pengerang Integrated Complex that will include RAPID and oil storage facilities. Petronas had said last month that RAPID is on track for start-up in 2019, and that its development had reached the 54 percent progress mark to date. The Malaysian state oil firm has been struggling with the slump in global oil prices and has cut its expenditures in the past year. It has also slashed its dividend payouts to the government. Petronas is expected to announce its fourth-quarter results on March 14. (Reporting by Emily Chow and Reem Shamseddine; editing by Christian Schmollinger and David Evans)
It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Kansas City Southern KSU. Shares have added about 2.8% in that time frame, outperforming the market.
Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to the stocks next earnings release, or is it due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.
Fourth Quarter results
Kansas City Southern's earnings (on an adjusted basis) of $1.12 per share, missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.17. Earnings decreased 9% on a year-over-year basis. Kansas City Southern reported revenues of $598.5 million which fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $608.1 million. Revenues were flat on a year-over-year basis.
Results were hurt by a 10% drop in revenues at the Energy segment. Moreover, weakness of the Mexican peso versus the US dollar also contributed to the lackluster performance.
In the reported quarter, operating income declined 4% to $211 million. Operating ratio (operating expenses as a percentage of revenues) stood at 64.8% in the reported quarter as against 63.4% in the year-ago quarter. Carload volumes were flat on a year-over-year basis.
Segment Results
The Chemical & Petroleum segment generated revenues of $111.4 million, down 7% year over year. However, volumes deteriorated 9% year over year. Revenues per carload improved 1% from the prior-year quarter.
The Industrial & Consumer Products generated revenues of $136 million, up 5% year over year. Business volumes increased 6%, whereas revenues per carload decreased 1% from the prior-year quarter.
The Agriculture & Minerals segment revenues totaled $122.5 million, up 13% year over year. Business volumes climbed 10%, whereas revenues per carload were up 2%, both on a year-over-year basis.
The Energy segment generated revenues of $60.7 million, down 10% year over year. Below par performances of Utility Coal and crude oil hurt the segments results. Business volumes dropped 10% year over year, while revenues per carload deteriorated 1%.
Story continues
Intermodal revenues were $92.5 million, down 1% year over year. Business volumes dropped 1%, while revenues per carload improved 1% year over year.
The Automotive segment accounted for $52.9 million of the total revenue, down 3% year over year. Business volumes improved 19%, whereas revenues per carload plunged 18%.
Other revenues totaled $22.5 million, down 4% year over year.
How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?
Following the release, investors have witnessed an upward trend in fresh estimate. There have been two revisions higher for the current quarter compared to one lower.
Kansas City Southern Price and Consensus
Kansas City Southern Price and Consensus | Kansas City Southern Quote
VGM Scores
At this time, Kansas City Southern's stock has a subpar Growth Score of 'D', though it is lagging a bit on the momentum front with an 'F'. However, the stock was allocated a grade of 'B' on the value side, putting it in the second quintile for this investment strategy.
Overall, the stock has an aggregte VGM Score of 'D'. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.
The company's stock is suitable solely for value based on our styles scores.
Outlook
Estimates have been trending upward for the stock. The magnitude of these revisions also looks promising. Notably, the stock has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We are looking for an inline return from the stock in the next few months.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Kansas City Southern (KSU): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Latvian English
Riga, 2017-02-22 09:11 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AS HansaMatrix (ticker: HMX1R) (The Company) is hosting its first Capital Markets Day Event on Wednesday, March 1st, 2017. This is a way for existing as well as potential shareholders to become more familiar with the operations of the Company at Ogre plant location.
The programme will include the following components:
General presentation on the Company (also available via market announcement);
Presentation on high technology start-ups in Latvia by Mr. Andris Berzins, council member of AS HansaMatrix, co-founder of Riga TechHub (organizes TechChill - the leading start-up conference in the Baltic states) and board member in Latvian Start-up Association;
Production facility tour of the Ogre plant.
Webinar (live) streamed from the Companys premises on 4th Quarter and 12 months 2016 results hosted by the Chairman of the Management Board Mr. Ilmars Osmanis.
The entire programme will take place at the Companys purpose-built manufacturing plant in Ogre on the outskirts of Riga, Latvia. The starting time is 10:00 (EET) and it is envisaged that the agenda will be completed by 13:00.
This event is open to both existing shareholders and potential investors. Please note that prior registration for the Capital Markets Day Event is required (closing date Friday, February 24th). To register, please use the email or phone contact details provided below. Registered participants will be provided with more detailed information about the event, its full agenda and organized transport from Riga to Ogre and back.
The main language used for the event will be English. Personal identification will be required on the day.
Those investors who are unable to participate in the Companys Capital Market Day Event in person, are welcome to join Companys webinar which will take place on March 1, 2017 at 12:00.
To join the webinar you need to register in advance via http://ej.uz/HMX_webinar_Q42016. After successfull registration you will receive the webinar link and instructions how to join the webinar. You will need a computer with an internet connection and headphones. Youre welcome to send your questions addressed to AS HansaMatrix Chairman of the Management Board Mr. Ilmars Osmanis in advance to email: eva.dzerve@nasdaq.com
Investor and media contact:
Ms. Zanda Lapane
Assistant to the CEO
Phone: (+371) 6780 0002
e-mail: invest@hansamatrix.com
http://www.hansamatrix.com
About AS HansaMatrix
HansaMatrix is a fast-growing, high-technology company offering product design, industrialization and complete manufacturing services in data networking, Internet of Things, industrial segments and other services to high added value business segments. In addition to complete manufacturing services of OEM products, the company offers an ODM business model to both start-up and established companies that seek product development partnerships
MAURITIUS, Feb. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Only one month remains until industry stakeholders meet at the Pension Funds & Alternative Investments Africa Conference (PIAFRICA), taking place on the 15 - 16 March at the Intercontinental Resort, Balaclava, Mauritius.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/86b2efd7-c2b7-4663-be73-a27c44a0eec6
Mauritius has a real GDP growth of 3.4% and access to 26% of the worlds population via air and sea networks, a range of investment promotion and protection agreements and bilateral double taxation avoidance agreements, making it a prime location to explore the opportunities available in pension funds and alternative investments. Pension funds are seen as an important vehicle to enhance national reserves and to mobilise private savings for funding long-term investments in Africa.
The conferences programme will provide a comprehensive view of the industry. The speakers will address the key trends, challenges, best practices for sustainable growth, private equity, country profiles, long term benefits of investment, capacity building, the latest technologies and fund administration.
It allows for participants to meet and network with senior executives as well as decision managers and asset managers, identifying key investment avenues and opportunities that are sure to offer reliable returns.
Confirmed speakers include:
Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, Director General and CEO, PENCOM
Gosego January, CEO, Debswana Pension Fund
Harvesh Seegolam, Chief Executive, Financial Services Promotion Agency, Mauritius
Tom Minney, Africa Growth Partners Ltd
David Ashiagbor, Coordinator, Making Finance Work for Africa, AFDB
Oscar N Onyema, President, ASEA and CEO, Nigerian Stock Exchange*
Kofi Anokye Owusu-Darko, CEO, National Pensions Regulatory Authority, Ghana
Mr PK Kuriachan, Chief Executive, Financial Services Commission, Mauritius
Ernest Thompson, Director General, Social Security & National Insurance Trust, Ghana
Sibusiso Luthuli, CEO and Principal Officer, Eskom Pension & Provident Fund
Tony Clamp, MD, Compass Infrastructure
Eric Fajemisin, Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers
Krishen Sukdev, CEO, Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA), South Africa
Simon Wafubwa, MD, Enwealth Financial Services
Richard Arlove, CEO, Abax Services, Mauritius
Paul Boyton, Chief Executive Officer, Old Mutual Alternative Investments
Jarred Glansbeck, Chief Executive Officer, Riscura
Hugh Stacey, Executive Director Investor Solutions, Augentius (UK) Ltd
Nonnie Wanjihia Burbidge, Board Member, East African Venture Capital Association (EAVCA) and Vice President, Emerging Capital Partners
With the support from the associate sponsor, Riscura and the endorsing partners EAVCA, FSPA and ASEA, this event promises to be highly thought-provoking and informative.
For more information, visit www.ametrade.org/piafrica or contact the AME Trade events team at piafrica@ametrade.org or +44 207 700 4949.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Feb. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Federal-Mogul Powertrain, a division of Federal-Mogul Holdings LLC, will showcase a range of industrial powertrain technologies at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2017, March 7-11 in Las Vegas (Gold Hall, Booth G - 71807). The technologies include the companys new Pokal industrial ignition spark plug technology, GOETZE mud-resistant HSL-series face seals, DEVA self-lubricating industrial bearings and GOETZE industrial sealing rings, as well as the companys Clevaflex line of thermal management products.
The innovations were showing at CONEXPO are designed to enable extended maintenance intervals, while at the same time, offer solutions for reduced environmental impact for our customers, said Gian Maria Olivetti, Chief Technology Officer, Federal-Mogul Powertrain. Helping customers meet future regulations and environmental targets while providing innovative solutions is a key part of our overall technology strategy.
Key technologies on display at the show will include:
The global introduction of the Pokal Industrial spark plug, a new design with unprecedented mechanical and electrical strength based on a new u-shaped insulator core nose. The companys expanded line of industrial ignition products will also be on display at CONEXPO, all of which provide robust solutions for industrial engines with high peak cylinder pressures, enabling longer service life and enhanced performance.
GOETZE Industrial Sealing Rings for use in non-combustion applications, including rotating shafts or pistons in compressors, pumps, gearboxes or hydraulic and pneumatic applications. Constructed of cast iron, the rings offer excellent heat resistance and heat transfer properties and can be used as a solution to address high temperature, pressure or speed requirements. Diameters are offered from 12 mm up to 1,000 mm.
Bentley-Harris Clevaflex systems protection products that enable greater thermal management. The Clevaflex line of products are reflective corrugated tubes designed to provide thermal protection for engine components in radiant heat environments up to 600C. Clevaflex products can be used on fuel and hydraulic lines, power steering hoses, heater/radiator hoses or any other components in close proximity to engine and exhaust systems. They are offered in tubular, slit, and notched constructions, depending on the application need.
DEVA Self-lubricating Industrial Bearings provide outstanding self-lubricating and maintenance-free properties:
deva.metal is a self-lubricating bearing material which features a uniformly micro-distributed solid lubricant-in-metal structure. The material is suitable for severe industrial operational conditions where heavy equipment requires grease-free sliding and has a very high resistance to temperature and corrosion.
deva.bm is a thin-walled, self-lubricating composite sliding bearing material, capable of handling high loads and is applicable for large bridge and engineering equipment.
deva.tex is a high performance self-lubricating sliding material with a glass-fiber-reinforced backing layer. The sliding layer consists of fibers which are embedded in epoxy resin, and incorporates PTFE as a lubricant for excellent tribological performance.
deva.glide material consists of a highly wear-resistant copper cast alloy and self-lubricating plugs. The high density of the bronze ensures high stability under load coupled with solid dirt particle embedding properties into the lubricant plugs.
GOETZE HSL Face Seals are an evolution of the companys proven square bore series face seals used to seal critical components within axles for off-highway equipment and similar applications. They incorporate a dirt excluder lip within the design, which sets a new standard in the protection of sensitive components operating in wet, muddy conditions. The new seal increases resistance against mud packing that could otherwise lead to subsequent leakage when particles are pressed into the gap between the seal rings, further extending its service life.
About Federal-Mogul
Federal-Mogul Holdings LLC is a leading global supplier of products and services to the worlds manufacturers and servicers of vehicles and equipment in the automotive, light, medium and heavy-duty commercial, marine, rail, aerospace, power generation and industrial markets. The companys products and services enable improved fuel economy, reduced emissions and enhanced vehicle safety.
Federal-Mogul operates two independent business divisions, each with a chief executive officer reporting to Federal-Mogul's Board of Directors.
Federal-Mogul Powertrain designs and manufactures original equipment powertrain components and systems protection products for automotive, heavy-duty, industrial and transport applications.
Federal-Mogul Motorparts sells and distributes a broad portfolio of products through more than 20 of the worlds most recognized brands in the global vehicle aftermarket, while also serving original equipment vehicle manufacturers with products including braking, wipers and a range of chassis components. The companys aftermarket brands include ANCO wiper blades; Beck/Arnley premium OE quality parts and fluids; BERU* ignition systems; Champion lighting, spark plugs, wipers and filters; Interfil filters; AE, Fel-Pro, FP Diesel, Goetze, Glyco, Nural, Payen and Sealed Power engine products; MOOG chassis components; and Ferodo, Jurid and Wagner brake products and lighting.
Federal-Mogul was founded in Detroit in 1899 and maintains its worldwide headquarters in Southfield, Michigan. The Company has more than 53,000 employees globally. For more information, please visit www.federalmogul.com.
*BERU is a registered trademark of BorgWarner Ludwigsburg GmbH
Griffith wrote:
I'll be applying for R3 (end of december), since I still need to have a go at the GMAT (expecting 720+)
Profile:
25M (will be early 26 when I enter the program) from Western Europe
MSc in Research Economics (equivalent to 2:1)
3 months internship at a BB in a BO role
Currently Big 4 audit (will have 2 years exp. when I enter the program)
CFA Level III Candidate (June 2016), passed Level 1 in December 2014, Level 2 in June 2015
Quadrilingual (and fluent in 3 of those languages)
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
COMPANY
About HPE
Learn about our company, our purpose, and read the latest news to see how were driving innovation to make it easier to reimagine tomorrow.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) under the proposal of the Personal Deposit Guarantee Fund has decided on February 21, 2017 to revoke the banking license and liquidate PJSC Fortuna-bank, Joinfo.com reports with reference to Ukrainska Pravda.
The NBU classified the Fortuna bank as insolvent on January 26, 2017, in accordance with the requirements of Article 76 of the Ukraines Law On Banks and Banking Activity.
The Central bank also informed that 91 per cent of the banks investors will receive their deposits in full, because their size does not exceed the UAH 200,000 amount guaranteed by the Deposit Guarantee Fund.
As of October 1, 2016, the Fortuna bank had obligations to other banks in the amount of UAH 466.8 million hryvnias, to customers UAH 1.428 billion. In particular, he owed to legal entities UAH 744.4 million, of which UAH 191.3 million in foreign currency, and to individuals UAH 683.7 million, of which UAH 613 million in foreign currency.
As of October 1, 2016, the Fortuna bank took the 38th place among 100 Ukrainian banks by the assets amount, according to the National Bank of Ukraine, holding UAH 2.507 billion.
Motrona Tishchenko holds the controlling stock (99.637%) of the bank, according to the NBU.
The NBU has liquidated over 80 Ukrainian banks since the beginning of the Russian aggression in 2014.
Malaysian police on Wednesday named a senior official in North Koreas embassy and a staffer at its state airline, who are wanted for questioning over the murder last week of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Koreas leader, Reuters reports.
Kim Jong Nam, 46, was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13, while preparing to board a flight to Macau, where he lived in exile with his family under the protection of Beijing.
Kim Jong Nam had spoken out publicly against his familys dynastic control of the isolated, nuclear-armed state.
Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar named the North Korean diplomat wanted for questioning as 44-year-old Hyon Kwang Song, and said he held the rank of second secretary at the embassy.
The police chief identified the Air Koryo staffer as Kim Uk Il, 37.
He said both were in Malaysia, but gave no further details.
Theyve been called in for assistance. We hope the embassy will cooperate with us and allow us to interview them quickly or else we will compel them to come to us, Khalid told reporters at a news conference.
Calls on Wednesday to the North Korean embassy for comment on the latest developments went unanswered.
Police have stepped up security at the morgue where Kim Jong Nams body is being held after an attempted break-in earlier this week, Khalid said.
Malaysia has denied North Koreas request for the body to be handed over to its embassy directly and has urged the victims next of kin to come forward to help with the investigation.
Malaysia has so far identified a total of eight North Koreans suspected of being linked to killing.
One, Ri Jong Chol, is in custody, and another, Ri Ji U, remains at large. Khalid said police strongly believed four others were back in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, having fled Malaysia on the day of the attack.
Police have not stated Ri Jong Chols role in the killing. He lived in Malaysia for three years without working at the company registered on his employment permit or receiving a salary.
The first suspects to be arrested last week were two women one Vietnamese, one Indonesian who are suspected of carrying out the fatal assault on Kim Jong Nam using a fast-acting poison.
REHEARSED ATTACK
Khalid said both women wiped a liquid, containing an as yet unidentified toxic substance, on Kim Jong Nams face.
Yes, the two female suspects knew that the substance they had was toxic. We dont know what kind of chemical was used, he said, dismissing speculation that the women had thought they were part of a prank.
They used their bare hands, he said, adding that they were instructed to wash their hands afterwards.
The women had rehearsed the attack at two shopping malls in central Kuala Lumpur before assaulting Kim Jong Nam, he said.
Diplomatic tensions have escalated between North Korea and Malaysia since the killing, with the countries trading barbs over Malaysias handling of the investigation.
North Korea Malaysia is one of the few countries in the world that maintains ties with the nuclear-armed nation.
Earlier this week Malaysia recalled its ambassador from Pyongyang, and Prime Minister Najib Razak rebuked the North Korea ambassador in Kuala Lumpur for making diplomatically rude comments.
The police said no family member of Kim Jong Nam has come forward to claim the body or provide DNA samples yet, dismissing rumors that a son had arrived in Kuala Lumpur earlier this week.
Malaysia has said it will only release the body to the next-of-kin once the cause of death and identity have been confirmed.
Milivoje Katnic said Montenegro officials have evidence that Russias Federal Security Service was involved in the failed coup, according to his statements Sunday on Atlas TV. The allegation drew an immediate rebuke and denial from Russian officials, Joinfo.com reports with reference to CNN.
Katnic said the plot was an attempt to stop Montenegro from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.
Behind these events are nationalist structures from Russia, but we now know that certain Russian state authorities were involved also on a certain level, Katnic said.
Katnic said the alleged mastermind behind the failed coup was a man named Eduard Sismakov, who is a former deputy Russian military attache in Poland. Sismakov was deported to Russia for espionage in 2014, according to the prosecutor.
According to Katnic, Sismakov is also known as Eduard Shirokov, and was issued a passport with the different name by Russian authorities.
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. And his name is Eduard Sismakov, that is his personal identity and we will charge him under that personal identity.
Katnic added: It is clear that the passport could not have been issued under another name as well as everything else sending to Serbia, organizing everything without the involvement of certain structures. Its up to the Russian authorities to investigate which structures and to initiate the criminal procedure.
Asked if he believes this would happen, the prosecutor said: I certainly believe in the Russian state.
The Interpol Red Notice says Sismakov listed under the name Eduard Shirokov prepared acts against the constitutional order and security of Montenegro. The Interpol Red Notice is an international database of suspects that is shared with other law enforcement agencies.
Sismakovs country of birth is listed as Russia.
Katnic said another alleged plotter is Vladimir Popov. Popov, who is of Russian origin, is also wanted by Interpol for the same acts, according to the Interpol Red Notice
Katnic said another alleged plotter, Nemanja Ristic, was involved in the coup attempt, and Ristic has said he was connected to Russias Federal Security Service. His task was to recruit a team to send to Montenegro to execute the coup, Katnic said.
Ristic is wanted by Montenegro for attempted terrorism, according to Interpols Red Notice.
The Kremlins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Monday dismissed Katnics accusations.
Day after day, we are faced with absurd accusations about Russia. Day after day we deny these accusations. We say absolutely that there cannot be talk about the official involvement of Moscow in the internal events in Montenegro. Russia does not get involved and will not get involved especially in such countries as Montenegro with which we have a very good relationship, Peskov said during a conference call with journalists.
Montenegro is in accession talks to join the alliance after NATO formally invited the southeastern European county in December 2015. The move spurred threats from Russian officials, who are at odds with NATO over a multitude of issues, including Turkeys downing of a Russian warplane in December 2015.
At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident an enemy act.
Becoming an official member of NATO would be significant for Montenegro because, under the alliances charter, any attack on Montenegro would be seen as an attack on all NATO members.
The ratification process for Montenegro to join NATO is in its final stages, according to NATO.
Good afternoon.
To my delight, toilets are back in the news. The Supreme Court about to take up the issue of whether schools can properly insist that transgender students use bathrooms designated for the sex that is indicated on their birth certificates. In other words, if you think you are female, and identify as a girl, but you possess (or once possessed) a penis, can you go to the girls' potty? (And vice versa, which is the case at hand involving a transgender teen named Gavin Grimm. The Trump administration has rescinded the Obama administration's "yes" ruling on this question, and the Justice Department will presumably argue that in court. There are also broader implications for adult public toilet designations as well.
First, a quick and very simple insta-poll.
Do you think that a transgender student should be allowed to use the restroom corresponding to the gender with which he or she identifies?
Yes
No
Not sure.
Okay, good. Now let's discuss this just a bit.
Not surprisingly, I take the liberal view of this pressing issue, for a number of reasons. The first is that this pressing issue is ridiculous. Bathrooms are not a sexy-spot. I may be an old man, but I retain a libido, and I enjoy the sight of a pretty woman just fine, but the last place I would want to go for a peek is a ladies room. I need not elaborate, I think.
But even if I were a bathroom pervert (They exist. I once encountered a website consisting entirely of videos secretly shot from inside a ladies' room toilet bowl) that's just not how bathrooms work. You don't see penises in mens' rooms, usually -- you really have to be obnoxious to do it -- and you never see female stuff in ladies rooms, I have been reliably informed.
So there is that.
But let's move on. Though some of this debate seems to center around the issue of potentially predatory bathroom behavior once it is deemed okay for a "male" to be in a ladies room, that issue is bull. It just doesn't happen.
Next, we have a simple test. Ladies, do you want this guy coming into your ladies room, because he has to by law? How about this guy?
Or, men do you want this lady in your men's room? Ladies, do you want this lady in your husband's men's room?
The whole point is that trans women look like women, and trans men look like men, and if no one is seeing anyone's parts, how on earth does this issue make sense in any way worthy of a Supreme Court showdown?
Okay, it doesn't, but what it ultimately comes down to, is a feeling of ick. Social conservatives don't love the idea of anyone getting jollies in unauthorized ways. Bathrooms must be free of sex, and urges, and lust and such. So, I have an Immodest Proposal.
Lesbians should not be able to use conventional ladies rooms. Gay men should not be able to use conventional men's rooms. That way there is no chance of anyone getting even a slight frisson, even accidentally.
Now, I hear what you are saying. You are saying, but if lesbians use men's rooms, some men in there might get that frisson. To a man, a lady is a lady, and hubba. And you are right. Likewise, gay men cannot use the ladies rooms. Gay men can be really hot.
So what we need to do is create four sets of bathrooms: Ladies, Mens, Lesbians and Gays. Simple enough.
Now I know what you are thinking. You are thinking: What about the original problem? Transgenders.
I have given this some thought. Transgender people look and dress like the gender they feel they are, but we have already established via Trump edict that they must use the wrong bathroom, meaning (as we have established) that they pose a visual incongruity, which could be alarming. So we need a transgender bathroom.
But I know what you are thinking. You are thinking , wait a minute, all transgender people are not alike. There are transgender males who are attracted to men, and transgender women who are attracted to women, and transgender males who are attracted to women, and transgender women who are attracted to men!
And you are right. So this requires some additional parsing to make sure no one is attracted to anyone else in a bathroom.
Here's my new law. Any public accommodation needs to offer the following accommodations:
Mens Room, Ladies Room, Gay Mens Room, Lesbians Room, Transgender Males Who Are Attracted to Men's Room, Transgender Women Who Are Attracted to Women's Room, Transgender Men Who Are Attracted to Ladies Room, and Transgender Ladies Who Are Attracted to Men's Room.
Simple enough, right? The real challenge will be to figure out what the symbols on the door will be. I'll challenge you all to come up with some, and will publish good ones next chat. Send them to me at gene (dot) weingarten @washpost.com.
--
Reader Curtis Edmonds found one of the greatest aptonyms in the history of aptonymetry, in this here court filing. A prisoner is alleging mistreatment at the hands of some of his guards. One of the guards is named "Officer Deathrow."
If you haven't take the poll (on driverless cars over 37 years old and under) please do now.
Chat starts at noon sharp.
Hello Gene, first, your chat is always appreciated, but none more so than during this upheaval at the helm. I emailed my (PA) congressmen a few days after Trump was sworn in, and told them to expect to hear from me regularly. I have continued to write (via email). BUT I'm wondering if that form of communication makes the most impact? Would calling them be more "powerful" than just emailing? And when I do contact them, is it OK to have a few issues/topics to react to, or just the one I think is most important at the time? (so many to choose from, you know?!) Thanks much!
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.
The Algerian presidency announced Monday the cancellation of German Chancellor Angela Merkels visit to Algeria because President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was suffering from a bronchitis and could not receive the German leader.
Algerian and German authorities have mutually agreed to postpone the official visit to Algeria of the Chancellor, the presidency said in a statement, explaining that the postponement is due to the fact that President Bouteflika is temporarily unavailable due to acute bronchitis.
Angela Merkels office also issued a statement saying that the Algerian government at last minute asked that the visit be called off and Merkel had accepted this.
The Algerian leader has been sick since 2013 after he suffered a stroke. He has since then been glued to a wheelchair and has been making rare public appearances.
Despite public calls to step down in 2014 over his health deterioration, the 79-year old man defied the opposition and won the presidential election for another five-year term.
Figures in his entourage and in the ruling party rumored his potential candidacy for the 2019 election.
Critics have claimed the country has been in bankruptcy due to his inability to rule.
The German Chancellors visit was part of Berlins efforts to fight illegal migration and cooperate with North African countries Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco to accelerate the repatriation of citizens of these countries denied asylum in Germany.
A representation of the molecular surface of one variant of human rhinovirus. Credit: Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 3.0
We all do it. Some of us do it quite loudly. Others do it not once, but several times in a row. Sneezes are everywhere these days, during this, the height of cold and flu season. The chorus of achoos in offices, on buses and in homes often sends bystanders scrambling to get out of the line of germ-spreading fire.
But how far is far enough away to avoid getting hit by a snot-and-fluid projectile? A lot farther than you might - or would like to - think. We're talking 20 feet or more.
The question of what constitutes an achoo-safe zone has long intrigued sneeze-ologists, better known as doctors, nurses and medical researchers working to prevent the spread of contagious diseases.
Recent research, however, offers new insights on the science of sneezing - revealing what happens when we sneeze and how far the spray of saliva and mucus can travel.
A sneeze is a reflex reaction, explained Dr. Scott Davies, a physician at Hennepin County Medical Center in downtown Minneapolis who specializes in treating respiratory diseases. It happens when receptors in the nose detect irritants. It can be an odor, such as perfume or smoke. It can be pollen in the air or pet dander - any type of allergen, really. For some people, cold air or sunlight can trigger the sneeze reflex. Once the nose receptors sense the irritant, the brain receives a signal and the body responds involuntarily.
"That reflex triggers a violent reaction that involves your neck, the chest, the abdomen, the diaphragm," Davies said. "You create this forceful blast of air through your nose."
The air comes from your lungs, and there's a deep inhale just before the sneeze to produce a large gust of air.
"Kind of like when you're blowing out a candle," Davies said.
So what purpose does sneezing serve?
Cleansing, said Jeanne Pfeiffer, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing and longtime expert in infection prevention and control. Think of it as your body spotting a squatter in the nose that needs to be evicted. The more someone sneezes, the more likely that pesky freeloader is still there. Hold the pepper.
Sneezing helps reset the environment inside the nose, allowing troublesome particles inhaled through the nose to become trapped in the mucus lining, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
For a long time, people on the front lines of sneeze science thought that the droplets scattered from a sneeze traveled only a short distance - a couple of feet, perhaps. But a slow-motion video of a sneeze captured recently by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers uncovered a far more troubling truth: Those sneeze particles can go mighty far.
The video shows in gross detail what happens to the liquid mixture spewed from a person's mouth and nose during a sneeze.
The findings, as described by MIT researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that the droplets spread farther than previously thought - aided by a swirling puff cloud.
"The largest droplets rapidly settle within [about 3 to 6 feet] away from the person," wrote lead researcher Lydia Bourouiba, of MIT's Fluid Dynamics and Disease Transmission Laboratory. "The smaller and evaporating droplets are trapped in the turbulent puff cloud, remain suspended, and, over the course of seconds to a few minutes, can travel the dimensions of a room and land up to [19 to 26 feet] away."
So what, then, is your best defense against contamination from a nearby sneeze cloud?
"You can't scamper. It's over before you can move," Davies said. "It's up to the person who's sneezing to prevent this."
Pfeiffer recommends giving some space ahead of time to avoid getting sick.
"We say distance is a barrier," she said. "When someone isn't feeling well but they're not staying home, we like to keep 3 feet of distance."
Back in the day, disease prevention gurus taught us to cover our mouths with our hands when we felt a sneeze coming on. That method, while better than an open-mouthed sneeze, is no longer the preferred method. That's because once your hand is wet and germy, it is easy to transfer those germs to surfaces such as keyboards, pens and doorknobs - spreading sickness from person to person.
Pfeiffer and other health professionals now recommend sneezing into a tissue or into our elbow.
Sneezes can travel as fast as 100 miles per hour, by some estimates. And the force of a sneeze? Well, that's nothing to sneeze at, either. Davies said while it's extremely rare, some people have even been injured from sneezing hard.
"You can break a rib sneezing," he said.
2017 Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain
Women actively infected with genital herpes during early pregnancy had twice the odds of giving birth to a child later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a study by scientists at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
The study is the first to provide immunological evidence on the role of gestational infection in autism, reporting an association between maternal anti-herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) antibodies and risk for ASD in offspring. Results appear in mSphere, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
"We believe the mother's immune response to HSV-2 could be disrupting fetal central nervous system development, raising risk for autism," says lead author Milada Mahic, a post-doctoral research scientist with the Center for Infection and Immunity and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
The authors do not believe that the risk is due to direct infection of the fetus because such infections are typically fatal. Instead, they suggest that neurodevelopmental outcomes are due to primary or reactivation of infection in mothers with inflammation in close proximity to the womb.
About one in five American women carries HSV-2, also known as genital herpes, a highly contagious and lifelong infection usually spread through sex. After an initial outbreak, HSV-2 virus lives in nerve cells and is often inactive, with flare-ups occurring with diminishing frequency as the body builds up immunity to the virus.
The researchers sought to explore the link between maternal infection and risk for autism, focusing on five pathogens known collectively as ToRCH agentsToxoplasma gondii, rubella virus, cytomegalovirus, and herpes simplex viruses type 1 and 2to which exposure during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage and birth defects. They examined blood samples from 412 mothers of children diagnosed with ASD and 463 mothers of children without ASD enrolled in the Autism Birth Cohort (ABC) Study overseen by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Samples were taken at two time pointsat around week 18 of pregnancy and at birthand analyzed for levels of antibodies to each of the ToRCH agents.
They found high levels of antibodies to HSV-2, not any of the other agents, correlated with risk for ASD. This link was only evident in blood samples taken at a time point reflecting exposure during early pregnancy when the fetal nervous system undergoes rapid development, not at birth. The finding mirrors earlier epidemiological data indicating that activation of the maternal immune system during early-to-mid-pregnancy is associated with long-term developmental and behavioral problems in offspring.
In all, 13 percent of mothers in the study tested positive for anti-HSV-2 antibodies at mid-pregnancy. Of these, only 12 percent reported having HSV lesions before pregnancy or during the first trimester, a likely indication that most infections were asymptomatic.
The effect of anti-HSV-2 antibodies on risk for ASD was only seen in males, not females. But because the number of females with ASD in the ABC Study is small, the researchers say there is not enough evidence to conclude that the effect is sex-specific, although generally, autism is more common in males.
According to the authors, further study is needed to determine if screening and suppression of HSV-2 infection during pregnancy is needed.
"The cause or causes of most cases of autism are unknown," says senior author W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity. "But evidence suggests a role for both genetic and environmental factors. Our work suggests that inflammation and immune activation may contribute to risk. Herpes simplex virus-2 could be one of any number of infectious agents involved."
Credit: Peter Griffin/public domain
Average life expectancy is set to increase in many countries by 2030and will exceed 90 years in South Korea, according to new research.
The study, led by scientists from Imperial College London in collaboration with the World Health Organization, analysed long-term data on mortality and longevity trends to predict how life expectancy will change in 35 industrialised countries by 2030.
Nations in the study included both high-income countries, such as the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Australia, and emerging economies such as Poland, Mexico and the Czech Republic.
The study, published in The Lancet and funded by the UK Medical Research Council, revealed all nations in the study can expect to see an increase in life expectancy by 2030.
The results also found that South Koreans may have the highest life expectancy in the world in 2030.
The team calculated life expectancy at birth, and predicted a baby girl born in South Korea in 2030 will expect to live 90.8 years. Life expectancy at birth for South Korean men will be 84.1 years.
The researchers also calculated how long a 65-year-old person may expect to live in 2030. The results revealed that the average 65-year-old woman in South Korea in 2030 may live an additional 27.5 years.
Scientists once thought an average life expectancy of over 90 was impossible, explained Professor Majid Ezzati, lead researcher from the School of Public Health at Imperial: "We repeatedly hear that improvements in human longevity are about to come to an end. Many people used to believe that 90 years is the upper limit for life expectancy, but this research suggests we will break the 90-year-barrier. I don't believe we're anywhere near the upper limit of life expectancy -if there even is one."
Professor Ezzati explained that South Korea's high life expectancy may be due to a number of factors including good nutrition in childhood, low blood pressure, low levels of smoking, good access to healthcare, and uptake of new medical knowledge and technologies.
French women and Swiss men were predicted to have the highest life expectancies at birth in Europe in 2030, with an average life expectancy of 88.6 years for French women and nearly 84 years for Swiss men.
The results also revealed that the USA is likely to have the lowest life expectancy at birth in 2030 among high-income countries. The nation's average life expectancy at birth of men and women in 2030 (79.5 years and 83.3 years), will be similar to that of middle-income countries like Croatia and Mexico. The research team say this may be due to a number of factors including a lack of universal healthcare, as well as the highest child and maternal mortality rate, homicide rate and obesity among high-income countries.
The UK's average life expectancy at birth for women will be 85.3 years in 2030. This places them at 21st in the table of 35 countries. The average life expectancy of a UK man meanwhile will be 82.5 years in 2030. This places them at 14th in the table of 35 countries.
The team also predicted a 65-year-old UK man in 2030 could expect to live an additional 20.9 years (12th in the table of countries), while a 65-year-old woman in the UK could expect to live an additional 22.7 years, up (22nd in the table of countries).
The research also suggested the gap in life expectancy between women and men is closing.
Professor Ezzati explained: "Men traditionally had unhealthier lifestyles, and so shorter life expectancies. They smoked and drank more, and had more road traffic accidents and homicides. However as lifestyles become more similar between men and women, so does their longevity."
Along with the US, other countries who may see only small increases in life expectancy by 2030 included Japan, Sweden and Greece, while Macedonia and Serbia were projected to have the lowest life expectancies at birth for women and men respectively in 2030.
Life expectancy is calculated by assessing the age at which people die across the whole population. For instance if a country has high childhood mortality rate, this will make average national life expectancy much lower, as would a country in which many young people die in injuries and violence.
Professor Colin Mathers, co-author from the World Health Organization explained: "The increase in average life expectancy in high income countries is due to the over-65s living longer than ever before. In middle-income countries, the number of premature deaths - i.e. people dying in their forties and fifties, will also decline by 2030."
The team developed a new method to predict longevity, similar to the methods used for weather forecasting, which takes into account numerous different models for forecasting mortality and life expectancy. All the predictions in the study come with some uncertainty range. For instance, there is a 90 per cent probability that life expectancy for South Korean women in 2030 will be higher than 86.7 years, and a 57 per cent probability that it will be higher than 90 years.
The researchers chose the 35 industrialised countries in the study as they all had reliable data on deaths since at least 1985. The team then used this data, together with their new methodology to predict life expectancy to 2030.
Professor Ezzati added that these results suggest we need to be thinking carefully about the needs of an ageing population: "The fact that we will continue to live longer means we need to think about strengthening the health and social care systems to support an ageing population with multiple health needs. This is the opposite of what is being done in the era of austerity. We also need to think about whether current pension systems will support us, or if we need to consider working into later life."
Other findings from the research include:
The five countries with the highest life expectancy at birth for men in 2030 were: South Korea (84.1), Australia (84.0), Switzerland (84.0), Canada (83.9), Netherlands (83.7)
The five countries with the highest life expectancy at birth for women in 2030 were: South Korea (90.8), France (88.6), Japan (88.4), Spain (88.1), Switzerland (87.7)
The five countries with the highest life expectancy for 65-year-old men in 2030 were: Canada (22.6 additional life years), New Zealand (22.5), Australia (22.2), South Korea (22.0), Ireland (21.7)
The five countries with the highest life expectancy for 65-year-old women in 2030 were: South Korea (27.5 additional life years), France (26.1), Japan (25.9), Spain (24.8), Switzerland (24.6)
The five countries in Europe with the highest life expectancy at birth for men in 2030 were: Switzerland (84.0), Netherlands (83.7), Spain (83.5), Ireland (83.2) and Norway (83.2)
The five countries in Europe with the highest life expectancy at birth for women in 2030 were: France (88.6), Spain (88.1), and Switzerland (87.7), Portugal (87.5) and Slovenia (87.4).
The UK's average life expectancy at birth for women will increase from 82.3 years in 2010 to 85.3 years in 2030. This places them 21st in the table of 35 countries (compared to 22nd in 2010).
The average life expectancy of a UK man at birth will increase from 78.3 years in 2010 to 82.5 years in 2030. This places them 14th in the table of 35 countries (compared to 11th in 2010).
Daniel Romo and Daniel Gulick, the young scientists behind the Minneapolis-based startup Aucta Technologies, are used to being flexible with their research.
After spending last year wading through the field of noninvasive neuron stimulation, they made a discovery in December that led them to change the entire course of their development.
They had spent months planning a device to regulate appetite. The gadget would send an ultrasound signal to the nervous system that would mimic the sensation of fullness. It would be an inexpensive device that could be used by individuals at home.
But when they tested the effect of their prototype on the vagus nerve, which connects to many organs, they found it reduced the level of glucose in the blood.
As a result, the pair shifted from appetite regulation to the prospect of a creating a noninvasive device for diabetes therapy and inflammation control. The focus of their research, the vagus nerve, allows unique access to the brain and can be the regulator of inflammatory diseases like sepsis, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis.
"If you can control that specifically, you can alleviate a bunch of symptoms in these people," Romo said.
Before Aucta Technologies, Gulick, the company's chief executive, earned his doctorate in biomedical engineering at Arizona State and worked briefly at the University of Minnesota. Romo, its chief scientist, earned his medical degree in Mexico and moved to Minnesota to research neuromodulation.
They met in November 2015 as Romo was looking for a partner to work on an idea related to ultrasound. The pair initially didn't get along as Romo pitched his preliminary ideas. "He thought I was too crazy, and I thought he wasn't crazy enough to work together," Romo said.
The first idea they developed involved using ultrasound as a form of anesthesia to block nerves. After pitching the idea to investors, the two were surprised at how seriously they took the technology and business plan. They then started to work in developing a prototype.
After officially starting Aucta in March 2016, they were invited to Y Combinator, a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of seed money for startups, for an interview.
But they were rejected in a second round of discussions, an experience that helped persuade them to pivot from nerve-blocking. "If we'd been accepted by YC, we would have been stuck with pain, which is a terrible application," Gulick said.
Because it is easier to stimulate the nerve than to block it, they zeroed in on noninvasive nerve simulation, working with the vagus nerve in particular.
Aucta also reached out to the Minneapolis-based Metropolitan Economic Development Association to find initial capital sources. It has also raised funds from an angel investor in California. Romo and Gulick said they are holding costs down in the initial stages so they don't have to give up large shares of the company.
"If we were to get an investment in the early stages, we would have given away 30 percent to 40 percent because the risk would have been so much higher," Romo said.
Aucta Technologies is also getting some help from the Economic Development Fellows Consulting Program at the University of Minnesota, which provides graduate students who help Romo and Gulick do market research, IP research and building the business plan.
Their testing lab consists of several machines in Gulick's apartment in Minneapolis. They use an imaging system originally designed for pregnancy tests on pigs to locate the vagus nerve for testing. They used their rough prototype of the device for the pivotal glucose test, and will use it again for their definitive test on inflammation.
They are still working on final designs for the nerve stimulation device. One possibility is a handheld version, which they envisioned for appetite control. A bigger machine for use in hospitals may be in the offing to treat inflammatory conditions.
Since nerve stimulation is a relatively new area, they are still deciding the best course to obtain clearance from the Food and Drug Administration. Aucta would likely pursue what's known as a 510(k) premarket notification, the fastest path to regulatory approval.
For that, the pair must show that their device is "substantially equivalent" to one the agency has already approved to be on the market.
The pair are considering product trials in South America, where they can run tests faster and accumulate more initial data. If the trials work as expected, they would pursue the premarket approval from the FDA.
At the moment, their aim is to get patents and regulatory approvals lined up to be selling products in 2020.
2017 Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Credit: CDC
For the first time in Africa, researchers said Wednesday they have detected a malaria parasite that is partially resistant to the top anti-malaria drug, artemisinin, raising concern about efforts to fight a disease that sickens hundreds of millions of people each year.
The discovery means that Africa now joins southeast Asia in hosting such drug-resistant forms of the mosquito-borne disease.
Malaria infected more than 200 million people and killed some 438,000 people worldwide in 2015, most of them children in Africa.
"The spread of artemisinin resistance in Africa would be a major setback in the fight against malaria, as ACT (artemisinin-based combination therapy) is the only effective and widely used antimalarial treatment at the moment," said lead author Arnab Pain, professor at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
"Therefore, it is very important to regularly monitor artemisinin resistance worldwide."
The drug-resistant malaria parasites were detected in a Chinese patient who had traveled from Equatorial Guinea to China, said the report led by Jun Cao from the Jiangsu Institute for Parasitic Diseases in China.
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Combination therapy with artemisinin usually clears malaria from the blood in three days.
In southeast Asia, strains of the malaria-causing agent, Plasmodium falciparum, have grown relatively tolerant to artemisinin, in what is known as "partial resistance."
Most patients can still be cured, but it takes longer.
World Health Organization experts are concerned that P. falciparum could eventually become completely resistant to artemisinin, just as it has to other antimalarial drugs.
Researchers said they found the parasite carried a new mutation in a gene called Kelch13 (K13), which is the main driver for artemisinin resistance in Asia.
They then confirmed the origin of the resistance was Africa, by using "whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics tools we had previously developedlike detectives trying to link the culprit parasite to the crime scene," he said.
2017 AFP
The human whipworm, which infects 500 million people and can damage physical and mental growth, is killed at egg and adult stage by a new drug class developed at the Universities of Manchester and Oxford and University College London.
Current treatments for human whipworm are based on 1960s drugs initially developed for livestock and have a low success rate in people. There are also no vaccines available.
As a result there's a desperate need for new treatments. The team from the three UK universities, whose results have been published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, studied a class of dihydrobenzoxazepinones, not previously associated with controlling whipworms.
The researchers found that the compounds kill the adult stages of the whipworm much more effectively than existing drugs.
Parasite immunologist, Professor Kathryn Else from The University of Manchester said: "Eradicating the whipworm requires more effective drugs, improving hygiene and vaccine development. The compounds we have discovered could address the first two of these."
Whipworm eggs are also affected by the compounds. Whipworm eggs are passed from infected faeces into people by hand to mouth contact. This often happens in unsanitary toilets or areas where people live close together. The eggs are highly resistant to extreme temperature changes and ultraviolet radiation and can remain viable in the environment for many years.
However the new compounds are effective against the eggs and could be developed into a spray which can stop infection at source.
The researchers are now modifying their compounds to make them effective enough for a treatment in humans, and one that can be turned into a product used in the developing countries most affected.
Professor Else said: "This team brought expertise from immunology, medicinal chemistry and neurobiology and really shows how combining across disciplines and institutions can lead to important new discoveries.
"Although we rarely see whipworm infection in the UK, it is a serious and damaging problem in many parts of the world and if we can develop this treatment, the lives of many people could be improved."
More information: Frederick A. Partridge et al. Dihydrobenz[e][1,4]oxazepin-2(3H)-ones, a new anthelmintic chemotype immobilising whipworm and reducing infectivity in vivo, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases (2017). Journal information: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Frederick A. Partridge et al. Dihydrobenz[e][1,4]oxazepin-2(3H)-ones, a new anthelmintic chemotype immobilising whipworm and reducing infectivity in vivo,(2017). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005359
For adults who acquire severe hearing loss, accepting and adapting to the loss play key roles in sustaining a career and thriving in the workplace, new research from Oregon State University indicates.
"People who are successful at adapting to hearing loss tend to accept that they are now biologically different from how they used to be," said David Baldridge, an associate professor of management in the OSU College of Business.
"People who remain successful tend to adapt what they do at work and how they do it," he said. "They also tend to stay abreast of medical and workplace technologies such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, video relays, speech to text and interpreters."
Hearing loss is a common disabling disorder that affects more than 360 million people worldwide. In the United States, more than 50 million people have hearing loss, including 60 percent of military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hearing loss also is part of many people's life course and careers. The percentage of the population with hearing loss increases exponentially as people age: 3.2 percent of people age 20-29, but 44.9 percent of those age 60-69.
The population overall is aging and people are working longer and delaying retirement, which leads to hearing loss becoming more prevalent in the workplace. Environmental noise also plays a role in the increasing prevalence of hearing loss. How well employers and employees adapt to this change may have significant implications for both a healthy economy and healthy aging, Baldridge said.
"One of our goals with this study was to understand how people who acquire a severe hearing loss can remain productive and sustain their careers," he said. "We found that there are some key traits to successfully doing so."
The findings were published this month in the journal Human Relations. The co-author of the study is Mukta Kulkarni of the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India. The work was supported by Oregon State University, Indian Institute of Management and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.
Baldridge and Kulkarni interviewed 40 professionals, including doctors, lawyers and consultants, who had acquired a severe hearing loss as adults in an effort to pinpoint how their hearing loss has affected their careers and identify strategies that helped them remain productive and successful.
"It was not a random samplethese are the best and brightest, most successful folks we could find," Baldridge said. "We wanted to know what they did to survive and thrive. The hope is that lessons learned from them might help others."
The researchers found that those who tried to hide or deny their hearing loss tended to struggle more in the workplace, avoided social engagements and often became isolated.
Those who were able to sustain their careers tended to accept and adapt to their hearing loss using a wide range of strategies, including communicating more via email and less by phone, or holding individual meetings rather than participating in group meetings.
The researchers found that those who were most satisfied in their careers found ways to adopt a new work role or craft a new career around their hearing loss, sometimes becoming advocates for others. They also tended to redefine their own success, with a shift away from economic success and toward social success through service to others.
"Some people are able to figure out that the hearing loss can be a positive," Baldridge said. "Those are probably the people with the highest satisfaction in their work."
Additional research is needed to better understand how employers adapt to hearing loss changes among employees, with an emphasis on the roles of managers, supervisors and human resources personnel, Baldridge said.
More information: David C Baldridge et al, The shaping of sustainable careers post hearing loss: Toward greater understanding of adult onset disability, disability identity, and career transitions, Human Relations (2017). Journal information: Human Relations David C Baldridge et al, The shaping of sustainable careers post hearing loss: Toward greater understanding of adult onset disability, disability identity, and career transitions,(2017). DOI: 10.1177/0018726716687388
Zift Medical has a small footprint, but it's hoping to have a major impact in aesthetic medicine.
The 4-year-old med-tech startup has eschewed staff in favor of contract work and outsourcing. Rather than create a headquarters, Zift is crashing with colleagues at Resolution Medical in suburban Minneapolis who had extra office and clean-room space. Instead of pinning its hopes on venture capital, Zift Medical is raising money itself and spending judiciously.
The result is that this two-person startup has conceived, designed and begun human testing of a tiny medical device while raising $3 million. Zift hopes to sell the device one day to an established player in aesthetic medicine, like Botox-maker Allergan or breast-implant maker Sientra.
Zift's device, which is about the size of a gnat when implanted, is intended as a cheaper, less painful way to get brow-lift surgery. Ongoing experiments will determine how long it works. But even Zift's first-in-human experiments are different from standard industry practice, thanks to a Food and Drug Administration program that is allowing the first implants to happen in the U.S. instead of overseas.
"Initially, we were thinking we'd end up in Paraguay or something for the clinical trial," said Zift Medical CEO Eric Simso, an industry veteran who founded the company with engineer and fellow med-tech vet David Blaeser. "It is so nice to be able to go across town (to view) a procedure, and then the follow-up is all done."
Zift Medical used an alternative pathway to get the FDA to approve its first-in-human study. Known as an early feasibility study investigational device exemption, or EFS IDE, the approval is allowing Zift to do its initial pilot study of 20 people from Minnesota and Wisconsin to gather early data on proof of principle and safety.
Ultimately, the company's innovative approach and efficient cost structure will matter less than the ultimate question: Does the Zift device work as intended?
The device consists of a thin nitinol tube about as wide as the tip of a disposable pen, which is placed in a millimeter-wide "incision" in the forehead and then fired a few millimeters into the skull using a hand-held tool that looks a bit like a glue gun.
With the forehead skin pulled taut and the bone anchor in place, the tool is withdrawn and several curved "petals" of metal flex out from the thin tube and invisibly grab onto tissue above the eyes. The anchors then hold the top layers skin more taut than before, theoretically creating the same kinds of results as a traditional surgical brow lift but without the pain, expense or extensive post-surgical bruising.
Although it's tough to give specific price estimates for a procedure that's not even proved safe yet, Simso said the ultimate goal is to have a "Zift Lift," - the company's current name for the procedure - cost a third of a traditional open-surgical or laparoscopic brow lift.
As of earlier this month, five patients have had the Zift procedure. It typically involves implanting six to eight anchors, which are intended to be permanent even though soft tissues age and develop laxity over time.
Principal investigator Dr. Peter Hilger, a facial plastic surgeon and University of Minnesota professor, said it's too early to say how long the anchors will maintain the patient's desired lift and how that time frame compares to a traditional surgical brow lift.
"You might legitimately ask me, are those going to be enough to hold up the weight of the skin over the long term? I don't know the answer to that," Hilger said. "I do know it held at 90 days (in animal studies), and it is holding a week afterward in patients. But ... it's a first-in-human study."
The ongoing feasibility study will look at results at 90 days, six months, and annually thereafter, potentially leading to refinements in implant technique and device design. At some point the company will also launch a larger clinical trial to gather extensive data on safety and effectiveness that can be used to get full commercial clearance, likely through the FDA's 510(k) program.
Although the 510(k) pathway isn't known for requiring extensive preclearance testing, Simso and Blaeser said strong data will ensure the device is safe while also making the company more valuable in the process.
So far Zift has raised its funds mainly through "angel investors" in Minnesota. One near-term goal is to attract the interest of "strategic" investors like big, established med-tech companies that could offer a modest funding up front while helping direct Zift's future. One day a full acquisition by an investing company could be possible, though Zift is also working on plans to go it alone if need be.
Simso said the company has deliberately avoided venture capital thus far, because VC firms typically demand some level of control over the company and may end up with terms that greatly dilute original investors' holdings.
"Venture is not bad necessarily," Simso said. "You just need to know that it's not free money, by any means."
2017 Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Chemical manufacturers have agreed to pay $670 million in damages to people with cancer and other health harm from exposure to a recently phased-out highly fluorinated chemical. In a peer-reviewed feature article to appear February 22nd in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, researchers highlight that thousands of related chemicals continue to provide water-repellant, stain-resistant, and non-stick properties to furniture, carpets, outdoor gear, clothing, cosmetics, cookware, food packaging, and other products worldwide.
The researchers from Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States call for regulation of the entire class of highly fluorinated chemicals. Exposure to the most well-studied of these substances has been linked to kidney and testicular cancer, elevated cholesterol, decreased fertility, thyroid problems and changes in hormone functioning in adults as well as adverse developmental effects and decreased immune response in children.
This class of chemicals does not break downeverand can remain in the environment for thousands of years. "I am concerned that researchers and regulators are continuing to focus on a few phased-out chemicals rather than the thousands of related substances in use today," said Dr. Ian Cousins, co-author of the paper and Professor at Stockholm University. "Unless we broaden our focus, future generations will be increasingly exposed via contaminated water, air, and food."
"Is the convenience of water and grease resistance worth risking our health?" asked Dr. Arlene Blum of UC Berkeley and the Green Science Policy Institute. "Given their potential for serious harm, we must stop putting highly fluorinated chemicals into consumer products unless they are absolutely necessary."
"The phased-out chemicals, which were found to be harmful, have been replaced by hundreds of related 'chemical cousins'," explains Tom Bruton of UC Berkeley and the Green Science Policy Institute. "Like the older substances, these new fluorinated compounds stay forever in the environment and may be similarly toxic."
In the 2015 Madrid Statement, more than 200 scientists agreed that the production and use of highly fluorinated chemicals should be limited. "Due to the vast number of chemicals in this family, it is not feasible to evaluate all of them one at a time," says Dr. Jamie DeWitt, a co-author of the feature and Associate Professor at East Carolina University.
The chemical industry claims the replacements for the phased-out chemicals are safe because many do not build up in humans like the old ones did. Nonetheless, we are constantly exposed if these chemicals are in the food we eat or the water we drink," explains Dr. Christopher Higgins, a co-author of the paper and Associate Professor at the Colorado School of Mines. "Current data suggest that the replacement chemicals are just as likelyif not more likelyto end up in our drinking water and in our crops due to contamination of soil and water."
These chemicals travel the world in water and air currents and can now be found in the ocean depths, mountain tops and every living creature. "It is surprising and sad that the planet, all people and all wildlife are contaminated with highly fluorinated chemicals," said Blum. "It is indeed 'a small world after all' when it comes to toxics."
Some good news is that a number of leading retail brands including IKEA, Crate and Barrel, H&M and Levi Strauss are eliminating all highly fluorinated chemicals from their products. And Target and GoreTex just announced they are also beginning the process of removing them.
"We are using these chemicals in a wide range of applications where they are non-essential," says Dr. Zhanyun Wang, lead author of the article and Senior Scientist at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. "Maybe we need them for a Himalayan expedition, but do we really need them in our surf shorts or our blue jeans?" he asks. "The public should be involved in defining 'essential' and 'non-essential' uses, and the chemical industry needs to develop safer alternatives for essential uses."
Provided by Green Science Policy Institute
Pills. Credit: Public Domain
Most off-label antidepressant prescriptions lack strong scientific evidence, finds a study published by The BMJ today.
Off-label use occurs when a drug is prescribed for a different condition, given to a different patient group (e.g. children) or in a different dose or formulation than in the approved label.
Antidepressant use has increased substantially in the UK and in other western countries such as Canada and the USA. In fact, the number of antidepressants dispensed in England increased by 3.9 million (6.8%) between 2014 and 2015 - more than any other class of prescription drugs.
Around a third of antidepressants are prescribed for "off-label" conditions, most commonly pain, insomnia and migraine, but it is unknown to what extent these prescriptions are supported by scientific evidence.
To address this issue, a team of researchers decided to examine off-label indications for antidepressants in primary care and assess the level of scientific support for these off-label prescriptions.
Using data from an electronic prescribing system, they tracked over 100,000 antidepressant prescriptions written by 174 primary care physicians for over 20,000 adults between 1 January 2003 and 30 September 2015 in Quebec, Canada.
Overall, 29% of all antidepressant prescriptions were written for an off-label indication. Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) had the highest prevalence of off-label indications, while selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) were less likely to be prescribed off-label.
Among all off-label antidepressant prescriptions, only 16% (4,977 out of 31,319) were directly supported by strong scientific evidence backing the drug's use for the indication. For 40% (12,386) of off-label prescriptions, there was no strong evidence backing the drug's use for the indication, but there was strong evidence for another drug in the same class.
For the remaining 44% (13,956) of off-label prescriptions, neither the prescribed drug nor any other drugs in the class had strong evidence for the indication.
The researchers point to several factors that could contribute to physiciansprescribing antidepressants for off-label indications, including difficulties keeping track of new indications for specific products, constraints on drug insurance plans, and perceptions that alternative treatment options may carry more risks than taking antidepressants.
They stress that their study included some limitations that could influence the generalisability of the findings, but say their results "highlight an urgent need to produce more evidence on the risks and benefits of off-label antidepressant use and to provide physicians with this evidence at the point of prescribing."
And they conclude that technologies such as indication based e-prescribing systems and electronic health records "have the potential to become essential components of effective post-market drug surveillance systems for monitoring and evaluating off-label antidepressant use."
In a linked editorial, researchers at the University of Dundee argue that the strength of evidence matters more than the presence or absence of a specific licence.
As this research shows, off-label prescribing is common, often poorly supported by evidence, or relies heavily on extrapolating evidence from one situation to another, write Dr. Daniel Morales and Professor Bruce Guthrie. But they point out that these pitfalls are not confined to off-label drugs.
They suggest that, for all prescribing, patients (or their parents or carers) should be given enough information to allow them to make an informed decision to take a medicine (or not). "This should include whether the intended use is off-label, but more importantly prescribers should discuss the strength of the evidence base underlying their recommendation."
More information: Off-label indications for antidepressants in primary care: descriptive study of prescriptions from an indication based electronic prescribing system, Off-label indications for antidepressants in primary care: descriptive study of prescriptions from an indication based electronic prescribing system, www.bmj.com/content/356/bmj.j603 Editorial: Off-label prescribing of antidepressants, www.bmj.com/content/356/bmj.j849 Journal information: British Medical Journal (BMJ)
Could putting patients in hibernation really help treat cancer? Credit: Cancer Research UK
If you've been browsing the news today chances are that researchers speculating about a surprise potential cure for cancer will have caught your attention.
This triggered some excitable headlines. "Put patients in hibernation to destroy cancer", says the Daily Mail. "Doctors hope cancer could be cured in just ten years by putting patients into 'hibernation' for a week", reports The Sun.
So what's the scientific basis of these claims? Could we really make people 'hibernate' as a way to treat or even cure cancer? The short answer is no, not yet.
Here's the science behind these headlines and what the future may hold for research into this quirky idea.
Where did the story come from?
This story is based on a new scientific publication in the journal Life Sciences in Space Research, which focuses on how astronauts might one day be put into 'hibernation' as part of space travel.
And Professor Marco Durante, from the National Institute of Nuclear Physics in Italy, presented the paper's conclusions at the 2017 AAAS meeting in Boston in the US.
But there's a catch.
The paper isn't actually a collection of new research findings. Rather, this is a summary of work carried out in this field so far, which has led to scientists speculating on the potential implications of the work for cancer patients.
What's the idea?
When an animal hibernates, normally to help them cope with a cold winter and lack of food, processes in the body slow down to save energy. These processes that a cell uses to make energy from food called metabolism virtually grind to a halt so that the animal doesn't use up its precious resources. Based on this, the proposed idea that has hit the headlines is that because cancer cells grow rapidly, putting cancer patients into 'hibernation' could potentially slow down the growth of their tumour.
On top of this, there is some evidence that hibernation helps cells in animals become more resistant to stress, including radiation. That's why the Italian team thinks that putting humans into hibernation could be useful for future trips deep into space, as it could help astronauts stave off the effects of cosmic radiation.
This also forms the loose basis for why the scientists think that hibernation could be helpful for cancer patients.
Many people have radiotherapy as a treatment for their cancer, which also inadvertently damages healthy tissue, causing side effects. This limits the amount of radiation that can be used for treatment. So the Italian team speculates that some of this accidental damage could be avoided if humans could be made to 'hibernate'. They say that because healthy cells might be made more resistant to the effects of radiation during hibernation, larger doses of radiotherapy could possibly be used that might be more effective at killing the cancer cells.
But this is pure speculation.
Does the science back it up?
This idea actually goes all the way back to at least the 1950s, when scientists showed that hibernation could slow the growth of human tumours in hamsters. And a number of studies in animals, mostly squirrels, have suggested that hibernation might help them stave off the effects of radiation.
But at the moment it's not clear precisely why this is. It could be that cells in hibernating animals are better at fixing the damage that radiation causes to their DNA. Or perhaps it's to do with a reduced availability of oxygen. Blood flow slows down during hibernation, restricting the amount of oxygen that tissues get. And oxygen is needed for radiotherapy to kill cells, creating a reaction that inflicts fatal damage on the cell's DNA. So it's clear more research is needed to unpick these reason behind these observations.
Are the claims evidence-based?
There seems to be some science to support the idea that tumours may grow more slowly during hibernation in animals. And that cells might be more resistant to radiation in a hibernating animal.
But the claims that hit the headlines sadly go further than this.
The word 'cure' shouldn't be thrown around lightly in relation to cancer, as appears to be the case based on this excerpt from the scientific paper.
But this statement makes it clear that the potential this approach may hold is purely speculative.
At the moment there is no evidence to back up the claim that hibernation could help cure cancer. In fact there isn't any evidence to show that people can be made to 'hibernate'.
And because of this, it's far too early to say whether such an approach could help people with cancer. And since animals and humans are very different, we just don't know yet whether the findings from animals can be turned in to a possible treatment for cancer.
How close are we to hibernating people?
Another bold claim made by the researchers is that, while it can't yet be done, hibernation in people could be achieved within 10 years. This was also misinterpreted as a 'cure' for cancer being a decade away, which isn't what the researchers were claiming.
There isn't any evidence to support that statement. And talk of a single cure for cancer is misleading in itself, as there are hundreds of types of cancer, each with their own unique challenges when it comes to research and treatment.
Humans don't naturally hibernate, and so far the only non-hibernating animal that researchers have successfully made to hibernate is the rat. They did this by using drugs to switch off a particular set of signals in the brain. Humans are much larger and more complex than rats, so it's unknown if that technique would work in people, or more importantly whether it would be safe.
So what's the take-home message?
The fact that an idea from space science could potentially lead to new ways to treat cancer is exciting. And at the very least, this paper backs up why research that spans different scientific disciplines is so important for progress and new ideas. But it's misleading to suggest that hibernation could 'cure cancer in 10 years' there just isn't any evidence right now that such a feat is possible.
As our chief clinician, Professor Peter Johnson, said, it's not known whether or not such a technique could "help or hinder" treatments, something that requires further research.
So if scientists can find a way to make people 'hibernate', this might be an idea worth pursuing.
But not before.
Taking popular heartburn medication for prolonged periods may lead to serious kidney damage, even in people who show no signs of kidney problems, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System. The drugs are sold under brand names such as Prevacid, Prilosec, Nexium and Protonix. Credit: Michael Worful/Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Taking popular heartburn drugs for prolonged periods has been linked to serious kidney problems, including kidney failure. The sudden onset of kidney problems often serves as a red flag for doctors to discontinue their patients' use of so-called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), which are sold under the brand names Prevacid, Prilosec, Nexium and Protonix, among others.
But a new study evaluating the use of PPIs in 125,000 patients indicates that more than half of patients who develop chronic kidney damage while taking the drugs don't experience acute kidney problems beforehand, meaning patients may not be aware of a decline in kidney function, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System. Therefore, people who take PPIs, and their doctors, should be more vigilant in monitoring use of these medications.
The study is published Feb. 22 in Kidney International.
The onset of acute kidney problems is not a reliable warning sign for clinicians to detect a decline in kidney function among patients taking proton pump inhibitors, said Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, the study's senior author and an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine. "Our results indicate kidney problems can develop silently and gradually over time, eroding kidney function and leading to long-term kidney damage or even renal failure. Patients should be cautioned to tell their doctors if they're taking PPIs and only use the drugs when necessary."
More than 15 million Americans suffering from heartburn, ulcers and acid reflux have prescriptions for PPIs, which bring relief by reducing gastric acid. Many millions more purchase the drugs over-the-counter and take them without being under a doctor's care.
The researchersincluding first author Yan Xie, a biostatistician at the St. Louis VAanalyzed data from the Department of Veterans Affairs databases on 125,596 new users of PPIs and 18,436 new users of other heartburn drugs referred to as H2 blockers. The latter are much less likely to cause kidney problems but often aren't as effective.
Over five years of follow up, the researchers found that more than 80 percent of PPI users did not develop acute kidney problems, which often are reversible and are characterized by too little urine leaving the body, fatigue and swelling in the legs and ankles.
However, more than half of the cases of chronic kidney damage and end-stage renal disease associated with PPI use occurred in people without acute kidney problems.
In contrast, among new users of H2 blockers, 7.67 percent developed chronic kidney disease in the absence of acute kidney problems, and 1.27 percent developed end-stage renal disease.
End-stage renal disease occurs when the kidneys can no longer effectively remove waste from the body. In such cases, dialysis or a kidney transplant is needed to keep patients alive.
"Doctors must pay careful attention to kidney function in their patients who use PPIs, even when there are no signs of problems," cautioned Al-Aly, who also is the VA's associate chief of staff for research and education and co-director of the VA's Clinical Epidemiology Center. "In general, we always advise clinicians to evaluate whether PPI use is medically necessary in the first place because the drugs carry significant risks, including a deterioration of kidney function."
Fear memory formation drives AMPA receptors into synapses. Credit: Osaka University
The delivery of chemical messenger (neurotransmitter) receptors to the junctions between nerve cells (synapses) is crucial to cognitive processes such as memory. One way of understanding the function of these receptors is to inactivate them and observe the outcome. However, this is only informative if the inactivation is precise with respect to space and time. Many techniques used to block receptor functions affect both cell surface and internal forms of the proteins, yet neurotransmitter receptors typically work at the cell surface. Work at Japanese institutions, including Yokohama City University, Osaka University and the University of Tokyo, modified a light-induced means of producing a burst of destructive oxygen (CALI: chromophore-assisted light inactivation) by incorporating an antibody to achieve specificity in protein inactivation. The study was reported in Nature Biotechnology.
The technique known as CALI has previously been applied to investigate protein functions. It uses light irradiation to generate a temporary toxic form of oxygen that causes an area of damage shorter than a typical proteinprotein interaction distance. In the present work, researchers made an antibody against the outer part of the neurotransmitter receptor GluA1 that they labeled with a light-sensitive molecule (a photosensitizer). The antibody provided the necessary specificity to inactivate GluA1 receptor synapse responses both in cultured cells and in vivo in mice.
The team injected the labeled antibody into the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in memory and navigation, of mice. They then assessed its effect on memory formation by using a fear-learning task in which mice move between light and dark boxes, receiving an electric foot shock in the dark boxes only so they learn to favor the light boxes. This task was shown by the team to require the delivery of GluA1 to synapses in the rat hippocampus in an earlier study.
Optical inactivation of AMPA receptors erases fear memory. Credit: Osaka University
"In response to illumination of the mouse hippocampus with green light, we found that mice returned to the dark boxes more quickly than control animals," study first author Kiwamu Takemoto says. "This showed that the fear memory had been erased by the inactivation of synaptic GluA1."
The specificity of the process for the GluA1 type of receptor was shown by varying the time at which CALI was performed after the mice first experienced the fear-learning task. Administering CALI up to 2 hours after the first task resulted in electrical activity representative of the delivery of GluA1 receptors to synapses. However, this activity was undetectable 24 hours after the first task. The researchers interpret this as evidence for the replacement of GluA1 receptors by receptors containing the related protein GluA2, which is consistent with the fact that mice treated with CALI at the 24-hour time point do not lose their fear memory.
More information: Kiwamu Takemoto et al. Optical inactivation of synaptic AMPA receptors erases fear memory, Nature Biotechnology (2016). Journal information: Nature Biotechnology Kiwamu Takemoto et al. Optical inactivation of synaptic AMPA receptors erases fear memory,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/nbt.3710
Ross River Virus carrying mosquitoes. Credit: Dr Emily Flies
Australia's Ross River virus (RRV) could be the next mosquito-borne global epidemic according to a new research study led by the University of Adelaide and The Australian National University.
The virus has been thought to be restricted largely to Australia and Papua New Guinea where it is harboured by marsupial animals, specifically kangaroos and wallabies, and spread by mosquitoes.
Published online ahead of print in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, the research shows that the virus may have been circulating silently in the South Pacific ever since a large epidemic of more than 500,000 cases in 1979-80, thought to have been started by an infected Australian tourist who travelled to Fiji.
"Ross River virus is found naturally in Australia, where it was circulating in kangaroos and wallabies long before the arrival of the first Australians over 40,000 years ago," says one of the project leaders Professor Phil Weinstein, Professorial Research Fellow with the University of Adelaide's School of Biological Sciences.
"When humans arrived, first Aboriginal Australians and then Europeans, they were bitten by the same mosquitoes and became infected: they had all of the sore joints, fever, rash, and fatigue that we associate with the disease today. Although RRV has never killed anyone, it can be extremely debilitating for several months, and up to years in a few unlucky individuals."
The 1979 epidemic in the Pacific Islands Countries and Territories was the first time that RRV had 'escaped' from its marsupial reservoir. But without marsupials, the epidemic burned itself out the following year or so it was thought.
Philip Weinstein identifying a mosquito. Credit: University of Adelaide
"The first clues about local transmission in the Pacific Islands came when more recent tourists from New Zealand and Canada who had been to the South Pacific, but not Australia, were diagnosed with RRV when they returned home," Professor Weinstein says.
In partnership with French collaborators in Tahiti and France, the researchers tested blood samples of American Samoans.
"We were surprised to find that of those who were born after the 1979-1980 epidemic and had lived in American Samoa their whole lives, a massive 63 percent had antibodies to RRV, strongly suggesting local transmission of the virus after 1980," says Dr Colleen Lau, NHMRC Research Fellow in ANU's College of Medicine, Biology and Environment.
"There are no marsupials in American Samoa, so the only reasonable conclusion is that the virus was able to circulate in local mammals rather than marsupials. If RRV can circulate in non-marsupials in the South Pacific, then it can find a home anywhere in the world.
"Isolation of the virus from non-marsupials will provide us with definitive evidence that RRV can become endemic globally."
Professor Weinstein says: "With the large number of Australians now travelling, it would not be unreasonable to expect one or more tourists to carry RRV overseas to seed a new epidemic. With the right conditions, this could take off globally in exactly the same way that Zika did."
More information: Colleen Lau et al. New evidence for endemic circulation of Ross River Virus in the Pacific Islands and the potential for emergence, International Journal of Infectious Diseases (2017). Journal information: International Journal of Infectious Diseases Colleen Lau et al. New evidence for endemic circulation of Ross River Virus in the Pacific Islands and the potential for emergence,(2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2017.01.041
Colorized SEM (scanning electron micrograph) of the foodborne pathogen Salmonella enteritidis. Blue is growth medium. Picture is colored in false colors to illustrate difference. Photo by Jean Guard, ARS. Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture/public domain
Salmonella food poisoning wallops you for several days, but new research by Cornell food scientists indicates that some of its serotypes variations of the bacterial species can have permanent repercussions. It may damage your DNA.
"Not all salmonella serotypes are equal," said author Rachel Miller, a doctoral candidate in food science.
Salmonella causes about 1.2 million non-typhoidal salmonella illnesses and about 450 deaths annually in the United States, according to Center for Disease Control statistics. There are over 2,500 serotypes for salmonella, but fewer than 100 serotypes cause the vast majority of foodborne illness, according to the CDC.
Miller and Martin Wiedmann, the Gellert Family Professor in Food Safety, examined multiple serotypes of salmonella that encode for cytolethal distending toxin, or S-CDT, a virulence component for serotype Typhi the cause of typhoid fever. As it happens, the salmonella serotypes called Javiana, Montevideo, Oranienburg and Mississippi common culprits in the foodborne illness world also carry the genetic material that encodes S-CDT, the researchers found.
In human cells grown in the lab, Salmonella strains with S-CDT were also found to lead to hallmark signatures that indicate the presence of DNA damage. The ability to cause DNA damage may contribute to long-term disease consequences, Miller said.
"Think about possible DNA damage this way: We apply sunscreen to keep the sun from damaging our skin. If you don't apply sunscreen, you can get a sunburn and possibly develop skin problems later in life," said Miller. "While not the sun, salmonella bacteria may work in a similar way. The more you expose your body's cells to DNA damage, the more DNA damage that needs to be repaired, and there may one day be a chance that the DNA damage is not correctly repaired. We don't really know right now the true permanent damage from these salmonella infections."
For a half-century, scientists have used salmonella serotyping to track foodborne illness outbreaks and their sources.
"A person's damaged DNA from salmonella could lead to long-term health consequences after the infection subsides, such as longer bouts with foodborne illness," said Wiedmann.
Salmonella is named for Daniel Elmer Salmon (Cornell B.V.M. 1872, D.V.M 1876), who received the first doctorate of veterinary medicine in the United States.
The UK's action plan to significantly reduce childhood obesity is "severely limited", argue a team of experts in The BMJ today. They say the government missed an opportunity to take global leadership of child health
Professor Mark Hanson from the British Heart Foundation, University of Southampton, Professor Neena Modi, President of the UK Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and Professor of Neonatal Medicine, Imperial College London, and Dr Edward Mullins, a trainee in obstetrics and gynaecology, criticise a number of key failings within the report.
They say following publication of the report 'Childhood Obesity: a Plan for Action" last year, there was an "immediate outcry from the medical and public health communities, who had hoped for much more."
They warn that "strong actions were conspicuous by their absence, and the desired discussion of anti-obesogenic medicine [countering obesity onset] had been watered down to an emphasis on voluntary actions by industry, consumers, and schools."
The report, they say, "fails to recognise that overweight and obesity in children and young people are driven by multiple modifiable biological, behavioural, environmental, and commercial factors, some of which operate before conception and birth."
Furthermore, the report does not "recognise that the harm extends across generations," and "this failure", they say, represents "a major lost opportunity for effective prevention."
The report also does not include the World Health Organization's (WHO) Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO) recommendations, and by doing so, the UK government 'missed an opportunity to show global leadership in child health."
They say it could be considerably strengthened by including evidence based interventions, such as an industry levy on sugar sweetened beverages, nutrient profiling to identify healthy and unhealthy foods, clearer food labelling, and promoting physical activity in schools.
Other recommendations absent from the report include stronger controls on advertising, mandatory food reformulation, and nutrition education.
They say to achieve these recommendations, health professionals should use their national and global professional networks to coordinate action between sectors including education, industry, government, and the public.
As such, they suggest a new global alliance against child obesity led by an international alliance of healthcare organisations, which "the UK government would work with the alliance to build on their plan for action and develop it into a strategy for childhood and future societal health."
They recommend the new alliance should focus on a life course approach, where the preconception period is an "important opportunity for engaging parents to prevent obesity and promote health."
Furthermore, there needs to be effective training of health and education professionals on how to engage parents, children, and young people with the issue of overweight and obesity.
Experts need to formulate key questions around preventive measures and methods of implementation, and to set key research priorities on infancy and the preconception period.
They stress that dialogue needs to be encouraged between industry, policy makers, scientists, educators, professional bodies, children and young people.
Lastly, they call for campaigning of government actions on policies, regulation, fiscal actions, and investment, as some of these have brought "enormous benefits" to child and population health, while voluntary action has been ineffective.
More information: Time for the UK to commit to tackling child obesity, The BMJ, www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.j762 Journal information: British Medical Journal (BMJ) Time for the UK to commit to tackling child obesity,
TransferWise has launched a money transfer service on Facebook Messenger, which includes a chatbot, reported Reuters.
The service lets you send money to contacts in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and Europe, provided you are in one of the regions.
According to TransferWise, its service will be the first to offer international money transfers entirely in Facebook Messenger.
Reuters noted that Facebook Messenger already allows users to send money within the US, but the service has not launched internationally.
Now read: Companies can now post job ads on Facebook
Azerbaijani citizen Elnur Huseynzade, who is in custody in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh), does not complain about his confinement conditions, his attorney Arkadi Israyelyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.
The legal representative noted that he met twice with his client. We communicate through an interpreter, informed Israyelyan. He added that his client does not speak Russian to the extent to get familiarized with the indictment.
When asked whether the detainee has complaints regarding his confinement conditions, the attorney responded: There are no complaints. If there are, we definitely will notify in writing.
NKR Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Ruben Melikyan, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representatives, and Karabakh human rights activists already have met with Huseynzade.
On February 1, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched a reconnaissance infiltration attempt at the line of contact between the Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces.
But the NKR Defense Army vanguards took preventive actions and drew the adversary back, making it suffer casualties.
And as a result of an anti-sabotage operation, the Artsakh defense forces protecting the frontline managed to capture Azerbaijani army soldier Elnur Huseynzade, who was born in Barda, Azerbaijan, in 1995.
Germany and eight other EU member states plan to expand sanctions against Iran
NYT: Kyiv plans total evacuation in case of power outage
Iran reveals new air defense missile
IRGC neutralizes terrorist group in southwestern Iran
Bahrain to continue building relations with Israel after Netanyahu's victory
Iran says it confiscated a large batch of U.S.-made munitions
Iran successfully launches Ghaem 100 rocket, making the US nervous
U.S. sends warplanes to Iran
Washington Post: US privately urges Ukraine to show willingness to negotiate with Russia
Parisien: French man wins 160 million in European lottery
U.S. decides to block number of seats on planes because of the increase in passenger weight
BMW M4 turned into a pickup truck
Blinken calls on Israel and Palestine to urgently de-escalate tensions
Romania signs deal with Norway for purchase of over 30 F-16 fighters
Stoltenberg: The alliance has no plans to change nuclear positions and deployments
Tagesschau: Nearly 200,000 people took part in strikes at industrial enterprises of Germany
Teenagers hacks Uzbekistan senate website
Artsakh Ombudsman: Azerbaijanis fired at tractor in Khramort village of Artsakh
Rally participants' statement: Artsakh can't be a part of Azerbaijan
Person accused of arson in Russia cafe confesses
Fars: Iranian Foreign Ministry reported UAV deliveries to Russia a few months before the start of the UAS
Bayramov: Azerbaijan, Armenia leaders next meeting will take place in Brussels this month
Unity rally of participants start march in downtown Yerevan
North Korea launches 4 ballistic missiles
Council of Border Guard Troops commanders discusses situation at CIS external borders
Armenia ex-President Kocharyan joins rally in downtown Yerevan
Russia oil, natural gas companies plan to collaborate with Iraq
Armenia army intelligence troops 30th anniversary is solemnly celebrated (PHOTOS)
Rally of unity in support of Karabakh kicks off in downtown Yerevan
Pentagon announces sending 8 NASAMS air defense systems to Ukraine
Armenian Apostolic Church Supreme Spiritual Council meeting ends, Armenia and Artsakh security discussed
Tropical Storm Nalgae death toll climbs to 155 in Philippines
Artak Beglaryan is appointed advisor to Artsakh Minister of State (PHOTOS)
US House committee extends deadline for Trump to produce documents on Capitol attack
Over 200 elephants die in Kenya amid drought
13 dead in cafe fire in Russia
Armenia Security Council chief to head for Poland, Netherlands, Lithuania
Rishi Sunak: State cannot fix all problems
Newspaper: To what extent Armenia adheres to sanctions on Russia?
Biden accuses Twitter of spewing lies
Newspaper: There are active political processes in Karabakh
Qatar FM slams hypocrisy of calls to boycott World Cup
France, Singapore and Switzerland begin joint testing of experimental digital currencies
Oil war is Biden's biggest mistake
Japan considers possible deployment of hypersonic missiles by 2030
Germany to install better air defense system over Defense Ministry buildings
Erdogan and Stoltenberg discuss war in Ukraine
Armenian MOD: Azerbaijani Armed Forces open fire in direction of Armenian positions
True cost of Europe's rejection of Russian gas
White House tries to explain Biden's statement about freeing Iran
Former Pakistani Prime Minister: Either we will have a peaceful revolution or a bloody one
Aramyan: Why are police officers' salaries increasing, while defense officers' are not?
Pentagon and U.S. weapons manufacturers to discuss Russia, human resources and supply chain
Ankara says U.S. may approve sale of F-16s to Turkey within few months
IMF: Turkey should tighten monetary policy and give the Central Bank more independence
Pope urges religious leaders to keep the world from brink of abyss
Putin awards Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II with Order of Honor
U.S. says G7 countries realize need for coordinated response to China
Round-the-clock curfew is introduced in Kherson
Borrell says they can't put China and Russia on same level
Olaf Scholz calls on China to influence Russia
G7 foreign ministers express 'unwavering commitment' to protecting Ukraine, criticized PRC and IRI
Political technologist explains why Pashinyan was elected chairman of board of ruling party in Armenia
Erdogan signs up for TikTok
China's army is constantly preparing for war amid provocative U.S. actions
Kalin: Armenia is constructive about normalization of relations
Poland asks EU to suspend fines
Putin: Situation in Ukraine was deadly for Russia
Portugal to test a four-day workweek
US embassy in Armenia issues statement ahead of November 5 protests in Yerevan
Dollar, euro go up in Armenia
Baku authorities once again refuse to allow PFPA to hold protest rally
Iranians commemorate anniversary of US embassy seizure
Richard Kauzlarich: Azerbaijan, Armenia FMs meeting in Washington 'will send message to Putin'
Russia ratifies protocol on requirements for length of service of EEU bodies' employees for pensions
Armenia deputy defense minister in Russia, discusses military cooperation
Yerevan receives proposal to hold Russia-Armenia-Azerbaijan interparliamentary talks
Health minister: We will work with fallen Armenia detainees relatives one more time after which bodies will be buried
Putin allows mobilization of citizens with unexpunged criminal record for serious crimes
Arnika, NESEHNUTI NGOs of Czech Rep. issue joint statement on plan to expand gold mine in Armenias Karaberd
Putin urges to evacuate civilians living in Kherson from the war zone
Iran parliament speaker to visit Armenia
Ruling force MP: Canada is opening embassy in Armenia because we are one of worlds most democratic countries
Girl with Armenian roots ends up in Vladimir orphanage
Erdogan says he has agreed with Putin to supply grain to needy countries for free
Armenia President, UK envoy agree to continue cooperation, close contacts
Armenia FM receives EU Monitoring Capacity
Spanish MPs don't approve agreement with Baku as a sign of solidarity with Armenia
Japan says North Korea may go ahead with nuclear test
Armenia government to allocate about $5M to Karabakh refugees support program
Belarusian border service: Border guards intercepts Ukrainian training drone
President appoints Ruben Vardanyan as Karabakh Minister of State
US embassy expresses concern about human rights violation in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan continues muscle play on Iran border
Ibrahim Kalin says Turkey will become an important gas center one way or another
Biden: We're gonna free Iran
Reuters: G7 countries and Australia agrees on fixed price for Russian oil
World oil prices dropping
Wizz Air to launch new flights between Venice, Yerevan
EU assesses Armenia, Azerbaijan border commissions meeting in Brussels as constructive
Iskander missile system is a weapon that is capable to cool a hothead while making a decision, Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan said.
I can present the algorithm. The function and characteristics of this weapon enable to cause irreparable damage to the infrastructure of the country against which it is used. So, the decision to use Iskanders will be closely linked to the development of the situation, Sargsyan said in an interview with Sputnik.
The defense minister noted that although the Iskander systems were considered to be a deterrent weapon, they could be used as a guaranteed strike weapon if the necessity arises.
The Minister added that Iskander missile systems are owned by the Armenian armed forces and are managed by Armenian army officers.
"The fact that Iskanders were delivered to Armenia I think is obvious, because everyone clearly saw them. The fact that they belong to the Armenian Armed Forces I can confirm with absolute certainty," Sargsyan said.
The minister said that other questions, such as when, how much, what payment terms and others are a top secret.
YEREVAN. The UN Security Council on Tuesday held an open debate, entitled Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Conflicts in Europe.
The meeting sought to assess existing threats to regional and international peace and security caused by conflicts in Europe, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. It was also intended to review responses to ongoing instability and to dangerous developments within European countries in post-conflict or protracted conflict situations.
It was pointed out that no single factor could be blamed for conflicts in Europe, and that, in certain cases, agreements were simply not being implemented.
During the meeting, speakers exchanged views on the situations in Cyprus, Ukraine, Moldova and South Caucasus, including on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, while many called for a full implementation of the previously agreed measures and underscored the importance of the regional dimension, and as well the need for greater conflict-prevention efforts.
The Permanent Representative of Armenia to the UN, Ambassador Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, delivered a statement, highlighting that what identifies the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a struggle for human rights, freedom and self-determination, in light of historical injustice and persistent discrimination.
It is a struggle, which witnessed barbaric pogroms against Armenians in Baku, Sumgait, Kirovabad and other parts of Azerbaijan as a reaction to the legitimate aspirations of the people of Nagorno Karabakh to freely determine their future. It is a struggle for self-defense and physical survival of the people of Nagorno Karabakh as a result of an outright aggression, war and ethnic cleansing. It is a struggle against barbarity of a regime, which ruthlessly glorifies Ramil Safarov, a murderer, who in 2004 axes to death an Armenian officer while asleep, during a military training course. It is a struggle against a claim of jurisdiction by a regime, which persistently cultivates and inspires Armenophobia, hatred and intolerance against Armenians. It is a struggle for freedom and survival, explained the Armenian Ambassador.
Referring to the renewed attempt of aggression by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh at the beginning of April 2016 and ensuing perpetration of atrocities and outright barbarity, Ambassador Mnatsakanyan noted that the Armenian side has consistently informed the Council, and that the international community should forcefully reject the use of force and any pursuit of a military solution to this conflict.
It was highlighted that instead, immediate and genuine steps should be undertaken towards the implementation of the agreements reached at the summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg in May and June 2016, in order to create conditions conducive to the advancement of the peace process.
In conclusion, the Armenian Ambassador expressed deep appreciation to the international community, the UN Security Council, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations for their continued and unwavering support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, the only internationally agreed format of negotiations for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, to reach a lasting settlement as soon as possible.
The next meeting of the Presidents of Russia and Armenia is being prepared.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated the aforesaid at Wednesdays joint news conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, in Moscow.
In Lavrovs words, during the talk with his Armenian colleague they discussed bilateral relations, and the implementation of the agreements regarding the coordination of actions within international organizations.
According to the Russian FM, Armenian-Russian relations have been developing with dynamism, important agreements were reached, and cooperation between the two legislative bodies is developing.
Also, Sergei Lavrov noted that Russia is the leading foreign economic partner of Armenia, the volume of trade is very high, and Russian investments make up about 40 percent of the capital investments in Armenia. He added that major joint projects are carried out in several domains.
We discussed the implementation of the long-term cooperation program until 2020, added the Russian FM.
He recalled that Russian citizens can travel to Armenia with internal passports, starting from Thursday.
We consider Yerevan as one of the key partners in the CIS [i.e. the Commonwealth of Independent States]; an active participant of all integration processes, stressed Lavrov.
The Russian FM added that their collaboration with Armenia continues also within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as well as at international platforms.
YEREVAN. - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has prepared a plowless land tillage program for Armenia.
Agriculture specialist of FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, Avetik Nersisyan, told the aforementioned to Armenian News NEWS.am.
Such cultivation protects the soil from erosion and loss of microflora, as well as water evaporation and disappearance of useful elements. In his words, depending on the solidity of the soil and crops grown there, the soil can be turned up to minimal depth or not do that at all. ''Of course, in a number of cases it is impossible to do without plowing, for instance in case of potato. But in many [other] cases the preservation methods are possible,'' Nersisyan said.
For example, the ''zero plowing'' method was not used in Kazakhstan in 2001, whereas now about 2 million ha is cultivated by that method in the north of the country. The subsidies provided to innovative farmers since 2006 largely contributed to this.
The program offers training of farmers and agricolists, as well as demonstrative cultivation in different provinces of the country. ''The project costs $1,7 million but, unfortunately, FAO cannot provide these funds. Thus, in the near future we will present the program to the Armenian Government and with their agreement also to private donors,'' Nersisyan said.
YEREVAN. - Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan on Wednesday received leaders of 12 different communities, who ensured independent income growth of their communities in 2016 and plan to do the same in 2017.
Leaders of Abovyan, Aygehovit, Basen, Vahan, Akhuryan, Sarapat, Urtsadzor, Amasia, Tegh, Meghri and Zaritap communities attended the meeting.
PM Karapetyan noted that the preference was given to these communities, since they had satisfying rates of their own income growth development programs, which inspire confidence. ''We wish to discuss with you community development programs, what you expect from the Government and how we can provide support so that you continue working intensely and actively,'' the PM said, adding that already starting from the current year, the work of province governors and community leaders will be assessed according to new methodology and with much deeper analysis.
''I understand very well that our farmer doesn't live well but we must together with you ensure discipline in our community, city and state. If you want to develop your community, you should precisely fulfill your functions,'' Karapetyan stressed.
The community leaders presented to the PM specific programs related to infrastructure improvement, energy-efficient lighting, introduction of electronic governance system, etc., which are aimed at opening of new jobs and ensuring economic results in the communities.
Furthermore, PM Karapetyan instructed those in charge to study the programs and provide necessary support.
MOSCOW. - Prior to the meeting in the Reception House, Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday opened an exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
At the opening, FM Nalbandian noted: ''I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have organized this exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our states. Today we launch the events dedicated to this quarter-of-century anniversary.
The historic documents displayed at the exhibition are the impressive indication of the path which we have passed since the memorable day of 3 April 1993, when the new page of the Armenian-Russian relations opened. Of course, Armenian and Russian peoples are linked by solid ties of friendship which have passed the test of time and history over centuries.
We have constantly been together, both in times of peace and during the years of difficult ordeals. Currently, the Armenian-Russian relations are again serve as an exemplary model of bilateral cooperation, being probably the most successful and efficient one in the post-Soviet territory.
Armenia and Russia are linked by ally cooperation relations. It is impossible to be an ally in a certain sphere and not in others. That quality of relations is expressed by the full volume of interstate cooperation. Our bilateral relations are distinguished by close foreign policy juxtaposition, efficient cooperation in the military and political, as well as military and technical spheres, successful activity in trade and economic, energy and transportation spheres, decentralized collaboration intensifying with each year and consistent development of cooperation in the spheres of culture, science and education. Russia is our main commercial partner and the main investor in the Armenian economy. Nearly 1,400 joint enterprises operate in our country and more than 200 bilateral documents have been signed.
The Armenian-Russian interstate relations are strengthened within the framework of international and regional cooperation due to our efficient cooperation, in respect to whichalong with the UN and OSCEI would like to point out the CSTO and COS, and, of course, the Eurasian Economic Union.
Regardless of the nature of interstate relations, they cannot be indeed strong if there is no warmth between the nations and people. In this regard, I would like to specifically mention the deep nature of friendship ties and mutual sympathy linking our nations and ordinary people.
Currently, our joint efforts are aimed at continuing to identify new promising directions of our strategic cooperation based on that solid ground, enriching it with that new content,'' Nalbandian noted.
Armenia and Russian FMs open exhibition in Moscow
MOSCOW. 0 Prior to the meeting in the Reception House, Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday opened an exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
At the opening, FM Nalbandian noted: ''I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have organized this exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our states. Today we launch the events dedicated to this quarter-of-century anniversary.
The historic documents displayed at the exhibition are the impressive indication of the path which we have passed since the memorable day of 3 April 1993, when the new page of the Armenian-Russian relations opened. Of course, Armenian and Russian peoples are linked by solid ties of friendship which have passed the test of time and history over centuries.
We have constantly been together, both in times of peace and during the years of difficult ordeals. Currently, the Armenian-Russian relations are again serve as an exemplary model of bilateral cooperation, being probably the most successful and efficient one in the post-Soviet territory.
Armenia and Russia are linked by ally cooperation relations. It is impossible to be an ally in a certain sphere and not in others. That quality of relations is expressed by the full volume of interstate cooperation. Our bilateral relations are distinguished by close foreign policy juxtaposition, efficient cooperation in the military and political, as well as military and technical spheres, successful activity in trade and economic, energy and transportation spheres, decentralized collaboration intensifying with each year and consistent development of cooperation in the spheres of culture, science and education. Russia is our main commercial partner and the main investor in the Armenian economy. Nearly 1,400 joint enterprises operate in our country and more than 200 bilateral documents have been signed.
The Armenian-Russian interstate relations are strengthened within the framework of international and regional cooperation due to our efficient cooperation, in respect to whichalong with the UN and OSCEI would like to point out the CSTO and COS, and, of course, the Eurasian Economic Union.
Regardless of the nature of interstate relations, they cannot be indeed strong if there is no warmth between the nations and people. In this regard, I would like to specifically mention the deep nature of friendship ties and mutual sympathy linking our nations and ordinary people.
Currently, our joint efforts are aimed at continuing to identify new promising directions of our strategic cooperation based on that solid ground, enriching it with that new content,'' Nalbandian noted.
YEREVAN. - The defense of homeland in the army and fleet has always been considered as a sacred duty and those, who devoted themselves to military service and for whom the insurance of sovereignty and defense of homeland became a life purpose have always been held in special esteem both in Russia and Armenia.
Defense Minister of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan said the aforementioned on Wednesday, speaking at the solemn reception in the Russian Embassy in Armenia ahead of the Homeland Defender's Day.
Referring to the upcoming holiday, Sargsyan noted that this day isn't considered as a national holiday in Armenia but it lives in the memory and hearts of elderly servicemen, reflecting indissoluble ties of generations and continuation of military traditions.
Touching on the Russian-Armenian military cooperation, Sargsyan noted: ''The Russian military base is located in the territory of Armenia. Its staff has repeatedly confirmed its conscientious approach to fulfilling the tasks set before them and their high combat-readiness. We carry out joint operative planning of use of troops in the interests of ensuring the common security, while the subunits of Russian air defense and aviation jointly with the Armed Forces of Armenia successfully carry out military vigil, deciding one of the most important issues concerning the ensurance of security of our airspace. I am confident that our close cooperation in the sphere of ensuring security will continue to remain strong and fruitful.''
The minister also congratulated the Russian border guards carrying out service on the Armenian-Turkish border.
February 23 marks the Homeland Defender's Day. Although this is not a national holiday in Armenia, it remains one of the most favorite one among the representatives of elderly and middle-aged people.
Since 1985, The Guerrilla Girls a group of feminist activist artists have performed on almost every continent in the world. On Wednesday, Feb 22, the troop will gig in Milwaukee, where they join the MIAD Creativity Series from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Fourth Floor Raw Space of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, 273 E. Erie St.
The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; large crowds are expected.
The group wears gorilla masks to obscure their identities so audience members focus on issues in the art world instead of the performers. Their goal is to expose gender and racial bias and corruption through facts, humor and outrageous visuals.
When the group originally formed in 1985, they printed provocative posters calling out major museums with collections that were almost entirely created by male artists. More than 30 years later, the numbers have only insignificantly increased and the Guerrilla Girls not only question the art world, but also film, politics and more.
Their public presentation at MIAD will include music, video of their work and a discussion of discrimination in a variety of art forms. A Q&A will follow the event, which is sponsored by Katie Heil, Madeleine Lubar and the Bert L. and Patricia S. Steigleder Charitable Trust.
"We undermine the idea of a mainstream narrative by revealing the understory, the subtext, the overlooked and the downright unfair," the Guerrilla Girls said in a statement.
The group recently appeared on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
Amazon is resisting an effort by Arkansas prosecutors to obtain potential recordings from a slaying suspect's Amazon Echo smart speaker, saying authorities haven't established that their investigation is more important than a customer's privacy rights.
The issue comes in the investigation into the death of Victor Collins, who was found floating face-up in a hot tub in a friend's Bentonville home in November 2015. The friend, James Andrew Bates, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
Benton County prosecutors asked a court to force Amazon to provide data that Bates' Echo may have collected. Echo devices "listen" for a user's voice and respond to commands.
In a response filed Friday, Amazon said prosecutors hadn't established the need for Amazon to violate its customers' constitutional rights. Amazon said prosecutors must prove the information isn't available elsewhere.
Amazon also wants the court to review the recordings before turning them over to prosecutors to ensure they're actually relevant to the case.
"Given the important First Amendment and privacy implications at stake, the warrant should be quashed unless the Court finds that the State has met its heightened burden for compelled production of such materials," Amazon said in the court documents.
The company had previously spoken about prosecutor's request for the information in more general terms, but this is Amazon's first formal legal response to the subpoena for audio recordings and transcripts from the night of Collins' death.
"Amazon will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us. Amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course," the company said in a statement.
The Associated Press left a phone message Wednesday seeking comment from prosecutors in the case.
2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Credit: Nature Geoscience (2017). DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2894
(Phys.org)A pair of researchers with the California Institute of Technology and the University of California has found evidence that suggests atmospheric rivers carry wind speeds higher than has been thought. In their paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, Duane Waliser and Bin Guan describe their analyses of atmospheric river events that occurred over the years 1997 to 2014.
Atmospheric rivers are streams of air containing very large amounts of moisturethey typically move through storms releasing very large amounts of water (or snow) to the ground over short periods of timegenerally in the mid-latitudes. Meteorologists have known about them for several years, but up until now, it was believed that their major impact was the huge amount of precipitation they deliver. In this new effort, the researchers have found that they occur more often than was known, and that they also carry higher winds.
In looking at the data, the researchers found that coastal areas are most likely to be hit by atmospheric riversapproximately half of the top 2 percent of very strong coastal storms were found to be associated with atmospheric rivers. They also found that 40 to 70 percent of high wind and heavy precipitation events that occur along coastlines are at least partly linked to atmospheric rivers. Most surprising, they note, was the high winds that came with themassociated speeds were on average twice as fast as those with average storms. As an example, California has been hard hit this winter by multiple atmospheric river eventsthe huge amounts of rainfall have alleviated the drought that prevailed over the past few years, but there has also been a tremendous amount of floodingand high winds have caused damage, perhaps most noticeably by the toppling of the iconic Tunnel Tree sequoia in Yosemite National Park.
The researchers note that atmospheric rivers can be extremely costlyover the time period studied, they determined that 14 of 19 storms that caused billions of dollars of damage in Europe were atmospheric river events. They also point out that global warming, by its nature, will mean more water in the atmosphere, which likely will mean bigger and stronger atmospheric river events.
More information: Duane Waliser et al. Extreme winds and precipitation during landfall of atmospheric rivers, Nature Geoscience (2017). DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2894 Abstract
Atmospheric riverslong, narrow filaments of large integrated water vapour transportare associated with weather and water extremes, such as precipitation extremes and flooding in western North America and northern Europe. Here we apply a global detection algorithm for atmospheric rivers to reanalysis data during 19972014 to investigate the impact of atmospheric rivers on wind extremes as well as precipitation extremes. We find that atmospheric rivers are associated with up to half of the extreme events in the top 2% of the precipitation and wind distribution, across most mid-latitude regions globally. Landfalling atmospheric rivers are associated with about 4075% of extreme wind and precipitation events over 40% of the world's coastlines. Atmospheric rivers are associated with a doubling or more of the typical wind speed compared to all storm conditions, and a 50100% increase in the wind and precipitation values for extreme events. We also find that the majority of extreme wind events catalogued between 1997 and 2013 over Europe with billion US dollar losses were associated with atmospheric rivers. We conclude that landfalling atmospheric rivers can represent a significant hazard around the globe, because of their association with not only extreme precipitation, but also extreme winds. Journal information: Nature Geoscience
2017 Phys.org
As Katy Franco waited for her morning coffee, passersby pulled out their phones and snapped photos and video of her barista.
A man in his 20s did a double take, recorded the scene on his iPhone and posted it to Instagram. Another woman drifted toward the barista and asked no one in particular: "What's going on here?"
Franco's barista was a robot. It's part of an automated coffee shop called Cafe X - the latest example of the San Francisco's dual infatuations: artisanal coffee and automated technology.
"It's incredibly convenient," said Franco, who has used Cafe X twice since it opened at the end of January. "And the coffee is really good too."
Moments earlier, Franco had ordered her coffee using the Cafe X mobile app. Now a white robotic arm, the same kind used in car manufacturing facilities, was moving around a paper cup, pushing on syrup levers and brewing her a hot cup of coffee.
"I prefer this because you don't have to wait," said Franco, whose coffee was made in less than a minute. "It even accepts PayPal."
Comments like Franco's ring as validation to Henry Hu's ears. Hu, a 23-year-old college dropout who founded Cafe X, envisioned his coffee kiosk as the answer to long waits at coffee shops: a well-made cup of coffee delivered quickly, efficiently and at a relatively low cost. A flat white at Cafe X is $2.95, compared with $3.75 at Starbucks - no tip required.
On the speed front, Cafe X can make a hot espresso beverage in less than a minute and is able to pump out 120 coffee drinks in an hour. A Cafe X kiosk can occupy as little as 50 square feet, although its footprint in San Francisco's Metreon shopping mall is a little over 100 square feet and was most recently home to another automated tenant: a Bank of America ATM.
Encased in plexiglass, the kiosk contains two coffee machines equipped to brew Americanos, espressos, cappuccinos, lattes and flat whites. Customers can order their drink from the Cafe X mobile app or at one of two iPads mounted outside the kiosk. The entire transaction is cashless, and customers even get a notification on their phone when their coffee is ready.
"It's similar to calling an Uber," said Hu, who sees his kiosk as filling a void. "It's for people who want a grab and go coffee, who want consistency."
Tech investors have started dipping their toes in the food industry, backing the meal replacement startup Soylent, the fake meat firm Impossible Foods and specialty coffee roaster Blue Bottle, among others. Cafe X is raising cash from those who seek a confluence of the familiar (technology) and the new (food).
In addition to securing a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship last year (a grant awarded by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel's foundation to college dropouts who want to form their own companies), Hu has raised $5 million in venture capital to expand Cafe X to more locations. His 12-person startup built the first Cafe X kiosk in Hong Kong last year. The second kiosk - and the first in the United States - sits across from an AMC ticket counter inside the Metreon.
"People, millennials in particular, don't want to wait in line," said Ben Ling, an investor from Khosla Ventures, whose firm has also invested in the automated San Francisco quinoa restaurant Eatsa. "Cafe X really solves that problem of the ordering efficiency. From a user perspective, it's vastly superior."
Automation helps keep costs low for business owners, which in turn makes products and services more affordable for consumers, Ling said. That's why automation - particularly in the food service and hospitality industries - seems inevitable.
Self-driving cars are already being tested on U.S. roads. Manufacturing facilities and warehouses have already automated entire professions. And while a multipurpose robot that can do everything that a waiter or chef can do is still a ways off, artificial intelligence and industrial robotics have advanced to the level where they can begin chipping away at the more menial parts of a food service job.
"Anything that has highly repetitive tasks that don't require judgment is suitable to be automated," Ling said.
With job loss a top issue in today's political environment, a coffee shop that does away with baristas or a lunch spot that does away with wait staff could be a reason for outrage. But Eatsa has so far been a hit with office workers in San Francisco's Financial District. And in its first weeks of operation, Cafe X has drawn fast-moving lines and curious crowds who snap photos and videos of the kiosk.
In Cafe X's defense, it isn't fully automated. Although it doesn't require a barista, it does need a technician to clean and restock coffee machines, one product specialist to remain on site to answer questions during operating hours, and software and hardware engineers to maintain the app and build out the kiosk. And since the entire operation relies on an internet connection, if the internet is down, so is the kiosk.
A much-hyped, fully automated burger joint by startup Momentum Machines is expected to launch in San Francisco, but its founders declined to be interviewed for this story. No launch date has been announced.
Automation clearly hasn't yet upended the food service industry, at least not when compared with the manufacturing sector, where the making of electrical and transportation equipment, machinery, and computers and appliances will account for around 75 percent of robotics installations over the next decade, according to research from the Boston Consulting Group.
"This is just the leading edge," said Martin Ford, author of "Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future." "The really significant thing will be when the big chains - the McDonalds, the Burger Kings, the Starbucks - begin to adopt these technologies. Eventually it is going to create a big problem for us."
As of May 2015, the largest overall occupations in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, were retail salespersons (4.6 million), cashiers (3.5 million), and food preparation and service workers (3.2 million).
Technologists agree that it's not a matter of if automation will eliminate these jobs but when. And while an argument can be made that there will always be room for services with a human touch, moves that cut costs have historically trumped those that protect jobs.
The federal government, loud in its proclamation of creating jobs, has been quiet on policies regulating and addressing the fallout from automation. And it seems consumers, for now, would rather not think about it.
"I can understand the fear of automation taking our jobs," said Franco, clutching her robot-made coffee. "But I also work in the innovation space."
She gestured toward her workplace, the Target Open House showroom about 100 feet from the Cafe X kiosk. The showroom was recently remodeled to better showcase the array of smart-home gadgets for sale. Inside, human employees sell internet-enabled devices that promise to make people's lives more efficient, connected and automated.
2017 Los Angeles Times
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Bench-scale fermenters for biomass conversion experiments at ICES. Credit: A*STAR Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences
Each year more than half a billion tons of oilmore than an eighth of the total global oil consumptionare used to produce chemicals and plastics. The demand for oil leaves the petrochemical industry, with a market value slated to exceed US$758 Billion by 2022, critically exposed to oil price fluctuations and the uncertainty of dependence on a finite fossil resource. Researchers and chemical engineers around the world have been trying to find ways to use alternative raw materials such as agricultural waste or 'biomass' to replace petroleum in the production of common industrial chemicals as a step toward a more sustainable chemical industry.
In 2012, A*STAR brought together scientists working on research related to biomass feedstocks to form the Biomass-To-Chemical (B2C) programme. Led by the A*STAR Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES) in close collaboration with the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), the B2C programme has worked towards developing a complete value chain, from raw biomass to commodity and specialty chemicals, as a commercially viable demonstration of biomass-based sustainable chemical production.
A local resource for global chemical production
Almost half of the world's petrochemical production occurs in Asia, which happens to have a rich source of waste biomassthe waste 'fruit' left over from palm oil production. Research at the ICES has focused on utilizing this cheap and local 'empty fruit bunch' (EFB) resource for sustainable chemical production.
"The biggest challenge we face is in cost-effectively converting EFB into the pure 'feedstocks' or basic chemicals needed for industrial chemical production," explains Wu Jinchuan, head of industrial biotechnology at the ICES. "For this we need to develop cheaper ways to obtain fermentable sugars from the biomass, and more powerful microbes for fermentation of the sugars to obtain useful feedstocks such as lactic acid in industrial yields."
Lactic acid is a food preservative and curing and flavoring agent, but is also used as a crude feedstock for the production of many other industrial chemicals. As a vital first link in the biomass-to-chemical value chain, Wu's team has developed a process for efficiently converting EFB to high-yield lactic acid by enzyme-driven hydrolysis followed by fermentation using thermophilic bacteria that occur naturally in Singapore as a vital first link in the biomass-to-chemical value chain.
"With this process we have shown that we can produce high-yield lactic acid from EFB," says Wu. "Our next step is to lower the processing cost further by refining the pretreatment and fermentation technologies."
From crude feedstock to industrial chemicals
Many industrial chemicals still rely on petroleum-based feedstocks, and finding a way to substitute a renewable feedstock like biomass-derived lactic acid in the production of a wide range of chemicals will be critical to driving a sustainable revolution in global chemical production.
The ICES Heterogeneous Catalysis division, under the leadership of Armando Borgna, is working on the conversion of lactic acid to common industrial chemicals like acrylic acid, which is normally produced from petroleum-based propylene.
A 50 liter fermenter for biomass conversion at the ICES laboratory. Credit: A*STAR Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences
"Acrylic acid is an important commodity chemical used for superabsorbent polymers, plastics, and synthetic rubber, as well as in the manufacture of coatings, paint formulations and leather finishing," says Choi Won Jae, head of the Bioprocess Engineering Centre and the B2C Programme Director. "There are intensive efforts going on worldwide to develop a biological-based method to produce it from a renewable feedstock. Our approach using lactic acid allows us to make use of EFB, which is a non-food resource that is cheap and readily available as a waste derived from the world's largest palm oil mills here in southeast Asia."
The critical part of the lactic acid to acrylic acid conversion process is finding an efficient way to catalyze the dehydration of lactic acid. Choi and his team have been studying the use of multi-element inorganic materials as a catalyst for this reaction, but the key challenge has been the low yield of acrylic acid from this process due to unwanted side reactions. Recent breakthroughs, however, have shown significant promise.
"Through structural engineering and advanced surface modification of the catalyst material, we have been able to increase the yield of acrylic acid to more than 80 per cent, which is by far the best performance ever reported for this reaction," say Choi.
To support the B2C programme, the ICES has brought all of these technologies together to establish an integrated biorefinery process specifically for the production of acrylic acid from EFB. The process encompasses the entire value chain with research teams working on each operational unit, from biomass pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation, to separation, purification and catalytic conversion of lactic acid to acrylic acid.
"At the ICES we have world-class facilities, excellent scientists from all over the world, and strong financial support from the Singaporean government," says Wu. "We have all the facilities needed for our researchParr reactors for pretreatment of biomass to extract fermentable sugars, fermenters to convert sugars to various chemicals by microbial fermentation, and a range of supporting facilities such as automated liquid handling systems, robotic colony pickers, and a plasma generator for isolating microbes and genetically modifying them to improve their performance for chemical production."
Exploring chemical diversity
At the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, scientists involved in the biomass-to-chemical research coordinate with their colleagues at ICES through the Bio-Renewable Chemicals from Biomass programme led by Yugen Zhang.
"Here we are working on the conversion of biomass resources to a wider range of industrial chemicals," says Zhang. "Chemicals such as adipic acid, maleic anhydride, acrylic acid, butadiene and furandicarboxylic acid, are very important for the polymer industry. Our scientists are doing cutting-edge research that capitalizes on our expertise in many different fields, including catalysis, organic chemistry and materials."
Under the IBN programme, researchers have developed highly efficient processes for a number of industrially important reactions, including the conversion of mucic acid to adipic acida fundamental step in the production of nylonand of sugars to furandicarboxylic acid, which is an important emerging bioprocess with many potential applications in polymer production and medicine.
"In our research we focus on increasing the selectivity of the reactions, which increases yield and lowers the cost of the overall process, which is the major challenge for the use of biomass in chemical production," says Zhang.
Despite the obstacles, the potential of industrial biomass-to-chemical production make it very much worth the effort and investment. "This research field is very exciting," says Wu. "Converting renewable resources to value-added chemicals is sustainable in a way that fossil fuels will never be. Even when the price of petroleum is low, biomass conversion is still commercially promising, particularly for specialty chemicals."
Mounds of the cathedral termite Nasutitermes triodiae at Litchfield National Park. Credit: Jan Sobotnik.
They build among the tallest non-human structures (proportionately speaking) in the world and now it's been discovered the termites that live in Australia's remote Top End originated from overseas - rafting vast distances and migrating from tree-tops to the ground, as humans later did.
Referred to as "cathedral" termites, the Nasutitermes triodiae build huge mounds up to eight metres high in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland - representing some of the tallest non-human animal structures in the world.
DNA sequencing found the forebearers, called nasute termites, colonised Australia three times in the past 20 million years or so and evolved from wood to grass-feeding as they adapted to significant environmental changes, including increasingly arid conditions and the conversion of woodlands to grassland habitats in subtropical savannahs and central Australia.
Now a prominent feature of the arid landscape "Down Under", the mounds house millions of termites; this study is the first comprehensive investigation of the evolution of the nesting and feeding of the extended family of termites, through the Australian refugee descendants.
The findings of the international research are published today in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
Co-lead author of the paper from the University of Sydney, Associate Professor Nathan Lo, said although much was known about the functions of termite mounds - which include protection from predators - little had been known about their evolutionary origins.
A closeup of Nasutitermes triodiae. Credit: Toru Miura.
"We found that the ancestors of Australia's fortress-building termites were coastal tree-dwellers, which arrived in Australia by rafting long distances over the oceans from either Asia or South America," Associate Professor Lo said.
"Once in Australia, they continued to build their nests in trees, but later descended and began building mounds on the ground instead, paralleling the evolution of the other great architects of the world - human beings, whose ancestors lived in the tree tops some millions of years ago."
Associate Professor Lo, from the University of Sydney's School of Life and Environmental Sciences, said the mounds are an engineering feat when considered in comparison to the tallest structure on Earth - Dubai's skyscraper the Burj Khalifas.
"Given that a worker termite stands about 3mm in height, these mounds are in human terms the equivalent of four Burj Khalifas stacked on top of each other," he said.
Nasutitermes triodiae also at Litchfield NP. Credit: Toru Miura.
The paper, "Parallel evolution of mound-building and grass-feeding in Australian nasute termites," said ancestral wood feeders would likely have lost the ability to feed on wood as they transitioned to feeding on litter and grass.
"This group is one of the most ecologically successful groups of termites in Australia," the paper reads.
"We have shown that its capacity to disperse over oceans - and to repeatedly evolve the ability to build mounds and feed on novel substrates in the face of significant environmental change - appears to have been important in promoting this success."
More information: Parallel evolution of mound-building and grass-feeding in Australian nasute termites, Biology Letters, rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.or .1098/rsbl.2016.0665 Journal information: Biology Letters
Pictured are visitors from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, USA, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Germany, in front of the KAUST laser-based atmospheric monitoring instrument. Credit: Iliya Shvchenko
Understanding the unique characteristics of the Arabian atmosphere has much to offer global research. Pollution, weather, climate change, human health, agriculture and fisheries are all affected by the suspended particles in the atmosphere collectively known as aerosols. This is especially significant in the Middle East, as part of the Earth's notorious dust belt.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Professor of Earth Science and Engineering Georgiy Stenchikov leads a research team that is gleaning important insights into the changing global patterns of aerosols, specifically those over the Arabian Peninsula. "The effect of aerosols is possibly the least understood aspect of the atmosphere," said Stenchikov. The global significance of the work is laid bare by a long-term collaboration with NASA that continuously feeds data into NASA's worldwide network of atmospheric monitoring and analysis.
Stenchikov's distinguished career in atmospheric science began in his native Russia followed by research and teaching posts in several universities in the U.S. He was part of a team of international experts that contributes to the reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a team that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
A founding member of KAUST in 2009, Stenchikov was in part drawn by the opportunity to study what he describes as "the absolutely unique atmosphere" above the Arabian region. It is unique due to the high and extremely variable levels of dust thrown up from the surrounding deserts, including those in Africa, combined with strong sunlight to power photochemistry.
The interplay of dust and light is the main focus of Stenchikov's research. His aim is to understand and model the effect of dust on air pollution both to guide steps to mitigate air pollution and to study the influence of dust on many other areas ranging from local agriculture and industry to global climate change.
The KAUST team uses three key instruments to measure the absorption and scattering of incoming solar radiation by aerosols in the atmosphere: a robotic ground-based sunphotometer that automatically sends data into NASA's Aerosol Robotic Network, comprising monitoring stations around the globe; a hand-held sunphotometer instrument, which has been used during research ship cruises to monitor aerosols over the sea; and a laser-based instrument that can build an accurate picture of the vertical distribution of aerosols above selected locations.
One notable ship-based study revealed a distinct separation in the effect of dust on the energy balance in the northern and southern Red Sea. This leads to increased cooling of the Red Sea surface in the South, which Stenchikov expects must influence the productivity of the fisheries that are a key part of the region's economy.
The researchers have also detected changes in air pollution levels linked to altered patterns of dust generation and transport through the atmosphere. Looking farther afield, they have investigated how dust moves from Africa to the air above the Arabian Peninsula, bringing nutrients into the Red Sea ecosystem and also affecting the air quality and total energy balance of the region.
Better understanding dust and light will also underpin the development of solar power generation technologies, which are a major part of Saudi Arabia's plans to reduce its dependence on oil. "The Arabian Desert receives enough solar energy to power the entire world," Stenchikov pointed out, but knowing where and how dust may hinder capturing some of that energy is crucial to planning a solar-powered future.
Stenchikov's group develops sophisticated computer modeling methods that can represent and predict dust flows and their effects. These can be used to collate and verify data obtained from a wide range of data sources, including satellite monitoring.
The models can be applied to skies far from Stenchikov's base at KAUST. For example, one model of the photochemical influence of aerosols was featured in a recent research paper on biomass burning in South America. This study revealed that unlike simple soot, brown carbon (organic particulates) can interact with solar radiation in a way that reduces the generation of air pollutants, including ozone. Thus, some effects of biomass burning can actually alleviate other aspects of atmospheric pollution.
Stenchikov explained that the effects of environmental dust are very complex: benefits include delivering nutrients for crops and fisheries and screening out some harmful UV radiation, while drawbacks are evident from its effect on air quality and health. "The influence of dust on the energy balance and chemistry of the atmosphere is huge, and there is still much we need to understand," said Stenchikov.
Salmonella forms a biofilm. Credit: CDC
(Phys.org)Two separate studies conducted by two teams of researchers has led to evidence suggesting that salmonella infections may have been one of the factors that led to the deaths of the vast majority of the Aztecs living in Mexico after the arrival of the Spaniards. Both studies were conducted by teams with members from around the globe and both resulted in papers that have been uploaded to the bioRxiv preprint server as they await review prior to formal publication.
Spanish explorers arrived in the New World in what is now Mexico in 1519it is believed that the native population of Aztecs at that time was approximately 25 million. A hundred years later, that number had dropped to just 1 million. Prior research has suggested that the population decline came about mostly due to diseases carried by explorers from Europe, but to date, no disease has been fingered as the culprit. In this new effort, both teams of researchers suggest it might have been a unique strain of salmonella called Salmonella enterica, also known as Paratyphi C. It has been likened to typhus, and in modern times, kills approximately 10 to 15 percent of those infected.
In the first study, the team sequenced DNA from the teeth of Aztecs people that had died during a time called the cocoliztlia great pestilence that ran from 1545 to 1576, killing off approximately 80 percent of the population. Of the 29 samples collected, 24 were linked to the cocoliztli. The researchers report that they found S. enterica in several of the samples. More details are forthcoming, the team notes, when their paper is published.
In the second study, the researchers were studying the remains of a woman that had died approximately 900 years ago (300 years before the cocoliztli) in Norway, and they also found evidence of S. enterica, which suggested that the salmonella strain found in the New World victims may have come from Europe, though it is still not clear how closely they match. Again, more information will come when the paper is published.
Neither paper proves conclusively that salmonella was the disease that wiped out most of the Aztecs, but the new evidence does suggest it likely played a part.
More information: Salmonella enterica genomes recovered from victims of a major 16th century epidemic in Mexico, doi.org/10.1101/106740 Abstract
Indigenous populations of the Americas experienced high mortality rates during the early contact period as a result of infectious diseases, many of which were introduced by Europeans. Most of the pathogenic agents that caused these outbreaks remain unknown. Using a metagenomic tool called MALT to search for traces of ancient pathogen DNA, we were able to identify Salmonella enterica in individuals buried in an early contact era epidemic cemetery at Teposcolula-Yucundaa, Oaxaca in southern Mexico. This cemetery is linked to the 1545-1550 CE epidemic locally known as 'cocoliztli', the cause of which has been debated for over a century. Here we present two reconstructed ancient genomes for Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Paratyphi C, a bacterial cause of enteric fever. We propose that S. Paratyphi C contributed to the population decline during the 1545 cocoliztli outbreak in Mexico. Millennia of genomic stability within the invasive Para C Lineage of Salmonella enterica, doi.org/10.1101/105759 Abstract
Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi C is the causative agent of enteric (paratyphoid) fever. While today a potentially lethal infection of humans that occurs in Africa and Asia, early 20th century observations in Eastern Europe suggest it may once have had a wider-ranging impact on human societies. We recovered a draft Paratyphi C genome from the 800-year-old skeleton of a young woman in Trondheim, Norway, who likely died of enteric fever. Analysis of this genome against a new, significantly expanded database of related modern genomes demonstrated that Paratyphi C is descended from the ancestors of swine pathogens, serovars Choleraesuis and Typhisuis, together forming the Para C Lineage. Our results indicate that Paratyphi C has been a pathogen of humans for at least 1,000 years, and may have evolved after zoonotic transfer from swine during the Neolithic period.
2017 Phys.org
Credit: University of Plymouth
Fathers face 'forfeits' when applying for part-time employment and in the workplace, with questions over their commitment and suspicion regarding their quest for a work-life balance, a new study suggests.
Research by the University of Plymouth explored previously-identified phenomena which highlighted a tendency for managers to categorise individual employees based on gender stereotypes.
This can result in mothers being seen to face 'penalties' in the workplace, and at the point of selection, whereas fathers reap 'benefits' in relation to full-time employment.
However, this study showed the reverse also exists when it comes to part-time work, with fathers facing a number of potential issues while mothers receive praise for their dedication to proactively seeking a work-life balance.
The research was led by Jasmine Kelland, Lecturer in Human Resource Management within the Plymouth Graduate School of Management. She said:
"In the UK, traditional patterns of employment and parenting are in decline, and the stereotype of fathers going to work while mothers raise a family are increasingly diminishing. Conversely, we are seeing an increasing number of fathers working fewer hours to accommodate family life, while mothers increasingly work full-time. In the context of these societal changes, a shift in the attitudes of employers is also required so that workers are treated fairly on the basis of their skill set rather than their familial choices."
The study included an online survey completed by around 100 managers, where participants were asked to score fictitious applicants who were equal apart from their parental status. It also featured a focus group made up of managers and working parents, and a series of interviews with parents, managers and HR professionals.
The preliminary findings indicate that when wanting to work less hours fathers can be seen to face a 'fatherhood forfeit', with mothers being scored five per cent higher than fathers through the online survey despite having similar qualifications and experience.
In the focus groups and interviews, the 'fatherhood forfeit' was apparent again with managers viewing fathers who wanted to work part-time with suspicion and considering them deviant. Fathers themselves said they felt they received less workplace support than mothers and had to make more of a case than their female counterparts when wanting to work part-time. They also reported often facing 'Where is mum?' discrimination', felt a loss of status and had friendship issues as a result of their reduced working hours.
For the full-time post, the online survey bucked the trends shown in previous research, with the mother scoring eight per cent higher than her male counterpart. However, the focus groups were consistent with existing studies, with the female applicant facing questions about reliability as well as judgements about her partner's ability to provide and concerns about her apparent wish not to spend more time with her children.
Mrs Kelland, who is currently completing a PhD focused on the experiences of parents in the workplace, added:
"The issues raised by managers and parents in this study are quite alarming and warrant further exploration. This initial research may explain why so many more mothers work part-time than fathers. If as a society we are to reach a position of equality for parents it is critical that modern workplaces address the issue of the 'Fatherhood Forfeit' to reduce the disparities that exist in the workplace."
A new study, looking at the sex-specifically inherited X chromosome of prehistoric human remains, shows that hardly any women took part in the extensive migration from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe approximately 5,000 years ago. The great migration that brought farming practices to Europe 4,000 years earlier, on the other hand, consisted of both women and men. The difference in sex bias suggests that different social and cultural processes drove the two migrations.
Genetic data suggest that modern European ancestry represents a mosaic of ancestral contributions from multiple waves of prehistoric migration events. Recent studies of genomic variation in prehistoric human remains have demonstrated that two mass migration events are particularly important to understanding European prehistory: the Neolithic spread of agriculture from Anatolia starting around 9,000 years ago, and migration from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe around 5,000 years ago. These migrations are coincident with large social, cultural, and linguistic changes, and each has been inferred to have replaced more than half of the contemporaneous gene pool of resident Central Europeans.
Dramatic events in human prehistory can be investigated using patterns of genetic variation among the people that lived in those times. In particular, studies of differing female and male demographic histories on the basis of ancient genomes can provide information about complexities of social structures and cultural interactions in prehistoric populations.
Researchers from Uppsala and Stanford University investigated the genetic ancestry on the sex-specifically inherited X chromosome and the autosomes in 20 early Neolithic and 16 Late Neolithic/Bronze Age human remains. Contrary to previous hypotheses suggesting patrilocality (social system in which a family resides near the man's parents) of many agricultural populations, they found no evidence of sex-biased admixture during the migration that spread farming across Europe during the early Neolithic.
For later migrations from the Pontic steppe during the early Bronze Age, however, we find a dramatic male bias. There are simply too few X-chromosomes from the migrants, which points to around ten migrating males for every migrating female, says Mattias Jakobsson, professor of Genetics at the Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University.
The research group found evidence of ongoing, primarily male, migration from the steppe to central Europe over a period of multiple generations, with a level of sex bias that excludes a pulse migration during a single generation.
The contrasting patterns of sex-specific migration during these two migrations suggest a view of differing cultural histories in which the Neolithic transition was driven by mass migration of both males and females in roughly equal numbersperhaps whole familieswhereas the later Bronze Age migration and cultural shift were instead driven by male migration.
Montage of every round object in the solar system under 10,000 kilometers in diameter, to scale. Credit: Emily Lakdawalla/data from NASA /JPL/JHUAPL/SwRI/SSI/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Gordan Ugarkovic/Ted Stryk, Bjorn Jonsson/Roman Tkachenko.
In 2006, during their 26th General Assembly, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted a formal definition of the term "planet". This was done in the hopes of dispelling ambiguity over which bodies should be designated as "planets", an issue that had plagued astronomers ever since they discovered objects beyond the orbit of Neptune that were comparable in size to Pluto.
Needless to say, the definition they adopted resulted in fair degree of controversy from the astronomical community. For this reason, a team of planetary scientists which includes famed "Pluto defender" Alan Stern have come together to propose a new meaning for the term "planet". Based on their geophysical definition, the term would apply to over 100 bodies in the solar system, including the moon itself.
The current IAU definition (known as Resolution 5A) states that a planet is defined based on the following criteria:
"(1) A "planet" is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.
(2) A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape , (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.
(3) All other objects , except satellites, orbiting the sun shall be referred to collectively as "small solar-system bodies"
Because of these qualifiers, Pluto was no longer considered a planet, and became known alternately as a "dwarf planet", Plutiod, Plutino, Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO), or Kuiper Belt Object (KBO). In addition, bodies like Ceres, and newly discovered TNOs like Eris, Haumea, Makemake and the like, were also designated as "dwarf planets". Naturally, this definition did not sit right with some, not the least of which are planetary geologists.
Led by Kirby Runyon a final year PhD student from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University this team includes scientists from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado; the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tuscon, Arizona; the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona; and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at George Mason University.
The most iconic image from the New Horizons July 2015 flyby, showing Plutos heart. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Their study titled "A Geophysical Planet Definition", which was recently made available on the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) website addresses what the team sees as a need for a new definition that takes into account a planet's geophysical properties. In other words, they believe a planet should be so-designated based on its intrinsic properties, rather than its orbital or extrinsic properties.
From this more basic set of parameters, Runyon and his colleagues have suggested the following definition:
"A planet is a sub-stellar mass body that has never undergone nuclear fusion and that has sufficient self-gravitation to assume a spheroidal shape adequately described by a triaxial ellipsoid regardless of its orbital parameters."
As Runyon told Universe Today in a phone interview, this definition is an attempt to establish something that is useful for all those involved in the study of planetary science, which has always included geologists:
"The IAU definition is useful to planetary astronomers concerned with the orbital properties of bodies in the solar system, and may capture the essence of what a 'planet' is to them. The definition is not useful to planetary geologists. I study landscapes and how landscapes evolve. It also kind of irked me that the IAU took upon itself to define something that geologists use too.
"The way our brain has evolved, we make sense of the universe by classifying things. Nature exists in a continuum, not in discrete boxes. Nevertheless, we as humans need to classify things in order to bring order out of chaos. Having a definition of the word planet that expresses what we think a planet ought to be, is concordant with this desire to bring order out of chaos and understand the universe."
The new definition also attempts to tackle many of the more sticky aspects of the definition adopted by the IAU. For example, it addresses the issue of whether or not a body orbits the sun which does apply to those found orbiting other stars (i.e. exoplanets). In addition, in accordance with this definition, rogue planets that have been ejected from their solar systems are technically not planets as well.
And then there's the troublesome issue of "neighborhood clearance". As has been emphasized by many who reject the IAU's definition, planets like Earth do not satisfy this qualification since new small bodies are constantly injected into planet-crossing orbits i..e near-Earth objects (NEOs). On top of that, this proposed definition seeks to resolve what is arguably one of the most regrettable aspects of the IAU's 2006 resolution.
In accordance with the definition proposed by Runyon, bodies like Ceres and even the moon would be considered planets. Credit: NASA/ JPL/Planetary Society/Justin Cowart
"The largest motivation for me personally is: every time I talk about this to the general public, the very next thing people talk about is 'Pluto is not a planet anymore'," said Runyon. "People's interest in a body seems tied to whether or not it has the name 'planet' labelled on it. I want to set straight in the mind of the public what a planet is. The IAU definition doesn't jive with my intuition and I find it doesn't jive with other people's intuition."
The study was prepared for the upcoming 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. This annual conference which will be taking place this year from March 20th-24th at the Universities Space Research Association in Houston, Texas will involve specialists from all over the worlds coming together to share the latest research findings in planetary science.
Here, Runyon and his colleagues hope to present it as part of the Education and Public Engagement Event. It is his hope that through an oversized poster, which is a common education tool at Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, they can show how this new definition will facilitate the study of the solar system's many bodies in a way that is more intuitive and inclusive.
"We have chosen to post this in a section of the conference dedicated to education," he said. "Specifically, I want to influence elementary school teachers, grades K-6, on the definitions that they can teach their students. This is not the first time someone has proposed a definition other than the one proposed by the IAU. But few people have talked about education. They talk among their peers and little progress is made. I wanted to post this in a section to reach teachers."
Naturally, there are those who would raise concerns about how this definition could lead to too many planets. If intrinsic property of hydrostatic equilibrium is the only real qualifier, then large bodies like Ganymede, Europa, and the moon would also be considered planets. Given that this definition would result in a solar system with 110 "planets", one has to wonder if perhaps it is too inclusive. However, Runyon is not concerned by these numbers.
"Fifty states is a lot to memorize, 88 constellations is a lot to memorize," he said. "How many stars are in the sky? Why do we need a memorable number? How does that play into the definition? If you understand the periodic table to be organized based on the number of protons, you don't need to memorize all the atomic elements. There's no logic to the IAU definition when they throw around the argument that there are too many planets in the solar system."
Since its publication, Runyon has also been asked many times if he intends to submit this proposal to the IAU for official sanction. To this, Runyon has replied simply:
"No. Because the assumption there is that the IAU has a corner on the market on what a definition is. We in the planetary science field don't need the IAU definition. The definition of words is based partly on how they are used. If [the geophysical definition] is the definition that people use and what teachers teach, it will become the de facto definition, regardless of how the IAU votes in Prague."
Regardless of where people fall on the IAU's definition of planet (or the one proposed by Runyon and his colleagues) it is clear that the debate is far from over. Prior to 2006, there was no working definition of the term planet; and new astronomical bodies are being discovered all the time that put our notions of what constitutes a planet to the test. In the end, it is the process of discovery which drives classification schemes, and not the other way around.
The Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, which works to safeguard chimpanzees in west Africa, says less than 2,000 chimpanzees are left in the Ivory Coast compared to 12,000 in 2002
Ivory Coast, which has seen a 90 percent decrease in its chimpanzees in just 20 years, is to host international talks in July in a bid to save the primates.
Some 200 experts are due in the economic capital Abidjan from July 24 to 27 "to share experiences on chimpanzee conservation across Africa," Inza Kone, who heads a Swiss Scientific Research Centre (CSRS) in Ivory Coast, told AFP.
The Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, which works to safeguard chimpanzees in west Africa, says less than 2,000 chimpanzees are left in the country compared to 12,000 in 2002.
The decrease is due to the reduction of their forest habitat due to urbanisation and the hike in cocoa production, with Ivory Coast now the world's top cocoa producer.
The country's forests have shrunk to account for 13 percent of land cover compared to 78 percent at independence in 1960.
Poaching too has contributed to their decline with Ivorians last year eating 120,000 tonnes of bush meat though hunting wild animals is banned.
2017 AFP
The mounting threats posed to the global environment by harmful human activities cannot be averted without effective legislation controlling those activities. However, the environmental laws designed for this purpose are themselves under global attack, warns an international team of scientists including Arie Trouwborst of Tilburg University in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Because it is binding and enforceable, legislation is a unique and essential instrument in the overall effort to keep humanity's impacts on the planet from transgressing critical thresholds. For instance, biodiversity laws do so by designating and protecting natural areas and controlling the exploitation of wildlife populations. Yet, due to short-term economic and other interests, such laws face constant pressures aimed at weakening their regulatory impact on human activities.
Tactics
This new study reveals and illustrates the staggering number and diversity of tactics used to weaken biodiversity legislation across the globe. This 'taxonomy of tactics' encompasses dozens of categories, ranging from the creative re-definition of terms to the 'fast-tracking' of environmentally harmful projects, and from limiting concerned citizens' access to court, to the silent or even express refusal of appointed authorities to enforce biodiversity laws.
Whereas the predicament of the planet's wild fauna and flora would have been even worse without the legal protection they have received so far, the onslaught against biodiversity laws has prevented these from fully performing their assigned function. The global acceleration of wildlife population declines bears witness to this.
To help stem the tide, the study's authors ecologists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Oviedo University in Spain, and legal academics from Uppsala University in Sweden and Tilburg University in the Netherlands call for increased cooperation between biodiversity conservation experts and legal experts. Strategic approaches are needed to anticipate and counter attacks on biodiversity legislation; to make the most of existing laws, including in court if need be; and to develop new or improved laws where necessary.
A classic diamond ring effect seen just before the moon completely covers the face of the sun during a total solar eclipse like the one that will traverse the United States on Aug. 21. Credit: Rick Feinberg
With only six months to go before one of the most anticipated solar eclipses in a lifetime, the University of California, Berkeley, and Google are looking for citizen scientists to document and memorialize the event in a "megamovie," and help scientists learn about the sun in the process.
The Eclipse Megamovie Project is seeking more than a thousand amateur astronomers and avid photographers to record the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse and upload their photos to be stitched together into a movie documenting the path of totality from landfall in Oregon until the moon's shadow slips over the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina.
While no one on the ground will see the total eclipse for more than 2 minutes and 40 seconds, depending on how close they are to the center of the path of totality, the images collected by the Megamovie's volunteer team will be turned into a 90-minute eclipse movie unlike anything seen before. Even an airplane flying along the path of totality can only capture at most a four- to five-minute movie, since the moon's shadow moves along the ground at up to 1,500 miles per hour. The last time anyone tried to stitch together eclipse images like this may have been in the 1800s via hand-drawn sketches, without the benefit of today's modern digital technology.
The volunteers will be selected and trained by the Eclipse Megamovie Project team, but anyone with a smartphone can also contribute. The public will be able to download an app, expected to debut in April, to take time-coded photos of the eclipse and upload them for inclusion in a second, though much lower-resolution movie. The team also hopes to include raw images from any source in its archive.
Several team members will be testing the app in Patagonia on Feb. 26 during an annular eclipse, that is, one in which the moon does not completely cover the disk of the sun, leaving a bright ring or annulus. This happens when the moon is farther from Earth, making its apparent size smaller than that of the sun.
Cutout view of the sun, showing the various layers that can be studied during a total solar eclipse. Credit: University of California - Berkeley
Both movies will be scientifically useful, said UC Berkeley solar physicist Hugh Hudson, who proposed the Megamovie idea in 2011 along with Scott McIntosh of the National Center for Atmospheric Research's High Altitude Observatory in Boulder, Colorado. When Google's Making & Science initiative heard about the idea, they were eager to join the project.
Hudson is primarily interested in studying the coronathe backlit haze of hot, ionized plasma shooting out of the sunand its interaction with the hard-to-see chromosphere at the base of the corona. While the corona can be studied with telescopes that block the brightness of the solar disk, the thin chromosphere is still lost in the glare, so questions remain about what in the chromosphere generates the jets of plasma seen in the corona.
"The movie is a tool for scientific exploration," Hudson said. "We'll be collecting this level of data for the first time, from millions of observers, and it will be a valuable archive. But we don't know what we'll see or what we'll learn about the interactions between the chromosphere and the corona."
Diamond rings and Baily's beads
Images taken just before and just after the moon covers the sun can also be scientifically useful, Hudson said. The sun peeks out from behind the moon at numerous places as totality approaches, producing multiple bright spots around the rim known as Baily's beads, which can help astronomers map lunar geography. The last flash before totality and first flash afterwardproducing what is known as the diamond ring effectcan also reveal features on the moon, and may help refine estimates of the size of the sun. The smartphone app will be able to capture these flashes automatically.
A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon blocks the bright disk of the sun. The sight is even more impressive because the sun and moon have, by pure coincidence, the same apparent size as seen from Earth. Credit: University of California - Berkeley
The Eclipse Megamovie Project team is comprised primarily of UC Berkeley's Multiverse education program at the Space Sciences Laboratory and Google's Making & Science initiative. But the team is also partnering with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) and others.
For its part, the ASP is reaching out to its network of more than 400 amateur astronomy groups nationwide and encouraging them and other knowledgeable photographers to take a one-hour webinar about how to capture useful data and upload it to the project's online database. These astrophotographers will need a digital single lens reflex camera, or DSLR, with a zoom lens of at least 300mm, plus a tripod and the ability to record their GPS location and time to within a second in coordinated universal time (UTC), the world's clock standard.
Meanwhile, the Multiverse team is visiting communities along the path of totality, which will stretch across 11 states in a band at most 72 miles wide, to encourage safe viewing during the eclipse, municipal coordination for the vast number of visitors expected to descend upon the mostly small towns within the path and participation in the Megamovie project. While those within this band will see a total eclipse, everyone else in the continental United States will see a partial solar eclipse, said Laura Peticolas, a physicist who directs the Multiverse program and oversees the educational component of the Eclipse Megamovie Project.
"We want everyone to know about the natural wonder, scientific importance and social impact of viewing a live total solar eclipse," Peticolas said. "It is truly a transformative, life-changing experience and we want to prepare people for that."
The first version of the Megamovie should be available for viewing online several hours after the eclipse ends at 18:49 UT (1:49 p.m. local time) on the U.S. east coast, "in time for the nightly news."
The path of totality on Aug. 21 will move from west to east across the United States, finally slipping over the ocean off South Carolina. Elsewhere in the U.S., people will see a partial solar eclipse. Credit: University of California - Berkeley
Uploads are expected to be about a gigabyte per person, with thousands of people contributing, which adds up to terabytes of data.
The science will come later, but all the data will be available online for anyone to studyincluding citizen scientists.
Amateur astronomers and knowledgeable photographers who want to contribute to the high-resolution movie can sign up now at https://eclipsemega.movie/ for project updates and information about the application process. If selected to participate, they will receive an exclusive pin and recognition in the credits for the Eclipse Megamovie Project. They will also be able to register an astronomy club of their choice to receive a free package of solar viewing glasses.
The Isomax cell configuration. Credit: UCSB Engineering
In 2015 UC Santa Barbara mechanical engineer and materials scientist Jonathan Berger developed an idea that could change the way people think about high-performance structural materials. Two years later, his concept is paying research dividends.
In a letter published in the journal Nature, Berger, with UCSB materials and mechanical engineering professor Robert McMeeking and materials scientist Haydn N. G. Wadley from the University of Virginia, prove that the three-dimensional pyramid-and-cross cell geometry Berger conceived is the first of its kind to achieve the performance predicted by theoretical bounds. Its lightness, strength and versatility, according to Berger, lends itself well to a variety of applications, from buildings to vehicles to packaging and transport.
Called Isomax, the beauty of this solid foamin this case loosely defined as a combination of a stiff substance and air pocketslay in the geometry within. Instead of the typical assemblage of bubbles or a honeycomb arrangement, the ordered cells were set apart by walls forming the shapes of pyramids with three sides and a base, and octahedra, reinforced inside with a "cross" of intersecting diagonal walls.
The combination of the pyramid and cross-shaped cells, said Berger, resulted in a structure that had low densitymostly air, in factyet was uncommonly strong for its mass.
"The Isomax geometry is maximally stiff in all directions," explained Berger. Other geometriesa honeycomb, for instancemay be able to resist forces from one direction, but approach it from a different direction and the cell will collapse easily. Isomax's cell structure makes it possible for the material to resist crushing and shearing forces without the need to make it heavier or denser.
However, for all the early interest that his proposed metamaterial generated and the computer modeling that supported his claims, Berger knew he couldn't rest until science backed him up.
"There was obviously a lot of positive feedback, but for me as a scientist, it's a bit too much hand waving until you have something in a peer-reviewed journal," Berger said.
And now the work has borne fruit.
"I carried out some simplified calculations of the stiffnesses of some of the foams and was able to see that the pencil-and-paper results agreed with the computer calculations," explained McMeeking, whose research focuses on computational science and engineering as well as the mechanics of materials, including their fracture and durability. "This gave us confidence that the computer calculations were both correct and being formulated accurately."
McMeeking's calculations also proved that, in the case of the lightest weight foams, they were identifying the optimal geometries of the foams that enabled them to achieve the maximum possible stiffness. "That finding also meant that we could be sure that the computer calculations were also successfully obtaining the optimal geometries for the heavier weight foams, where pencil-and-paper calculations are almost impossible to carry out because they are much more complicated," he said.
The closed-form solutions and equations developed to create the mechanical model of the metamaterial's behavior "matched up beautifully" with the earlier computer models, said Berger.
Given its properties, Isomax "is going to be a very interesting metamaterial," said Wadley, whose research spans the synthesis, structure and performance of novel materials. "It will also be an excellent thermal insulating and sound absorbing material. Potential applications for this ultralight material are likely to emerge in aerospace structures, for lightweighting automobiles and in many robotic machines, especially mobile types that carry their own power and must maneuver."
The development could not have better timing. As resources become more limited and concern for energy efficiency grows, a material with this mass relative to its strength would require fewer resources to produce and less fuel to transport. The simple geometry makes it versatile enough to fabricate for a variety of situations, and, functionally graded, it can be used to create objects with varying levels of stiffness from one end to another, such as prosthetics and replacement joints, and the design is compatible with manufacturing methods from origami-like folding to bonding and 3-D printing.
The study is one of a series of steps investigating the potential of this metamaterial. Berger and team are currently following up with experimental analysis and are looking into manufacturing methods that may allow for efficient fabrication.
More information: J. B. Berger et al. Mechanical metamaterials at the theoretical limit of isotropic elastic stiffness, Nature (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nature21075 Journal information: Nature
Associate Professor Lachlan Coin, Devika Ganesamoorthy, Dr Minh Duc Cao. Credit: University of Queensland
Researchers from The University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) have developed a faster and more accurate method for assembling genomes which could help clinicians rapidly identify antibiotic-resistant infections.
IMB Centre for Superbug Solutions Deputy Director Associate Professor Lachlan Coin said arming clinicians with this information could help them prescribe the most effective antibiotic for their patient.
"Antibiotic resistance is a global challenge that threatens our ability to treat common infections," he said.
"Sequencing a bacterial genome using standard techniques resulted in a genome splitting into hundreds of fragments which was impossible to piece together.
"In particular, pathogenicity islandswhich are crucial to identifying antibiotic resistanceusually split across multiple pieces.
"For the past two years, we have used cutting-edge Oxford Nanopore Technologies sequencing devices to sequence bacterial genomes and understand how antibiotic resistance develops.
"Because this technology is so new, we needed to develop a powerful method that could help us make the most of its results and really understand the genetic drivers of antibiotic resistance," Associate Professor Coin said.
IMB Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Minh Duc Cao said the team developed a new method for analysis of sequencing data on the fly, which allowed them to quickly and accurately piece together complete genomes.
"With our method, we can reconstruct an entire bacterial genome shortly after you switch on the machine and put in the DNA sample.
"The speed is key as we're interested in predicting antibiotic resistance in real time on clinical samples, because when it comes to diagnosing and treating infections, every minute counts," he said.
Associate Professor Coin said the method could be applied to help unravel the genomic causes of other diseases.
"We would like to work towards finding new ways to apply this approach to help unravel other diseases, particularly cancer.
"Cancer genomes are about 1000 times larger than bacterial genomes, so the powerful combination of this leading technology and our improved method holds enormous potential for rapid assembly of personalised tumour genomes," Associate Professor Coin said.
The research was published in Nature Communications and was funded by The University of Queensland, National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council.
The University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience Centre for Superbug Solutions will host the Solutions for Drug-Resistant Infections conference in Brisbane from 3-5 April 2017.
The conference will bring international experts and advocates in the field to network and discuss new ways to solve the global challenge of drug-resistant infections.
More information: Minh Duc Cao et al. Scaffolding and completing genome assemblies in real-time with nanopore sequencing, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14515 Journal information: Nature Communications
Credit: CC0 Public Domain
(Phys.org)A few years ago, physicists showed that it's possible to erase information without using any energy, in contrast to the assumption at the time that erasing information must require energy. Instead, the scientists showed that the cost of erasure could be paid in terms of an arbitrary physical quantity such as spin angular momentumsuggesting that heat energy is not the only conserved quantity in thermodynamics.
Investigating this idea further, physicists Toshio Croucher, Salil Bedkihal, and Joan A. Vaccaro at the Centre for Quantum Dynamics, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, have now discovered some interesting results about the tiny fluctuations in the spin cost of erasing information. The work could lead to the development of new types of heat engines and information processing devices.
As the scientists explain in a new paper published in Physical Review Letters, the possibility that information can be erased at zero energy cost is surprising at first due to the fact that energy and entropy are so closely related in thermodynamics. In the context of information, information erasure corresponds to entropy erasure (or a decrease in entropy) and therefore requires a minimum amount of energy, which is determined by Landauer's erasure principle.
Since Landauer's erasure principle is equivalent to the second law of thermodynamics, the zero-energy erasure scheme using arbitrary conserved quantities can be thought of as a generalized second law of thermodynamics. This idea dates back to at least 1957, when E. T. Jaynes proposed an alternative to the second law in which heat energy is thought of in a more general way than usual, so that heat incorporates other kinds of conserved quantities.
Applying this framework to information erasure, in 2011 Vaccaro and Stephen Barnett showed that the energy cost of information erasure can be substituted with one or more different conserved quantitiesspecifically, spin angular momentum.
One important difference between heat energy and spin angular momentum is that, while heat may or may not be quantized, spin angular momentum is an intrinsically quantum mechanical property, and so it is always quantized. This has implications when it comes to accounting for tiny fluctuations in these quantities that become significant when designing systems at the nanoscale.
Scientists have only recently investigated these fluctuations in the context of the Landauer principle, where they found that these fluctuations are quickly suppressed by something called the Jarzynski equality. This means that heat energy fluctuations have only a very tiny probability of violating the Landauer principle.
In the new study, the scientists have for the first time investigated the corresponding discrete fluctuations that arise when erasing information using spin.
Among their results, the researchers found that the discrete fluctuations are suppressed even more quickly than predicted by the corresponding Jarzynski equality for "spinlabor"a new term the scientists devised that means the spin equivalent of work. This is the first evidence of beating this bound in an information erasure context. The quick suppression means that the fluctuations have an extremely low probability of using less than the minimal cost required to erase information using spin, as given by the Vaccaro-Barnett bound, which is the spin equivalent of the Landauer principle.
"Our work generalizes fluctuation relations for erasure using arbitrary conserved quantities and exposes the role of discreteness in the context of erasure," Bedkihal told Phys.org. "We also obtained a probability of violation bound that is tighter than the corresponding Jarzynski bound. This is a statistically significant result."
The scientists also point out that this process of erasing information with spin has already been experimentally demonstrated, although it appears to have gone unnoticed. In spin-exchange optical pumping, light is used to excite electrons in an atom to a higher energy level. For the electrons to return to their lower energy level during the relaxation process, atoms and nuclei collide with each other and exchange spins. This entropy-decreasing process can be considered analogous to erasing information at a cost of spin exchange.
Overall, the new results reveal insight into the thermodynamics of spin and could also guide the development of future applications. These could include new kinds of heat engines and information processing devices based on erasure that use inexpensive, locally available resources such as spin angular momentum. The researchers plan to further pursue these possibilities in the future.
"The erasure mechanism can be used to design generalized heat engines operating under the reservoirs of multiple conserved quantities such as a thermal reservoir and a spin reservoir," Bedkihal said. "For example, one may design heat engines using semiconductor quantum dot systems where lattice vibrations constitute a thermal reservoir and nuclear spins constitute a polarized spin reservoir. Such heat engines go beyond the traditional Carnot heat engine that operates under two thermal reservoirs."
More information: Toshio Croucher, Salil Bedkihal, and Joan A. Vaccaro. "Discrete Fluctuations in Memory Erasure without Energy Cost." Physical Review Letters. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.060602, Also at arXiv:1604.05795 [quant-ph] Journal information: Physical Review Letters
2017 Phys.org
The experimental setup for measuring specific heat includes a suspended Si membrane (the 'nano trampoline') a thin copper meander used as a heater, and a thin niobium nitride film acting as a thermometer. The two dimensional superconductors are prepared by evaporation of lead from a heated basket. Credit: Shahar Medalion
A research group from Bar-Ilan University, in collaboration with French colleagues at CNRS Grenoble, has developed a unique experiment to detect quantum events in ultra-thin films. This novel research, to be published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, enhances the understanding of basic phenomena that occur in nano-sized systems close to absolute zero temperature.
Transitions, Phases and Critical Points
A phase transition is a general term for physical phenomena wherein a system transits from one state to another as a result of changing the temperature. Everyday examples are the transition from ice to water (solid to liquid) at zero degrees centigrade, and from water to vapor (liquid to gas) at 100 degrees.
The temperature at which transition takes place is called the critical point. Near this point interesting physical phenomena occur. For example, as water is heated, small gas regions start forming and the water bubbles. As the temperature of the liquid is raised towards the critical point the size of the gas bubbles grows. As the size of the bubble becomes comparable to the wavelength of light, the light is scattered and causes the normally transparent liquid to appear "milky" - a phenomenon known as critical opalescence.
In recent years the scientific community has shown growing interest in quantum phase transitions in which a system transits between two states at absolute zero temperature (-273 degrees) as a result of manipulating a physical parameter such as magnetic field, pressure or chemical composition instead of temperature. In these transitions the change occurs not due the thermal energy provided to the system by heating but rather by quantum fluctuations. Although absolute zero is not physically attainable, characteristics of the transition can be detected in the system's very low-temperature behavior near the quantum critical point. Such characteristics include "quantum bubbles" of one phase in the other. The size and lifetime of these quantum bubbles increase as the system is tuned towards the critical point, giving rise to a quantum equivalent of critical opalescence.
The theoretical prediction of such quantum criticality was provided a few decades ago, but how to measure this experimentally has remained a mystery. Prof. Aviad Frydman of Bar-Ilan University's Department of Physics and Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, and his student Shachar Poran, together with Dr. Olivier Bourgeois of CNRS Grenoble, have for the first time provided the answer.
Creating a Nano-trampoline
In normal phase transitions there is a unique measurable quantity which is used to detect a critical point. This is the specific heat which measures the amount of heat energy that should be supplied to a system in order to raise its temperature by one degree. Increasing the temperature of a system by two degrees requires twice the energy that is needed for increasing it by one degree. However, close to a phase transition this is no longer the case. Much of the energy is invested in creating the bubbles (or fluctuations) and, therefore, more energy must be invested to generate a similar change in temperature. As a result, the specific heat rises near the critical point and its measurement provides information on the fluctuations.
Measuring specific heat of a system close to a quantum critical point poses a much greater challenge. Firstly, the measurements must be carried out at low temperatures. Secondly, the systems under study are nano-thin layers which require extremely sensitive measurements. Frydman's group overcame these obstacles by developing a unique experimental design based on a thin membrane suspended in air by very narrow bridges, thereby forming a "nano-trampoline". This setup enabled specific heat measurements of the thin films through a quantum phase transition from a superconducting state to an electrically insulating state close to absolute zero temperature.
The measurement performed by Frydman's group is the first of its kind. The results demonstrate that just as in the case of a thermal phase transition, the specific heat similarly increases in the vicinity of a quantum critical point, and can be used as a probe for quantum criticality. This work is expected to be a milestone in the understanding of physical processes that govern the behavior of ultrathin systems at ultralow temperatures.
Prof. Frydman will be presenting this research at a number of international conferences in the coming weeks. The research was supported by the Laboratoire d'Excellence LANEF in Grenoble (ANR-10-LABX-51-01) for Prof. Frydman.
Escherichia coli. Credit: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH
Infectious diarrhea, a common disease of children, is responsible for over 2 million infant deaths annually in developing counties alone. A primary cause of this and other devastating conditions is enteropathogenic bacteria, which attack the intestinal tract when contaminated food is consumed.
The infection process involves hundreds of genes and proteins, both in the infectious bacteria and the human host. However, the processes by which the pathogens establish themselves in our gut are poorly understood.
Now, a new study published in the prestigious journal Science, by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Medicine, describes how pathogens sense their host, and tailor their gene expression to exploit their host to cause disease. The research was led by led by Prof. Ilan Rosenshine, the Etta Rosensohn Professor of Bacteriology at the Hebrew University.
Working with a pathogenic strain of E. coli, the researchers found that the bacteria can sense attachment to the human intestinal cells and activate gene expression in response. This was demonstrated by engineering one of these genes to express a protein that stains the expressing bacteria to appear green under the microscope. Under microscopic examination, the researchers observed that only the attached bacteria fluoresce in bright green, whereas non-attached bacteria remain dark.
The researchers also deciphered how upon sensing that it has attached to intestinal cells, the pathogen reorganizes its gene expression, including genes involved in virulence and metabolism, to exploit the host cell. These findings may lead to the development of new strategies to combat bacterial infection.
"The next steps include mapping in detail the genes that change their expression upon attachment, and describing the precise effects of this expression remodeling," said Prof. Ilan Rosenshine. "Another important issue is testing whether similar regulation is involved in the infection processes of other pathogens."
More information: Naama Katsowich et al. Host cell attachment elicits posttranscriptional regulation in infecting enteropathogenic bacteria, Science (2017). DOI: 10.1126/science.aah4886 Journal information: Science
The founders of Snap Inc. want to take the company public. But that doesn't mean they want to run a public company.
Public companies, after all, have to deal with shareholders who don't like the way the company is being run. They have to ask shareholders whether they are paying executives too much. They have to seriously consider takeover offers. They have to, in other words, cede at least some control and influence to investors.
Unless they don't.
When the company behind messaging app Snapchat holds its much-anticipated initial public stock offering in the coming weeks, it will offer new shareholders exclusively nonvoting shares, something no company has tried before in a public debut.
The novel move has an array of implications for the Los Angeles company and would-be investors, affecting the types of documents Snap will have to file with regulators and limiting input from shareholders. But most importantly, it will ensure founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy can retain power in perpetuity.
"It's all about control," said Kai Liekefett, a partner at law firm Vinson & Elkins who works with companies under pressure from investors. "There's no other reason. There's no tax reason, no business reason."
So tight will be the pair's grip on the company that they will be able to maintain control even if they no longer work for Snap, and even if they own a tiny percentage of the company's total shares. They'll also be able to decide who can acquire shares that have even token voting power.
Following the IPO, Murphy and Spiegel will each own about 18 percent of Snap shares, yet each will control 44 percent of the company's votes. And they could ultimately own much smaller stakes - perhaps less than 3 percent apiece - while still holding the vast majority of voting power.
Even in the tech realm, where company founders have grown accustomed to outsized control, Snap is an outlier, giving its founders the kind of permanent influence that in other cases has been granted only to more proven leaders.
"You can create an impregnable fortress by doing an IPO where the controlling stockholders keep absolute or near-absolute voting control, which is what this kind of share arrangement is," said Stuart Shapiro, a New York attorney who specializes in corporate mergers and acquisitions. "It's a magic bullet."
A Snap spokeswoman declined to comment, noting that the firm is in a quiet period ahead of the IPO. In the company's public filings, it says it wants to keep Spiegel and Murphy in control so that they can innovate, take risks and prioritize "long-term goals rather than short-term results."
That's essentially the same reasoning offered by other tech companies that, over the last decade and a half, have gone public with corporate structures that give founders more control than other shareholders.
Indeed, while the terms of Snap's IPO are groundbreaking, they're also predictable - a logical if brazen evolution in a years-long trend. When Google went public in 2004, the shares it offered to new investors came with a single vote while the shares held by the company's founders, executives and early investors were worth 10 votes apiece.
Workday, Groupon, LinkedIn and Facebook all went public with two classes of stock, allowing founders and early investors to keep voting control.
The difference between those offerings and Snap's, then, is one of degree. Instead of giving ordinary shareholders single-vote shares while keeping 10-vote shares for themselves, as other companies did, Snap plans to give new shareholders no votes at all.
Google and Facebook later issued nonvoting stock with the aim of cementing their founders' control, a controversial step probably made easier by those companies' perennial success. Snap is doing the same, but without the track record.
Some investors probably will have no problem with this arrangement and will be eager to buy shares of a hot company that's going public amid an otherwise slow IPO market. Others may refrain from investing at all, believing that ownership should come with the right to help decide how a company is run.
The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the nation's largest public pension fund, recommends companies give equal voting rights to all shareholders. So does the Investor Stewardship Group, a new coalition that includes investment giants Vanguard, BlackRock and the California State Teachers' Retirement System, another huge pension fund.
Aeisha Mastagni, a CalSTRS investment officer, said structures that give founders extra power are especially concerning when, as with Snap, those powers could continue for decades. Spiegel, 26, and Murphy, 28, don't lose their voting control unless they sell the vast majority of their holdings or die.
"Trying to protect the founders' vision is one thing," Mastagni said. "But if they're no longer even working for the firm, it's just them wanting to entrench themselves and maintain control in perpetuity. It's very alarming."
There's another consequence of nonvoting shares: They remove some of the ways investors try to keep companies honest.
Voting shareholders can withhold votes for board candidates or vote against company proposals, a way of publicly protesting a firm's actions or governance.
"Even a little vote allows them to send the board a message," said Sean Quinn, head of U.S. research for Institutional Shareholder Services, which advises institutional investors. "It's at least an opportunity to appeal to the company's social conscience or shame the company insiders, for all the good that will do. It puts the company in the position of having to defend its decisions."
Voting shareholders can also submit proposals that are included on a company's annual ballot. Last year, for instance, Boston firm Northstar Asset Management asked its fellow Facebook shareholders to vote for a change that would give all shareholders equal rights and dilute Zuckerberg's influence.
Julie Goodridge, Northstar's chief executive, knew the proposal would not win a majority - Zuckerberg, after all, represents a majority by himself. But her aim wasn't to win; it was to make a point and to publicly voice displeasure with the company's structure. With Snap, she wouldn't be able to do even that much.
Because Snap plans to issue only nonvoting shares in its IPO, investors won't be able to submit those types of shareholder proposals, according to the company's filings.
"It's disgusting to me," Goodridge said of the Snap's structure. "It's a way of saying, 'We don't care what anybody else thinks.'"
There's also a worry among investors that Snap's concentrated voting power could prevent the company from accepting a lucrative buyout offer.
Imagine Snap's public offering values the company at $25 billion. Now imagine Google immediately offers to buy Snap for $50 billion. Investors might salivate at doubling their money overnight, but the company's board - members of which will be chosen and elected by Spiegel and Murphy - could reject the offer. Even if the board considered such a deal, Spiegel and Murphy could vote it down.
As the company notes in its filings, Spiegel and Murphy are "entitled to vote their shares ... in their own interests, which may not always be in the interests of our stockholders generally."
2017 Los Angeles Times
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
It's a bountiful winter in the snowy Sierra Nevada, with the biggest snowpack in 22 years. That's great news for skiers and snowboarders, but all that snow can transform in an instant from a beautiful blanket to a deadly shroud when an avalanche hits.
In December, doctor Tom Barker, 64, was swept more than 200 yards in an avalanche that left him buried under 9 feet of snow, after he and a friend skied into a closed area at the Mt. Rose ski resort near Lake Tahoe without their avalanche-safety gear. Barker did not survive.
Slides kill one or two winter-wilderness travelers every couple of years in the Sierras around Lake Tahoe. For every death, avalanche experts say, about 10 people are caught in a cascade of snow and ice and barely escape with their lives.
As the backcountry becomes an increasingly popular winter destination - activities outside the bounds of ski resorts rose 21 percent in the U.S. last winter, according to Snowsports Industries America - the likelihood of tragedy has grown.
That popularity, and the risk, are driving companies to develop new avalanche-safety products based on bleeding-edge technology better known in the fast-evolving realms of self-driving cars, the internet of things, and big-data computing. The technology holds promise for preventing fatalities, according to experts, but it's in its infancy.
"Everyone wants the avalanche goggles that you can just look everywhere and see whether it's safe or not - I don't think we're ever going to get there," said Jeffrey Deems, a research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado. "But we can start to create new observations that help us get a better view of how the snowpack varies across the terrain."
One method for making those observations uses Lidar, the laser-based system used by some self-driving cars to gauge distance. With this equipment, avalanche forecasters can measure the snow depth at a known avalanche starting point - one of the best but most dangerous spots for assessing slide risk - from more than 1,000 yards away, Deems said.
Without Lidar, judging the snowpack in an avalanche zone involves measuring it elsewhere and estimating depth at the starting point, he said.
"There's quite a lot of uncertainty associated with that," Deems said. "This new technology allows us to really see the pattern of snow accumulation."
Another relatively new high-tech tool for predicting avalanches is a "smart" probe by Mountain Hub that's inserted into the snowpack and uses built-in pressure and depth sensors to identify problematic layers, such as ice from which the snow on top could slide, or large crystals that could crumble under pressure, leading to the same result.
Information on snow layers can be uploaded to a database to help avalanche forecasters track the presence of weak or slippery sheets buried across a landscape.
However, while new developments in avalanche-safety tech such as the smart probe and Lidar may pay off in saved lives in the future, they're not all that useful yet, argued Brandon Schwartz, lead avalanche forecaster for the Sierra Avalanche Center, a nonprofit partner of the U.S. Forest Service, which puts out daily slide-hazard bulletins.
The Lidar system, at about $200,000, is prohibitively expensive for many forecasters whose agencies rely on government funding and donations as well as for many safety teams that use explosives to blast potential avalanche areas near highways, railroads and in ski resorts to create controlled slides, Schwartz said. And that system can't reveal the level of detail in the snowpack's layering that Schwartz and his colleagues need, he said.
Mountain Hub's probe, the $1,500 Avatech SP2, has accuracy issues and "is not that great, unfortunately," Schwartz said. "It's not really there yet as a tool that has enough worth to be in widespread use."
Both systems have potential to evolve and prove useful for analyzing the snowpack and producing large data sets that could add detail and scale to the forecasting process, Schwartz added.
Mountain Hub marketing director TJ Kolanko acknowledged the SP2's deficiencies, but said the company was working to improve its technology. This fall, it plans to launch the consumer-oriented Avatech Scope, a "smart" ski pole that has a pressure sensor in the tip and a depth sensor on the shaft. The gadget will cost $499 and will come with a second, standard ski pole.
As the Scope is pushed into the snow, the pressure sensor measures hardness and sends the data through an algorithm that translates it into types of snow layers, while the other sensor tracks the depth, to build a virtual picture of the snowpack.
This is where the big-data analysis beloved across today's business world comes in, along with the internet of things. Information collected by individual users, who can easily perform multiple assessments in a number of locations, will be uploaded to the Mountain Hub platform. There, it can be analyzed in conjunction with data about snowpack conditions, weather and avalanche activity to predict avalanche hazard through a crowd-sourced "culture of contribution," Kolanko said.
Still, as promising as the new avalanche forecasting technologies may be, traditional tools, including beacons, probes and shovels, and training in skills such as snowpack testing and forecast analysis remain vital to help prevent tragedies, experts say.
In January, for example, an avalanche caught pro extreme skier JT Holmes in the Tahoe wilderness between the resorts of Squaw Valley and Sugar Bowl, carried him over a 30-foot cliff and buried him face down, 6 feet under. Four companions located him by the signal of his safety beacon and dug him out. He was back on his skis minutes later.
Avalanche-safety instructor John Littleton of Alpine Skills International in Truckee said more often than not when he's in the backcountry he encounters people without proper safety skills and gear.
"The human element just assumes that, 'We're going to be safe,'" said Littleton. "Get the education and get the equipment."
-
Avalanche safety tips:
Take an avalanche-safety course to learn how to interpret avalanche forecasts, analyze snowpack for slide risk and learn how to use safety equipment.
Carry a beacon, shovel and snow probe and know how to use them - also practice with them regularly.
Check the latest weather and avalanche forecasts before going out: sierraavalanchecenter.org.
Consider an "air bag" backpack that allows you to activate an inflatable bag when caught in a slide, to help prevent burial.
Wear a helmet: a significant proportion of avalanche fatalities result from head trauma.
2017 The Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Social information gathered from friends and experts, depending on the complexity of the product, can decrease uncertainty in crowdfunding campaigns, according to research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.
Popular crowdfunding sites host many projects that are initiated by first-time entrepreneurs for a variety of creative products. In these projects, funders face a unique uncertainty: seller competence uncertainty. Unlike traditional e-commerce, where products are already finished and ready for shipment, in crowdfunded projects the product still needs to be produced. The seller competence uncertainty captures the uncertainty related to the project initiator's ability to finish the product.
When people on crowdfunding sites are presented with an information overload and face ambiguity regarding a project, they tend to follow the decisions of others to differentiate the projects they find legitimate from those that they find illegitimate. Current literature postulates that funders make decisions by following the decisions of the crowd, and this herd behavior leads to less than optimal decisions. Having a mechanism that aids decision-making would be beneficial for the long-term success of crowdfunding sites.
The researchers write that crowdfunding sites can integrate social information from experts and friends to assist decision-making.
"The crowdfunding website can extract information from Facebook, and then your Facebook friends will be notified that you have funded a project," said Surinder Singh Kahai, associate professor in Binghamton University's School of Management, suggesting possible ways that this information could be leveraged. "Information can also be extracted from sources such as LinkedIn. That way, if you are an engineer funding a computer- or hardware-related project, the crowdfunding platform can give you expertise level."
Binghamton University researchers Kahai and Ali Alper Yayla, along with Yu Lei from SUNY College at Old Westbury, recruited subjects through Amazon Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcing internet marketplace, to examine the influence of different reference groups (experts, friends and family, the crowd) at different product complexities. The researchers conducted a controlled lab experiment, designing several webpages to mimic a crowdfunding environment and incorporate the influence of different reference groups. By proposing both implicit and explicit social information, they were able to identify which type of information each reference group provided during the decision-making process. The researchers found that under low product complexity, funders needed more implicit information, and they followed friends over experts and crowd to make pledging decisions. On the other hand, under high product complexity, people needed more explicit information, and they rationalized their pledging behaviors by following experts over crowd and friends.
"We have to look at external sources, specifically reference groups, which include our friends and family, or experts who have expertise in a certain area and the general population," said Yayla. "When I have to make a decision about which mechanic to bring my car to, I should probably listen to the experts, but instead I listen to my friends or I use a website such as Yelp to read reviews."
The paper, "Guiding the Herd: The Effect of Reference Groups in Crowdfunding Decision Making," was presented at the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
Matthew Desmond's research methods include living in the communities where he studies eviction. Credit: National Science Foundation
"Eviction" is a term that has become increasingly familiar to Americans over the past decade as one of the most visible symbols of poverty and economic misfortune. But research by social scientist and ethnographer Matthew Desmond shows that the reality of eviction is more complicated than traditional narratives might indicate.
Notably, Desmond says, eviction can actually serve as a cause of poverty, rather than an effect.
"One of our studies shows eviction can cause higher rates of job loss," said Desmond, a professor at Harvard University, whose work received support from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate. "Prior to that, I thought it was the other way aroundthat job loss causes eviction. It certainly does in some cases, but we have stronger evidence showing that eviction leads to job loss."
Desmond said eviction can destabilize people who were already in economically vulnerable positions. "It causes folks who didn't have great jobs in the first place to lose those jobs," he said.
Work by Desmond and his team of researchers has proven influential in the social science world, as have his methods for gathering and analyzing data on a topic where reliable information can be difficult to find. His research team draws on state-level data, court records, police reports and personal interactions. Desmond spent months living in a trailer park and inner-city apartments to meet families experiencing poverty and affected by eviction.
The team's work in Wisconsin led to the creation of the Milwaukee Area Renters Study, a synthesis of data that sheds light on the causes and consequences of eviction.
The researchers are currently expanding their work to other areas of the country, and the MacArthur Foundation recognized Desmond's efforts by naming him a 2015 fellow.
Evictions were once rare enough in the United States that they could draw protests from neighbors trying to prevent them, Desmond said. Today, he says, "low-income families are used to the rumble of the moving truck," making evictions more important to study now than ever.
Q: Could you describe the focus of your research on evictions?
A: We've reached the point in America where most poor families spend most of their incomes on housing costs, and evictions have become commonplace for low-income families. One of the most surprising things that I learned through my research was just how prevalent eviction is. One in every eight renters in Milwaukee is evicted every two yearsthat was shocking to me.
A big part of our research has been cataloguing the consequences of eviction. We've established findings that link evictions to job loss, to higher rates of depression, to much higher rates of material hardship, and to relocation into worse housing and neighborhoods. It seems to affect folks in a lot of different dimensions, which supports the case that eviction isn't just a condition of povertyit's actually a cause. To really understand poverty, we have to understand that a lack of affordable housing is a big part of the story.
Q: Could you expand on the idea that often when you're evicted you wind up living in a much worse place?
A: This is one thing I saw by following families over time. After their evictions, they'd move into places with no water, with stopped-up plumbing, with cockroach infestations, with no locks on the doors. We know from public health research that those kinds of housing conditions are linked to asthma and depression. I think one of the reasons we find eviction is related to depression in mothers, even two years after it happened, is because it's an incredibly traumatic process that gets under your skin.
Q: What are some of the other effects of eviction? Can it harm your work or education status?
A: When you go through an eviction, it really takes over your life. A lot of the families that I spend time with, their kids would miss school for long periods for the same reason farm kids 100 years ago would have: their homes have more pressing problems than them getting to school. So eviction does have consequences for school stability and absenteeism.
Q: You've talked about how one of the toughest challenges for on-the-ground research in this area is asking people whether they have been evicted. How did that affect the ways in which you conducted your research?
A: Part of the issue was just realizing that there was a problem. We've had material hardship studies since the '80s that have asked the eviction question, and they always came back with really low numbers1 percent or 2 percent. Then you look at the court records and you see much higher numbers and you think "What's going on? Where's the disconnect?"
Spending time on the ground, living in communities affected and alongside families affected by eviction and talking about what they're going through led me to realize we'd been asking the question the wrong way. That led to the creation of a new survey instrument, where we'd start off by saying "This is what an eviction looks like. Have you been evicted?" Then we asked things like "Did you move because your landlord told you to?" or "Did you move because you thought you were going to get evicted?" These really broadened the question and we got much higher numbers.
Q: For a sociologist or ethnographer studying poverty, is there a big database with helpful data available?
A: No. You really have to hustle for the data. There's no national database that has solid numbers on eviction. The American Housing Survey is incorporating the work we did in Milwaukee into its next iteration, which is great because in a few years we will have solid survey data on eviction. One thing we're doing is collecting eviction records from all over the country, but I've got to tell youit's tough. Some states store those data at the state level, so we now have records going back to the mid-'90s for Nebraska and Hawaii, for example. In other states, it's not even stored at the county level; judges keep those data.
Q: Has your view of eviction changed throughout your research?
A: There's kind of a baseline assumption about evictionthat someone loses a job or gets addicted, then they get evicted. The reality is that there is a non-trivial number of families that are just at risk of eviction every day. They're paying 70 to 80 percent of their income on housing and just a little thing can lead to eviction. There's evidence that shows that a lot of folks get evicted over relatively small sums of money. I think that the inevitability of eviction in the lives of the poor is something that I've come to accept as a reality for people below the poverty line.
A 3-D computer simulation of a vesicle being squeezed through a cylindrical pore. Credit: Joseph Barakat and Eric Shaqfeh, Stanford University
Vesicles, like living cells, are membrane-enclosed "sacs" of fluid that can cushion molecular cargo such as pharmaceutical drugs. If a drug is successfully encapsulated into a vesicle carrier and the carrier remains intact, it can be delivered directly for therapeutic treatment. Inside the host, vesicles protect the drug cargo and can efficiently target recipient cells to deliver the drugs safely. This type of "targeted" delivery provides advantages over more extreme methods of treatment such as chemotherapy, which can damage healthy cells in the host.
One big challenge targeted drug delivery faces today is efficiently "loading" a drug into a carrier without compromising the carrier's structural integrity. A recently proposed and promising method is to mechanically deform a carrier by squeezing it through a narrow, microscale constriction. This mechanical deformation creates transient pores in the carrier membraneaka "mechanoporation"to enhance the membrane's permeability to macromolecules and promote the efficient uptake of drugs.
Although this method shows promise, there are risks associated with rupturing the membrane when the carrier is deformed.
During the 88th Annual Meeting of The Society of Rheology, being held Feb. 12-16, in Tampa, Florida, Joseph Barakat, a chemical engineering doctoral candidate at Stanford University, will present his work to develop a model for vesicle squeezing that can be used to predict and optimize drug loading procedures.
"An accurate model can have incredible predictive power and circumvent the need for an exhaustive set of experiments, which can be cost- or time-prohibitive," he explained. "To this end, my aim is to provide rational design criteria for the delicate manipulation of drug carriers to efficiently load pharmaceutical molecules without rupturing the carrier membrane."
Barakat's work is supported by the National Science Foundation under the supervision of Professor Eric Shaqfeh, whose research group has taken a fundamental approach to modeling vesicles in fluid flow.
The model takes into account the equations of fluid flow and membrane mechanics. These equations are complicated and, in general, require a computer for their solution. "From my computer simulations, I predict how fast a vesicle moves in response to an applied pressure, as well as how tense the membrane becomes under the action of fluid friction," Barakat explained. "These metrics are important for practical manipulation of vesicles.
The real significance of Barakat's work is that while cell squeezing has received limited attention in scientific literature, he's managed to solve some outstanding issues.
First, he's shown how membrane tension increases with flow confinement which has implications for drug uptake. "This implies that modestly deflating a vesiclevia a gentle osmotic imbalancecan prevent rupture during squeezing," Barakat pointed out.
Barakat has also identified the "geometric threshold" for vesicle membrane rupture as a minimum channel diameter. "This threshold, which depends on vesicle shape and size, can be used to choose the appropriate dimensions for a vesicle squeezer apparatus, in the interest of avoiding rupture," he said.
One of the direct applications for Barakat's work is the rational design of microfluidic devices for vesicle mechanoporation and subsequent drug uptake. "My predictions will enable smarter design of microfluidic devices to trap and deform vesicles of any size and shape with reasonable ease and at high throughput," Barakat said.
Beyond this, his work provides the power requirements (driving pressure), anticipated modes of failure (membrane rupture), and how to avoid failure. "The broader application of my theory is in predicting how cells behave under confinement," Barakat explained. This is important for predicting the invasion of cancer cells through porous networks within the body, in terms of how fast the cells are moving and how much resistance they encounter. Answers to these questions may be used to slow cancer metastasis.
Barakat's future work will focus on extending his theory to incorporate a model for drug permeation through the membrane that takes into account membrane tension, and this modeling, Barakat said, "could then be compared to existing measurements with fluorescently tagged molecules being loaded into a drug carrierbringing the model full circle to the direct application."
More information: Squeezing of Vesicles through Narrow Tubes. www.rheology.org/SoR172/ViewPaper?ID=47
Hyperwallet Names Mark Engels New Chief Revenue Officer Amidst Global Expansion
Mark Engels joins the United States-based executive team as the company continues to expand its international footprint.
San Francisco, California Hyperwallet, a leading global payouts provider to millions of independent workers, announced today that Mark Engels has joined the companys United States-based executive team as Chief Revenue Officer. Engels comes to Hyperwallet from SecureNet Payments, where he served as the Executive Vice President of Business and Channel Development prior to the organizations acquisition by Worldpay.
As Hyperwallets CRO, Engels will be responsible for the development and strategic leadership of Hyperwallets North American sales and business expansion initiatives. The payments industry veteran has more than 15 years of experience in strategic financial planning, sales, and business development, including the successful oversight of industry-leading strategic initiatives and corporate development efforts.
Hyperwallets global payout capabilities make it unlike any other solution on the market, explained Engels. Right now, were in an excellent position to participate in what were referring to as the Earning Revolution, a fundamental shift in the way that individuals work and earn. You see it in the gig economy with car sharing platforms, and in ecommerce with marketplace selling platforms. These workers, sellers, and sharers, they represent a new paradigm of earning, one that knows no geographic or economic boundaries. Banked or unbanked, local or global, Hyperwallet offers companies a flexible payout solution thats been designed specifically to cater to this unique demographic of independent earners.
In addition to his experience at SecureNet, Engels previously held a Senior Vice President position at First Data. There he oversaw channel strategy and the management of the processors network of resellers and strategic alliances. Engels has also acted as Vice President of Business Development for FundsXpress Financial Network Inc., an online banking and bill-pay service provider, which was subsequently acquired by First Data.
Were extremely fortunate to have someone with Marks qualifications heading our sales teams as we continue to build our North American business, said Brent Warrington, Hyperwallets CEO. As weve seen throughout the last year, the Hyperwallet message is resonating with some of the biggest players in the verticals we serve. With Mark at the helm, Im confident that well have a number of exciting client wins to share with you soon.
Mark holds a Master of Business Administration from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas.
Retail POS Marketing Company Gets 12 million Investment
Ecrebo Secures 12 million Investment From Partnership Which Includes Air Miles and Nectar founder, Sir Keith Mills
Investment will support product and technology development,
accelerate expansion into North America and strengthen Ecrebos world-class management team
Feb. 22, 2017 Reading, UK Ecrebo, the retail point of sale marketing specialist, today announced a 12 million investment from Sir Keith Mills, founder of Air Miles and Nectar, and Joseph Schull, former head of Europe for international private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Additionally, Ecrebo announced Sir Keith Mills and Joseph Schull will join Ecrebos board of directors.
The funding will support increased investment in product and technology development for Ecrebos digital marketing platform, and will help to accelerate the retail technology specialists global expansion, with a particular focus on North America. This will build on Ecrebos success to date in Europe and entry into the U.S. market. The funds will also be used to recruit new talent into Ecrebos growing team.
Sir Keith Mills and Joseph Schull join Ecrebos board as directors alongside the companys founders, Dr. Hassan Hajji and David Vernon. Existing investor Octopus Ventures, one of Europes largest venture capital teams, is also participating in the investment round and will continue to be represented on the board.
Ecrebos innovative technology platform enables retailers to deliver targeted offers and messages to customers at checkout, alongside their print or digital receipt. Since 2010, the Ecrebo platform has processed more than 35 billion in transactions for some of the worlds leading retailers, including M&S, Waitrose and PANDORA and generated more than 500 million in additional sales. The business was recently featured in the 2016 Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 as one of the UKs fastest-growing technology companies.
Sir Keith Mills commented: I am delighted to announce this investment in Ecrebo, who impressed me with their firmly-established credentials and leadership within the retail technology sector. Ecrebos technology gives retailers the ability to open up a marketing channel that is fully retailer-owned, enabling them to reach all their customers and engage them on a one-to-one basis in a way which is personalized, rewarding and convenient. I look forward to working closely with the Ecrebo team in the coming months to help them grow the business both in the UK and internationally.
Ecrebos technology platform is highly differentiated and greatly valued by the companys world-class customers, who derive demonstrable ROI from it, said Schull. Hassan Hajji and his colleagues have developed an ingenious application which seamlessly integrates with customers point of sale infrastructure and enables personalized communication at the till, which can be rapidly rolled out at scale. We see considerable growth potential from new and innovative products which are already in development, as well as further geographic expansion to build on the successes achieved to date.
We are delighted to secure investment from Sir Keith Mills and Joseph Schull and to welcome them both to our board, said Dr. Hassan Hajji, co-founder and CEO of Ecrebo. Their long-standing retail expertise and investment experience will help to further enhance our product offering, recruit the best talent and expand into North America, and beyond. We are excited about the impact this investment will have on our customers, our employees and our technology in helping us to reach our full potential.
For further details, visit Ecrebos website at www.ecrebo.com
A witness in the corruption trial of Justice Adeniyi Ademola has alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari gave the embattled judge N500,000 while his certificate controversy was pending before Mr Ademola.
Some persons had filed a suit challenging Mr. Buharis candidacy prior to the 2015 elections, alleging the president had no secondary school certificate as required by law.
BREAKING: Buhari gave "Corrupt judge" N500000 during his certificate scandal - Witness speaks
READ ALSO: Buharis health sparks fresh debate on leadership in Nigeria
Ademola is being prosecuted by the Nigerian government for alleged corruption. He has denied the charges and requested accelerated hearing at the trial in Abuja.
The Federal Judge is being prosecuted alongside his wife, Olubowale, and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Joe Agi.
Premium Times reports that an operative of the SSS, Babatunde Adepoju, who led investigations into the allegations, confirmed on Tuesday that he had been told, during interrogation of Mr Agi, that a gift of N500, 000 was sent through President Buharis lawyer, Kola Awodehin, to Mr Ademola.
The money, was allegedly sent as a gift for Ademolas daughters wedding, and was delivered to the judge by Kola Awodehin, a lawyer who represented the president in a case of alleged forgery of secondary school certificate before the 2015 elections.
When Mr Agis lawyer asked Adepoju whether the N500,000 given at a time when Mr. Buhari had a pending case before Mr. Ademola, amounted to a bribe, so that the judge would rule in his favour.
Mr. Adepoju answered in the negative, stressing that such would amount to a speculation in my opinion.
On Tuesday, the prosecution closed its case against Ademola, after presenting all its witnesses.
Lawyer to Ademola, Onyeachi Ikpeazu, thereafter told the court that his client would like to make a no-case-submission.
The trial judge, Jude Okeke, adjourned the matter till March 15 for hearing of the application.
Regarding his certificate issue, President Buhari had not been satisfied with the ruling of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja who on May 26, 2016 dismissed his preliminary objection in a suit filed against him by an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe.
The president, through his legal team led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), has appealed the ruling.
He filed a notice of appeal at the Abuja judicial division of the appellate court on seven grounds of appeal.
BREAKING: Buhari gave allegedly "Corrupt Judge" N500000 during his certificate scandal - Witness speaks
PAY ATTENTION: Get the latest News on Legit.ng News App
Other members of the presidents legal team are Lateef O. Fagbemi (SAN), Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), Oluwarotimi O. Akeredolu (SAN), Kola Awodein (SAN), Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), Charles Edosomwan (SAN), Emeka Ngige (SAN), Femi Atoyebi (SAN), Femi Falana (SAN), Funke Aboyade (SAN), H.O. Afolabi (SAN), Muiz Banire (SAN), and 10 other counsel.
A ruling on the disqualification of President Muhammadu Buhari's certificate was made on Thursday, June 16.
Source: Legit.ng
Reno Omokri, former media aide of Goodluck Jonathan, has questioned President Buhari's anti-corruption wars after allegations emerged that President Buhari might have given Justice Ademola a gift of "N500,000" during his certificate scandal case.
Omokri in a couple of tweets asked if President Buhari's anti-corruption war is over since his lawyer is now being accused of allegedly offering bribe to Justice Ademola.
A witness in a case of alleged corruption against Justice Adeniyi Ademola has come forward to alleged that President Buhari through his lawyer gave out a 'gift' of N500,000 to Ademola during who was the judge in charge of Buhari's certificate scandal case.
READ ALSO: Governor El-Rufai is more guilty of inciting violence (This is proof) - Reno Omokri
Omokri, who was the special assistant on media to Goodluck Jonathan during his administration said God wanted to expose Buhari.
Meanwhile, special adviser to the President on media and publicity Femi Adesina on Wednesday, February 22 said the reports that a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Kola Awodein, gave Justice Niyi Ademola of the Federal High Court N500,000.00 on behalf of Buhari were false.
Adesina noted that Buhari challenged the elections of 2003, 2007, and 2011, up to the Supreme Court and was never named as trying to compromise any judge, saying that even Awodein has denied the allegation.
Source: Legit.ng
Greece's debt needs "significant" restructuring, but debt forgiveness by the country's creditors is not necessary, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Wednesday, appearing to soften the lender's previous stance. "Debt will have to be restructured appropriately," the International Monetary Fund's managing director told German television channel ARD after meeting Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. "At the present time no haircut is needed," she said, referring to a financial market term for debt write-offs by creditors. But she also called for Greece to implement deep reforms. "We had asked the authorities to consider two categories of reforms, pensions reforms, income tax reforms," she said. "Those are the two key areas but there are many others that need to be conducted in order to improve the economic situation of Greece." - 'Much more confident' - Lagarde said she was now "much more confident" on the outlook for resolving the Greek debt crisis "after the progress made by the Greek authorities to come in the direction of the institutions to satisfy the requirements that we have". By dropping any insistence on outright debt relief, Lagarde seemed to be departing from the IMF's previous stance, taking a major step towards the position of Germany which has ruled out debt forgiveness. Greece's eurozone and IMF lenders have been locked for months in a standoff over debt relief and budget targets. Instead, Lagarde said Greek interest payments should be lightened and the maturity of outstanding debt lengthened, meaning Athens will have more time to pay it off. Such "significant" easing of the burden would, however, only come at the end of the current bailout programme once Greece had delivered on reforms. "The more reforms, the more progress, the more improvement of the economic situation, the less there will have to be in terms of debt restructuring," she said. Greece on Monday agreed to discuss new bailout reforms in a bid to break the deadlock. But the IMF, which has stayed out of Greece's huge 86-billion-euro ($91 billion) bailout agreed in 2015 until it gets more guarantees, said more work was needed. - 'Discipline and reforms' - The Europeans have been at loggerheads with the IMF over the Washington-based lender's demands for easier budget targets, and its concerns over the size of Athens' mountain of debt which it said previously had to be cut. "There has been a lot of austerity in this country, a significant reduction of the whole economy of Greece, so what we need now is discipline and structural reforms that will help the country going forward," Lagarde said in Berlin. Eurozone hardliners, led by Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, have ruled out any debt relief, while insisting at the same time that the IMF stay on board with the bailout. Athens needs the latest tranche of bailout cash to meet seven billion euros of new debt payments in July or risk defaulting on its loans.
This article was originally on GET.com at: SG Budget 2017: 6 Changes That May Affect Your Household
Delivered by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on 20 February 2017, the Singapore 2017 Budget certainly is a forward-looking one that strives to inculcate prudence while supporting Singapore's citizens and businesses as holistically as it can amidst the current sluggish economy that is fraught with uncertainties.
Here, we at GET.com highlight some of the changes that may affect your household coupled with a number of handy tips that will help you save some money.
6 Changes That May Affect Your Household
1. 30% Increase In Water Prices
The water tariffs will increase by approximately 30% over 2 phases - the first increase will take place from July 2017 and the second, from July 2018. The increase in water prices is necessary as the supply of water from local reservoirs and Johor Bahru become increasingly more unpredictable and Singapore has to rely on more expensive water sources such as Newater and desalination.
Tip: Learn how you can employ simple tips to reduce your utility bills in Singapore. Saving water doesn't have to be difficult. For instance, one can easily reduce water wastage when brushing teeth and shampooing by turning off the tap. Another quick and easy tip is to simply take shorter showers.
2. Increase In U-Save Rebates For HDB Households
Beginning this July, HDB households that are eligible will get to enjoy a permanent increase in the GST Voucher U-Save rebate depending on the HDB flat type they are living in. This raise in the annual rebate is supposed to help households deal with the rise in water costs mentioned in the point above. Keep in mind that the GST Voucher U-Save is given over 4 quarters in a calendar year, starting in January, April, July and October.
In addition, HDB households can also look forward to a raised and extended Service and Conservancy Charges rebate this year. 1-room and 2-room households will be given 3.5 months of rebates whereas 3-room and 4-room households will get 2.5 months of rebates.
Story continues
Source: Ministry of Finance
3. Shave Your Income Tax Contribution
With the upcoming tax season approaching, taxpayers will be happy to know that they can embrace a personal income tax rebate of 20% on payable taxes, capped at $500, on their income earned in 2016.
Tip: Take note of eligible tax relief claims to help lower your payable tax even more, such as donating to approved institutions, parents relief, topping up your CPF Special Account, claiming course fees and insurance premiums against your taxable income etc.
4. Boost In Bursaries For Those In Post-Secondary Education Institutions
Eligible students who are studying in post-secondary education institutions such as polytechnics, junior colleges, ITEs and universities will receive higher annual bursary amounts.
For example, undergraduate students can receive up to $400 more while diploma students can receive up to $350 extra. In addition, more Singapore students will get to enjoy bursaries with the revision of the income eligibility criteria.
5. Increase In CPF Housing Grant For Resale Flats
Couples who are first-time homebuyers and happen to be looking at purchasing resale HDB flats will receive more subsidies. Those who want to buy a 4-room or smaller resale HDB flat will now receive a CPF Housing Grant of $50,000 instead of $30,000; those who want to buy a 5-room or bigger resale HDB flat will receive a CPH Housing Grant of $40,000 instead of $30,000.
Tip: Prudent homebuyers should really consider getting an HDB flat instead of private housing as they can make use of enhanced subsidies and other various grants that are available. For starters, here's how much money you'll need to buy your first HDB flat and here are the ways you can fund your flat via a HDB loan or bank loan. You can also use GET.com's proprietary Home Loan Genius comparison tool to find the latest fixed and floating home loan rates available in the market.
Find The Best Home Loan Rates
6. Pay More For Costly Motorbikes
Do you or a loved one fancy riding expensive motorcycles? If your answer is a resounding yes, it's time you start paying attention to the newly-introduced tiered Additional Registration Fees (ARF) that will be imposed on those who purchase expensive motorcycles.
This tiered ARF is targeted at the small but increasing population of motorcycle buyers who are willing to shell out big bucks to buy motorbikes with open market values as high as those of smaller cars.
According to Budget 2017, the ARF for motorbikes with an open market value of up to $5,000 will stay at the current rate of 15% while the next $5000 will be subject to a rate of 50%. The remaining open market value of the motorbikes exceeding the first $10,000 will be subject to a rate of 100%.
Tip: Consider joining the car-lite Singapore movement and definitely check out these easy ways to save money on transport in Singapore.
What do you think? Share your comments with us below!
GET.com Singapore is Singapore's lifestyle and personal finance website. We help you GET more for your money - food, travel, home loans, credit cards, shopping - everything!
Like GET.com on Facebook and sign up to get the HOTTEST stories delivered to your inbox!
For serious stuff, you can compare home loans, personal loans and credit cards at GET.com.
Our free GETdeals App helps you get the best credit card discounts near you for dining, shopping, lifestyle and more. Download it today!
AFP News
The UN's COP27 climate summit kicked off Sunday in Egypt with warnings against backsliding on efforts to cut emissions and calls for rich nations to compensate poor countries after a year of extreme weather disasters. Just in the past few months, climate-induced catastrophes have killed thousands, displaced millions and cost billions in damages across the world. Massive floods devastated swaths of Pakistan and Nigeria, droughts worsened in Africa and the western United States, cyclones whipped the Caribbean, and unprecedented heatwaves seared three continents. The conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh comes in a fraught year marked by Russia's war on Ukraine, an energy crunch, soaring inflation and the lingering effects from the Covid pandemic. But Simon Stiell, the UN's climate change executive secretary, said he would not be a "custodian of backsliding" on the goal of slashing greenhouse emissions 45 percent by 2030 to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above late-19th-century levels. "We will be holding people to account, be they presidents, prime ministers, CEOs," Stiell said as the 13-day summit opened. "The heart of implementation is everybody everywhere in the world every single day doing everything they possibly can to address the climate crisis," he said. Current trends would see carbon pollution increase 10 percent by the end of the decade and Earth's surface heat up 2.8C, according to findings unveiled last week. Promises made under the 2015 Paris Agreement would, if kept, only shave off a few tenths of a degree. "Whilst I do understand that leaders around the world have faced competing priorities this year, we must be clear: as challenging as our current moment is, inaction is myopic and can only defer climate catastrophe," said Alok Sharma, British president of the previous COP26 as he handed over the chairmanship to Egypt. "How many more wake-up calls does the world -- and world leaders -- actually need?", he said. In a dire warning, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said the past eight years are on track to be the eight warmest on record, with an acceleration in sea level rise, glacier melt and heatwaves. "As COP27 gets underway, our planet is sending a distress signal," UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement. - 'Loss and damage' - The COP27 summit will focus like never before on money -- a major sticking point that has soured relations between countries that got rich burning fossil fuels and the poorer ones suffering from the worst consequences of climate change. The United States and the European Union -- fearful of creating an open-ended reparations framework -- have dragged their feet and challenged the need for a separate funding stream. Delegates agreed on Sunday to put the "loss and damage" issue on the COP27 agenda, a first step toward what are sure to be fraught discussions. Inclusion of the agenda item "reflects a sense of solidarity and empathy for the suffering of the victims of climate induced disasters," said COP27 president Sameh Shoukry of Egypt. "We all owe a debt of gratitude to activists and civil society organisations who have persistently demanded the space to discuss funding for loss and damage," he said to applause. Shoukry also noted that rich nations have not fulfilled a separate pledge to deliver $100 billion per year to help developing countries green their economies and build resilience against future climate change. He also lamented that most climate financing is based on loans. "We do not have the luxury to continue this way. We have to change our approaches to this existential threat," he said, calling for solutions that "prove we are serious about not leaving anyone behind". - US-China tensions - After the first day of talks, more than 120 world leaders will join the summit on Monday and Tuesday. The most conspicuous no-show will be China's Xi Jinping, whose leadership was renewed last month at a Communist Party Congress. US President Joe Biden has said he will come, but only after legislative elections on Tuesday that could see either or both houses of Congress fall into the hands of Republicans hostile to international action on climate change. Cooperation between the United States and China -- the world's two largest economies and carbon polluters -- has been crucial to rare breakthroughs in the nearly 30-year saga of UN climate talks, including the 2015 Paris Agreement. But Sino-US relations have sunk to a 40-year low after a visit to Taiwan by House leader Nancy Pelosi and a US ban on the sale of high-level chip technology to China, leaving the outcome of COP27 in doubt. A meeting between Xi and Biden at the G20 summit in Bali days before the UN climate meeting ends, if it happens, could be decisive. One bright spot at COP27 will be the arrival of Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose campaign vowed to protect the Amazon and reverse the extractive policies of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro. bur-lth/fz
ATLANTA Infectious-disease specialists are concerned that climate change is contributing to the spread of certain diseases, including the germs that cause cholera and other diarrheal illnesses.
Data now suggest that the locations where certain pathogens are found have changed, said Dr. Glenn Morris, the director of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida. Morris gave a talk here today (Feb. 16) at the Climate & Health Meeting, a gathering of experts from public health organizations, universities and advocacy groups that addressed the health impacts of climate change.
Pathogens tend to live in places that have ideal sets of conditions, Morris said. For example, these bugs may have evolved to function best within certain temperature ranges, he said. And as climate change occurs and global average temperatures rise, researchers are beginning to see some indications that the areas where certain pathogens can live are shifting, he said. [5 Ways Climate Change Will Affect Your Health]
"We are seeing the spread of pathogens to new ecological niches," Morris said.
And the pathogens that live in water are among scientists' top concerns, Morris told Live Science.
An increase in sea temperatures, of even just a degree or two, can have a large impact on an organism's ability to live and multiply, Morris said. In many cases, as waters warm, pathogens will be able to expand into new areas. On the other hand, if water temperatures in a region increase too much, the number of pathogens there may decrease, Morris added.
Vibrio and algal blooms
One group of bacteria, called Vibrio species, are particularly well-studied, Morris said. Vibro bacteria are responsible for cholera and other diarrheal diseases. Although cholera can be treated by rehydration according to the World Health Organization, the disease can still be fatal if not treated quickly enough.
Vibriobacteria live in seawater, and with sea temperatures rising, scientists have recently observed a northward shift in the bacteria's range, he said. In addition, diseases such as cholera often spread following events like flooding, which may become more common with climate change, Morris said.
Story continues
Other waterborne diseases can come from harmful algal blooms, which are caused by toxic forms of algae, Morris said. Algal blooms have been linked to illnesses such as ciguatera, which people get from eating fish that contain toxins produced by the algae Gambierdiscus toxicus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Another illness linked to harmful algal blooms is amnesic shellfish poisoning, which is caused by eating contaminated shellfish.
These harmful algal blooms are showing up in places where they previously didn't occur, including the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and Maine, Morris said.
But what about mosquitos?
Morris noted that there have also been some concerns about mosquito-borne diseases, because of evidence suggesting that certain species of the insect are moving farther north than they used to. But it's unclear what impact this will have in the long term, Morris told Live Science. He noted that in developed countries, including U.S., many aspects of homes help protect people against mosquito bites, such as the use of window screens and air conditioning. [6 Unexpected Effects of Climate Change]
While the illnesses Morris noted in his talk are all known diseases, they can still pose public health challenges when they move into parts of the world where they haven't occurred before, he said.
"We've always thought about tropical areas as having particularly significant problems with infectious diseases," but "we're starting to see some greater indications that those diseases may be creeping up here" in the U.S., he said.
Morris said that the U.S. can handle those diseases, but the bigger concern is that pathogens are always evolving. Mcroorganisms may be able to change over time, "and increasingly take advantage of conditions that may not have been present before," he said.
Originally published on Live Science.
Editor's Recommendations
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint press briefing with Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong in Singapore. (Photo: Yahoo Singapore/Dhany Osman)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Singapore for Australia on Tuesday (21 February), signaling the end of a low-key visit to the Republic by one of the worlds most high-profile politicians.
In the days leading up to and during Netanyahus visit on Monday and Tuesday (20-21 February), there were few articles in mainstream media about the historic event the first ever official visit by a sitting prime minister of Israel. The first mention of his planned visit came from Israeli media outlets, such as the Jerusalem Post, in October last year.
During his visit, Netanyahu held discussions with President Tony Tan, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean. He also attended a dinner hosted by Lee, met members of the Jewish community in a synagogue, and visited the Toa Payoh estate.
The Jerusalem Post said in an article on Monday, Despite the pomp and circumstance, the Singaporeans have requested a relatively low profile for the visit. If the intention was to keep media attention to a minimum, the timing of the visit couldnt have been better Netanyahus first day of visit happened to coincide with Budget Day in Singapore.
It might seem surprising to some that the visit by the leader of a country that wields a disproportionately big influence on the world stage relative to its size and has a longstanding relationship with Singapore was accorded low profile status.
But there was a credible reason for the relevant authorities to do so: high security.
The Chaim Herzog controversy
Singapores relationship with Israel is possibly the most sensitive among all the diplomatic ties that it has established. It began in the 1960s when several Israeli officers came to Singapore disguised as Mexicans to train the nascent local army.
Since then, the ties have evolved to also encompass the economic, business, research and development, and cultural arenas.
Story continues
But it is a relationship that isnt warmly received in some circles in the immediate region dominated by Muslim-majority countries.
Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, and over the decades they have steadfastly condemned the Jewish state for what they perceive as its annexation of Arab territories and the harsh treatment of its Palestinian population.
In November 1986, the planned visit by then Israeli President Chaim Herzog to Singapore sparked a hailstorm of protests from the three Asean neighbours before his arrival, particularly in Malaysia. Several Malaysian politicians issued threats to cut off diplomatic ties and the water supply from Johor to Singapore. One Malaysian politician even lay on a railway track in Johor Bahru in a move to stop a Singapore-bound train.
The visit by Herzog came and went without any untoward incident in Singapore amid high security. But the controversy stirred by his visit was a reminder that broader religious and political sensitivities would always come into play in Singapore-Israeli relations.
During the joint media briefing with Netanyahu on Monday, PM Lee said that the Israel-Palestine issue was an emotional one, especially for Muslims, and reiterated Singapores support for a two-state solution between the Israeli and Palestinian people.
I explained (to Netanyahu) why while the Middle East is far away from Southeast Asia, it has an impact on us and its of considerable concern for us. We ourselves have a significant Muslim population who are an important part of our harmonious multi-racial society, Lee said.
The Israeli Prime Ministers visit to a synagogue in Waterloo Street, Singapore, took place amid heavy security. (Photo: Yahoo Singapore/Nigel Chin)
Security arrangements for Netanyahus visit
Since the Chaim Herzog controversy, the rhetoric from regional politicians against Singapore-Israel ties has eased considerably. Before Netanyahus visit, current Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and other ministers from the Jewish state had also made the same trip without triggering any protests in the region.
What could have been of greater concern to security authorities in the lead-up to Netanyahus visit were the potential terrorist threats posed by extremist groups or lone wolves.
In March 1985, a bombing incident happened at the Faber House in Orchard Road, where the Israeli embassy was then located. A Palestinian guerrilla who was captured by the Israeli army confessed in 1991 that he had planned the bombing and targeted the embassy. In December 1986, an explosion also took place in the same site. In both incidents, no one was injured.
Herzogs visit and the two Faber House incidents happened when the global war against terror was many years away. Since the 9/11 attacks, Singapore authorities have arrested a number of local and foreign extremists under the Internal Security Act.
While the task of making security arrangements for leaders of other countries visiting Singapore is par for the course, it was escalated to another level when Netanyahu was here. Israeli security personnel were guarding three entire floors of the hotel where the PM was staying, according to a person familiar with the matter. When Netanyahu visited the Maghain Aboth synagogue on Monday, several streets were sealed off while a heavy security presence was seen around the Waterloo Street vicinity.
Despite the delicate security and religious considerations, by going ahead with Netanyahus visit, Singapore is reaffirming a longstanding principle by which it has anchored its place on the global political stage.
Just weeks after Herzog left Singapore, then Foreign Affairs Minister S. Dhanabalan told Parliament, As a sovereign country, Singapore has the right to invite and to receive any representative of any country it has relations with.
A Cuban dissident group awarded a prize to the head of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, who was denied a visa to accept it in person. The Cuban authorities denied visas to Almagro and other foreign dignitaries invited to witness him receive the Oswaldo Paya prize, named after a dissident who died in 2012 in a car crash under mysterious circumstances. But some 50 people, including opposition activists, journalists and diplomats, crowded into the Havana home of the dissident's daughter to award Almagro the prize in his absence. "We are happy to do this with those who were able to make it," said 28-year-old Rosa Maria Paya, who leads a group called the Latin American Network of Youths for Democracy. In her living room, decorated with a Cuban flag and a poster of her father, were two empty chairs -- one for Almagro and other in honor of the late Chilean president Patricio Aylwin, who was also recognized. Black plaques bearing Oswaldo Paya's face were placed in each seat. Almagro, Aylwin's daughter Mariana, and former Mexican president Felipe Calderon all were blocked from traveling to Cuba for the event. The Americas' only Communist government denied them visas for what the Cuban foreign ministry called "an open and grave provocation against the government" of President Raul Castro. Given this bid to "create domestic instability... the government decided to deny visas to the foreigners linked to these matters," the ministry said. Almagro, a Uruguayan diplomat, has been a sharp critic of Venezuela's leftist government, Cuba's closest ally. "We hope that this aggression, this vulgarity on the part of the Cuban government toward the guests... is met with a response from the members of the OAS and other democratic governments," Paya said. Paya's father Oswaldo was a recipient of the European Union's Sakharov prize in recognition of his work advocating democracy and political freedoms in Cuba. He was killed when a car he was riding in went off a road and into a tree. The government blamed the driver, saying he was speeding, but the family and another occupant of the vehicle say it was deliberately run off the road. Cuba was suspended from the OAS in 1962 at the height of the Cold War, and has declined to return despite having been readmitted in 2009. Since Cuba's suspension, the only OAS secretary general to visit the island was Jose Miguel Insulza, a Chilean who attended a Latin American summit in Havana in 2014.
Empty chairs with the names of Organization of American State (OAS) Secretary General Luis Almagro and and Chile's former Education Minister Mariana Aylwin sit inside the home of Rosa Maria Paya, right, daughter of late Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017. Rosa Maria Paya organized the event to recognize the two men for defending human rights even though the government denied them entry to attend the ceremony. Cuba has not been a member of the OAS since 1962 and considers the organization an instrument of the U.S. government used to pressure countries that do not follow its policies. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
HAVANA (AP) A group of Cuban dissidents on Wednesday recognized the secretary-general of the Organization of American States for defending human rights in their country even though the government denied him entry to attend the ceremony.
About a dozen dissidents and diplomats from the U.S., Czech Republic and Sweden honored Luis Almagro at the home of the late democracy activist Oswaldo Paya, who died in a 2012 car accident.
Paya's daughter Rosa Maria invited Almagro to receive the prize from her group in Havana. She has accused the Cuban government of causing the wreck, a charge the government denies.
Almagro sent dissidents a letter saying that the OAS's only interest is to help move Cuba closer to the values and principles upheld by the organization in relation to democracy and human rights. He also said his intention is not to evaluate Cuba's internal politics.
In his letter, Almagro said the Cuban government told him it was astonished he was involved in what it called "anti-Cuban" activities. He also said he hoped the government would not retaliate against the group.
The communist-run government also denied entry to former Mexican President Felipe Calderon and former Chilean Education Minister Maria Aylwin, both of whom were invited to attend the ceremony.
On Wednesday, the Cuban government released a statement saying Paya intended "to launch a grave, open provocation against the Cuban government, generate internal instability, hurt the image of the country and, at the same time, damage the progress of diplomatic relations between Cuba and other countries."
Cuba has not belonged to the OAS since 1962. It considers the organization an instrument the U.S. government uses to pressure countries that do not follow its policies.
___
Andrea Rodriguez is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ARodriguezAP
People read newspapers around a kiosk in Athens, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. 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. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) Greece's government has called on Germany to drop what it described as "irrational" budget demands in the country's bailout program, a day after Greece and its European creditors agreed to resume talks on new reforms.
Spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos on Tuesday noted the eurozone finance ministers had made progress at their meeting this week on Greece's bailout. He said there had been "concessions from all sides" on what reforms Greece must make to keep tapping its bailout loans.
"It is now also time for Germany to proceed on the path of realism," said Tzanakopoulos.
He called on Germany to drop its demands that Greece post a 3.5 percent primary surplus the budget balance minus debt interest costs each year for a decade.
He also called on Germany to "adopt a constructive stance" to reach a deal on some form of debt relief for Greece.
Athens agreed on Monday to implement further reforms that will take effect from the start of 2019, after the country's current third bailout has ended. The government says the measures will be fiscally neutral, with every increase in financial burden being offset by another counter-measure.
Reforms are expected in the labor market, pensions and taxation. Tzanakopoulos said he could not provide any details of the measures or the counter-measures, saying the package was subject to negotiations with the country's creditors, whose representatives are to return to Athens for talks next week.
"Even on the package of reform measures, lots of work still needs to be done and various outstanding issues will have to be calibrated," said financial analyst Wolfango Piccoli of Teneo Intelligence. "For instance, the exact fiscal targets have not yet been agreed. This remains a political rather than technical matter, and more work is required before this debate can take place."
Greece had originally hoped to conclude by Monday the latest review of its progress in meeting its bailout conditions.
Story continues
Only once the review is complete will Greece be able to access the next installment of its bailout funds, which it needs to meet a 7 billion euro ($7.4 billion) debt repayment in July. Without the funds, the country will once again face default, throwing its future in Europe's joint currency into question.
Tzanakopoulos said there was no fixed deadline for the conclusion of the review. On Monday, the eurozone's top official, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, indicated the creditors were in no particular rush.
"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."
Greece depended on international bailout funds since 2010. In return for the loans, it has had to overhaul its economy, imposing repeated rounds of spending cuts and tax hikes. The austerity plunged the country into a depression, wiping out more than a quarter of the economy and leaving unemployment hovering at around 23 percent.
MANAUS, Brazil (AP) Shortly after midnight on New Year's Eve, hundreds of inmates watched from a Manaus prison yard as the sky lit up with fireworks, paid for by the gangs that dominate the jail system.
The revelry continued well into the next day, and inmates celebrated with their wives and girlfriends. But then the guards noticed something strange: The prisoners were asking their guests to go. "That is all for today, leave now," guards heard prisoners say. The last family member left at 4:09 p.m. on New Year's Day.
What happened next would go beyond any worst-case scenario imagined by guards or authorities, unleashing a brutality that would lay bare a failed prison system and a gruesome battle between gangs for influence in Latin America's largest nation. The bloodshed would be the worst at any Brazilian prison in the past 25 years.
The Associated Press gained exclusive access to the Complexo Penitenciario Anisio Jobim. What follows is based on the facility visit, footage from inmates on their mobile phones, forensics reports obtained by the AP and more than a dozen interviews with families of victims, authorities, lawyers, prison guards, judges, the warden and investigators.
"This was unprecedented," said Carlos Procopio dos Reis, in charge of the medical forensics unit in Manaus. "I still dream that I am in a truck throwing heads for people to catch."
___
Known by its Portuguese acronym of Compaj, the Manaus prison compound sprawls into the Amazon jungle. Families spend at least an hour on a prison bus line to get to the isolated penitentiary. Designed for 592 inmates, it held 1,224 on New Year's Day.
Manaus, a violent and gritty northern city of 2 million people, is the jumping-off point to the Amazon and central to Northern Brazil's growing drug trade. Drugs come here from Peru and Colombia through the Solimoes River and head to Belem, a port city by the Atlantic Ocean. Control of that waterway means access to the lucrative European market.
Story continues
From prisons like Compaj around the nation, gang leaders oversee enormous drug businesses. For years, Brazil's two most powerful gangs had a non-aggression pact. But that truce ruptured in October, for reasons experts say are still unclear, leading to riots in several prisons. At least 130 inmates have been killed nationwide since Jan. 1.
At the rough prison complex of Manaus, the New Year's celebrations started with a rare moment of joy, as inmates danced to funk music with their wives and girlfriends inside the concrete 20-foot-tall walls. The next day, after everyone left, the tense moment came when prisoners needed to be locked up again.
But the lockup never happened. Instead, inmates linked to the Family of the North gang surrounded a prison guard and took him hostage, with a blade to his neck. Then they announced their larger intention: To get rid of all members of the rival First Command gang, also known as PCC.
"We will kick out of this prison every single PCC brain!" a prisoner from Family of the North yelled to the Compaj cameras.
That was among the last moments captured on film by the prison security cameras. Just after, inmates started to break the cameras, as they took over the prison. "It is all ours," one of them shouted.
From then on, the only reports available came from witnesses and footage shot on mobile phones smuggled in to the prisoners.
The Family of the North moved quickly. Carrying knives, homemade shivs and even several pistols, prisoners led the first hostage into the atrium. There, they took another 14 guards and other staff hostage, including a cook and a nurse. Authorities say the inmates smuggled in their guns and blades through tunnels that enter a few areas of the prison and possibly holes in the wall.
While the main target was the rival gang, the attacking prisoners had a score to settle first with former policeman Moacir Jorge Pessoa da Costa, who had been jailed for killing drug dealers. At 4:17 p.m., the attackers told the others that Costa would be the first to be killed.
The inmates wanted to behead and dismember him, but they struggled to break the lock on his cell. So instead, reaching through the bars, they lit mattresses in his cell on fire and burned him alive. Rapists in the same wing would later meet a similar fate.
At 4:30 p.m., Family of the North prisoners began entering an area where many members of First Command were housed. The wing was known as "the safe."
"Vai morrer!," they shouted into a cell made for eight inmates but jammed with at least 27. "You're going to die!"
___
The battle between Family of the North and First Command is basically over drug routes in northern Brazil. The rift escalated last year when Family of the North from the Amazon teamed up with Comando Vermelho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's second biggest gang. The evidence of that union is carved below the paint of some Compaj walls, where the acronyms FDN and CV can be seen.
On the other side of the war is the powerful First Command, based in Sao Paulo, Brazil's richest and most organized gang. First Command was born out of the largest prison massacre in Brazil's history, when military police killed at least 111 inmates during a 1992 rebellion. The gang has been expanding north, and now wants to take control of the Solimoes River from its rivals.
Family of the North local leaders nicknamed "Maraba," ''Caroco," ''Demetrio," ''Garrote," ''Rivellino" and "Maguila" headed the charge at Compaj. Authorities still don't know whether the carnage was ordered from the outside by the gang's top leaders, who are held in high-security federal prisons far from Manaus.
Crammed into their cells, many First Command prisoners had little room to run or means to fight back. Over the next 15 minutes, several were shot, stabbed or both. The screams of horror and pain filled the lockup.
Some First Command men managed to get to the roof of their cell block to hide. At least three jumped into the gutter, spending half a day drenched in feces and urine. A group of evangelical prisoners pleaded with the killers to stop, but they were locked in their cells.
No guards tried to intervene, as several had been taken hostage. But an elite police force surrounded the prison, in an attempt to keep hundreds of inmates from escaping through a hole in one wall.
Over the next 30 minutes, with police still outside, prisoners dragged dozens of bodies into the area dubbed Pavilion 3. Then Family of the North members, and other prisoners forced to take orders, began cutting. By the time they were done, 39 heads were lined up on the floor.
They also lopped off and piled up limbs, even from bodies that had been carbonized. They cut out 13 eyes and two hearts, and used them to terrorize others. One guard was forced to eat an eyeball. A transvestite prisoner was made to take bites of a heart, throwing up as she did so.
In the meantime, prisoners used their cellphones to capture photos and video of themselves, with a Family of the North flag in the background. At one point, a headless body appears. At another, an inmate holds up the hand of a dead person and waves to the camera, "He is saying bye."
But Family of the North members wanted more. They wanted the whole prison, which housed about 200 more First Command members in other areas. If they succeeded, the massacre would get even worse.
___
The first negotiations started at 6:30 p.m., when human rights activist and lawyer Epitacio Almeida, who knew most of the prisoners by name, talked with them through a radio device. But the talks were complicated after inmates shot a policeman in the right arm.
At 6:45 p.m., the first hostage was released for medical attention. By 9 p.m., a full battalion of riot police was firing on about 225 prisoners trying to escape, some by climbing the walls. It's unclear how many died. Families and prison guards believe there are still bodies in the surrounding woods.
Amazonas state Public Security Secretary Sergio Fontes called in state Judge Luis Carlos Valois to mediate the crisis and gave him a bulletproof vest. At 10 p.m., the two men went past dozens of desperate family members outside the main gates to negotiate via radio.
As a sign of initial goodwill, inmates freed three hostages. Still, the standoff was far from over.
"You could cut the tension in the air with a knife," said prison guard and union leader Rocinaldo Silva. "We feared for our colleagues inside, but we also worried about other prisons that could face the same problem after hearing the news."
Fontes and Valois needed to meet with Family of the North leaders face-to-face. It took three hours, but at 1 a.m. "Maraba" and "Maguila" appeared with a list of demands.
In the meantime, the sickening stench of dozens of bodies took over the entire complex. Inmates asked for medical forensics agents to take away heads and limbs from the floor. The same carts inmates used to carry food were prepared to take remains.
At 3 a.m., after negotiations Fontes described as "surreal," an agreement was reached. The prisoners bargained for regular visitation of family and women, time outside the cell and collection of bodies by medical forensics. In exchange, they would release the remaining 12 hostages and hand over weapons and cellphones.
When Valois told the rebellion leaders that he could not stop the entry of riot police or future transfers to other prisons, the inmates got upset. So the judge and secretary made it clear that either inmates put an immediate end to the rebellion or police would do it forcefully.
At about 7 a.m., the first of 39 heads arrived at the coroner's office in downtown Manaus. In total, 57 prisoners were killed. Fearing the worst, dozens of families lined up in front of the building.
By 7:30 a.m., more than 15 hours after the rebellion began, the last hostages were released. Survivors who were hiding slowly reappeared.
___
The massacre has left devastated families in its wake. Maria Angelina Muniz had two sons killed at Compaj: 20-year-old Antonio and 27-year-old Antony, who had been there just 10 days. Antonio was in jail for theft and Antony for drug trafficking, but neither son had been convicted.
Muniz said her family is sparing her from the details of how they died. The caskets were closed at the funeral.
"We knew they had a debt to society, they were paying," Muniz said. "But now my life is destroyed because of this war."
Seventeen inmates have been prosecuted and sent to tight-security federal prisons. Prison director Jose Carvalho da Silva, who is suspected of allowing weapons and mobiles into Compaj in exchange for money, has lost his job. Silva denies wrongdoing.
Former Amazonas Prison Secretary Pedro Florencio, a respected retired federal policeman, was also sacked because the massacre happened on his watch.
"To this day, I close my eyes and see parts of bodies of inmates everywhere," Florencio said. "For me that New Year's Day will never end."
Days after the riot, smaller uprisings erupted in other prisons. And the slaughter is likely to continue.
Speaking to the AP through a human rights activist, Family of the North inmates said a recent song described what they did and promised more to come. Prisoners said they sent the lyrics to a funk artist, who put the song on YouTube.
"The strength of Family of the North is building," goes the song. "So have no doubt that the war has just begun."
GENEVA (AP) Playing down expectations, the U.N. envoy for Syria said Wednesday he's not expecting a breakthrough in the first U.N.-mediated peace talks between government representatives and the opposition in 10 months, rather hoping to build momentum toward peace after nearly six years of war.
Staffan de Mistura spoke a day before convening the two sides amid a recent cease-fire that he said has largely held, and recent battlefield gains by President Bashar Assad's forces. The envoy warned of unspecified "spoilers" who could try to scuttle his efforts to end a conflict that has left hundreds of thousands dead.
"We want to give a chance to the Syrian people, to the Syrian parties, to try to have some type of dialogue" that can lead "beyond just a conflict," he told reporters in Geneva. De Mistura said he was determined to keep "a very proactive momentum" in the talks, which will focus on new elections, a new constitution and governance.
De Mistura says he's hewing to goals outlined in a U.N. Security Council resolution from 2015 that call for a political transition process. But the two sides are still stuck on discussions about ways to consolidate the Dec. 30 cease-fire which is violated almost daily and bring humanitarian relief to tens of thousands of people under siege.
"I am not expecting a breakthrough," de Mistura said. "I am convinced it will be worthwhile. We are going to give it a serious try."
The opposition delegation was holding closed-door meetings into the evening at a Geneva hotel ahead of Thursday's start.
Salem Al Meslet, a spokesman for the main opposition faction, said it wants "direct" talks with the government delegation.
"We do not want this round to be like the last one," he told The Associated Press.
The government envoys "are here just to buy time and commit more crimes in Syria. There is no trust in this regime," Al Meslet said, "That is why we are really fighting, not only with weapons but with all efforts that we can do, to really finish this crime in Syria."
Story continues
The talks follow recent diplomatic efforts by Russia, a key supporter of Assad's government, and Turkey, which supports the opposition. Those joint efforts led to both the cease-fire and talks between the Syrian sides in Astana, Kazakhstan. Assad's forces have the upper hand after recapturing full control of the city of Aleppo in December and making key advances around the capital, Damascus.
De Mistura said Russia had indicated earlier at a closed-door U.N. "cease-fire task force" meeting in Geneva on Wednesday that Russian authorities had asked Assad's government to "silence their own skies in areas touched by the cease-fire" as the talks proceed.
The envoy said bilateral talks would start Thursday morning, and that it remained to be seen whether the two sides would sit down face-to-face which didn't happen in the three previous rounds of failed talks under his guidance last year. He also did not indicate how long he expected the new round to continue.
"I'm not expecting an immediate breakthrough from this negotiation, but the beginning of a series of rounds that will be able to go much more in depth into the substantive issues," he said.
De Mistura said he hoped to officially welcome the parties Thursday in the presence of representatives of key world and regional powers, "to show that the international community is interested, supportive, united as much as we can hope in order to tell the Syrian sides it's time to talk and fight on the table, through the table, but not in the field."
The United States, which has been consumed with political transition to the Trump administration, has been largely sidelined from diplomatic efforts with Russia and Turkey now leading that initiative. But Michael Ratney, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Syria and the Levant, was in Geneva for the talks, officials said.
"We do have U.S. representatives here, and ... I am convinced that they will be very supportive of whatever we try to do," de Mistura said, alluding to the Trump transition period. "You need a month for devising a new strategy, and we are waiting for that, like everyone else we look forward to see what the strategy is."
___
Bassam Hatoum and Helena Alves in Geneva contributed to this report.
The DC Shoes Brazil squad celebrated the launch of Tiago Lemos new shoe colourway, the Plaza TC, with a whirlwind tour of a few cities to spread the gospel of well popped dopeness.
Carlos Iqui, Alex Carolino, JP Dantas, Bruno Aguero and Tiago Lemos head to Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Campinas to dodge rain (or skate through it), do some signings and make sure that no ledge in their path is left free of uncanny technical board control.
To hire or not to hire. Thats the big question for cash-strapped small businesses.
Recent data sends out two very differing messages about the staffing needs of the future one short term, the other more long term. So businesses may have mixed feelings about their plans for that next hire.
February 2017 Staffing Trends
Short Term Hiring Expected to be Competitive
A recent report (PDF) reveals the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased less than expected for the week ended February 11.
Data from the U.S. Department of Labor shows claims for unemployment benefits rose by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 239,000.
Whats worth noting is claims have been below 300,000 for 102 consecutive weeks. Thats the longest stretch since 1970 and indicates a strong labor market where short term hiring will be competitive.
Could Automation Replace Workers?
On the other hand, a White House report (PDF) postulates 47 percent of U.S. jobs could be replaced by artificial intelligence technologies over the next decade.
Whats more, the study estimates 2.2 to 3.1 million existing part- and full-time jobs could be threatened or substantially altered by automated technology.
What Does It Mean for Your Business
Both studies have significant implications for small businesses.
The report from the Department of Labor suggests the economy is getting stronger but also that fewer are looking for employment. While that could mean more disposable income to spend on your products and services, it also could make it harder to hire the people you need to provide those products and services.
As for the White House report, increasing automation may save your business money in the long run as you need a smaller staff to run your business. But depending on your business, it could also decrease the need for what your business produces or a service you provide.
Imagine the impact, for example, on a tax preparation service if your customers begin relying on automation to prepare and file their returns.
In order to determine how automation may impact your business, consider this list of small business functions you can automate.
Are there any tasks on this list you or your staff still do manually? Are there any services you provide for other businesses that could easily be replaced?
By contrast, these jobs cannot be easily automated in the near future.
These are jobs that involve a certain degree of sensitivity and problem solving skills that machines do not possess. It may make sense to plan to continue hiring in these areas for the foreseeable future.
And businesses that provide such services for other companies may wish to focus increasingly in these areas to ensure profitably for the future.
Drum roll, please! Select small businesses have just won big thanks to Zohos Sell Big contest.
The contest launched in December 2016. And the winners have just been announced. To participate, businesses needed to simply sign up on the companys website and then get votes from their customers and community members by engaging with them online.
According to Zohos VP of Marketing Rodrigo Vaca, the company received thousands of entries from businesses in more than a hundred different countries. But the grand prize could only go to one company.
That honor went to Multivarious Games, an app development company in Columbus, Ohio. The company creates mobile games such as Hatch It! And they also work with clients to create custom gaming apps, including those that focus on innovative new technology like virtual reality and augmented reality. For the grand prize, the company was awarded $20,000.
But other companies like Interesting Kyiv, a Ukrainian travel agency, and Starla Michelle, a local artist in Austin, Texas, won secondary prizes through the contest too!
The company also highlighted some Staff Picks among the entries.
Since such a diverse group of businesses entered the contest, it took more than one strategy to put winning businesses over the top. But getting votes for the contest required that businesses find a way to really connect with their customers and followers online. So whether youre a B2B or B2C company, theres potentially something to be learned from the winners of Zohos Sell Big contest.
Vaca said in an email to Small Business Trends, We had a diverse group of entries for the contest consumer-focused and business-to-business companies, high-tech and low-tech, and all of them spread out around the globe. What set the winners apart were two things: they are all very passionate about their business, and they promoted their entry in the contest relentlessly with their own customers website, in-person, newsletter, social media, and even live streaming. I think the content was just an extension -and a reflection- of how these businesses engage daily with their customers and audience.
Zoho Sell Big Contest Winners
The contest winners are included below:
Police halted a wedding set to take place between a Slovak woman and an Indian man he offered 4,000 for the bride.
Font size: A - | A +
Police from the National Unit for the Fight against Illegal Migration, last week uncovered cases involving human smuggling and trafficking. In the first case, the investigator charged a man aged 36, identified as Karol B. of Kosice, for human trafficking, Police Presidium spokeswoman Denisa Baloghova informed the Aktuality.sk website. He faces up to seven, or even 12 years in prison for forcing Slovak women into marriage.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
The man allegedly persuaded seven Slovak women aged 20 to 30 years to take a good job in Germany. They arrived by bus in Berlin where instead of the promised job they were supposed to marry Serbian citizens who thus wanted to legalise their stay in the European Union.
In six cases, weddings took place in Denmark; but one prospective bride was opposed to the idea and so the marriage was not concluded, Baloghova said. The financial profit of the match-maker should have been at least 3,500. The charged man will be prosecuted at large, while the women are already safe on Slovak territory.
Slovak women charged with smuggling
In the second case, the investigator last week charged a woman aged 28, identified as Linda L. from Bratislava, Patrik B. of the Velky Krtis district, aged 23, and Sona L. of Nove Zamky, aged 30, for human smuggling.
The investigation showed that they all allegedly prepared the meeting between Sona L. and an Indian man aged 40, Naresh K., in Vienna, the police presidium spokeswoman said. The Indian man was to pay 4,000 to the three Slovaks, after all formalities are settled and the wedding was successfully completed. Everything went smoothly, the wedding was to take place in Nove Zamky. However, even before bride and bridegroom said Yes and legalised the ceremony, police raided the hall and prevented the wedding.
If convicted the three suspects could face two to eight years in prison, and will be prosecuted at large. The hopeful husband will have to return to Austria where he is an asylum seeker.
Police see the reasons for such weddings as an effort to gain permanent residence in Slovak territory for a foreigner, and financial benefit for the Slovak. A foreigner who marries a Slovak can ask for permanent residence in Slovakia for five years, and gets unlimited entry to the whole Schengen area, aktuality.sk wrote.
What is illegal here is the organising and inciting of marriage for financial reward.
Private transport company RegioJet plans to launch operation of trains on a new international line, between Bratislava and Prague.
Font size: A - | A +
It is slated to start operating as of December 11, when the new train schedule is due to become valid, the company informed on November 9. Two pairs of trains should operate the route daily, departing from Bratislava and Prague in the morning and in the afternoon. The first connection from Bratislava and both connections from Prague should take less than four hours, and the second connection from Bratislava four-and-a-half hours.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
The first train, leaving Bratislava-Main Station at 5:45 and arriving to Prague at 9:42 shall make stops in Kuty, Breclav, Brno, Ceska Trebova, Usti nad Orlici and Pardubice, the SITA newswire wrote. With launching this train, we considered also the requests of travelling businesspeople who will arrive to Prague before 10:00 and thus will have enough time to manage everything, owner of RegioJet, Radim Jancura, said.
The second trains shall leave Bratislava at 15:10 and arrive to Prague at 19:42, stopping in Kuty, Breclav, Brno and Pardubice. In the opposite direction, the planned departure from Prague is at 7:15 with arrival at 11:12. The second train shall leave at 15:19 and reach Bratislava at 19:12.
Apart from this route, nine RegioJet buses shall continue to run between Bratislava, Brno and Prague even 11 times per day total, in both directions. A new stop at Bratislave-Nove Mesto shall also be added.
Slovaks consider having their property one of the biggest certainties.
Font size: A - | A +
Nine out of 10 Slovaks own their own property. When compared with other European countries, only Romania outperformed Slovakia, the TASR newswire reported in December 2016.
The motive for purchasing ones own house or flat is clear as Slovaks consider having their property one of the biggest certainties, said Maros Durik, executive director of the Across Private Investments company.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
Moreover, the labour market also supports this mentality as Slovaks are not forced, nor used to having to commute for work. Owning real estate, therefore, is not a burden. Also the emotional factor is important, as reported by TASR.
Durik, however, says that owning property is not always better than renting. The average costs for a property owner and a tenant may be very similar. Moreover, a tenant does not have to commit his or her own money, but can instead invest it. Over a 25-year horizon, the costs linked to owning property may be by more than 100 a month higher, he added.
In more developed countries, renting property gives a person independence and flexibility not only from the point of greater mobility, but also the life cycle. After children grow up and leave the place to live on their own, it becomes ineffective to pay a mortgage for empty rooms, TASR reported.
This may be a result of the common thinking of post-communist countries in which people feel rich if they own a great car, a big house, an apartment near the sea or a weekend house in the mountains. But these investments do not bring anything new, and only cost more money.
As a result, Slovaks belong to the most indebted and poorest people in the European Union, according to TASR.
Slovakia has provided more than 10 million to the Kenyan people since 2005.
Font size: A - | A +
Crossing a small bridge above the Ngong River, separating the part of Mukuru slum in Nairobi, Kenya from the middle-class area of the city, is like entering another world.
Concrete changes to dust roads with bodies of dead animals partly buried in the roadside; standard flats are replaced by tiny, one-room corrugated iron shacks measuring approximately 3 square metres. A small stream of dark stinky water cuts the road in two, reminding inhabitants that the last rain season changed the slum's streets to mud and made Mukuru's appearance even more hopeless.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
Finding an old Kenyan among the 600,000 people living there is uncommon as they often do not live longer than 50 years due to poor conditions, drugs and untreated diseases.
Ngong River in Mukuru slum (Source: Roman Cuprik)
Yet, the Nairobi slum is not a final station for Kenyans as many of them move there from rural areas seeking a better life. They have small businesses there such as shops, hairdressers or even charging stations for mobile phones due to lack of electricity in most houses in the slums. This makes Nairobi slums self-sustaining towns pulsing with their own life.
Life there is not easy and I desperately wanted to be a successful man, says 27-year-old Benson Kioko Kiamba who grew up there in a small place with his mother. I dont mean wealthy, I just wanted to be successful enough to leave this place.
However, without external help in the form of proper education, health care or a job it is difficult to move out of such poverty. This is why many non-profit organisations and charities including several Slovak ones help locals to improve their lives.
Services in Mukuru slum (Source: Roman Cuprik)
For example, Kiamba gets a scholarship from the Slovak government to study to be a doctor. He stays in Slovakia for four years and after finishing his studies plans go back to Nairobi to help others and get his mother out of the slums.
Slovak organisations have created more than 100 projects in Kenya, with several hundred volunteers working there. They have helped to create several thousand jobs, according to Slovak President Andrej Kiska who paid a visit to Kenya between February 13-16.
Slovakia is held in high esteem here and has a good reputation, Kiska told the press pointing out that Slovakia has provided the country with more than 10 million in the past 12 years.
(Source: Roman Cuprik)
Reaching for success
Kenyan Simon Fordi was born in 1983 into an illegal polygamous family. Such relationships became legal in 2014. His father had two wives and Fordi was a child of the younger one. Three years after his birth Fordis father died and his mother faced bullying from the first wife.
She was forced to go and left her son in the family. As a son of the younger wife, Fordi also experienced mistreatment particularly from his uncle.
When I was ten years old I was beaten almost every day, Fordi told The Slovak Spectator. When he was beating me he was not using a wooden stick but a metal one.
Fordi tried to commit suicide by running into the road expecting a car to hit him. Then his cousin took him to a local foster home.
Simon Fordi (Source: Roman Cuprik )
At this point the Slovak Integra Foundation found him and connected him with a Slovak sponsor going under the name Milena who paid for his education, rent payments and so on.
Simon was among our first children and we are proud of him, Allan Bussard, chair of The Integra told The Slovak Spectator.
So far Integra has helped more than 1,200 children by such long-distance adoptions.
After his studies Fordi started selling solar lamps to people living in rural areas without electricity. The business was going well until his Chinese supplier disappeared. Then he tried to run his own hairdressers which he had to close after a few months due to low income.
Currently he is married and has a son. He settled into a successful business providing printing and office supplies to the government.
Ive never met Milena and never had a chance to shake hands with her but I value her as my own mother, Fordi said.
Jobs for the poorest
However, NGOs also try to prevent children and families from needing humanitarian help. For example, Ten Senses Company partnering with the Slovak Foreign Ministry developed registered fair-trade groups comprising macadamia and cashew nut farmers in Kenya. The factory processing those nuts gives jobs directly to around 1,000 people and to around 30,000 farmers supplying them.
I believe that economic opportunities are the basis for everything, Bussard said. With a good salary a mother working in our factory can pay for school fees and health care for her children without charity.
Also Mukuru Promotion Centre seeks the same goal, according to director Marian Caucik of Dobra Novina (Good News) Charity Organisation which cooperates with the centre. He points to a small workshop which is part of the centre.
The sounds of banging and sawing can be heard as around ten young men learn how to do basic construction work. It is a valued skill in a city that is constantly constructing new buildings and replacing dirt roads with paved ones.
I was a child beggar on the street when people of the centre found me, 23-year-old workshop class teacher Stalis Adera told The Slovak Spectator. Thanks to them I was able to change my life and find a job at a construction company.
Similarly, the Slovak Two-Colour World civic association provides women living in Eldoret citys slum with an educational course teaching them tailoring, hairdressing and computer literacy. When 9-month course ends, volunteers help them to create an individual business plan, supply them with some equipment for their trade and they can launch their own small business.
(Source: Roman Cuprik)
Some of them now make approximately ten dollars per day instead of one, others build brick houses or have become small employers, according to Martina Bencova Utesena, the Two-Colour World Chairwoman.
Kenyans often do not want to leave their country and become economic migrants. Moreover, skillful Kenyans realise that they can more easily find a good job in Kenya than abroad, according to Attila Molnar, Slovak co-owner of the factory processing nuts.
When we speak about higher managerial positions, they can earn more here in Kenya than in Slovakia, Molnar told The Slovak Spectator. On the other hand, some of them are so disappointed by corruption that they would rather leave their country.
Battling corruption
Despite the governments and third sectors efforts the slums in Nairobi are growing. When Mary Killeen, an Irish Sister of Mercy came to Nairobi in January 1976 the Mukuru slum consisted of just a few houses. Currently, some of 600,000 people living there are constructing second floors on their small houses.
Now, a lot of people come to the slums because they live in dry areas where is no food, Killeen told The Slovak Spectator. If they dont come to town, they might starve and die.
Besides droughts, charities and NGOs also battle wide-spread criminality and corruption. For example, some schools in slums have been completely sacked by locals as well as their own employees.
Moreover, local developers boldly try to obtain land under the slum schools to use it for their housing business, according to Killeen.
Mukuru slum (Source: Roman Cuprik)
Also the nut factory has been robbed several times and faced exceeding bureaucracy together with corruption, according to Molnar.
If the strongest people are corrupted, common people have no motivation to change their country, Bussard said.
Despite everything, people in Kenyan slums have a lot of energy and enthusiasm to improve their lives. Around 60 percent of children that pass secondary education can make it out of them, according to Killeen.
Some of the successful people are even returning to do charity work for people in their former community.
Those are great stories which motivate us, Caucik said.
Some observers believe the video might lead to increasing security risks for Slovakia.
Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled
A POLICE unit arrested a young woman in the northern-Slovak town of Ruzomberok for her display of internet hate crime.
The new provisions in the Criminal Code to face extremism-motivated crimes have been effective only since the start of this year but they have already been applied in the case of a French exchange student who had been beaten in Banska Bystrica, and in the case of a young woman who recorded a video in which she among other things, burns the Quran.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
These cases now fall under the scope of the work of a special police unit the National Criminal Agency (NAKA), the Specialised Criminal Court and the Special Prosecutor's Office. The woman from the video could end in prison for up to six years for her deed. Meanwhile, some security analysts agree that her video might have increased the security risks for the country.
The Quran incident
Sheila Szmerekova, who previously went by the name Adriana Melekova (and has two Facebok profiles, one for each of her names), recorded and published the video in mid-December 2016 but it only attracted wider public attention after she created a Facebook event, around February 16, for people who support her.
The event however never took place because on February 17 NAKA arrested her and charged her with the crime of producing extremist materials and the crime of violence against a group of citizens, defamation of race and confession and incitement of hate based on nationality, race, and ethnicity.
In the video, Szmerekova, standing in an outdoor location in front of a Slovak flag, first presents a book entitled The Quran (in English). She then proceeds to tear pages out of the book, throw them on the ground, and finally sets them on fire. She also urinates on the pages of the torn book, all the while giving a hate speech against Muslims whom she labels parasites.
The tabloid media have publicised the problematic background of the 24-year-old woman. She reportedly lived with her mother in a poor community in the northern Slovak town of Ruzomberok, where she was allegedly raped by a group of men at the age of 14. Later she was staying in a resocialisation facility where she was reportedly impregnated under unspecified circumstances. Her child, who is now seven years old, lives with a professional family.
On Sunday, February 19, the judge of the Specialised Criminal Court ruled for the woman to be taken into custody. Both the accused and the prosecutor filed a complaint against the ruling.
Threat for Slovakia?
Well-known blogger Jan Bencik who won last years White Crow Award for his fight against extremism and fascism, reacted on his blog where he regularly exposes hate speech of Slovak extremists on social networks and blogs.
In his text on the blog of Dennik N from February 18, Adrianas public blasphemy and reactions to it, Bencik summed up the reactions of extremists, who have in the meantime labelled her the Joan of Arc of the 21st century. Bencik however also noted that it was positive to read that many, even some of the LSNS supporters disapproved of Szmerekovas conduct.
Bencik in the text of his blog also pointed to the fact that she also offended the Slovak national flag, which she used as the background for her performance.
Since the Slovak flag was in the background all the time, she linked it with her disgusting exhibition and thus exposed Slovakia and its citizens to real danger, Bencik wrote. He noted that the video has been seen by over 147,000 people and it has also received attention abroad.
Analysts voiced the opinion that the video might pose a security risk for Slovakia to some extent, especially if it brings about a wave of similar endeavours among Szmerekovas supporters.
Expert on rightist extremism and radicalism Tomas Nociar however believes it to be too alarmist to present the video as an increase in security risks in the country, "mainly in the context of the fact that in almost every European country we could find examples of similar excesses".
New law in action
The new provisions in the Criminal Code to face extremism-motivated crimes have been used for the first time in the case of the beating of a foreign student in a bar in Banska Bystrica. A man aged 31 and identified as Peter P. from Banska Bystrica, who attacked a French student aged 20 on January 12 in a night club, has been charged by the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) investigator with bodily harm and rioting, the Sme daily wrote two days later.
Spokesperson for the Police Corps Presidium Denisa Baloghova confirmed that the motivation for the attack was the skin colour of the injured man.
This is the first case of the crime of extremism when the prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor's Office (USP) has filed a proposal for pre-trial custody since the new legislation has become effective, spokesperson for the General Prosecutor's Office, Andrea Predajnova, said.
The amendment is part of a legislative package that transposes a number of legally binding EU directives into Slovakias legal system. The changes should enable more effective investigations into extremism-related crimes, Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska (Most-Hid) expects.
The amendment also introduces new classifications of racially motivated hate crimes and specifications of what constitutes extremist materials.
On February 20, Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska defended the new set of Criminal Code rules in her op-ed for Dennik N she wrote that we should not turn extremists into victims.
For crimes to be classified as racially motivated, it is no longer necessary that there is an actual, but also perceived belonging of an individual or individuals to some race, nation, nationality, or ethnic group, Zitnanska wrote.
To maintain the competitiveness, the Slovak government must support digitising the economy and take a positive stance towards the ICT sector, according to experts.
Font size: A - | A +
The importance of information and communication technologies will only increase, but this remains a challenge for Slovakia and its economic reliance on industrial manufacturing.
Companies will digitalise their processes and will need significantly more internet computer technology (ICT) experts, Mario Lelovsky, the head of the IT Association of Slovakia (ITAS) wrote in the intro to the Importance of the ICT Sector for Slovakia study for 2016.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
Slovakia is traditionally a strong industrial economy, which these changes will affect the most, he predicts.
In order to maintain the competitiveness of Slovakias economy the Slovak government must support digitising the economy and take a positive stance towards the ICT sector on all levels starting with education via re-qualifications up to motivating companies to innovate, Lelovsky said.
Education remains a challenge, since there is not just a lack of teachers but also low interest of young people in studying IT. ICT companies have also been calling for better conditions for doing business in Slovakia. All told Slovakia is estimated to lack more than 10,000 IT experts.
ICT sector in Slovakia
The ICT sector accounts for 4.6 percent of GDP, compared to 13 percent of GDP generated by the automotive industry. While the ICT share may look small, it has been achieved by a labour force making up only 2.3 percent of the employment in Slovakia or just 62,000 people, according to the study Importance of the ICT Sector for Slovakia study for 2016 ITAS elaborated in cooperation with INESS Consult.
The ICT sector is specific with a large number of small companies with one to three employees and a large number of self-employed on one side and some dominant companies on the other.
The average wage of an ICT worker was 1,968 per month in 2014, 93 percent higher than the average wage in the Slovak economy. High wages mean also high compulsory health and social insurance contributions as well as paid income taxes.
In terms of corporate taxes, ICT companies paid 167 million in 2014 which accounted for 8.6 percent of corporate taxes paid by all companies.
Moreover, the return of the state aid in ICT is 0.7 years whereas in the automotive industry it is 4.2 years. ITAS also points out that while the state is supporting the arrival of the fourth carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover, which is building a brand new plant near Nitra with a subsidy of 130 million, this sum is four times greater than all the incentives for the ICT sector ever provided by the state.
Experts agree that the ICT sector has an enormous importance for Slovakias economy.
(Source: The ICT sector in Slovakia study, INESS)
Slovak economic growth used to be driven mainly by the thriving manufacturing sector, especially its automotive part, but in recent years the country has seen an increase in the importance of the ICT sector, Katarina Muchova, economic analyst with the Slovenska Sporitelna bank, told The Slovak Spectator.
The gross value added contribution of the information and communication sector was almost 5 percent of the total in the first half of 2016, according to Muchova.
Although it is unlikely at the moment that ICT will take over the dominant position of manufacturing, the country supports the sector as it understands its increasing importance, said Muchova.
According to the World Economic Forum, Slovakia is transitioning from an efficiency-driven to innovation-driven stage of development, and thus should implement measures to support innovation and R&D.
Addressing research and innovation, support to SMEs, quality education and inclusive labour markets may foster convergence and competitiveness of the Slovak economy, helping to achieve sustainable growth in the long run, said Muchova.
Muchova recalled that the European Commission approved Slovakias Research and Innovation operational programme for the 2014-2020 period with allocations reaching up to 2.3 billion. The priorities relate to particular economic areas (among them automotive and mechanical engineering industries, ICT, consumer electronics and electrical equipment) as well as addressing the scientific and research capacities of the country.
Source of innovation and growth
Ivan Luzica, partner at Deloitte in Slovakia, sees the ICT sector as an engine propelling the economy.
It is exactly this sector which is the source of innovation and growth, Luzica told The Slovak Spectator.
The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranking in Central Europe that Deloitte published in late October 2016, proves this. It is prepared based on their five-year revenue growth.
Five Slovak companies placed in the latest annual ranking. Compared with 2015 Slovakias position remained more or less stable. But in 2013 only two Slovak companies appeared in the ranking and in 2014 it was three.
Slovakia again had a representative in The Big Five, the ranking of companies that are too big to compete with the smaller companies. But in 2016, Eset, which had been on this list for 13 consecutive years, was replaced by software company Aliter Technologies.
On the other hand, for the second consecutive year Slovakia wasnt represented in the category of Rising Stars.
Analysis of the international rankings shows that Slovakia achieves the average or below-the-average values and the tendency is both for the values and the standing of Slovakia to fall back or at best to stagnate, according to the Importance of the ICT Sector for Slovakia study for 2016. In one of the rankings that assesses the overall development of the ICT sector, Slovakia has fallen behind other six countries in comparison with 2011. The same applies to its unfavourable 20th position from among 28 EU countries in the ICT Development Index where Slovakia appeared in the 45th position and which resulted in a lower position in Digital Economy and Society Index 2015 with a total score of 0.42.
In this regard, Slovakia is in the same group with other countries with low performance that achieve results only slightly above the average, reads the study.
(Source: ICT Market Report 2014/2015, EITO)
When comparing various indexes and criteria, the study identifies the public sector as the weakest link.
Slovakia lags behind in areas like enforcement of the law and public procurement of advanced technologies where it ranks among the least progressive not only in comparison with other western European countries but also in global rankings, reads the study.
It identifies four problematic areas with a rather big influence of the state. These are inefficiency of the public administration, lack of human capital, weaknesses of the business environment and availability of broadband internet connection.
Lack of IT experts
Out of all challenges the ICT sector faces, the lack of IT experts is probably the most urgent. The sector lacks people even though the average wage of an ICT worker is high.
Almost immediately only a part of ITAS members would be able to employ more than 10,000 people, said Lelovsky.
In this respect Lelovsky sees large space for improvement while Slovakia should take neighbouring countries, in which a foreign professional can get a work permit within a few days as an example.
In Slovakia this takes more than six months, said Lelovsky.
But what Lelovsky sees as the biggest hindrance in the development of the ICT sector is education. Not only are there no people to teach, but there is also a lack of interest among the young generation, which prefers lighter fields of studies and an uncertain future contrary to well paid positions in the ICT sector, which are not only about programming, according to Lelovsky.
Nevertheless, Lelovsky sees an improvement in terms of education as those responsible in the government have started to pay a greater attention to this matter.
We plan in cooperation with Labour Ministry to launch a project of re-qualification and together with the Education Ministry we are operating a project of IT Academy, said Lelovsky, adding that in the latter they plan not only to educate future employees but also those who would teach them.
(Source: Centrum vedecko-technickych informacii)
eGovernment matters
In 2015 Slovak President Andrej Kiska criticised the electronisation of state and public services in Slovakia for not progressing fast enough, despite the presence of ambitious projects.
ITAS perceives this criticism as justified but Lelovsky hopes that better times are coming.
In the meantime, as of November 2016 state bodies and institutions have to primarily communicate electronically via electronic letterboxes.
Prospects for the future
ITAS sees two possible developments for the ICT labour market. In the pessimistic one there would be no improvement on the part of the educational institutions despite the growing demand on the part of employers for a qualified workforce. This may lead to the departure of ICT companies from Slovakia due to lacking labour force, poorer performance by the ICT sector and missing the train on smart industry. The optimistic scenario is that changes are made in education and that employment in this sector grows.
I do not want to be too pessimistic, but there is still a lot of work ahead of us, said Lelovsky. We need a change in society; we need the state to realise that assembly halls are not here forever and that educated people can move the country in the proper direction.
Lelovsky pointed out that all the changes in education have one common feature, tech skills will be necessary no matter the profession.
And while in some sectors there will be more robots, the number of people who will be able to mend and maintain them will have to increase too, he said.
In this respect, the ITAS study highlights that information technologies are not solely about the electronisation of processes, or eGovernment, but also about improving efficiency across multiple sectors. Especially important they seem to be in the area of industrial production where it is already common to speak of a new technological revolution referred to as Industry 4.0.
Industry 4.0 represents a great opportunity for development of production with higher added value for Slovakias economy, reads the analysis. If the state does not create conditions for the growth of the ICT sector, Slovak companies will again only import new technologies, without the benefits their development brings.
Based on the estimates of the Boston Consulting Group - analysing implementation of new technologies in the German economy - these new innovations are going to increase productivity of the manufacturing sector by 5-8 percent with a possibility for carmakers to grow by more 10-20 percent, the study reads.
Foreign investors will understandably want to implement these innovations also in Slovakia where it is possible to count on similar values of growth, the analysis reads. This presents an immense opportunity for the ICT sector as well as a possibility to increase the manufacturing share of high added value in Slovakia.
But ITAS warns that this potential may well be hindered or even reversed under the current ICT conditions in Slovakia.
The UK has no intention of undermining the stability of the EU, nor do we want to become more distant to our European neighbours, including those here in Slovakia, the ambassador writes.
Font size: A - | A +
The British Parliament held a historic vote on 8 February when the House of Commons voted for the Article 50 Bill which sets out the process for leaving the European Union. This is a further step towards fulfilling the will of the British people as expressed by the referendum of 23 June. It was a serious debate with contributions from MPs representing all parts of the UK and across the political spectrum. The debate moved to the House of Lords this week. We fully expect the UK parliamentary process to be completed in the next few weeks so that the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, can issue the Article 50 notice by the end of March.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
The goal of our negotiation is clear: our desire to build a new partnership between Britain and the European Union that is in the interests of both sides. We want to see a strong and successful European Union and, of course, a strong Britain. This would be good for the European continent and for the World.
We have not rejected the values
The UK has no intention of undermining the stability of the EU, nor do we want to become more distant to our European neighbours, including those here in Slovakia. Our vote to leave the EU does not change the values we share. Nor was it an attempt to do harm to the EU or to any of its remaining member states. It was a vote to restore our tradition of parliamentary democracy, our national self-determination, and to become even more global and internationalist in action and in spirit.
We are determined to be one of the most vocal and active advocates for free trade anywhere in the world. And we will start with our closest friends and neighbours in Europe, by pursing a bold and ambitious Free Trade Agreement with the European Union, as our Prime Minister emphasised in her recent speech. An agreement that will give British companies the maximum freedom to trade with and operate within European markets while letting European businesses do the same in Britain. The UK is Europes second largest market, an engine room for growth in Europe. And barrier free and tariff free trade is beneficial for all the economies of Europe.
New cars already next year
As British Ambassador in Slovakia I am delighted to see the trade between Slovakia and the UK flourish, presently reaching over 5bn. Thousands of Slovaks wake up every morning and work for firms that make products or components destined for the UK market or for UK investors in Slovakia. Personally I am also very much looking forward to the first cars rolling off the JLR production line in Nitra next year. Thanks to the rapidly expanding number of direct flights between our two countries, Slovakia has become an increasingly popular destination for UK tourists (47% increase in 2015), helping economies also in the less developed regions. And those links also work in the other direction: there are about 95,000 Slovaks that live and work in the UK. I know the UKs vote to leave the EU club will have caused uncertainty about their future.
We offer fast decision
We believe EU citizens living in the UK make a vital contribution to our economy and our society. The British Prime Minister stands ready to move swiftly to agree arrangements for EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens currently residing in the EU. We believe this need not wait until the end of the two year negotiation period. Instead, we hope we can agree these arrangements early in order to give affected citizens and their families the certainty they desire. And the UK will keep pushing for a rapid conclusion in this area because it is the right and fair thing to do.
Andy Garth is the British ambassador to Slovakia
The Interior Ministry allocated 10 million for the project.
Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled
The project of Roma civil patrols will continue as the Interior Ministrz allocated some 10 million for this purpose.
The project of the patrols was so successful in the past that after its end many municipalities continued it and financed them from their own resources, said Governments Proxy for Roma Communities Abel Ravasz, as quoted by the TASR newswire, adding that municipalities and people need it.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
Read also:
Read also: Plan to fight Roma criminality questioned Read more
The towns and villages with marginalised Roma communities will be able to request money for patrols as of April. The governments proxy office promises to simplify the administration connected to submitting an application.
The Roma civil patrols are to cooperate with local and also state police officers and act as mediators as Roma may consider the police a repressive element.
Though they should not replace police, they may help it in some cases, like solving difficult problems and conflict situations or communicating with Roma, TASR reported.
Several flaws have arisen from the agreement signed with the energy regulator.
Font size: A - | A +
The Justice Ministry wants to check the experts who used to cooperate with the Regulatory Office for Network Industries (URSO) on analyses and opinions on distribution companies in the energy sector, which then influenced the creation of regulated prices, the Dennik N daily reported.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
Among the reasons for such a step is that the prices of quick expert opinions on the property of energy firms did not correspond with the price lists. Another reason is that some opinions were prepared by members of the companies bodies.
Moreover, the agreements for experts and authors of the materials for expert opinions are only very general and it is not clear what exactly they were supposed to have done. Some companies were not even listed in the register of experts, Dennik N wrote.
This was happening despite the fact that the creation of regulated prices was closely monitored by the government. URSO received an additional 1.8 million from the budget for this purpose.
Read also:
Read also: UPDATED: Former head of regulatory office sues Dennik N Read more
The result was to set new energy prices which, however, were too high. After several complaints and interference of the government, Jozef Holjencik resigned from the post of head of URSO.
The ministry will carry out an investigation to find out whether the experts violated their duties arising from the law on experts, said Justice Ministry spokesperson Peter Bubla, as quoted by Dennik N.
The experts for creating the prices were selected by URSOs management, while the agreements were signed by Holjencik who presides over the Slovak Chamber of Experts. URSOs management was responsible for choosing the experts based on need and also invoiced sums, the regulators spokesperson Radoslav Igaz confirmed for Dennik N.
Many of the sums, however, were exaggerated, the daily reported, calculating that if they were real, the experts would have to work 15 hours a day along with another job, as expertise is not a full-time job.
Dennik N tried to contact some experts, but they refused to comment on the topic.
Moreover, the daily reported that out of 17 experts who signed an agreement with URSO, 10 were employees of the company JHS, which was founded by Holjencik. The firm earned more than 135,000 for the opinions, plus thousands of euros more for materials often prepared by people close to JHS, the daily wrote after calculating the sums on the invoices.
In addition, several experts might have been in conflict of interest as they are members of bodies of distribution companies. The law however stipulates that if such conflict arises, they should be excluded from the proceeding, Dennik N wrote.
Bubla said that membership in bodies of scrutinised companies may be a reason for exclusion.
The increase was impacted by the security situation in the world and as well as the Slovak EU presidency.
Font size: A - | A +
Hoteliers in Slovakia recorded the highest number of guests in the history of the country last year and broke the record from 2015. The most foreign guests came from the Czech Republic, the CTK newswire reported.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
Altogether 5.02 million Slovak and foreign tourists used the services of accommodation facilities in Slovakia last year, up by one-sixth compared with 2015. The revenues of accommodation capacities rose by some 12 percent, the Hospodarske Noviny daily reported.
Three-fifths of the total number of guests were Slovaks, while the number of foreign guests was 2.03 million. This is 17.8 percent more than the year before.
The most foreign tourists traditionally come from the Czech Republic: about 621,500 people, which is an annual increase of 21.9 percent, CTK reported.
One of the reasons for increasing interest in spending a holiday in Slovakia is the security situation in the world. As a result, many locals decided to spend their holiday in their home country, CTK reported.
Read also:
Read also: Bratislava reports increase in visitors Read more
Another reason was the Slovak Presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2016. Bratislava had to accommodate about 25,000 delegates from Europe and the world. The capital also accommodated some 909,000 tourists until late September 2016, which is an increase of 16.6 percent compared with the previous year.
There have been also several big events, while the number of business clients and tourists coming to Bratislava has also been increasing for the past 1.5 years, Marek Harbulak of the Association of Tourism in Slovakia told Hospodarske Noviny.
Any changes should be discussed by experts in advance, the ministry says.
Font size: A - | A +
The current system of care for pregnant women and infants is unfavourable, making it impossible for midwives to support the maternal skills of mothers as much as they wish and as required by modern women, said the Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives (SKSaPA) on February 21.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
Following talks with the Health Ministry, MEP Jana Zitnanska has said recently that pre- and post-natal care covered from the public health insurance scheme could soon be provided by midwives working in private practice to mothers in their homes. The ministry wants to discuss the issue further, the TASR newswire reported.
Were in favour of such a discussion, said SKSaPA head Iveta Lazorova, as quoted by TASR. Were capable of providing much greater assistance to women in their homes before and after giving birth.
Currently, most midwives end up working in hospitals. Expecting women would appreciate greater assistance from midwives, but many of them can't afford it because health insurance usually doesn't cover such maternity services at home, according to SKSaPA.
Slovakia has around 1,900 midwives at the moment, which is not a high number, said the chamber. However, if all health insurance covered their services in womens homes, interest in providing this kind of services would be greater, Lazorova said.
She went on to give assurance that midwives do not intend to replace doctors and gynaecologists.
On the contrary, midwives could help, Lazorova added, as quoted by TASR. During their visits to pregnant women and women in the six-week post-natal period, they could identify problems and refer the women to gynaecologists in a timely manner.
The Health Ministry is working on identifying the range of duties exercised by midwives that would affect the practical requirements for the provision of services by midwives in home environments, said its spokesperson Zuzana Eliasova.
It encourages proposals for enhancing services in home settings, Eliasova said, but added that their actual implementation and the setting of requirements will be pre-conditioned by a discussion involving experts from all relevant fields and by clear-cut rules, as reported by TASR.
Although President Andrej Kiska repeatedly refused to ink the amendment to the law on religious freedom and the status of religious communities, it will become valid as of March 1.
Font size: A - | A +
The bill drafted by the coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) was passed, as parliament has overturned the presidents earlier veto on January 31, the TASR newswire wrote on February 22.
The law stipulates that as of March, signatures of at least 50,000 adult believers with permanent residence in Slovakia will become necessary for an official registration a significant rise when compared to the currently required 20,000.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
The amendment should forestall speculative registration of alleged religious communities aimed at acquiring financial contributions from the state, according to the SNS.
Read also:
Read also: Registration of churches to become stricter Read more
Kiska proposed that MPs refuse the bill as a whole, reasoning that it interferes erroneously in fundamental rights and freedoms as guaranteed by the Constitution. Kiska also argues, as cited by the SITA newswire, that the declared goal of the bill was, according to the SNS, to eliminate speculative registration of alleged religions and religious communities which have as their ultimate purpose financial contributions from the state. Kiska opines that the MPs filing the draft bill failed to prove in any way that the risk of fraud in registering new religions or communities has been rising. He also added that the number is inadequate due to the actual number of citizens, as only four of the currently 18 registered religions would qualify under the new rules. It is also inadequate when compared with other EU member states.
Proposing MPs argue with money
Religions and religious communities can freely operate in Slovakia de iure and also de facto, while the state limits their operation only in respect of legal order, said Tibor Bernatak of the SNS. He added that by registering with the Culture Ministry, these religions gain many advantages; they can, for example, ask the state for financial contributions to pay salaries to their clergy, to operate religious schools or to provide religious education in schools.
However, this state has a legitimate right to determine the registration conditions and these are fulfilled by those religions whose believers represent a not inconsiderable number of Slovak citizens, Bernatak opined. SNS does not want, though, to limit anyones religious freedom, as this is a fundamental human right of every person.
Slovakia will increase expenditure with neither spheres nor target countries changing substantially.
Font size: A - | A +
This stems from an agreement with the Finance Ministry, Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said on February 22, after the cabinet okayed the annual plan for bilateral development assistance for 2017.
Based on the government's approval of the document today, we may launch calls for proposals now, the minister said, as cited by the TASR newswire. Neither our priorities nor the countries [receiving aid] have changed. It's a total of 10 countries, or nine plus one, where our primary focus is on development assistance.
Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement
Special attention is being paid to Southern Sudan, which is grappling with specific humanitarian and social concerns. For humanitarian and development assistance to evolve into economic cooperation and a dialogue, Slovakia would need to have a diplomatic presence there.
Slovakia's chief ambition this year is to deal with the fragmentation and to further expand the capacities and powers of the national development agency, through a gradual increase in the volume of funds directed for development aid, according to a approved proposal.
In line with the development aid programme for 2017, Slovakia will focus on three countries Afghanistan, Kenya and Moldova.
In Afghanistan, the aid will primarily be used for education, agriculture and reformation of the security sector. The Foreign Ministry will allocate 200,000 for development aid in Afghanistan in 2017 from the Slovak Aid budget. This sum does not include the expected additional contribution for supporting this country.
Programme cooperation with Kenya in 2017 will be strengthened by a new inter-governmental agreement on development aid. The novelty will be the joint project by the Visegrad Group/V4 countries (the CzechvRepublic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) to be financed from the EU Trust Fund for Africa. The Foreign Ministry will allocate 1.2 million for development aid in Kenya this year.
In Moldova, Slovakia is set to focus mainly on the correct functioning of the country's public administration, water and sanitation. The ministry will designate 600,000 for this.
Meanwhile, Syria, along with its neighbouring countries and Southern Sudan, will remain Slovakia's territorial priorities in 2017 as well. The state will also focus on Serbia and Macedonia, for which it will provide humanitarian aid.
Dane Reynolds is currently being held in jail in Lisbon International airport, according to filmer and longtime accomplice Jason Mini Blanchard.
According to Blanchards IG, Dane has has his shoelaces removed (so he doesnt hang himself), and even his phone (presumably why its not on Danes Insty).
His crime? Lost his passport.
Presumably Dane (pictured at Londons Gatwick Airport, the hub of choice for package holiday chavs flying Virgin) had his passport when he departed America, and had it at Gatwick, but lost it between London and Lisbon.
(Our guess is Pret A Manger, South Terminal. Either there or JD Sports)
A similar, yet much worse fate once befell Aritz Aranburu, who was locked up in a South African airport jail merely for the logo on the front of his passport being a bit rubbed out. Aritz was on lock down a few days, got deported back to Spain, got a new passport and went back to SA all in time for his WQS heat.
Our thoughts are with Dane at this difficult time.
#FreeDane
Scientists at NASA believe that they have identified the presence of the mysterious dark matter that constitutes over 85 percent of our universe. While examining the Andromeda galaxy with Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, astronomers have detected the presence of Gamma rays in the centre of the galaxy similar to that found at the centre of Milky Way.
Gamma rays are the highest-energic form of light and are produced when cosmic rays and particles moving at the speed of light interact with interstellar gas clouds and starlight. The energetic waves are common in our galaxy Milky Way. However, astronomers got surprised when they saw gamma rays emission confined within the centre of Andromeda galaxy instead of spreading throughout the galaxy.
Scientists explained that several unknown sources can lead to the emission of gamma rays and dark matter is one of them. We expect dark matter to accumulate in the innermost regions of the Milky Way and other galaxies, which is why finding such a compact signal is very exciting, said lead scientist Pierrick Martin, an astrophysicist at the National Center for Scientific Research and the Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse, France. M31 will be a key to understanding what this means for both Andromeda and the Milky Way.
High concentration of pulsars at the centre of the galaxy could also potentially led to the emission of gamma rays. However, scientists are unable to resolve two objects distinctly as Andromeda galaxy is located at several light years far from Earth. Present generation telescopes are not evolved enough to identify each pulsar separately in a closely packed cluster of pulsars at such distance.
Researchers have seen gamma rays in Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy, and now they are planning to use the data to solve the mysteries of dark matter and gamma ray emissions.
We dont fully understand the roles cosmic rays play in galaxies, or how they travel through them, said Xian Hou, an astrophysicist at Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Kunming, China, also a lead scientist in this work. M31 lets us see how cosmic rays behave under conditions different from those in our own galaxy.
According to NASA scientists, they need more data to solve the mystery of elusive dark matter.
NASAs Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was launched on June 11, 2008, and since then it has been helping scientists in studying astrophysical and cosmological phenomena such as active galactic nuclei, pulsars, other high-energy sources and dark matter.
The study will appear in The Astrophysical Journal.
The human gut is a complex and amazing system, and the more we learn about it, the more amazed we are. It turns out
Advanced Placement
AP Exam Pass Rates Rise Even as Participation Doubles
The College Board, which runs the Advanced Placement program, with courses that grant college credit to high schoolers, used the timing of its release of 2016 AP results to encourage states to continue subsidizing access to AP exams for low-income students and to promote its newest AP course, AP Computer Science Principles.
First, the results from 2016. According to the non-profit, which also runs the SAT college entrance exam program, the number of public high school students (typically juniors and seniors) taking at least one AP exam has doubled over the last decade, from 645,000 in 2006 to 1.1 million in 2016. The pass rate (those high school students who have scored 3 or higher) has also gone up, from 14 percent in 2006 to almost 22 percent in 2016.
Among individual states, the top scorers in 2016 were:
Massachusetts, where 31 percent of students passed an AP exam;
Maryland, where 30.4 percent passed;
Connecticut, where 30.1 percent passed;
Florida, where 29.5 percent passed; and
California, where 28.5 percent passed.
Even as more students are taking part in the AP program, performance hasn't declined. "There is a widespread belief in education that it is impossible to expand access while maintaining high performance. The AP program tells a different story," said David Coleman, president and CEO of the College Board, in a prepared statement. "Across the country AP participation rates are rising, as are passing rates for AP exams. State and district leaders who have acted decisively to increase AP access are seeing those efforts pay off for students."
Access encompasses two aspects. First, there's access to college credit the guarantee that a state's public colleges and universities will award credit for AP exam scores that qualify. The College Board said currently 22 states have AP credit policies in place.
Second, there's access to the exams themselves. Starting in 1998, the federal government dedicated funding for AP exam fee discounts for low-income students, and the College Board itself reduced the fees for a total of 450,000 students. Changes to school funding introduced by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) eliminated the direct federal coverage and put the burden on states and local education agencies to pick up the slack, tapping their own budgets or using funding under ESSA Title IV or Title I.
That was the case in Kentucky, which announced in December that its department of education would use state funds to cover the gap posed by ESSA, and Texas, where the state's education agency recently said that it would provide funding for each AP exam taken by low-income students through a combination of state subsidies and ESSA Title IV-A federal funds.
Starting in summer 2017, Title IV-A funds may be used to cover part or all of the cost of AP exam fees for low-income students in any school, to fund specific AP courses and exams, and to increase student access to postsecondary-level instruction and exams, including AP.
Also, under the new education regulations, states will be allowed to set aside three percent of their Title I funds from fiscal year 2017 to provide grants to districts for "direct student services," which may encompass helping to fund AP exam fees and offering AP courses not currently provided. That option will be available beginning with the May 2018 exams.
The organization behind the AP program also heralded the popularity of its new course, AP CS Principles, which launched in fall 2016 and has been picked up by more than 2,500 schools. According to the College Board, the classes in this program can be led by teachers from myriad backgrounds, enabling schools that lack dedicated computer science teachers to deliver the course.
"We believe all students deserve to attend a high school that provides coursework like AP Computer Science Principles, a class designed to prepare students for the incredible career opportunities of our century," noted Trevor Packer, the College Board senior vice president responsible for the AP CS program.
A moviemaker (, shown above) returns, after 40 years, to the Paraguayan city -- Asuncion -- in which he spent what turns out to be a most important and formative time, and the result is) one of the more beautiful, poetic, sad and moving chronicles to time past, love lost and history's most enduring struggle. That struggle is first seen early on, as our filmmaker visits an art show in the city,, in which he views a group of haunted/haunting photographs and notices, as he tells us, "a naive painting meant to represent thethat the rich see everywhere -- like they did Communism." What volumes that small sentence speaks to the unending battle here in the USA, in South America,, between progressive forces and entrenched wealth/power.M. Dubosc's lovely, moving and quietly angry documentary is getting a very necessary run at New York'sthis week (co-presented by), beginning Friday, February 24 -- clickto view screening dates times -- along with other of his work. Seeing this 89 minute documentary makes me wonder why the filmmaker is not better known. Forty years agowas in power in Paraguay, and the little country was experiencing similar horrors to those we may know more about that occurred under military dictatorships in Argentina and Chile. Dubosc managed to emerge from Paraguay with life and limb intact, but, clearly, what happened there to him, his friends, co-workers and in particular a paramour, have left an indelible mark on the man.Written with exquisite attention to detail, meaning and even cadence, the movie's narration is poetic and beautiful, and spoken in French, which is certainly among if notworld's most beautiful language. When, midway, the movie 's narration changes to Spanish via another voice, the result seems jarring. Featuring mostly black-and-white cinematography which is often breath-taking in its composition, as well as its lights, darks and glorious greys, the movie is a visual treat. (The oddly inserted and only very occasional color photography simply underscores how much better is that elegant black and white.)We hear about Stroessner and see one of the airplanes used to toss into the sea the sleeping bodies of literally thousands between the years of 1976 and 1983 -- carried out, as Dubosc tells us, "in the name of Western, Christian, neo-liberal civilization." We meet and view his friend, Hernan, below, and learn via a charming anecdote how the man became a successful sculptor.So have things gotten better in present-day Paraguay? This looks questionable, as we see a more recent and quite violent expulsion of landless peasants. All this is a very personal look at everything from Paraguay's politics and history to anecdotal evidence, along with archival photos coupled to present-day narration and cinematography.When Dubosc first came to this country, it was to make a film about a typical peasant/farmer family and its experiences. Finally, toward the end of, we watch that family now as they and their offspring view that old documentary, and smile, sometimes laugh at what they see. We see parts of that film, too, even as we also learn that the current family of General Stroessner is pushing to have the man's ashes returned to the country for a commemoration complete with political speeches.We also learn that a certain U.S. President, Lord of the Drones, met with Paraguay's then-President, and all was well., again. Finally, we get a tiny history of the relationship between Dubosc and the woman he loved and cared about while in Paraguay, and whom he betrayed, at least emotionally, if not perhaps in other ways. This is a memorable, intriguing, unsettling documentary: part memory piece, part guilt trip, part poetry -- all of it unusual and special. Clickfor further information on AFA and all screening dates and times. (The filmmaker himself will appear in person on Friday, February 24, for the film's AFA premiere.)
Blog Archive November 2022 (2) October 2022 (2) September 2022 (4) August 2022 (5) July 2022 (4) June 2022 (5) May 2022 (5) April 2022 (6) March 2022 (3) February 2022 (4) January 2022 (4) December 2021 (7) November 2021 (4) October 2021 (5) September 2021 (4) August 2021 (6) July 2021 (2) June 2021 (4) May 2021 (3) April 2021 (5) March 2021 (6) February 2021 (3) January 2021 (6) December 2020 (4) November 2020 (8) October 2020 (7) September 2020 (3) August 2020 (7) July 2020 (6) June 2020 (4) May 2020 (8) April 2020 (9) March 2020 (6) February 2020 (4) January 2020 (2) December 2019 (3) November 2019 (2) October 2019 (3) September 2019 (3) August 2019 (3) July 2019 (3) June 2019 (1) May 2019 (1) April 2019 (2) March 2019 (1) February 2019 (1) January 2019 (2) December 2018 (1) November 2018 (5) October 2018 (7) September 2018 (6) August 2018 (5) July 2018 (2) June 2018 (5) May 2018 (4) April 2018 (3) March 2018 (5) February 2018 (6) January 2018 (9) December 2017 (7) November 2017 (5) October 2017 (7) September 2017 (9) August 2017 (6) July 2017 (9) June 2017 (6) May 2017 (8) April 2017 (8) March 2017 (12) February 2017 (8) January 2017 (12) December 2016 (10) November 2016 (8) October 2016 (4) September 2016 (2) August 2016 (5) July 2016 (6) June 2016 (4) May 2016 (5) April 2016 (3) March 2016 (9) February 2016 (5) January 2016 (7) December 2015 (8) November 2015 (5) October 2015 (6) September 2015 (4) August 2015 (7) July 2015 (3) June 2015 (5) May 2015 (9) April 2015 (5) March 2015 (5) February 2015 (8) January 2015 (7) December 2014 (8) November 2014 (9) October 2014 (13) September 2014 (10) August 2014 (7) July 2014 (10) June 2014 (10) May 2014 (12) April 2014 (10) March 2014 (14) February 2014 (10) January 2014 (14) December 2013 (14) November 2013 (9) October 2013 (17) September 2013 (14) August 2013 (23) July 2013 (19) June 2013 (16) May 2013 (23) April 2013 (23) March 2013 (29) February 2013 (31) January 2013 (31) December 2012 (31) November 2012 (49) October 2012 (60) September 2012 (48) August 2012 (40) July 2012 (20) June 2012 (32) May 2012 (18) April 2012 (47) March 2012 (61) February 2012 (59) January 2012 (44) December 2011 (57) November 2011 (58) October 2011 (54) September 2011 (51) August 2011 (53) July 2011 (57) June 2011 (46) May 2011 (34) April 2011 (36) March 2011 (43) February 2011 (48) January 2011 (36) December 2010 (23) November 2010 (31) October 2010 (30) September 2010 (29) August 2010 (20) July 2010 (24) June 2010 (21) May 2010 (23) April 2010 (38) March 2010 (39) February 2010 (35) January 2010 (40) December 2009 (29) November 2009 (33) October 2009 (33) September 2009 (43) August 2009 (49) July 2009 (34) June 2009 (29) May 2009 (33) April 2009 (48) March 2009 (32) February 2009 (25) January 2009 (37) December 2008 (19) November 2008 (35) October 2008 (90) September 2008 (77) August 2008 (67) July 2008 (37) June 2008 (36) May 2008 (33) April 2008 (28) March 2008 (34) February 2008 (33) January 2008 (31) December 2007 (18) November 2007 (23) October 2007 (23) September 2007 (23) August 2007 (26) July 2007 (29) June 2007 (26) May 2007 (30) April 2007 (30) March 2007 (25) February 2007 (20) January 2007 (14) December 2006 (20) November 2006 (18) October 2006 (20) September 2006 (20) November 2005 (1)
Baidu is stressing the "ai" in its name.
While US-based companies like Alphabet, IBM, Facebook, and Microsoft typically dominate US artificial-intelligence headlines, Chinas government is now accelerating the countrys own contributions to the field.
Chinas National Development and Reform Commission, a government agency tasked with planning economic and social strategies, will fund search giant Baidus development of a national deep-learning research lab, according to a post on Baidus Chinese WeChat account. The amount of funding was not disclosed, but Beijing-based Baidu will work with Tsinghua and Beihang universities, as well as other research Chinese institutions.
One important caveat: The laboratory wont be a physical structure, but instead a digital network of researchers working on problems from their respective locations, according to the South Morning China Post. The research will focus on computer vision, biometric identification, intellectual property rights, and human-computer interaction.
Baidu is dedicating the head of its own Deep Learning Institute, Lin Yuanqing, to the project, as well as computer scientist Xu Wei. The Chinese Academy of scientists will also have two representatives in the lab.
Although America is not mentioned in the companys post, Baidu chief scientist Andrew Ng has been vocal about Chinas accelerated AI growth compared to the US. Citing a statistic that more papers with Chinese than American authors were accepted into the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligences 2017 conference, Ng tweeted that the rise of Chinas AI research community was astonishing. That sentiment was echoed in the companys WeChat post announcing the new lab.
Ng chalks up the lack of credit to the media. There are many occasions of something being simultaneously invented in China and elsewhere, or being invented first in China and then later making it overseas, he recently told The New York Times. But then US media reports only on the US version. This leads to a misperception of those ideas having been first invented in the US
Story continues
This view can be contentious, especially as companies all over the world compete to plant flags on technological advancements. In a December tweet, Ng claimed that China first developed neural-network based translation and was met with a response from Facebooks head of AI research, Yann LeCun, who asked what Ng meant by claiming China developed a now-widespread product. Ng replied that he meant widespread adoption, backpedaling and noting that earlier research had been conducted by Canadian researcher Yoshua Bengio and others.
Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news.
More stories from Quartz:
(Adds market reaction)
WELLINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - New Zealand's competition regulator on Thursday rejected Sky Network Television (Frankfurt: A0ETX2 - news) 's proposed acquisition of Vodafone's New Zealand unit, saying that it would create a monopoly on premium sports content.
The decision sent shares in Sky TV plummeting 17 percent to NZ$3.6, its largest daily percentage drop on record.
The Commerce Commission said in a statement that its concerns about the NZ$1.3 billion ($930 million) deal outlined in October had not been assuaged.
"We have concerns that this could impact competitiveness of key third players in these markets," Commerce Commission Chairman Mark Berry said in the statement.
Vodafone said it will consider its options after it has examined the commission's decision.
"We are disappointed the Commerce Commission was unable to see the numerous benefits this merger brings to New Zealanders," Vodafone's New Zealand CEO Russell Stanners said.
The regulator had delayed its decision until February after asking Sky (Frankfurt: 893517 - news) and Vodafone for more details on the deal, which was first proposed in June.
Rival telecoms company Spark New Zealand (Other OTC: NZTCY - news) also opposed the deal and had received a court stay on Wednesday for a temporary halt if the regulator ruled in flavour of the sale.
Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Spark rose 2 percent when the market opened after the announcement.
"The Commerce Commission's decision to decline the proposed merger between Sky Network Television Ltd and Vodafone New Zealand is a big positive for Kiwi consumers," Sparks General Manager for Regulatory Affairs, John Wesley-Smith, said in a statement. (Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Toby Chopra and David Goodman)
The Anglo American logo is seen in Rusternburg October 5, 2015. Picture taken October 5, 2015. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo
By Eric Onstad and Rosalba O'Brien
LONDON/SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Anglo American (AA.L) said on Tuesday it will walk away from its El Soldado copper mine in Chile if it cannot agree with local regulators on a permit for a redesign of the operation.
The company's initial application for the redesign was rejected due to the potential for a collapse where the project crossed former underground operations, according to a regulatory document seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
Anglo said last week it had temporarily suspended operations at the mine, which produced around 36,000 tonnes of copper in 2015, after failing to get the regulatory approval. It did not give reasons for the project's rejection.
The company is still hopeful it will secure approval in three to four weeks, but if a satisfactory permit cannot be agreed, "we won't continue going forward with the operation", Chief Executive Mark Cutifani told a presentation following the group's earnings announcement in London.
In a report dated Jan. 30 that set out why it was rejecting the permit, Chilean mining regulator Sernageomin said the project interacted with an underground mine that closed in 2010 "which generates high potential risks for uncontrolled collapse."
The company had not considered the structure or geology sufficiently, it said. But it left a window open for Anglo to redesign the project.
"The mining company can register a new project that gives greater security to people and installations, according to the terrain," it said.
Anglo has said it believes its plan was safe.
"El Soldado is geotechnically complex, but we are confident that our plan for the mine is safe, a view that has been validated by internal and external experts in this field," the company said.
El Soldado is part of the Anglo American Sur complex, in which Chile's state-run Codelco [COBRE.UL] and Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi also hold stakes.
The mine has lost money in recent years and management has been following an aggressive savings plan against the backdrop of falling copper prices.
(Reporting by Eric Onstad in London and Rosalba O'Brien in Santiago; Editing by Jason Neely and Paul Simao)
OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore has handed over control of the defence portfolio to a new minister as the country battles to contain the spread of Islamist militant violence. Jean Claude Bouda, previously youth minister, moved into the role of defence minister in a cabinet reshuffle announced on Monday. Kabore had held the post himself but had faced calls from some politicinas to hand over responsibilty. Burkina Faso is struggling to stem the overflow of Islamist militancy from neighbouring Mali. Al Qaeda-linked fighters attacked a hotel in the capital, Ouagadougou, in January last year, killing 29 people. Militants have since staged numerous attacks near the northern border with Mali, including one in December that killed a dozen members of the army's special anti-terrorist group. [nL5N1EB51Y][nL8N150075] Simon Compaore, who had served as minister of territorial administration, was named minister of state for security in the reshuffle. (Reporting by Mathieu Bonkoungou; Writing by Joe Bavier, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Cuba stoked tensions across Latin America on Tuesday by blocking a former Chilean minister and one of Mexico's ex-presidents from travelling to the island to attend an award ceremony hosted by political dissidents. Chile said it was recalling its ambassador to Cuba for consultation and asking the Cuban government why Mariana Aylwin, a former education minister and daughter of an ex-president, was blocked from entering Cuba on Monday night. Aylwin was travelling to the island to receive a prize on behalf of her father. The event, planned for Wednesday, was organised by the Latin American Network of Youth for Democracy, a group opposed to the Communist government. Cuba opposes anything that legitimises dissidents, which it claims are funded by U.S. interests. The government is bracing for a tougher U.S. approach to the island under President Donald Trump. "Exercising the right (to travel between nations) should not be interfered with, especially given that Chile has recognised the feats of various figures in Cuban history and politics," Chile's Foreign Relations Ministry said in a statement. Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon tweeted on Tuesday that Cuban immigration prevented him from boarding a flight from Mexico City to Havana to attend the same meeting. Aylwin was prevented from checking in to her flight in Chile's capital, Santiago, apparently at the request of the Cuban authorities, she told journalists on Tuesday. Calderon, from Mexico's conservative National Action Party, ruled Mexico from 2006 to 2012 and improved relations with Cuba, which had been severely tested by his predecessor. Mexico's foreign ministry said on its Twitter account that it "regretted" Cuba's decision to block Calderon's entry. The group, known as JuventudLAC, has also invited Luis Almagro, the head of the Organization of American States, which suspended Cuba in 1962 for being Communist. It agreed in 2009 to lift the ruling, but Cuba declined to rejoin the Washington-based group, which it deems an instrument of its former Cold War foe the United States. "The behaviour of the Cuban government is deeply gross, vulgar and rude," Rosa Maria Paya, the group's leader and daughter of dissident Oswaldo Paya, who died in 2012, told Chilean media. "We have all received information that (invited guests) are receiving pressure from the Cuban government." Mariana Aylwin is seen as an ideological leader of the most conservative segment of Chile's centre-left ruling coalition. Her father was Chile's first democratically elected president after the 1973 to 1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. (Reporting by Gram Slattery in Santiago; Additional reporting by Sarah Marsh in Havana; Editing by James Dalgleish and Richard Chang)
Emmanuel Macron has suddenly found himself as the new poster boy of Europes beleaguered political centre. The insiders outsider, if you like. From Marseille to London thousands have been flocking to hear this insurgent presidential candidate for the French speak.
But just as pundits began to accept the bid from the former investment banker and minister of economy during the first half of Francois Hollandes presidency, a new controversy about the interpretation of colonial history has tested Macrons electoral appeal, and demonstrated that Frances colonial ghosts are alive and kicking.
On February 15, in an interview with the TV channel Echorouk News during a visit to Algeria, Macron followed protocol and spoke about his desire to build a bridge between France and its former colony. But in doing so, he addressed the subject of colonialism. He backtracked on a previous comment about the richness of colonial Algeria to brandish colonialism a crime against humanity.
Losing no time, a choir of commentators from the right interjected to castigate Macron for his shameful lack of patriotism. Francois Fillon, the candidate for the centre-right Les Republicains, sensed an opportunity to divert attention from his own scandals to brandish Macrons words as hateful of France, and demonstrating that he had no spinal cord.
To dramatise things further, Macron was on his way to the southeastern France, an area where there is substantial support for the right-wing Front National, led by Marine Le Pen. The region has a large concentration of pieds-noirs, or former European settlers from Algeria, who still nurture a sense of resentment over French abandonment of its colony. As scenes of a demonstration of pied-noir activists in the town of Carpentras reached the press, this latest spat turned into a full-on controversy and Macron suffered in the polls.
Macrons fragility
This chain of events reflects Macrons volatile position as the centrist in this election campaign. The former-socialist-turned-independent has succeeded in detaching his public image from his record as a minister in the Hollande government. His forward-looking attitude stands in sharp contrast to the projects of political nostalgia of Le Pen and Fillon. He has succeeded in attracting a truly diverse coalition of voters from left and right alike.
Story continues
This success, however, is fragile. Recent polls show that only 33% of voters who consider voting for Macron are sure they will do so on election day, while his centrist position has attracted comments on Twitter such as: Trying to be everywhere, he ends up being nowhere. In this context, remarks about colonial history seemed to be a way for Macron to appeal to a younger, left-leaning electorate by talking about social issues beyond his normal focus on economic reform.
At first glance, Macrons initial comments align with condemnation of colonial history that has become a marker of Frances political left in recent years. In 2005, the then left-wing opposition belatedly united to oppose a government bill, initiated by pied-noir associations, which ordered schools to stress the positive role of Frances overseas presence. The law was eventually dropped but the debate that emerged created new political fronts.
The right wing UMP (which has since changed its name to Les Republicains) ignored its history as the party of Charles de Gaulle, the president who had signed the 1962 Evian Agreements and retreated from Algeria to support the law. At the same time, the socialists skirted over their partys historical support of colonialism and the Algerian War to portray themselves as a party of inherent anti-colonialists.
This same dynamic continued in 2012. Shortly after winning the presidency, Hollande organised a state visit to Algeria, in which he expressed his regrets over the profoundly unjust and brutal colonial system. Left-wing reactions to his speech back in France celebrated him as a part of the left without complexes or compromises on the subject of the countrys colonial past. Meanwhile, the same right-wing politicians who had initiated the 2005 law deplored his act of repentance.
A loaded term
Even Macrons use of the term crime against humanity, which many observers denounced as inappropriate, goes back to a series of legislative actions to re-define Frances colonial past, most notably the 2001 law brought forward by the socialist Christiane Taubira that defined transatlantic slavery as a crime against humanity. In this context, it is unsurprising that Frances current minister for families, Laurence Rossignol, declared that Macrons words were a way to declare his affiliation to the left by stressing his anticolonial credentials.
Macrons reaction to the controversy suggests he had not intended to take a stand on a decidedly anti-colonial platform. On February 18, in Toulon, another pied-noir centre in southeastern France, he paraphrased an old speech of De Gaulle in Algeria as he backtracked and apologised to those offended by his first analogy: je vous ai compris (I understood you).
Macrons foray into the politics of memory was ill-conceived at best. Over the last decade, the debate about colonialism has exacerbated the polarisation of French politics and left no space for a search of any middle ground. In entering this quagmire, Macron was destined to be pulled into a barren debate about a balance sheet of colonialism where politicians express political allegiances by addressing Frances historical past as simply good or bad".
Nonetheless, there might be another reason for Macrons initial stance: his age. Unlike most voices in these loud fights about colonial history, Macron is too young to have experienced any of the events of decolonisation and its aftermath first-hand. He grew up in a society that engaged with the memory of colonialism rather than with its actual violence. As such, he is comfortable speaking about facing up to history, thinking that colonialism truly is consigned to the past. This could be the position of a true centrist in 21st century France.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
The Conversation
Itay Lotem does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.
Dressed as dragons, propping up stilts, and dancing in the streets, thousands of Haitians celebrated the opening of Carnival Sunday (February 19) in the commune of Jacmel. The town is located along the southern Haitian coast that was hit hard by Hurricane Matthew in October. Jacmel, a tourist town, was also hit hard by the massive earthquake that rocked the Caribbean nation in 2010. Since then, city officials have been striving to rebuild local tourism. Jacmel has a permanent population of more than 100,000. Haitians flock to the Carnival there.
Demonstrators held a town hall meeting over healthcare concerns in Vista, California, on February 21, at which they held up signs reading Wheres Issa? after Republican Congressman Darrell Issa declined to attend.
The event organizers had reportedly taken out a full-page advertisement in a local newspaper inviting Issa to hold a town hall meeting regarding health insurance, but he declined, citing costs to taxpayers. The organizers then crowdfunded the cost of the meeting, but Issa declined to attend.
Earlier in the day, supporters of and demonstrators against US President Donald Trump reportedly assembled outside Issas office in Vista. Credit: Twitter/TashiLynnCA via Storyful
By Gwladys Fouche OSLO (Reuters) - More than seven million people risk starvation in Nigeria's insurgency-hit northeastern region and around Lake Chad, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday ahead of a new funding appeal. Famine has been ongoing since last year in parts of Nigeria where the government is fighting a seven-year long Boko Haram insurgency. An international donor conference in Oslo on Friday will aim to raise a chunk of the $1.5 billion the United Nations says it needs to address deepening food insecurity in the region this year. "They are living on the edge, barely getting by on one meal a day," Toby Lanzer, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the Sahel, told Reuters. "My biggest concern today is starvation." Earlier this week the United Nations said 1.4 million children were at risk of "imminent death" in famines in Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. Lanzer said he was worried the Boko Haram insurgency would deter farmers from planting their crops after missing the last three planting seasons, and that the number of lives at risk could increase. He also expressed concerns the coming rainy season could harm vulnerable people. "Hungry people without shelter when it rains die," he said. Lanzer said the humanitarian response needed to go beyond food aid and include seeds, tools and fishing nets. Lanzer said he hoped a total $500 million will have been pledged by the end of February, including this week's funding round. Lanzer, who has also worked in South Sudan, Darfur and Chechnya, said it was difficult to estimate how many people would die from hunger in the next few months. "If we were to lose another planting season, I dread to think how severe the crisis could get," he said. Some 10.7 million people in northeastern Nigeria and around Lake Chad -- roughly two in every three people -- need humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations. Boko Haram militants have killed about 15,000 people and forced more than 2 million from their homes, and still launch deadly attacks despite having been pushed out of the vast swathes of territory they controlled in 2014. Lanzer cautioned that failure to address the deteriorating situation could encourage more Africans to try and flee to Europe. (Editing by Richard Lough)
FILE -- In this file photo taken on April 11, 2007, Egyptian cleric Osama Hassan Mustafa Nasr, known as Abu Omar, who was allegedly kidnapped by CIA agents off the streets of an Italian city and taken to Egypt where he said he was tortured, talks on his mobile as he walks at a Cairo street after attending Amnesty International press conference in Cairo, Egypt. A Portuguese court ordered police to extradite a former CIA agent Sabrina de Sousa to Italy, where she is due to serve a four-year prison sentence after being convicted of involvement in a U.S. program that kidnapped suspects for interrogation, her lawyer said Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2017. De Sousa was among 26 Americans convicted for kidnapping suspect Mustafa Nasr. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
LISBON, Portugal (AP) A former CIA agent will be handed over to Italy in the coming days to serve a four-year prison sentence after being convicted of involvement in a U.S. program that kidnapped suspects for interrogation, a lawyer said Tuesday.
Sabrina de Sousa spent the night in a women's prison near Lisbon after a Portuguese court ordered police to extradite her, her Portuguese lawyer, Manuel Magalhaes e Silva, told the Associated Press in an interview.
He said she was detained Monday after a two-year fight against extradition and would be put on a plane once formalities between Portuguese and Italian police were concluded.
De Sousa, 61, was among 26 Americans convicted of kidnapping suspect Osama Moustafa Hassan Nas, also known as Abu Omar, from a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003. She denied involvement in the abduction.
The U.S. rendition program, under which terror suspects were kidnapped and transferred to centers where they were interrogated and tortured, was part of the anti-terrorism strategy of the Bush administration following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Former President Barack Obama ended the program years later.
The U.S. government expressed concern with De Sousa's treatment.
"We are deeply disappointed in her conviction and sentence," acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement. "This is a matter that U.S. officials have been following closely. We have asked our European counterparts what their next steps may be, but we are not in a position to detail those discussions."
De Sousa lost several appeals against extradition since her arrest at Lisbon Airport in October 2015 on a European warrant. She had argued she was never officially informed of the Italian court conviction and couldn't use confidential U.S. government information to defend herself.
Once in Italy, De Sousa is expected to be taken to a women's prison in Milan, but her Italian lawyer Dario Bolognesi said he would immediately appeal to the Milan court to defer her imprisonment pending a decision on her years-long request for clemency. Other Americans convicted in the case have received clemency from the Italian president.
Story continues
Bolognesi met Tuesday with Justice Ministry officials who are reviewing the clemency request and emerged optimistic. Regardless, he said he would also request that De Sousa be granted semi-freedom and serve any sentence doing social work.
He disputed the written ruling by the Lisbon judges that said that the verdict in Italy that provided the grounds for the European arrest warrant was "not final." He said the Italian case went all the way to the highest court and is final.
Magalhaes e Silva, de Sousa's Lisbon lawyer and a human rights expert who said he took her case pro bono, said the European arrest warrant guaranteed de Sousa the possibility of a new trial or an appeal. Those assurances persuaded the Lisbon court to send her to Italy, he said. But last June the Italian authorities retracted that promise in a letter to the court, he said.
"It will be interesting to see what the Italian courts do when there's an extradition based on a European arrest warrant in which Italy guaranteed to Portugal that it would respect certain rights, then like a pariah state it turns around and says no," he said.
De Sousa, who was born in India and holds both U.S. and Portuguese passports, has said she had been living in Portugal and intended to settle there. She was on her way to visit her elderly mother in India with a roundtrip ticket when she was detained.
___
Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this story.
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's governing coalition proposed a new justice minister on Wednesday as part of a cabinet reshuffle it hopes will draw a line under a period of upheaval triggered by a decree on graft that it was later forced to scrap. The decree would have decriminalized several graft offences, effectively shielding dozens of public officials from prosecution. Its architect, Florin Iordache, quit as justice minister after mass protests involving at least half a million people and criticism from the European Union. The leadership of the ruling Social Democrat Party and its junior coalition partner ALDE, who have been in power little more than a month, named Tudorel Toader as Iordache's replacement. Toader, 56, is the chancellor of Iasi university and a former judge of the constitutional court. He is also a member of the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional matters. The leader of the ruling Social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea, said Toader would not be required to join the party. Also in the reshuffle, the coalition proposed that Economy Minister Alexandru Petrescu take over the trade and business portfolio after the previous minister, Florin Jianu, resigned over the graft decree before it was rescinded. Romania's President Klaus Iohannis, a former centre-right politician and a strong critic of the graft decree, must still approve the new ministers. Iohannis plans to hold a national referendum over anti-corruption reforms. Romania is one of the EU's most corrupt states and Bruseels keeps its justice system under special monitoring. It has repeatedly praised prosecutors and magistrates for their efforts to stamp out corruption, but has underlined a pattern of politicians trying to weaken the anti-graft drive. In a bi-annual country report released on Wednesday, the European Commission said: "The irreversibility of progress in the fight against corruption was recently put at risk. Corruption persists at all levels and remains an obstacle for doing business." (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Gareth Jones)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's military has created a force tasked with waging information warfare, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday, in a move likely to heighten the West's concerns about what it sees as Moscow-sponsored "fake news". Russian military planners, like their counterparts elsewhere, see the spreading of propaganda as a crucial part of modern warfare. Moscow's activities in this area are under intense scrutiny after U.S. intelligence agencies accused the Kremlin of mounting an "influence operation" to help Donald Trump win the U.S. presidential election last November. European intelligence agencies have also said Moscow is seeking to destabilise governments and influence elections in Europe with cyber attacks and fake news. Moscow has denied interfering in other countries' elections. In an address to the State Duma, or lower house of parliament, Shoigu said the new troops tasked with information warfare are more potent and effective than those used in the past. "Propaganda must be smart, competent and effective," the TASS news agency quoted Shoigu as saying. It did not specify when the troops were created. Vladimir Shamanov, the head of the State Duma defence committee, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying that the information operations troops have been "mainly created for the protection of the interests of national defence and for counter-activities in the information sphere". "Essentially the information conflict is a component of general conflict. Deriving from that, Russia has made an effort to form structures that are engaged in this matter," he said. Last week, General Petr Pavel, a Czech who heads NATO's military committee, said that Russia was behind a false report of a rape by German soldiers in Lithuania, warning that Europe should expect more such "fake news". Estonia's Foreign Minister Sven Mikser said he also expected more "hostile propaganda" from Russia due to its anger over the buildup of NATO forces in the Baltic republics near to its western borders. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Christian Lowe and Gareth Jones)
PRETORIA (Reuters) - At least 20 shops possibly belonging to immigrants were looted in South Africa's capital overnight, police said on Tuesday, but they could not confirm if the attacks had deliberately targeted foreigners. Anti-immigrant violence has flared sporadically in South Africa against a background of near-record unemployment, with foreigners being accused of taking jobs from locals and getting involved in crime. Responding to similar incidents in Pretoria at the weekend, Nigeria's foreign ministry said it would summon South Africa's envoy to raise its concerns over "xenophobic attacks" on Nigerians, other Africans and Pakistanis. South African police said they did not yet know the motive for the latest attacks, and no deaths had been reported. "There are allegations that these shops belong to foreign nationals," police spokeswoman Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said. "It is alleged that the community members are saying that these shops were used for drug dealing but that is unconfirmed. We will only be able to start a formal investigation once the shop owners come forward." The Atteridgeville neighbourhood, where the looting took place, was calm on Tuesday as police cars drove through the streets. "We are sick and tired of foreigners who are coming to sell drugs and kill our people, we can't let the community go down like this," said an unemployed man in his mid-twenties, who declined to be named. South Africa, with a population of about 50 million, is home to an estimated 5 million immigrants. In April 2015, Nigeria recalled its top diplomat in South Africa to discuss anti-immigrant attacks that killed at least seven people and sent hundreds of foreigners fleeing to safety camps, as authorities sent in soldiers to quell unrest in Johannesburg and Durban. In 2008, at least 67 people were killed in anti-immigrant violence, with thousands of people fleeing to refugee camps. (Reporting by Dinky Mkhize in Pretoria, Tanisha Heiberg in Johannesburg and Ulf Laessing in Lagos; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
By Sarah Marsh HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro made it clear to a visiting U.S. congressional delegation that his country was intent on pursuing market reform and detente with the United States, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy told a news conference on Wednesday. Leahy, a Democrat who has been key in efforts to normalize relations, was leading a bipartisan group of five U.S. senators and a representative on a three-day visit to the Communist-run island to discuss ties and explore business opportunities. Cuba watchers are looking closely for signs of how the fragile U.S. detente with Cuba will fare under Republican President Donald Trump, who has threatened to backtrack on it if he does not get "a better deal." Analysts say Cuba has played its cards well so far by not responding shrilly to such provocation and demonstrating its continued willingness to engage under the new president. Castro "wants reform to continue, he wants the movement forwards to continue," said Leahy at the news conference in the U.S. embassy, after meeting with the Cuban president on Tuesday. "The number of people he had from his administration talk to us made it very clear they want us to continue." The delegation met with Cuba's foreign, trade and agriculture ministers as well as with Castro. The group included Republican Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi who on Monday oversaw the signing of agreements between Cuba and two Mississippi ports. "Increasingly this issue of normalizing relations with Cuba is bipartisan, this isn't just Democrats, there are a lot of Republicans that believe we ought to do this as well," said Representative James McGovern, a Democrat. Support for the detente was also growing among the business and academic communities, said McGovern, who was traveling with a group of U.S. biotech experts keen to explore the sector in Cuba. "The movement is more significant in the U.S.A. today than at any time in my career in the Senate," said Leahy. "And I am the dean of the Senate, I have been there the longest," added Leahy, who was first elected to the Senate in 1974. The White House said earlier this month that the Trump administration was in the midst of "a full review of all U.S. policies towards Cuba." The visit came as a diplomatic incident highlighted continuing concerns about restrictions on human rights on the island. Cuban authorities prevented the head of the Organization of American States (OAS), a former Chilean minister and an ex-president of Mexico from traveling to Cuba to attend an award ceremony on Wednesday hosted by dissidents. Cuba opposes anything that legitimizes dissidents, who it claims are mercenaries funded by foreign interests. It also views the OAS as an imperialist instrument of the United States. OAS chief Luis Almagro reported that Cuban authorities said they were "astonished" at his involvement in "anti-Cuban activities" which were "an unacceptable provocation." A U.S. embassy official attended the ceremony, organized by the Latin American Network of Youth for Democracy, a group opposed to the Communist government. Almagro's seat was left empty in symbolic protest. "It may not be the smoothest of paths but it will continue," Leahy said of the U.S.-Cuban detente. "I would not be here today on one more trip if I didn't think that continuation of that progress is inevitable." (Additional reporting by Nelson Acosta in Havana and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)
There are eight countries with something in common, each has attempted, tested or proposed the idea of universal income. The plan has been abandoned in two cities in Canada, rejected in Switzerland and is ongoing in Iran, Uganda and Finland. #Sustainability: One charity is testing a pilot program of Universal Basic Income in a village in Ugandahttps://t.co/dbTL9yZ3aa pic.twitter.com/n1QmHl3Nd4 The Royal Vox Post (@RoyalVoxPost) November 27, 2016 Finland is the first European country to have a go. The idea is to observe what happens when individuals receive a fixed monthly sum from the state without restriction. Does the scheme act as a disincentive for those looking for work. A focus group of 2,000 unemployed people between 25 and 58 continue to receive state money for housing and health care. Under the plan unemployment benefits are abolished and the costs hit 20m per-year. Sini is 34, and part of the project. Each month, irrespective of whether she works or not, she will receive the same amount of state money:Its amazing to have the opportunity to have this kind of part time job, and also pleasing that whatever I get it increases my income rather than taking away from any benefit for example. Something for everyone: Finland is testing the universal basic income model. pic.twitter.com/aeoQ1IV8Cd DW Business (@dw_business) February 21, 2017 If at the end of the project, Finland concludes that those unemployed continue to look for work they will adopt the plan for the whole country. The scheme will end poverty and the state will free itself from costly administrative burdens. Johannes Kananen, is a researcher at the Universitetet i Helsingfors: At the moment, there are more than a hundred social security arrangements, why not replace them with just one, That would be bureaucratically much simpler, and people would have the freedom to chose for themselves what they do in the society. Is Finlands basic universal income a solution to automation, fewer jobs and lower wag https://t.co/w2SsTW8cMM pic.twitter.com/GQde3SOggM Global Issues Web (@globalissuesweb) February 19, 2017 Having a choice of what to do and the role to play in society is a utopian idea and it is the flagship policy of French Socialist presidential candidate Benoit Hamon. By 2018 in work benefits will be increased by 10 percent to to 600 and paid to all those eligible. At the same time an income of 750 will be avaliable to all young people from 18 to 25. This will then be extended to whole population at a cost of 45bn annually. Hamon knows the numbers are big. French Socialist Hamon Confident About Election Deal With Greens: French socialist presidential candidate Benoit Hamon said on Tuesday he pic.twitter.com/pQRH1Ky2SV VOA Africa (@VOAAfrica) February 21, 2017 In the long term it is expected to cost 350 billion. The plan is to merge existing welfare with targeted tax revenue to finance the plan. He sees it as a long-term plan and in the long-term attitudes can change. The Swiss rejected the idea in a referendum in 2106. Those that support the scheme say work will be carried out by robots in the near future and unemployment will explode with less money for purchasing what the robots produce.
Ian Simpson, Dara OKearney and David Lappin Sign with Unibet
February 22 2017 Matthew Pitt Editor
Unibet Poker has swooped in and signed a trio of prominent poker players as brand ambassadors. With immediate effect, in time for the Unibet Open London festival, Ian Simpson, Dara OKearney and David Lappin officially become Unibet Poker players.
All three of Unibet Pokers new signings are active on social media, popular among their peers, are talented poker players and fit into Unibet Pokers ethos of being a fun and friendly place to play poker.
Simpson shot to fame in 2013 when he topped a field of 505 entries in the Irish Open Main Event, a result that netted him 265,000, which is still his largest cash haul to date. Later that year, Simpson was the runner-up in the UKIPT London Main Event and banked an additional 106,869.
Part of Simpsons duties as a Unibet ambassador are to sport a Unibet Poker patch at live events and stream some of his online play on Unibets Twitch channel.
OKearney, affectionately known as Doke, has travelled the globe playing in live poker events. Known as a satellite specialist, OKearney is also a superb writer and keeps an excellent poker blog where he pens his thoughts about all things poker and more. PokerNews is certain that Unibet will also use OKearney on its Twitch channel as his dulcet tones and his vast strategy knowledge will be well-received by Unibets players.
Last, but not least, is Lappin. Like OKearney, Lappin is a popular Irish professional player who also happens to be vocal on social media and who has his own blog. While not as prolific as OKearney when it comes to writing, Lappins blog has almost 250 posts and all are well-written and entertaining to the point we wouldnt be surprised if Unibet puts Lappins writing talents to good use in the coming months.
The newly signed trio are currently in London for the 2017 Unibet Open London festival and you can keep up with their progress via the UK & Ireland PokerNews Live Reporting pages as our team is on the ground at The Poker Room formerly known as The Vic for the duration of the Main Event.
You can also lock horns with Simpson, OKearney and Lappin at the virtual felt by downloading Unibet Poker via UK & Ireland PokerNews and boosting your bankroll with a welcome bonus of up to 200.
ROME From specialty shops in Rome to supermarkets around the world, lovers of Italian olive oil are in for some sticker shock this year, with prices due to jump by as much as 20 percent.
The combination of bad weather and pests hit the harvest in Southern Europe, most of all in Italy, where production is halved from last fall. Thats pushing up Italian wholesale prices by 64 percent as of mid-February compared with a year earlier, which translates to shelf price increases of 15 to 20 percent in Italy.
In other countries, the ultimate price increases will depend on several factors such as how much retailers take on the costs themselves and the change in currency values. The U.S., for example, is likely to see a more modest rise in price as a stronger dollar keeps a lid on the cost of imports.
Italys harvest was especially hard hit by the combination of early rains that knocked buds off the trees and the threat of an olive fly that forced an early harvest, further cutting yields. Wholesale prices of olive oil from Spain, the worlds largest producers, are up a more modest 10 percent, with yields similar to last years.
Vincenzo Iacovissi, the owner of the Sapor dOlio olive oil shop in Rome, says sales have dropped, though hes tried to ease the shock for customers by explaining why prices have gone up.
When there are increases of 15 to 20 percent there is some impact on sales. However, explaining the reasons for this increase has in part helped to make up for this, Iacovissi said.
Italians collectively consume about 20 percent of the worlds olive oil, leading Spain at 16 percent, and that affinity makes them pretty resilient as consumers. The U.S. is the third-biggest market, consuming 10 percent of the yearly total.
Flaminia Leoni, a 50-year-old mother of four, buys 80 to 100 liters of olive oil a year for her family and says that at most she will consider substituting lower quality olive oil for extra virgin for cooking but not on the table, where olive oil is a staple giving accent to pasta, meats, salads and vegetables.
Cedric Casanova, the owner of an Italian grocery in Paris, said he was hoping to get 30,000 liters of olive oil delivered, but received just 8,000 liters. He will have to rely on leftover stock from last year to help make up for the remaining difference and absorb some of the price increase himself.
Im working with a standard price, by trying to assume the cost myself, he said.
With global stocks down just 14 percent, no one is predicting general olive oil shortages, even with a 75 percent increase in consumption of olive oil over the last 25 years as demand pushed into non-traditional markets. The market for olive oil in the period has grown by two-fold in the United States, seven-fold in Britain and 14 fold in Japan, according to Italys Coldiretti farm lobby, even if continental Europe remains by far the largest market.
Italian olive oil is more vulnerable than that of other major producers to climate shifts and pests due to its varied topography, from hills in the north to larger groves in the south. This also lends great variety to Italian olive oil, where unique flavors are derived from a combination of the terrain, topography and the more than 400 olive varieties, according to Nicola Di Noia, an olive oil expert for the Coldiretti farm lobby.
We have hundreds of different varieties of olives that are more difficult to defend compared with Spain or northern Africa, where there are big groves that are easier to manage, Di Noia said.
He said the challenge is educating consumers about why they pay for quality.
We need to learn to choose oils with awareness. Extra-virgin is the juice of a fruit. The primary material from which it derives is very important. Therefore, oil should be tasted and smelled, he said.
____
Barry reported from Milan.
Hunting guides Walker Daugherty and Michael Bryant were leading a hunting party in southern Texas in early January, when they claimed immigrants illegally crossed the nearby Mexico border, converged on their camp in the middle of the night and tried to rob them.
Gunfire erupted. When the smoke cleared and the fight was over, Daugherty was bleeding from a shot to his abdomen. Another member of the party had been shot in the arm.
After being airlifted to the hospital, the men told authorities that immigrants who crossed the border from Mexico wanted to steal an RV some of the hunters were using. In statements made through friends and family, they went further, suggesting that the assailants wanted to kill everyone in the party, as the Albuquerque Journal reported.
A GoFundMe page set up by a family friend to cover Daughertys medical bills raised $26,300 from more than 200 donors. The hunting guide is from Chloride, New Mexico.
The story was harrowing, to be sure, not to mention rife with political implications. The Texas Agriculture Commissioner even shared it on his Facebook page, saying it underscored the need for President Trumps proposed border wall.
But authorities say it was all a lie.
Daugherty and Bryant were indicted last week on one count each of using deadly conduct by discharging firearms in the direction of others, according to CBS 7. Presidio County Sheriff Danny Dominguez told the station that an investigation had found Daugherty and the other injured hunter were struck by friendly fire. There was no sign, he said, that anyone else was involved.
It wasnt clear whether Daugherty or Bryant had retained attorneys or entered pleas.
Daugherty, Bryant and a group of their clients had been hunting at the Circle Dug Ranch, a 15,000-acre tract of valley land just a few miles from the Mexico border in Texas. On the night of Jan. 6, a deputy in the sheriffs office responded to a call for a shooting, and when he arrived he found Daugherty and 59-year-old Edwin Roberts suffering from gunshot wounds.
Authorities were suspicious from the beginning. Prompted by the groups claims that illegal immigrants were responsible, U.S. Border Patrol dispatched 30 agents were to sweep the area, aided by expert trackers and thermal imaging technology, Big Bend Now reported. Daugherty and his fiancee claimed to have previously seen immigrants crossing the border and through their property, according to CBS 7.
Within days of the shooting, however, the sheriff s office said there was no evidence that suggests cross-border violence and no sign of human pedestrian traffic leading to or from the ranch that night.
There were no bullet casings or projectiles from weapons other than those belonging to the individuals hunting on the ranch nor in the RV belonging to the hunting party, the sheriffs office told Big Bend Now in mid-January.
By then, however, the rumors had already spread. A rancher and family friend in Arizona released a statement based on the Daugherty familys account, describing the incident as a brutal, calculated attack by illegal aliens.
The attack has the family concerned that the attack was not just an attempt to rob the property, the statement read, according to the Albuquerque Journal. They believe the assailants intended to kill all the party. The attackers were strategically placed around the lodge, and the men were fired upon from different areas.
Sid Miller, the Texas Agriculture Commissioner, shared the story with his 400,000-plus followers on Facebook.
This is why we need the wall and to secure our borders, Miller wrote in a since-deleted post that was shared more than 6,500 times. There are violent criminals and members of drug cartels coming in and it must put a stop to it [sic] before we have many more Walker Daughertys.
What really happened, Sheriff Dominguez said, was much simpler and less nefarious: Daugherty shot his client, and Bryant shot Daugherty.
Dominguez told CBS 7 that the hunters may have become paranoid from reports of violence crossing over the border from Mexico. But he said they need not worry.
Border Patrol are experts in tracking in this area, Dominguez said. We trust what they say because thats all they do on a daily basis, and they didnt find no sign, no indication that there was anybody in or out of that area that night.
The Trump administration plans to roll back protections for transgender students, reversing federal guidance that required the nations public schools to allow children to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that matched their gender identities.
In a letter to the nations schools, administration officials plan to say they are withdrawing guidance issued by the Obama administration that found that denying transgender students the right to use the bathroom of their choice violates federal prohibitions against sex discrimination, according to a draft of the letter obtained by The Washington Post.
This interpretation has given rise to significant litigation, states the two-page draft, which indicates that the Education and Justice departments plan to issue it jointly. The draft says administrators, parents and students have struggled to understand and apply the statements of policy in the Obama-era guidance.
As a result, the departments have decided to withdraw and rescind the above-referenced guidance documents in order to further consider the legal issues involved. The letter makes clear that schools must protect all students and that the withdrawal of the guidance does not diminish the protections from bullying and harassment that are available to all students. Schools must ensure that transgender students, like all students, are able to learn in a safe environment.
A final version of the letter is slated to be issued Wednesday, according to a Republican operative with knowledge of the conversations within the Trump administration on the issue. The administration is expected to release the letter despite objections from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who did not want to rescind the guidance, the operative said. Officials with the Education and Justice departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Tuesday night.
The reversal would represent a significant setback for the gay rights movement, which made enormous gains under President Barack Obama. It suggests that President Trump, who had signaled during the campaign and in the early days of his presidency that he supports gay and transgender rights, will hew closer to the GOP party line.
I think that all you have to do is look at what the presidents view has been for a long time, that this is not something that the federal government should be involved in, this is a states rights issue, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters at a daily media briefing Tuesday afternoon, saying that the Education and Justice departments would issue fresh guidance soon.
The decision would not have an immediate impact on the nations public school students because a federal judge had already put a hold on the Obama-era directive.
But it would instantly affect several legal cases, including that of Gavin Grimm, a transgender Virginia teen who sued his school board for barring him from using the boys bathroom. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in Grimms case next month.
A lower court ruled in favor of Grimm based on the Obama administrations position on transgender student bathroom use. The change would at least partially undermine Grimms case.
Gay rights groups, which expected the Trump administration to change course from the earlier transgender guidance, condemned the move preemptively.
Such clear action directed at children would be a brazen and shameless attack on hundreds of thousands of young Americans who must already defend themselves against schoolyard bullies, but are ill-equipped to fight bullies on the floors of their state legislatures and in the White House, Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in a statement Tuesday.
The Obama administrations guidance was based on the position that requiring students to use a restroom that clashes with their gender identity is a violation of Title IX, the federal law that bars sex discrimination. Transgender students and their parents cheered Obamas move to expand the protections, but it drew legal challenges from those who believe it was a federal intrusion into local affairs and a violation of social norms.
The issue of which bathrooms transgender people should be permitted to use has evolved in recent years into a central debate about rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Transgender advocates say that allowing people with gender dysphoria to use their preferred restroom is essential for their health and psychological well-being. Opponents say the accommodations violate student privacy and traditional values.
Many legal experts say that federal law protects transgender students no matter what agency guidance says.
This administration cannot strip away the rights of transgender students by retracting the guidance the issue is before the courts now and the law has not changed, said Vanita Gupta, who worked as the head of civil rights for the Justice Department in the Obama administration and issued the original guidance. To cloak this in federalism ignores the vital and historic role that federal law plays in ensuring that all children (including LGBT students) are able to attend school free from discrimination.
It is unusual for a new administration to overturn such significant civil rights guidance, according to advocates who closely track the issue. And such a reversal is likely to leave schools confused about how to proceed, they say; Obama administration officials said that they developed the transgender guidance in response to requests from school officials.
Schools repeatedly asked for guidance on how to support transgender students and create a safe and inclusive learning environment for all, said Anurima Bhargava, who helmed the educational opportunities section of Justice Departments civil rights division under Obama. The guidance has been, and will continue to be, an important and practical resource for schools.
Nearly 800 parents of transgender students wrote to President Trump last week, urging him to keep the guidance to protect their children from discrimination.
No young person should wake up in the morning fearful of the school day ahead, the parents wrote. When this guidance was issued last year, it provided our families and other families like our own across the country with the knowledge and security that our government was determined to protect our children from bullying and discrimination. Please do not take that away from us.
The Obama administrations directive sparked immediate backlash from those who saw it as a gross overreach of executive power, and several states sued in response.
Texas Lt. Gov Dan Patrick (R) has been one of the most vociferous opponents of the Obama guidance, calling it blackmail and the most important issue for families in schools since the Supreme Court ruled against school-sponsored prayer.
In January, Patrick joined Texas Republicans in supporting a bill that would require the states transgender residents to use bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their biological sex, not their gender identity. He said the legislation was necessary to protect Texans privacy, including in public schools.
We know its going to be a tough fight, Patrick said at the time, according to the Texas Tribune. But we know were on the right side of the issue. Were on the right side of history. You can mark today as the day Texas is drawing a line in the sand and saying no.
In an interview in May with The Washington Post, Donald Trump, then the presumptive Republican presidential nomination, said he thought that the government should protect transgender people but that it should be up to the states to decide on the bathroom issue.
I think its something where we have to help people and hopefully the states will make the right decisions, Trump said in the interview.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been a longtime opponent of broadening LGBT rights. While in the U.S. Senate, he endorsed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and opposed expanding hate crime legislation to include acts against gay and transgender people.
DeVos, who was narrowly confirmed this month after a contentious hearing, has a more nuanced record on gay rights. By reversing course on the transgender issue, she could again find herself mired in controversy at the outset of her tenure.
DeVos has been accused of hostility to LGBT rights because of her extended familys donations to socially conservative advocacy groups and efforts to ban same-sex marriage. She has tried to distance herself from her familys position; in 2004, for example, she and her husband did not contribute to a ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage in their home state of Michigan, though several of their relatives did.
At her confirmation hearing, she asked senators not to confuse her record with that of her family: I embrace equality, and I firmly believe in the intrinsic value of each individual, and that every student should have the assurance of a safe and discrimination-free place to become educated, she said at the time. A week later, a spokesman for the DeVos family told BuzzFeed News that DeVos supports same-sex marriage.
The Washington Posts Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
VIDEO:
17-year-old student Gavin Grimm, a transgender male, was banned from using the boys restroom by the Gloucester County School Board. Grimm gave The Washington Post his perspective on what led to the legal battle.
http://wapo.st/2eLJV0d
Marlies Metodi and her daughter Lena Metodi participate in a pro-immigration rally Tuesday afternoon at Civic Plaza in downtown Albuquerque. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal) Sally Davis holds a sign and a U.S. flag at a protest against Trump's immigration policies Tuesday afternoon. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal) Keith Gensman of Los Lunas secures a sign before a pro-immigration rally on Civic Plaza Tuesday afternoon. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal) Protesters raise their fists at an immigration rally in Downtown Albuquerque Tuesday afternoon. (Robert Browman/Journal) Protesters at an immigration rally in Downtown Albuquerque Tuesday afternoon. (Robert Browman/Journal) Rebecca Dakota holds a sign at a pro-immigration rally held at Civic Plaza. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal) Prev 1 of 6 Next
More than 100 protesters gathered on Albuquerques Civic Plaza Tuesday afternoon to protest Trumps immigration plan as well as his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Protesters held signs that read Who would Jesus deport?, Refugees Welcome, and Families know no borders. Speakers addressed the crowd, leading chants and sharing their experiences as immigrants.
Our families are being targeted and were fighting back, one of the speakers said through a PA system.
Organizer Barbara Lemaire, of Indivisible Nob Hill, said her group formed in response to Trumps election. When they heard about ICE raids happening around the country, they decided to hold an immigration rally.
Lemaire said she believes Trumps policies will hurt families living in the United States.
Its going to tear families apart. Youre sending people who have not lived in Mexico, or whatever place youre sending them to, for most of their life, she said. Its cruel. And it seems to me that it lacks a certain justice.
The Department of Homeland Security rolled out sweeping new immigration orders Tuesday that broaden the governments ability detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
The rally wrapped up around 5:30 p.m. as protesters sang America the Beautiful.
As most protesters were leaving, a scuffle broke out that appeared to be non-political. A woman claimed a man made lewd comments to her and grabbed her, and a group of young men then jumped on him and punched him.
Organizers separated those who were fighting.
EL PASO If you sleep on a memory foam mattress, chances are good that its fabric cover was made here in a small factory in this desert border town on the westernmost edge of Texas.
Well, here and over there, across the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican city where pieces of fabric cut in El Paso are stitched together and shipped back across the border. The supply of cheap labor in Mexico has fueled the rise of manufacturing plants dotting the border known as maquiladoras.
The journey of this mattress cover, from El Paso to Ciudad Juarez and back, illustrates the far-reaching tentacles of free trade and its impact on the border economy and across the United States. Its a journey now fraught with tension as President Trump moves to renegotiate or even unilaterally withdraw the country from the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that has allowed maquiladoras to flourish but that Trump and some Rust Belt communities blame for the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs.
Perhaps no one knows the complex implications of trade agreements better than a family whose prosperity and company profits were built on their promises. MFI International is a U.S. textiles manufacturing firm that has operated on the border for three decades. Now, in a moment of uncertainty and flux, the tweaking of any trade deal will change the foundation on which the company runs as well as the economic fates of two cities that are inextricably linked.
We are in the desert where things dont look that green, but what makes our area very fertile is our people on both sides of the border who work in the manufacturing industry, said Cecilia Levine, who, along with her husband and son, owns MFI International. Every job in Mexico produces jobs in the United States.
Altering NAFTA could raise another complexity the higher prices likely to follow would make U.S. companies less competitive against manufacturers overseas.
Stopping NAFTA doesnt stop the flow of goods coming in from China, Levine said.
NAFTA, which Trump has called the worst trade deal in history, set the foundation for the current economic ecosystem in border towns by allowing companies in the United States to send raw materials to their plants in Mexico for assembly and import the finished product back to the United States generally without paying duties.
The result for consumers: finished goods at a lower price.
On a recent morning in an industrial park on the eastern outskirts of town, rolls of bound cloth waited to be inspected and processed by the 100 or so workers in MFIs El Paso plant. A worker used a knife to manually cut patterns from a three-inch stack of polyester material as cumbia music echoed through the factory.
Once the pieces for the mattress cover are cut, they are loaded onto semi-trucks bound for Ciudad Juarez, where workers earning less than half the salary of their U.S. counterparts sew the pieces together.
Cecilia Levine used to cross the U.S.-Mexico border four to six times each day.
She started manufacturing plus-size fashion in Ciudad Juarez with a six-person plant in 1986, seeking to take advantage of a previous customs rule that allowed U.S. materials to enter Mexico duty free as long as the manufactured products were exported back to the United States. Within a couple years, her factory had grown to 260 workers.
Then a single mom, she recalled her daily routine of piling her three young children in the car and driving from their El Paso home over the bridge to Ciudad Juarez to open the factory by 6:30 each morning before schlepping them back to El Paso in time for school. Her American children grew up in the factories, doing their homework, learning to sew and driving forklifts.
Shortly thereafter, she met Lance Levine, who had just moved his vacuum cleaner filter factories from New York and Illinois to El Paso and Ciudad Juarez to better compete with the Asian market. He was expanding manufacturing to include other goods such as jock straps and baby carriers. She snagged a contract away from him to make slippers, and they fell in love. She sold her company and joined his, as the chief of operations.
Business boomed after NAFTA came into force in 1994. In addition to lowering tariffs among the United States, Canada and Mexico, the trade agreement created a common set of rules, regulations and practices among the countries. That made companies feel more comfortable about the long-term stability of the U.S.-Mexico relationship, prompting them to invest in manufacturing operations along the border, Lance Levine said.
Maquiladora employment in Mexico grew 86 percent in the first five years after the onset of NAFTA, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. MFI expanded the number of workers in both its El Paso and Ciudad Juarez plants.
Then China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, opening up the world economy for Chinese exports. Nearly all textiles manufacturing migrated to China, where production costs were much smaller in comparison.
We got killed. Virtually the entire textile industry in the U.S. was destroyed. We just couldnt compete with Chinese prices, said Lance Levine, accusing China of currency manipulation and government subsidies that he said prevented fair competition.
At the time, Lance Levine sat on an International Trade Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commerce Department. Cecilia Levine served on President George W. Bushs Export Council. Together they raised concerns to the U.S. government about American businesses losing their competitive edge to China. Cecilia even traveled to China with then-Commerce Secretary Donald Evans to meet with the Chinese government about leveling the playing field to no avail.
It was like a nightmare. All our baby products went away. Clothing went away. Home furnishings went away, Cecilia Levine said. If Id only known how to make jeans and those jeans went away, I could have sat there and cried. I learned to make something else.
MFI switched to manufacturing larger products, such as mattress and couch covers, that would cost more to transport from China to the United States.
The Levines concerns over unfair foreign competition is reflected in Trumps trade rhetoric. Trump has already withdrawn the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade agreement designed during the Obama administration to help the countries compete against Chinas growing economic clout. But Trump argued that the deal would have put U.S. workers at a disadvantage to cheaper labor in countries that were also part of the deal, such as Vietnam. Instead, Trump has threatened to impose high tariffs on Chinese, as well as Mexican, goods.
Economists say NAFTA has benefited the United States overall and that raising tariffs would risk sparking a trade war and wreak havoc on the manufacturing supply chain. Slapping a 35 percent import tariff, as Trump has threatened with Mexico, would be bad for growth, bad for business, bad for jobs, said Caroline Freund, senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
Freund chalks up Trumps talk of high tariffs and withdrawal from NAFTA as negotiating ploys. A more likely scenario floated by the Trump administration, she said, would be to push for rules mandating that a higher percentage of parts and materials originate in North America in order for traded products to be exempt from tariffs. That would limit imported materials from Asia, where MFI gets much of its fabric.
But even that change could have negative consequences, Freund said, making production less efficient and making our companies less competitive globally, she said.
Others are more supportive of the Trump administrations attempt to renegotiate NAFTA. Raising the requirement for parts originating in North America would encourage foreign companies to locate production plants in North America and prevent free-riding imports from China and elsewhere, said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.
MFI currently imports about 20 percent of its cloth from Asia because its cheaper than domestic cloth.
Still, Lance Levine said, finished goods are arriving in the United States from China at a lower cost than the materials themselves. Unless the United States increases tariffs on those finished products, U.S. manufacturers would still lose, Levine said, because renegotiating NAFTA to raise the percentage of materials sourced from North America would result in higher priced mattresses made in the United States and Mexico.
Already, MFI produces some Made in the USA mattress covers completely assembled in El Paso for mattress companies who request them at a higher cost.
If my products were to become more expensive, I guarantee you my clients are going to buy where they can get equal products at lower cost, Levine said.
Cross-border trade existed in this region long before NAFTA and will continue no matter what Trump does, Cecilia Levine figures. One of her great-grandfathers traded cattle with Mexico. Another great-grandfather operated gold mines in Mexico as well as luxury department stores in both the United States and Mexico. Her father ran cotton gins in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua and sold Pima cotton to the United States.
International trade, she said, is in her blood and the countrys.
Mexico makes the perfect partner with the U.S., she said. Our economies are intertwined.
In an industrial park in Ciudad Juarez, about a 20-minute drive from MFIs El Paso factory, workers sit in clusters surrounded by plastic crates overflowing with pieces of cloth. Some sew covers for a major memory foam mattress brand, assembling zippers, adding labels, topstitching fabric panels. Others do the same for a start-up bed-in-a-box company.
A child Jesus doll, Santo Nino de Atocha, watches over them from his perch on a little wooden chair nailed to the white cinder block wall. So does Saint Jude, a saint of miracles as well as a screen displaying their productivity in real time.
The factorys 650 workers come in two shifts the first from 6 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., the second until half past midnight, five days a week. They are paid by seniority and skill set, with a seamstress earning, on average, $147 a week including benefits.
Workers have been harder to find these days. Maquiladoras in Ciudad Juarez were short about 30,000 workers in 2016, according to local business associations. That deficit has dropped dramatically in 2017, to between 3,000 and 6,000, according to the Industria de Exportacion, a nonprofit representing Mexican export companies, because companies are not growing as quickly given the uncertain political and economic climate.
While many workers moved to Ciudad Juarez from elsewhere in Mexico for these factory jobs, thousands more moved out in recent years when the city was racked by violence. The crime has subsided, and vacantes signs advertising job openings have sprung up on fences around the industrial parks. An increase in auto manufacturing plants contributed to the worker shortage, Wollschlager said, as well as an aging workforce. Young people in Mexico simply dont find factory work to be all that attractive these days, he said.
To lure workers from the south, maquiladoras in Ciudad Juarez began offering benefits such as two square meals a day and transportation from their homes to the factories. The commute to MFIs plant on refurbished school buses painted white could stretch to more than two hours amid afternoon traffic.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that 6 million U.S. jobs depend on trade with Mexico. Many are on the border; a 10 percent increase in manufacturing on the Mexican side increases employment in El Paso by 2.8 percent, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In addition to factory work making parts for the supply chain of cars, medical devices and electronics, thousands of U.S. warehousing and logistics jobs are driven by cross-border operations.
In Ciudad Juarez, the number of maquiladoras has risen by more than 40 percent since NAFTA to 327 plants today, according to research by the University of Texas at El Paso Border Region Modeling Project.
But the business community here is on edge. More than two dozen business leaders and mayors recently penned a letter to Congress warning that retreating from NAFTA would cripple trade and cause recessions in border communities and elsewhere in the United States.
Uncertainty over NAFTA has frozen investments in the region, with hiring and land purchases slowing, said Jon Barela, chief executive of the Borderplex Alliance, a nonprofit focused on promoting economic opportunity in El Paso, Ciudad Juarez and southern New Mexico. In one week alone, he said, at least a dozen companies have frozen capital investments on both sides of the border, delayed hiring and canceled factory orders from U.S. suppliers as well as transportation contracts with trucking companies.
The stakes are very high, Barela said. For decades the two nations have worked to develop a relationship that Trump has blown apart in a matter of a week.
Delighted whoops and hollers erupt from a sewing cluster in another corner of MFIs Ciudad Juarez plant. Geronimo Renteria, a 62-year-old nicknamed El Gallo (The Rooster), entertains his colleagues with his realistic clucking and crowing. Renteria stood out in his white fedora, which hes allowed to wear only on Fridays because he and his colleagues go dancing after work.
Renteria said he came to MFI three years ago because he likes to sew. Previously he was making wiring harnesses for airplanes at another maquiladora. That factory did not allow him to wear his fedora.
A lot of other companies dont take the elders. If youre 50, forget it. But here, we embrace the elders, said Cecilia Levine.
It would be a mistake to think that all these jobs in Ciudad Juarez would return to El Paso if the United States pulled out of NAFTA, she said. What would more likely happen, she said, is that the mattress companies, too, would decamp for China, taking the jobs in Ciudad Juarez and El Paso along with them.
It would be very difficult to stay open, she said. You are talking about a U.S. company that would suffer.
Once the mattress covers are complete, workers load crates of finished covers into the back of a semi-truck, ready to return to El Paso. From there, the covers will be shipped to various mattress companies around the United States to be stuffed with memory foam and sold in stores.
SANTA FE Three members of Santa Fes Muslim community spoke out Tuesday about the local police unions president, whose posts on Facebook have been critical or sarcastic about Islam, the NAACP, refugees, transgender people and immigration practices.
To me, this is a huge blow to community and police relationships, 32-year-old Fatima Van Hattum said at a city Public Safety Committee meeting. It makes me wonder if these views are acceptable.
Santa Fe Police Chief Patrick Gallagher has ordered an internal department investigation into Sgt. Troy Baker, head of the Santa Fe Police Officers Association, for possible off-duty conduct violations.
The probe is over public Facebook posts by Baker including memes that call the NAACP racist and describe refugees as invaders, and one that shows a stick figure being run over by an SUV with the words, All lives splatter. Nobody cares about your protest. Moral of the story stay off the road!! Gallagher said Baker remains on full duty during the investigation.
At a meeting of the city Public Safety Committee, Samia Van Hattum, Fatimas older sister and a licensed social worker, said she works with children who fit into the demographics Bakers posts were aimed at. She says she tells those children to call police when they are abused or bullied.
Im concerned about my friends and my family and myself, but Im mostly concerned about the children of this community, Samia Van Hattum told Chief Gallagher. Im asking you to look at the culture of your department to see what you can do to promote the safety of this community.
Baker has removed the controversial posts, but they were published in an online article by the Santa Fe Reporter. At the City Hall safety committee meeting, speakers showed images of the memes on an overhead projector. Muhammad Ali Musawi pointed to one that read: Lets discuss what Islam has to offer, then lists things like rape, beheadings, female genital mutilation and paedophilia. Musawi asked Gallagher how the community is supposed to feel safe knowing Baker is still on duty.
A transgender man also spoke and said he was concerned. One of Bakers posts is a meme that makes a joke about a bullet to the groin of someone with a made-up gender.
We take their concerns very seriously and hope that they trust us to conduct a fair investigation, Gallagher told the Journal after the meeting.
Gallagher also confirmed that officer Isaiah Anaya resigned Tuesday amid a separate internal investigation into offensive and troubling drawings he made on someone during a gathering in September. He said the case is still under investigation and the department is looking into whether other officers were involved.
The oil and gas industry often reminds us that the New Mexico economy depends on a strong oil and gas industry, and thats not wrong. New Mexico gets about a third of its state income from oil and gas. But any stockbroker will tell you that an undiversified portfolio comes with significant risk. As we are experiencing now, periodic crashes in fossil fuel prices affect the whole state; cuts for education, senior services Gov. Martinez is now ordering agencies to cut budgets by 5 percent across the board. One way to help us weather the current downturn is to make sure that oil and gas companies pay royalties on all of the natural gas they produce on public lands. The Bureau of Land Managements new rule to minimize methane waste from venting, flaring and leaks will do just that.
Every year, oil and gas operations in New Mexico waste about $100 million worth of natural gas, resulting in $6 million in lost state royalties. This waste has led to a Delaware-sized cloud of the gas looming over the Four Corners region and an F grade from the American Lung Association for ozone pollution in San Juan County in 2016.
The U.S. Senate will vote as soon as this week on a resolution that would undo the BLM methane rule. Senators supporting the resolution, at the bidding of the oil and gas industry, are taking advantage of procedural loopholes to force a quick vote with little debate. New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both Democrats, lead a large group of New Mexico officials in opposing this industry-led attempt to void the rule, which would result in continued waste, forgone royalties for taxpayers and widespread pollution.
The BLM rule comes with minimal costs to operators. In fact, they will be able to make money selling saved gas. Economists found that, for 90 percent of the 13,493 active federal gas wells studied in the San Juan Basin, the part of the rule requiring leak detection and repair would increase income. Only the bottom 10 percent (the most marginal wells producing less than 15,000 cubic feet of methane per day) would incur a modest net cost about a thousand bucks per year. Additionally, retrofitting operations with more efficient equipment, and finding and fixing leaks provides great potential for job growth in our state.
And the BLM methane waste rule is popular, too. A recent Colorado College poll found that 73 percent of New Mexicans and 81 percent of Westerners support the idea. Similar rules in Colorado have proven successful, with seven of 10 producers in one survey saying benefits outweigh the costs. The BLM crafted its rule carefully to fill in gaps and not duplicate the few state rules that do exist.
Even Gov. Susana Martinez has recognized the importance of curbing methane waste, ordering the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division to take steps with the ultimate goal to reduce natural gas emissions, which include requiring oil and gas operators to report the amounts of gas they vent (emit directly to the atmosphere unused) and flare (burn off unused) and to submit gas capture plans in new drilling applications. Its surprising and disappointing that the governor is supporting efforts to kill a rule that would advance her own policy to prevent methane waste.
The persistent New Mexico methane hot spot is strong evidence that the industry has no plans to clean up its act unless this rule stays on the books. Today, New Mexicans near oil and gas development are breathing dirty air and the state is watching royalties blow away in the wind. But we have a tool to help us stop wasting a valuable public resource to the benefit of New Mexicans health, our states economic stability, the climate and more. New Mexicans support the BLM methane rule. Lets keep it.
Rooftop solar power offers New Mexicans lower electric bills, cleaner air, and a solution to climate change. Solar jobs grew by over 50 percent in New Mexico in the last year alone. Why, then, would New Mexico lawmakers propose legislation to undermine the rooftop solar industrys growth just as it begins to take off?
State Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Espanola, and Sen. Clemente Sanchez, D-Grants, have submitted legislation, SB 210 and companion bill HB 199, that would saddle rooftop solar companies with new bureaucratic hurdles that would make it harder and more expensive for them to sell solar panels to New Mexicans.
The proposed legislation is the latest chapter in a national plot, led by Americas monopoly electric utilities, to kill rooftop solar. In New Mexico, the states largest monopoly utility, PNM, is leading the charge, alleging that SB 210/HB199 is necessary to protect customers from solar companies out to swindle them.
Were actual abuses from solar companies to arise, other existing laws already protect consumers. So why the new legislation? Thats because the threat that rooftop solar companies pose is not to customers, but to monopoly utilities like PNM.
In 2012, the trade association for investor-owned electric utilities, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), recognized rooftop solar energy as an existential threat to utilities profit model. In response, utilities, led by EEI, began a campaign to undermine rooftop solar, first by attacking laws that allow people to sell their solar production back to the grid. Next utilities tried to change electric rates in ways that would effectively tax rooftop solar power; PNM tried that approach, ultimately failing in 2015.
Now utilities are trying to tar and feather solar companies with a myth of wide-scale customer abuse. Their lack of facts has not stopped them from fear-mongering around the country. For example:
EEI funded and was caught manipulating the contents of a report called Solar Power for your Home: A Consumers Guide, some of which seemed designed to dissuade consumers from going solar.
EEI is a paying member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the corporate bill mill that allows fossil fuel companies and utilities to ghostwrite bills for state legislators. ALEC offered a presentation in 2015 called Consumer Protection Concerns Surround Rooftop Solar Model Policy. EEI has admitted to ghostwriting other ALEC attacks on solar energy in the past.
As a current vice president of EEI, Pat Vincent-Collawn, PNMs CEO, knows this playbook intimately, and she is now deploying it in New Mexico. PNMs lobbyists presented a slide deck to the Legislature in December designed to drum up fears about solar companies. It featured no evidence of abuse.
The irony of PNMs ploy is that the utility has abused its own customers who do not have the option of finding another utility the way solar customers can shop around to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years.
The monopoly has increased electric rates by more than 50 percent since 2008, and in December PNM filed for yet another rate increase, asking to raise bills by another 14 percent. The rate hikes have funded a 15-year contract extension in coal power, even as nearly every other utility is moving away from coal. Another utility invested in the same coal plant sold its shares and saved its ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars by instead investing in solar energy and gas.
PNM also invested in more nuclear power without having reasonably examined alternative courses of action, according to a hearing examiner. In both cases, PNM admitted when pressed that it had not performed any economic modeling or financial analysis to justify the investment as being the lowest-cost way to serve the public hardly a role model of protecting its customers.
New Mexicans and their legislators should not be fooled by PNMs latest con. If CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn wants to start protecting New Mexicans from corporate abuse, she should stop attacking solar and instead pick up a mirror.
Most of us dont think about the American Civil War being fought in New Mexico, but Monday marked 155 years since the Battle of Valverde. Below Peralta, a short throw from U.S. 380, not far from the Owl Bar, there is an area on the Rio Grande called North Ford. It is also called Valverde green valley a rather picturesque name that does not quite tell the true story of this bloody bend of river.
Valverde was the first engagement in New Mexico between the forces of the Confederacy and the Union in the Civil War. General Henry Hopkins Sibley had convinced Jefferson Davis that by sending him to subdue New Mexico, the way would be open to the Colorado gold fields, and then they would push on to California to secure deep-water ports. They did not count on the Colorado Volunteers, who raced into New Mexico territory to put a stop to the rebels advance.
Colorado Gov. William Gilpin feared the Rebel army would march into Denver. He also knew Washington wasnt concerned. A prominent, and imposing, Denver preacher named John Chivington told the governor, If theres fighting to be done, I want to fight. A staunch abolitionist, he would become one of the wars heroes.
Gilpin was panicky and began printing his own federal money, and he bankrolled the army with the bogus federal treasury notes; when the notes got back to Washington, Gilpin was removed from office. The money was deemed worthless, and he was nearly lynched by the soldiers.
Chivington quieted the men by telling them if they were in the army only for money, they had joined for the wrong reasons anyway.
A few months later these troops would fight and die in a battle that would decide the future of the Territory of New Mexico, and we should pay tribute to Gilpin and those brave men who raced to our aid, for without them New Mexico would have most certainly fallen under the Stars and Bars.
When Captain Henry Seldon and his Colorado Volunteers joined up with Kit Carsons First New Mexico Volunteers and met General Sibleys Rebel army in mid-Rio Grande, the bloody hand-to-hand fighting caused the great river to turn crimson.
The rebels called them the devils from Pikes Peak because they didnt break under fire, as the 2nd New Mexico Volunteers had broken and run at the sight of the Texans, who charged into battle with war whoops and screams, wielding shotguns and pistols, Bowie knives and swords.
Although Sibley had retired in an alcoholic stupor, the Texans had won, technically; the Union forces retreated to Ft. Craig. For the Texans it was a Pyrrhic victory because of the 200 dead and wounded.
Sibleys army regrouped, headed north and occupied Albuquerque on March 2, 1862. Twenty-four days later at Glorieta Pass, the 1st Colorado surprised the Texans, and after a three-hour battle they fled for their lives. One of the Texans said the Coloradoans who charged us seemed to have charmed lives.
But when 400 of the brave Coloradoans and a few of the New Mexico Volunteers under Chivington got lost and wound up stumbling on the Confederate supply wagons, Chivington could not believe his good fortune. Here was Sibleys food, ammo, clothing, black powder and kerosene which they doused wagons with for a glorious bonfire.
The hardest thing for the men was dispatching Sibleys 500 horses and mules. This bloody deed crippled Sibleys army and sealed the doom of the Confederacy in the Southwest. Some historians say this cannot be overstated, as it caused the Rebel army to retreat.
Historians do not agree on whether these battles had any effect on the outcome of the war. But we should remember the brave men who sacrificed their lives to halt the advance of a determined foe that was comprised of our neighbors. The bloody tragedy of the Civil War is also a part of the history of our state.
Im deeply saddened after watching the recent prison tragedy unfold at Delawares Vaughn Correctional Facility.
Delaware corrections officer Lt. Steven Floyd Sr. was found dead Feb. 2 after authorities ended an 19-hour hostage situation. Lt. Floyd was a family man and a veteran officer who served his community honorably.
On behalf of Bernalillo County, I extend my sincere condolences to Lt. Floyds family and the many people impacted by this tragedy. This underscores the fact that prisons and jails are a tough place to work, and, as county manager, Im committed to doing whats right by continuing our ongoing efforts to support a work environment at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) that protects our staff and inmates.
Jails and detentions centers are out-of-sight, out-of-mind for many in our community. However, when an unfortunate tragedy or incident occurs, the general public is hopefully reminded of the crucial role that corrections officers and the corrections industry has in our criminal justice system.
Being a corrections officer is often a thankless job because more people just arent aware of how multifaceted and difficult the job is. Being a corrections officer isnt for everyone. Our corrections officers staff the morning, evening and night shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Thankfully, our officers are trained as jail first responders, ready to manage any situation that might come up. Every hour of every day, they encounter inmates with a number of issues that need to be addressed, including mental illness, substance abuse, addiction, medical needs, and behavioral misconduct that can escalate to violence if the inmate is not proactively managed with good communication skills and the appropriate use of force when necessary.
Our corrections officers, medical professionals, education staff, administrators and others who work at the jail provide a critical public service to the community and I want them to know their good work does not go unnoticed.
Im especially appreciative of the progress were making at the MDC. By partnering with other entities in the criminal justice system, MDC is providing service to the community by developing new projects and repurposing existing programs that keep the jail population low and reduce the number of inmates returning to jail over and over again.
The countys focus on behavioral health and filling needed gaps in the current system is creating a stronger safety net for inmates who leave jail and provides access to resources that help people stabilize as they try to rebuild their lives, one day at a time.
All of this is a work in progress. But working together as a team, we can continue to accomplish clear goals that support the jails mission and meet the communitys expectations of doing our jobs well in a fiscally responsible manner.
To corrections officers and all the MDC employees who give their very best every day again, as your county manager, I want you to know that you are valued and appreciated for all that you do. Lets keep the momentum moving forward.
Immigration operations last week targeting a handful of people leaving Downtown Albuquerque courts after scheduled hearings have alarmed local civil rights watchdogs, advocates against domestic violence, criminal defense attorneys and others who are calling on the courts to intervene.
Chief judges at 2nd Judicial District and Metro Court confirmed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents waited in courtrooms or outside the courthouses to take certain people into custody.
Its not clear if this is an escalation of a standing ICE practice or if it is coming to light amid national scrutiny of President Trumps crackdown on illegal immigration.
Given the national rhetoric, its very difficult to say whether or not this is a trend or these are just a couple of isolated incidents, 2nd Judicial District Chief Judge Nan Nash said, noting she is not aware of such enforcement in her 14 years at the court.
Either way, immigrants rights groups say the threat of arrest by ICE and subsequent deportation has immigrant communities scared to come to court even as victims or witnesses to crime.
This activity has a chilling effect on victims seeking justice, on witnesses who are crucial to the process, and even on the criminal defendant who doesnt expect basically a death sentence on going to court, said Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, executive director of Enlace Comunitario, a long-standing group that helps Spanish-speaking women survive and escape domestic violence.
She said she is not opposed to immigration enforcement for violent offenders or people charged with drug crimes, but she thinks some of the people targeted in the actions this month have not fit that description.
Public defense attorney David James said that his client, who he declined to name, was arrested by ICE on Friday as he walked off of the premises after a hearing in District Court. The client is facing one count of drug trafficking and if convicted would face deportation.
James said he was uncertain of his clients immigration status and noted that he had no prior criminal history in New Mexico.
It seems like the mere accusation is sufficient to qualify for deportability, James said, although the defendants status with ICE was not known Tuesday.
The names and case details of those arrested by ICE were not known to judges or activists Tuesday.
ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa could not provide information about the courthouse action policy or practice and said she would need the names of those arrested to provide details.
Meanwhile, at least two groups have sent letters to court officials seeking a halt to the practice.
Enlace Comunitario and 32 other domestic violence victim advocacy groups from across the state sent a letter last week to the state Supreme Court asking justices to stop allowing ICE agents inside courthouses.
The Administrative Office of the Courts on Tuesday confirmed it has received communication from people concerned about the practice for the first time, AOC spokesman Barry Massey said.
But neither the AOC nor the Supreme Court can bar ICE from courthouses.
The AOC or a state court does not have jurisdiction to stop ICE agents from being present at a courthouse, Massey said in a statement. In New Mexico, courthouses are public buildings and any person is permitted to enter the courthouse if they comply with the rules of the court, such as restrictions on bringing weapons into the building.
Metro Court Chief Judge Henry Alaniz said Tuesday that ICE agents arent required to register before they come in his courthouse.
The federal Constitution trumps the state Constitution, Alaniz said, and this is a public building and there is no way we can prohibit them from coming in.
His main concern is that the actions dont disrupt court proceedings, which he said has not happened either recently or over the years.
Others are more worried about the effect on people coming to court.
Peter Simonson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, said even if agents are allowed in court like the general public, their presence is different.
I think you have to acknowledge their presence in the courtroom or at the courthouse door creates a barrier to accessing the court, Simonson said. And so I think it does raise legitimate due process concerns and may even rise to an actionable claim.
He noted that undocumented immigrants have due process rights in criminal proceedings, even if they arent American citizens.
Matthew Coyte, president of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said its important that federal authorities seek a balance between immigration enforcement and the impact enforcement may have on local court proceedings.
There are unintended consequences that result from federal agents working in the courthouses or outside the courthouses which are detrimental to public safety, Coyte said. It discourages people from showing up.
The people who may choose to skip a hearing might be witnesses in trials, victims of domestic violence seeking help, even people with a traffic ticket. And skipping court hearings can trigger a bench warrant.
Were concerned that (enforcement activity) could increase, Nash said, and that it would keep people from coming to court to seek orders of protection or to do other business that they have before the court.
New Mexico sheriffs and police and other local government officials were split or noncommittal in their reactions to a new U.S. Department of Homeland Security memo outlining plans to boost a program that allows local departments to be commissioned to enforce federal immigration laws.
While its common for local authorities throughout New Mexico to partner with federal agents and work on task forces that address narcotics trafficking and other crimes and immigration cases may result from those investigations local authorities do not specifically enforce immigration laws, multiple law enforcement officials said.
The DHS memo said undocumented immigrants who commit crimes are the programs priority.
Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry said that he doesnt think the DHS memos will have an effect on immigration enforcement in Albuquerque. He said he has welcomed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to check immigration status of suspects who are being taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center.
This is a reasonable approach that improves the safety of our residents, including the safety of those in the immigrant community in Albuquerque, he said. As far as APD officers joining ICE as immigration law enforcers we simply dont have the resources or plans to do that.
In Santa Fe, city policies prevent officers from getting involved in immigration proceedings unless they have permission from a commander and the police chief. And that only happens in the most extreme criminal circumstances. Not for things like shoplifting or speeding or other similar crimes, Police Chief Patrick Gallagher said in a statement.
We have no intention of changing our current policies at this time, he added.
Dona Ana County Sheriff Enrique Kiki Vigil said his deputies will enforce New Mexico laws and statutes, not federal immigration laws.
We need to protect victims of crimes and any potential witnesses, regardless of immigration status. We must encourage the involvement of victims or witnesses coming forward to report crimes and protect them from retaliation, he said in a statement. We dont want undocumented immigrants to be preyed upon by any unscrupulous individuals or groups that will target this population because they know that this population is vulnerable and in fear of deportation or reprisal.
Welcomed in Hidalgo County
Others said the ability to enforce immigration laws would be a useful tool.
Sparsely populated Hidalgo County is a known corridor for marijuana trafficking. Sheriff Warren Walter told the Journal on Tuesday that he would work with DHS.
Here on the border, I believe we all have to work together, Walter said. I dont think it would hurt us any; it would give us extra authority to identify. We are the weak link in the chain I believe.
San Juan County Sheriff Ken Christesen said the new plan could affect county budgets, as they would have to pay to house the undocumented immigrants in a local jail. But he said the program would benefit many counties, especially some of the rural ones around New Mexico.
Christesen said his deputies encounter undocumented immigrants multiple times a day, but theres a very small Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence in the northwest New Mexico county.
It would be a benefit to some extent, Christesen said in an interview. We wouldnt go out and do immigration raids, but if you run into (undocumented immigrants) on a call we should be able to detain them instead of just releasing them to commit another crime.
Torrance County Sheriff Heath White, the chairman of the New Mexico Sheriffs Association, said he hadnt been briefed on the DHS plan and didnt want to comment.
Not a federal agency
Felicia Romero, a spokeswoman for the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office, said deputies have not specifically targeted illegal immigrants as part of their work on federal task forces.
At this time its not a concern for us, Romero said. Were not a federal agency. Were a local agency.
In recent years, the sheriffs office has made efforts to improve relationships and trust between it and parts of Bernalillo County that are believed to have many undocumented residents, like Pajarito Mesa in the southwest part of the county.
County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins questioned whether the program could damage public safety.
I worry that turning local law enforcement into immigration agents will compromise public safety. Local law enforcement relies on the trust and participation of all county residents, including our immigrant population, to keep our community safe, she said in a statement. If undocumented residents fear deportation if they call 911 in an emergency or report a crime, they wont share information that law enforcement needs to catch lawbreakers and solve crimes.
Others raised concerns about financing immigration enforcement and having to redirect limited resources to the topic.
Its hard for us to anticipate how this new set of instructions will affect us or the residents in Dona Ana County, said Kelly Jameson, spokeswoman for the sheriffs office. As you know, we are short-staffed and are already overwhelmed with taking care of our day-to-day duties serving the needs of county residents on a local level. To be available as Secretary Kelly has advised would be difficult.
Wait and see in Otero County
Otero County was the site of highly publicized immigration raids several years ago, especially in the unincorporated community of Chaparral.
Sheriff Benny House said deputies do not currently enforce immigration law and he would have to see the language in any agreement with DHS before deciding whether to participate.
Right now I dont have jurisdiction to enforce federal law, he said. Unless Im granted the authority or jurisdiction Im not going to do it. They cant require me either because that would be an unfunded mandate.
The majority of residents in Chaparral may be living in the U.S. illegally or have a family member who is, he said. House said he knows that community doesnt want the sheriff involved in immigration enforcement.
I just want to make sure everybody knows we are going to follow the law and we are going to be reasonable in whatever we do, he said.
https://abqjournal.com/954673/new-rules-overhaul-enforcement-practices-across-state-nation.html
Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berrys administration scored a win in court Tuesday as opponents of his Albuquerque Rapid Transit project voluntarily dropped their lawsuit that tried to stop it.
The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals previously ruled against a temporary injunction to halt the project, raising questions about the chances the plaintiffs had at obtaining a permanent injunction against it.
We are pleased by todays development and will work diligently to help create opportunity for our city and the Central Avenue corridor through ART, Berry said in a statement. We will continue to work with the community and businesses during construction to minimize impact and maximize opportunity.
The city is carving out a nine-mile network of bus-only lanes that will run down the middle of Central Avenue from Louisiana to Coors.
Yolanda Gallegos, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, said that although Tuesdays filing brings an end to the litigation against ART, her clients will still try to correct problems they see with the project. A number of people, businesses and community groups had brought the lawsuit seeking to stop ART.
Gallegos said her clients still had great concerns about congestion, safety, how the project will affect businesses and funding for construction and operation of the transportation system.
Now, she said, a new mayor will inherit this unworkable and irresponsible juggernaut and the citizens of Albuquerque could be left holding the tab.
It is our hope that Mayor Berry or the next mayor will pause to reconsider the project and carry out a redesign to minimize harm to pedestrians, merchants, drivers, and the historic districts the ART route impacts, she said in a statement.
Construction began last year on the $119 million project, funded primarily with federal dollars, and is expected to be completed at the end of 2017.
SANTA FE With state dollars limited and New Mexicos judicial system already strained, an Albuquerque lawmaker is proposing to de-emphasize how the state handles certain nonviolent offenses including jaywalking, littering and driving on a suspended license.
If approved, the bill could reduce the number of court hearings and free up law enforcement to focus on more serious crimes, said Rep. Antonio Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque.
He said other states are already weighing similar reforms. In Montana, for instance, proposed changes to the criminal justice system could save the state $70 million by 2023, according to a recent report.
Can you imagine if we saved $70 million in (New Mexicos) criminal justice system? Maestas told the Journal. It would help solve the budget problem.
The legislation, House Bill 428, would reclassify littering, jaywalking, faulty headlights or taillights, expiration of dealer license plates and other offenses as penalty assessment misdemeanors, which means those who do not pay fines would not be subject to bench warrants.
Under the states current system, the offenses are classified as misdemeanors. Since jail sentences and fines can be given for most misdemeanors, those cited for such offenses can also apply for a state-appointed attorney.
Chief Public Defender Ben Baur said in a Tuesday interview that such cases make up a small percentage of his cash-strapped agencys cases, but he said they still consume valuable time and resources.
If we move these into another category, that saves resources, Baur said. Theyre still violations, but you dont have to have a prosecutor and a state-appointed attorney.
A number of other traffic citations, including speeding and failure to obey traffic signs, are already classified as penalty assessment misdemeanors.
New Mexicos judicial system has been struggling with heavy caseloads and working under budget cuts enacted last fall in response to an ongoing state revenue downturn.
As a result, the states Administrative Office of the Courts recently warned it would have to halt jury trials next month if emergency funding is not provided, and a Lea County district judge found Baur in contempt for his departments failure and refusal to represent defendants in several criminal cases.
In addition, new Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez recently told members of a House budget-writing panel the homicide rate in Bernalillo County has reached its highest level in 20 years and yet his office cannot afford laptop computers for its prosecutors.
While a House spending plan for next year would increase funding for prosecutors, public defenders and the judicial branch by 2.5 percent or roughly $3.9 million a larger infusion of state dollars appears unlikely given the states tepid budget outlook.
That leaves limited choices for lawmakers when it comes to easing the strain on the judicial system, which Maestas cited as a benefit of his proposal.
The criminal justice system is really the only system we can save money by changing policy, Maestas said.
He also said reclassifying certain nonviolent offenses would allow law enforcement officers to focus on more serious crimes, instead of arresting those who dont pay fines.
Baur sounded a similar tone, while describing the proposal as a way to clear underbrush from the states criminal justice system.
With all the agencies short on resources, we have to focus on the things that are really important, he added. There are a lot of offenses that dont really hurt anyone.
The legislation is pending in the House Judiciary Committee, its first assigned panel.
Before Milo Yiannopoulos gained (and lost) a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) invitation, a book deal and a job, the now-former Breitbart News writer had already said and written many offensive things.
Thats his appeal to the people who admire and elevate him: Milo, the personality, is built on the idea of triggering liberals. His Breitbart archives contain a regular stream of articles arguing all sorts of things designed to demean and offend: that feminism makes women ugly, that he would prefer it if teenagers self-harmed rather than discuss trans issues on Tumblr, and that women will be happy only if we un-invent the birth control pill and the washing machine.
None of these things, including the fact that the writer had already been banned from Twitter for, the platform said, inciting harassment against actress Leslie Jones, stopped Yiannopoulos from becoming a voice that CPAC felt was of value to their movement on free-speech grounds. Or for that matter, from appearing on Bill Mahers HBO show and finding common ground with the more liberal comedian. Those opportunities for Yiannopoulos came right after the University of California at Berkeley canceled a speaking engagement of his because of intense protests gaining him at least one indirect tweet from President Trump.
Trump said, If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view NO FEDERAL FUNDS?
But about 96 hours after his appearance on Mahers Real Time program, Yiannopouloss most considerable step yet toward leaving his alt-right adjacency and entering into mainstream conservative discourse, he became a castaway.
Yiannopoulos resigned from Breitbart on Tuesday. The day before that, he lost his book deal with Simon & Schuster, and his invitation to speak at CPAC was rescinded. The reason, as CPAC put it, was the revelation of an offensive video in the past 24 hours condoning pedophilia. Thats in reference to a series of videos that the Reagan Battalion, a conservative site, tweeted out days ago, showing examples of Yiannopouloss past comments on pedophilia and consent. Yiannopoulos has claimed that the videos were selectively edited to make it appear as if he was defending child abuse, and that their release was part of a co-ordinated effort to discredit me.
Here is a rough timeline of how Yiannopoulos went from a breakthrough moment to the opposite in a matter of days.
Friday night, Feb. 17, 10 p.m.: Yiannopoulos appears on Real Time with Bill Maher. The two sit down for a one-on-one interview, which is mostly friendly. The interview follows days of controversy over the very fact that Yiannopoulos is appearing on the show at all. He also sits down for a panel discussion with Mahers other guests. It is substantially less chummy.
Saturday, Feb. 18, 1:40 p.m.: Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, announces that Yiannopoulos will be a speaker at CPAC.
In the minutes following, several prominent conservative writers and leaders start to protest the decision on Twitter, pointing to Yiannopouloss long history of remarks that, in their opinion, dont fit with the values of CPAC.
Sunday, Feb. 19, 2:30 a.m.: The Twitter account for the conservative blog Reagan Battalion, which had been tweeting and re-tweeting criticism of CPACs invitation to Yiannopoulos, tweets a link to a video interview between Yiannopoulos and Joe Rogan, saying that it shows him defend [ing] pedophilia and pedophiles. In the 2015 clip, Yiannopoulos discusses a parish priest who had a sexual relationship with him when he was a teen, declines to name the priest, and says, It was perfectly consensual. He adds: When I was the 14, I was the predator.
Sunday, Feb. 19: 11 a.m.: The Reagan Battalion tweets out another video, which edits together several of Yiannopouloss more controversial remarks. It includes a long segment from a separate statement Yiannopoulos has made about pedophilia in the past.
That statement comes from a January 2016 episode of the podcast Drunken Peasants, in which Yiannopoulos appears to defend sexual relationships between adults and younger boys in their teens.
Specifically, he says: 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 and sort of a rock where they cant speak to their parents.
Im grateful for Father Michael, he said, in what appears to be an attempt at a joke. I wouldnt give nearly such good [oral sex] if it wasnt for him. He then argues that pedophilia is attraction to children who have not reached puberty. Pedophilia is attraction to people who dont have functioning sex organs yet who have not gone through puberty, and not someone who is 13 years old and sexually mature.
The videos start to gain traction, and soon the outrage about Yiannopoulos starts to focus on these statements.
It starts to appear the writer is becoming the subject of a tactic he helped to popularize, that is, making noise about your opponents until it becomes unavoidable. In his case, the noise he began about one of his enemies could escalate into mob abuse. Thats why he was banned from Twitter months ago, after the platform said he broke their rules against inciting harassment.
In July, Yiannopoulos mocked actress Leslie Jones as she received an onslaught of viciously racist tweets. The harassment, it seemed, stemmed from the fact that she was one of the co-stars of the Ghostbusters remake. In one tweet, Yiannopoulos shared faked screenshots that made it appear as if Jones had tweeted profane and offensive things. Yiannopoulos called his suspension from the platform cowardly and disputed that he was directly involved in the harassment.
His use of Twitter was an extension of the sort of journalism for which he was known: opposition research-style investigations into the personal lives of people he sees as enemies, with the intention of discrediting them. His Breitbart archives include articles based on unverified claims that social justice activist Shaun King, who identifies as biracial, is lying about his ethnicity. King has said that the evidence cited by Yiannopoulos and other conservative writers is incorrect, and that the reports are lies. He has also written similar pieces, framed as exposes, about several feminist activists. At a December campus visit to University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, he spent time during a speech there to mock a transgender student by name, displaying her photograph on a screen.
Sunday, Feb. 19, 9 p.m.: Yiannopoulos posts a statement denying that his remarks were a defense of pedophilia. It reads, in part:
The videos do not show what people say they show. I *did* joke about giving better head as a result of clerical sexual abuse committed against me when I was a teen. If I choose to deal in an edgy way on an internet livestream with a crime I was the victim of thats my prerogative. Its no different to gallows humor from AIDS sufferers.
Sunday, Feb. 19: 9:45 p.m.: CNNs Jake Tapper starts tweeting about the videos.
In response, Yiannopolos offers to go on Tappers show to clear all this up.
Monday, Feb. 20, 1 p.m.: CPAC announces that Yiannopoulos will no longer be speaking at CPAC.
Monday, Feb. 20, 1:30 p.m.: Yiannopoulos releases another statement on Facebook, which reads, in part:
Ive repeatedly expressed disgust at pedophilia in my feature and opinion writing. My professional record is very clear.
But I do understand that these videos, even though some of them are edited deceptively, paint a different picture.
Im 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.
Monday, Feb. 20, about 5:15 p.m.: Simon & Schuster cancels Yiannopouloss book. Meanwhile, discussions are reportedly building at Breitbart about Yiannopouloss future there. Heres what Dave Weigel and Robert Costa reported for us at the time:
By late Monday afternoon, there were ongoing discussions at Breitbart about Yiannopouloss future at the company, according to two people familiar with the organization who were not authorized to speak. Inside the newsroom, several staffers made clear to senior leadership that they felt uncomfortable and may decide to leave if he stays, the people said. There was also an aggressive liberal campaign to get advertisers to quit Breitbart News.
Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2:30 p.m.: Shortly before a news conference, Yiannopoulos announces that he is resigning from Breitbart.
Breitbart News has stood by me when others caved. They have allowed me to carry conservative and libertarian ideas to communities that would otherwise never have heard them, Yiannopoulos said in a statement. They have been a significant factor in my success. Im grateful for that freedom and for the friendships I forged there.
I would be wrong to allow my poor choice of words to detract from my colleagues important reporting, so today I am resigning from Breitbart, effective immediately. This decision is mine alone.
At 3 p.m., he held a news conference.
WASHINGTON Donald Trump the presidential candidate made no secret of his desire to crack down on illegal immigration, but once elected, he repeatedly offered varying interpretations of just how tough he would be in the White House.
Now a pair of enforcement memos from Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly lay bare exactly what the Trump administration plans to do and how many of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally will be targeted for deportation. The short answer: a lot.
A look at some of what the policy memos say the government will do.
___
SEND IMMIGRANTS WHO HAVE CROSSED THE BORDER ILLEGALLY TO MEXICO EVEN IF THEYRE NOT MEXICAN
A border security memo calls for the use of a long-standing but obscure U.S. law to send some immigrants who have crossed the border illegally back to Mexico even if they are from other countries. The memo and the law it cites dont include details on how or if the U.S. can force the Mexican government to allow foreigners to wait in that country while U.S. officials decide their fate. Historically, the U.S. has jailed and tried to deport foreigners from countries other than Mexico, while Mexican nationals could be easily and quickly sent back over the border. The proposal is likely to come up in discussions this week in Mexico among Kelly, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the Mexican government.
___
UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN
One of Kellys memos directs the Homeland Security Department to stop providing some legal protections to child immigrants caught crossing the border alone if they are reunited with their parents or a legal guardian inside the United States. The protections generally allow for those children to have their case decided by a judge, but the new policy would likely subject them to fast-track deportation proceedings that dont require a judges approval. The memo also calls for the government to investigate the immigration status of those parents or guardians and any possible criminal activity connected to bringing the children into the United States.
Immigration advocates decried the effort to target parents of child immigrants who they say are largely fleeing violence in Central America. Jen Smyers, director of policy and advocacy for Church World Services Immigration and Refugee Program, said those parents are focused on getting their children to safety.
___
LOCAL POLICE ENFORCING FEDERAL LAWS
Under the Obama administration a program allowing local police and jailers to act as immigration agents was curtailed as the government narrowly focused immigration enforcement. Communities also complained that some jurisdictions were overly aggressive in enforcing federal laws.
The Secure Communities program, which uses fingerprints collected in local jails to identify immigrants in the U.S. illegally, was halted amid complaints and court rulings barring some jurisdictions from detaining immigrants for federal authorities.
Kellys memos make clear that the government plans to restart those programs.
___
JAIL AND PROSECUTE MORE PEOPLE CROSSING THE BORDER ILLEGALLY
Kellys directive calls for more people caught crossing the border illegally to face criminal charges. It is illegal to cross the border without permission, and the government does charge immigrants with crossing the border for the first time or coming back after being deported, a felony. But to do that on a wide scale, as was done along at least one section of the border in Texas under President George W. Bush, is costly and resource intensive.
One of the Kelly memos also calls for more jails. The government currently has the space and money to jail 34,000 people at a time. Congress will likely have to approve tens of millions of dollars for new construction and staff for the facilities or fund contracts with private prison companies.
___
HIRE 15,000 BORDER AND IMMIGRATION AGENTS
The Trump administration announced plans to hire 5,000 new Border Patrol agents and 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. That will be a tall order. Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the Border Patrol, is already having trouble hiring new agents, as about 2 out of every 3 job applicants fails the agencys polygraph test. There are already about 2,000 Border Patrol vacancies, a deficit largely attributed to the polygraph fail rate.
Kelly suggested to lawmakers earlier this month that the hiring would be slow and deliberate, and the agency would not lower its standards.
___
PRIORITIZE CRIMINALS AND SUSPECTED CRIMINALS
One of Kellys memos outlines that criminal immigrants will be a top priority. But that category is broad and includes anyone convicted, arrested or suspected of a crime. That means anyone arrested for even a minor traffic violation or suspected of crossing the border illegally will now be a priority.
More than half the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally are believed to have crossed the border illegally. Immigrants who have overstayed a visa have not committed a crime but a civil violation. Still, those immigrants could also face deportation if they are arrested for just about any offense or simply encounter immigration officials looking for someone else.
___
YOUNG IMMIGRANTS PROTECTED BY OBAMA
Kellys memos do not rescind or change the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program that protects more than 750,000 young immigrants from deportation and allows them to work.
Trump decried the effort as an illegal amnesty during the campaign but softened his stance on the issue after winning Novembers election. The administration has not said how long the program will continue, but White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Tuesday those protections will remain in place so long as those immigrants dont commit a crime or otherwise become a security threat.
___
Associated Press reporter Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California, contributed to this report.
___
Follow Alicia A. Caldwell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/acaldwellap
FARMINGTON The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is asking a federal court to dismiss claims in two lawsuits filed over the Gold King Mine spill.
Last year, the state of New Mexico and the Navajo Nation filed separate lawsuits against the federal agency. They both claimed the EPA should be held responsible for damages from the Aug. 5, 2015, spill under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.
The EPAs Feb. 13 motion to dismiss claims the agency is protected by sovereign immunity and did not have direct interaction with the mine site before the spill that released millions of gallons of toxic wastewater into the Animas and San Juan rivers.
MORE ON THE SPILL:
The motion requests the court toss three claims made by the state and two claims issued by the tribe because neither party has factually proven the EPA was an owner, operator, transporter or arranged for hazardous waste disposal prior to the spill.
Moez Kaba, one of the attorneys handling the tribes case, declined to comment on the EPA motion. He said the tribe will file a response.
In an emailed statement, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said he will continue to aggressively pursue litigation to obtain justice for our culturally unique population and damaged economy in order to protect New Mexicos children and families for generations to come.
New Mexico in May filed a lawsuit against the EPA, former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Environmental Restoration, Kinross Gold Corp., Kinross Gold USA Inc. and Sunnyside Gold Corp. alleging the spill hurt the states economy and environment.
Environmental Restoration, Kinross Gold Corp., Kinross Gold USA Inc. and Sunnyside Gold Corp. have each filed dismissals to the allegations outlined in the states case. The court has yet to rule on those requests.
The state amended its complaint in November to add tort claims against the United States as well as listing the U.S., Weston Solutions Inc. and Harrison Western Corp. as new defendants.
The Feb. 13 motion comes a month after the EPA announced it will not pay more than $1.2 billion in claims filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act for damages caused by the spill.
Last week, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., called on new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to review the January decision, according to a press release from his office.
Noel Lyn Smith covers the Navajo Nation for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4636.
2017 The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.)
Visit The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) at www.daily-times.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
_____
Ruidosos fire chief submitted his resignation this week after about five months on the job.
Village Manager Debi Lee offered no comment on the resignation, but said that Cody Thetford will be acting fire chief, a position he occupied in 2016 after Harlan Vincent retired as chief and before Orlando Arriola came on board.
Arriola was hired in July 2016, but didnt assume his duties until September. He was selected after an assessment of six candidates conducted at the end of May 2016, and he came out on top from the process. Arriola had 28 years of service with the El Paso Fire Department, including 24 of managerial/supervisory background. He was fire marshal and deputy fire chief at the time he left the department. He earned a bachelor of multidisciplinary studies and a master of public administration from the University of Texas.
Arriola could not be reached for comment. A few days before he submitted his resignation, he presented an update on the villages All Hazard Mitigation Plan, which he said has been in the works since June.
The plan must be updated every five years and is not a study to be placed on a shelf, he said. The first plan was approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on April 30, 21012. To be eligible for FEMA mitigation, not just replacement dollars, after a disaster, the community must complete an update by 2017. Ruidoso joined with the county of Lincoln, covering the towns of Carrizozo, Capitan, Corona and Ruidoso Downs, to secure a federal grant and hire SZ Enterprises LLC to assist in the process. The village reconvened a mitigation planning team composed of representatives of each participating jurisdiction and other county, state, federal departments and organizations.
With the village taking the lead as the point of contact for the planning effort, the plan was prepared in compliance with the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. It includes risk assessments for multiple natural hazards, a public outreach and development of mitigation strategy that incorporates measures to eliminate or reduce the effects of future disasters throughout the county, Arriola said.
One of the aims of the plan is to select mitigation actions in the form of projects and programs that can become long-term, cost effective means for reducing the impact of natural and human-caused hazards, he said. The village secured a Homeland Security Mitigation Plan grant for $52,500 and a local match of $17,500 was divided among the participating entities with the county and village paying $4,750 each and the four other towns paying $2,000 each.
Some of the types of potential disasters listed for the county are dam failures, drought, chemical spills, flooding, mudslides, earthquakes and severe weather events such as strong winds and tornadoes.
2017 the Ruidoso News (Ruidoso, N.M.)
Visit the Ruidoso News (Ruidoso, N.M.) at www.ruidosonews.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
_____
LAS CRUCES In May 2014, former President Barack Obama signed into existence a nearly 500,000-acre Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in Dona Ana County, what seemed at the time a likely end to a debate that had stretched on for years about whether to formally protect and if so, how? a series of mountain ranges countywide.
But with Republican President Donald Trump taking office and both chambers of Congress led by Republicans, some of whom are opposed to the federal government owning large swaths of public lands. And the congressman representing Dona Ana County, U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., never liked the size of the monument to begin with. This leaves Dona Ana County residents wondering what the future holds in store for the nearly 3-year-old monument.
I think theres a real threat that impacts national monuments across the country, said Ben Gabriel, executive director of the Friends of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, a nonprofit backing the monument. One under a lot of attacks now is Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. We have threats here in southern New Mexico, as well.
Both monument supporters and critics say its impossible to predict exactly what will happen. But, if attempts are made to scale back or revoke the monument, its fate could boil down to a courtroom battle.
Never attempted
Obama designated the OMDP national monument using a power granted to presidents under the federal Antiquities Act of 1906 one of two possible routes for monuments to be created. The other is through a bill introduced under the normal lawmaking process in Congress.
But if one president creates a national monument via the proclamation route, can another president single-handedly abolish it?
The answer isnt entirely clear because of an absence of legal case law on the subject, but a key legal opinion that does exist contends such an action isnt allowed, said Mark Squillace, natural resources law professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, who was in office from 1933 to 1945, wanted to abolish a rather small national monument in South Carolina called Castle Pinckney, according to Squillace.
And he asked his attorney general, Homer Cummings, whether he could do that, he said. And Homer Cummings wrote a 1938 opinion, in which he said, no, the president does not have the authority to abolish a monument that was created by a previous president. Only Congress can do that.
The basis of the opinion, Squillace said, was that Antiquities Act specifies a president can create a national monument, but it doesnt state that a president can revoke a national monument.
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., who supported creating the OMDP monument, said he doesnt believe the national monument will be revoked.
It has tremendous support within the community and is already attracting jobs and tourism revenue to Las Cruces and the surrounding area, he said in an emailed statement. I feel confident that the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks monument is here to stay. No such designation has ever been reversed, and legally I do not believe they can be.
Udall said he raised this issue with Congressman Ryan Zinke, President Trumps nominee to be Secretary of the Interior, and I do not believe he will support efforts to undermine the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks monument given the strong local support for the monument and its positive impact on the local economy.
Dona Ana County resident Jerry Schickedanz, part of a group that opposed the creation of the 496,000-acre national monument, said many monument critics are hoping the new political dynamics of Washington, D.C., will result in a monument roll-back. But if I could tell you whats going to happen, Id be a rich person, he said.
Still, Schickendanz, whos part of the Western Heritage Alliance, said he doubts the national monument will be entirely abolished.
If theres an opportunity to take a look at different sizes, Id like to be involved in those kind of talks, he said. My group was opposed to the bigger monument or wilderness. We were in favor of some sort of protection for the Organ Mountains proper. My position hasnt changed on that any. When you talk about the monument, everybody looks to the Organ Mountains. They dont look to the Potrillos.
The Potrillo Mountains are located in southwest Dona Ana County and are covered by the national monument.
Shrinking the monument?
As for whether a president could unilaterally change, but not go so far as to abolish, a previously established monument, there also isnt case law. And Cummings, the former attorney general, was more equivocal in addressing that topic, Squillace said.
But that was not the issue before him, so he didnt really talk about that in any detail, he said.
U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., didnt support creating the 496,000-acre OMDP national monument, but had backed a much-smaller designation surrounding the Organ Mountains only. Pearce has called on Trump to review the size of the Dona Ana County-based national monument to scale it back.
We see that it is under the Presidents authority to review and make modifications to national monuments as they deem is necessary under the Antiquities Act, said Pearce spokeswoman Keeley Christensen. Congressman Pearces bill H.R. 995 was for the purpose of preserving the Organ Mountains and had input and support from the surrounding communities. Pearce does want to work with the Trump Administration to make modifications from the 500,000-acre footprint created by the Obama Administration, which this falls in line with what previous Presidents have done under the Antiquities Act.
Critics of the OMDP national monument and others designated in recent history have contended presidents have overstepped the bounds of the authority granted to them in the Antiquities Act, which calls for presidentially declared monuments to be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected.
According to Squillace, there are several Department of Interior solicitors opinions that take both sides of the view on whether a president has the powers to modify a previously declared national monument, according to Squillace. But those opinions are complicated, and theres a lot thats happened since they were written. Its really hard to read too much into those opinions.
Squillace said most presidential proclamations declaring national monuments extensively detail specific historical or scientific features to be protected under the Antiquities Act. And that detail would serve as a buffer, bolstering the case for the monuments existence, if a particular monument were challenged in court.
Ben Gabriel, executive director of the Friends of the OMDPNM, also said he has no way of predicting what the administrations thoughts are. But he believes strong support in the community for the monument helps to counter any potential scale-backs.
Las Cruces and the surrounding areas have really embraced the national monument for its economic impacts, as well as providing quality of life, he said.
Congressional authority
Regardless of whether the president can take action independently to abolish or shrink the OMDM monument, Congress does have the power to revoke or modify national monuments at any time, Squillace noted. And it does have the authority to change the Antiquities Act itself.
Indeed, a group of Republican senators has introduced a bill to amend the Antiquities Act to require that all national monuments to be signed off upon by Congress, as well as the state Legislature in the particular state a new monument was being proposed. The bill, called the National Monument Designation Transparency and Accountability Act of 2017, also proposes to require that new monuments go through a formal environmental review, known as a NEPA process. If passed, the measure would affect new monuments, but not existing ones.
Congressman Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona, ranking member of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, visited Las Cruces to show support for the OMDP national monument. He also heard from monument supporters and some critics. He told attendees that strong public support for the monument and stories about its impact would be key to its future. And he said he doesnt think it will be simple, legally, to revoke existing monuments.
I think its going to be quite a task to undo them, he said.
After the session Grijalva said he thought the legal and political consequences would be interesting, if there were an attempt to roll back the OMDP national monument.
Whats next?
Udall said Trump has mentioned wanting to be a conservation president in the vein of Teddy Roosevelt.
So its imperative that we continue to educate the Trump administration about the precious value that Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument holds for New Mexicans and people across the country, he said. And if there are efforts by this administration or Congress to reverse the national monument designation for Organ Mountains Desert Peaks or roll back protections for our public lands, Im going to fight hard against them.
Udall and Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., announced Friday theyd re-introduced a bill aimed at declaring portions of the OMDP national monument as federally designated wilderness, the highest-level of protection in the federal lands system.
Heinrich plans to attend a rally near Taos on Tuesday in support of OMDP and Rio Grande del Norte National Monuments.
Squillace said national monuments, once established, tend to have a staying power because public support for them tends to build over time.
But, should Trump attempt to undo a national monument via the presidential-proclamation route, that could result in case law being established where it doesnt exist now.
Personally I think the better argument is that the president only has that one-way authority (to create a national monument), but well have to see how it plays out, if in fact one of these cases ends up in court, Squillace said.
Diana Alba Soular may be reached at 575-541-5443, dalba@lcsun-news.com or @AlbaSoular on Twitter.
Correction: This article has been corrected from an original publication to reflect that there are a number of Department of Interior solicitors opinions on whether a president can unilaterally change a national monument.
2017 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.)
Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
_____
LONDON A suicide bomber who attacked a military base in Iraq this week was a former Guantanamo Bay detainee freed in 2004 after Britain lobbied for his release, raising questions about the ability of security services to track the whereabouts of potential terrorists.
The Islamic State group identified the bomber as Abu Zakariya al-Britani, and two British security officials also confirmed the man was a 50-year-old Briton formerly known as Ronald Fiddler and as Jamal al-Harith.
He was one of 16 men paid a total of 10 million pounds (now worth $12.4 million) in compensation in 2010, when the British government settled a lawsuit alleging its intelligence agencies were complicit in the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, according to the officials.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Al-Harith was a web designer and convert to Islam when he set off on a visit to a religious retreat in Pakistan in October 2001. He says he was warned the country was not safe due to deep anti-British and American sentiment in the days before the U.S. attack on Afghanistan, and decided to return to Europe by land via Iran and Turkey.
Instead, he said he was detained at gunpoint near the border with Afghanistan and turned over to the Taliban, which charged him with being a British spy, beat him and threw him in jail. A couple of months later he was liberated by the Northern Alliance and allowed to call home. He told his family he would be back soon, but instead was turned over to the Americans and sent to Guantanamo Bay. Like many others, he claims he was tortured there.
He was released in March 2004 along with four other British detainees who had been held for up to two years over their alleged links to al Qaida and the Taliban.
Hardship followed him to his native Manchester, England, said his sister, Maxine Fiddler. He struggled to find work.
Once youve been labeled (as a terrorist) people always say theres something there, and thats stopped him from getting a job, Fiddler said of her brother in an interview in 2007.
Al-Harith and 15 others had sued the British government, alleging it knew about or was complicit in their treatment while in the custody of U.S. forces.
Alex Carlile, Britains former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said that al-Hariths case was settled to avoid disclosing sensitive documents in a court battle.
Plainly he was a terrorist and he was a potentially dangerous terrorist, he told the BBC. The issue was the legal disclosure rules. If someone brings a civil action for damages they are entitled to disclosure of material, some of which may be national security material.
The issue will raise questions about how a person clearly on the radar of security officials might have left Britain and traveled to the Middle East without raising signals from the security services.
Arthur Snell, a former head of the Prevent program, which is part of the Britains counter terrorism strategy, said the authorities clearly had lost track of him.
Its obvious that collectively, the authorities and obviously I have some personal responsibility there we failed to be aware of what Fiddler was up to, the told the BBC.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas Investigators say a South Texas jailer has been arrested and charged with smuggling crack cocaine into the lockup.
Nueces (nyoo-AY-sis) County jail records show 22-year-old Ryan Rodriguez was being held Wednesday on a felony charge of taking a prohibited substance into a correctional facility. Bond was set at $10,000.
Prosecutors say an informant last week tipped officers about a jailer allegedly transporting cocaine into the facility in Corpus Christi.
Sheriff Jim Kaelin (KAY-lin) says Rodriguez, who joined the jail staff four months ago, was arrested Tuesday. Rodriguez faces allegations he smuggled crack cocaine to an inmate, who then allegedly sold the drugs to other prisoners.
Authorities didnt immediately announce additional arrests in the continuing investigation.
Jail records Wednesday didnt immediately list an attorney to speak on behalf of Rodriguez.
EL PASO, Texas Beto ORourke has long believed that the closer you get to the Mexican border, the less you fear it. So on a recent afternoon, the Democratic congressman who may challenge Ted Cruz for his U.S. Senate seat walked into Juarez for lunch.
The mere name of this Mexican city conjures images of bloodthirsty cartels or seedy red-light districts the kind of place, some have argued, against which the United States should seal itself with a big, beautiful wall.
ORourke is strongly opposed to that plan. Among other things, it would make it harder to visit the bar that he took his wife to on their first date.
It was a little bit of a test, to see if she was up for an adventure, he said, ducking into the dimly lit interior of the Kentucky Club.
She was. After drinks, he recalled, they bumped into a camera crew that tried to enlist the attractive couple to kiss on camera for a TV commercial but ORourke begged off. Es mi hermana, he told them: Shes my sister. Ten months later, they were married.
ORourke isnt naive about the violence that plagues parts of the city. Still, he maintains that crime is not the only story about the U.S.-Mexico border, nor even the most important one. He sees Juarez as a place where an open mind and a stomach for risk can lead to meaningful connections and long-term partnerships.
The question for the 44-year-old with statewide ambitions is: Can he get the people of Texas to see the same thing?
Inside the bar, where Elizabeth Taylor and Steve McQueen once partied, the congressman grabbed a table. He was greeted by an El Paso friend, Miguel Fernandez, whose telecommunications firm does work on both sides of the border.
Fernandez talked about his fear that President Donald Trump will spark a trade war between the two countries.
At least tell me, where are you now on running for Senate? Fernandez asked. More than 50-50?
Im pretty close, ORourke said. I really want to do this.
Democrats might look at ORourke a small-business owner with hipster credentials, a Gen Xer who speaks fluent Spanish and looks more like a Kennedy than the Kennedys do and see a candidate of thrilling national potential, marred only by where he lives. But then again, maybe thats what makes him exciting.
With its growing Hispanic population, Democrats have long believed that Texas would eventually belong to them just not imminently. But the 2016 election has scrambled the way people think.
I wouldnt have said it last year, but I think he has a chance, said Anne Caprara, of the Priorities USA super PAC, who is advising ORourke.
Naturally, others see opportunities as well. Rep. Joaquin Castro, the San Antonio Democrat deemed a rising star, is considering the race, too.
You wont have a problem raising money. Cruz will basically fundraise for you, said Castros twin brother, Julian, the former housing and urban development secretary who recently ruled out a 2018 bid for governor of Texas.
The Cruz camp sees Castro as slightly more of a threat than ORourke. But while the Castros have the fundraising prowess and name recognition, their pragmatism and caution could keep both from seeking higher office so soon.
In El Paso, ORourke is far removed from the Democratic megadonors of Houston or Austin, and he has decided not to take PAC money if he runs. Still, he hopes to turn a necessity into a virtue with a Bernie Sanders-style approach excite the grass roots and rake in smaller donations.
ORourke may be suffering from the bug thats going around the one causing mass delusions that the old rules of politics no longer apply. Can a Democrat really win in this deeply red state against Cruz, who will be running one of the best-financed campaigns in the country? And can he do so on a positive message about Mexicans in an era when calling them rapists helped make a man president?
The timing might not be right for ORourke, but that hasnt stopped him in the past.
Growing up in El Paso, Robert Francis ORourke (the childhood nickname that stuck is a diminutive of Roberto) wanted nothing more than to get out of town. The son of the county judge, he formed a punk band, Foss, with the hopes of traveling the world.
In 1994, Foss needed exposure, and someone suggested a local public-access show called Get Real With Bill Lowrey.
There was one hitch. It was an evangelical broadcast. We told them we were a new gospel band, ORourke said.
They kind of pulled a fast one on me, recalled Lowrey, the televangelist host. But we enjoyed it. Mostly I cant believe he grew up to be a functioning member of society.
Foss toured the United States and Canada, but greater success would go to ORourkes drummer, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, who moved on to the cult-favorite bands At the Drive-In and the Mars Volta. ORourke realized he couldnt be a musician forever.
I wasnt that good at it, he admitted. And his dad was pressuring him to grow up. He wont say it, but the expectation is: We didnt take out loans for you to go to Columbia and then [play] in a punk band your whole life.
With his Ivy League degree, ORourke moved back to El Paso and started a technology company. Even in his 20s, ORourke found it easy to assume a leadership position in the community.
He ran for and won his first race for city council at 32, with a focus on downtown development and border issues, seeing the two as inextricably linked. He wrote a book about the drug war and offered legislation calling for an honest, open national debate on ending the prohibition on narcotics.
In 2009 ORourke heard his congressman, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, at a Chamber of Commerce meeting describe drug-related violence in Juarez like a stick-em-up movie full of cretins who were better off dead, as it sounded to ORourke. The councilman was troubled by what seemed like a lack of empathy for El Pasos twin city. A fellow council member, Steve Ortega, urged him to challenge Reyes. And so, in 2012, he took on the 16-year House veteran in the Democratic primary.
Reyes, a former Border Patrol chief, had the support of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. ORourke had an arrest record: In 1995, he was arrested for breaking and entering, a prank gone awry, he says, when some friends bet they could get past a fence surrounding a local college. Then there was the 1998 drunken driving arrest, an incident he says was stupid and regrets.
Reyes used ORourkes mug shot in attack ads and criticized him for supporting marijuana legalization. Few people thought ORourke had a chance.
But with the help of an anti-incumbent sentiment and an anti-incumbent super PAC that poured $240,000 into the race he won.
Five years later, ORourke sees another opportunity to sneak himself in.
It cost 25 cents to walk across the Paso Del Norte bridge back into the United States after lunch at the Kentucky Club. A gaggle of shoppers marched in front of the congressman women off to buy shoes, clothes and groceries that are cheaper in El Paso. A few weeks earlier, Border Patrol allowed separated families to wade into the stagnant, ankle-deep water below and hug where the two countries meet.
On the one hand, its really pitiful that this is what they had to do . . . just to see each other, ORourke said. In another way, its really amazing that El Paso and Juarez could figure out a way, and under President Trump no less, to at least do this for families.
At a time when Democrats and Republicans alike talk about securing the border, ORourke maintains that the border has never been more secure. The number of immigrants living illegally in the United States has not increased in years. With 32 million documented border crossings a year, Mexicans are a crucial driver of the El Paso economy. And El Paso ranks as one of the safest cities in the country.
But while ORourke points to El Pasos good health as proof that a semi-porous border works well for both sides, proponents of tougher security argue that credit goes to the rigorous Border Patrol presence and extensive fencing between Juarez and El Paso.
Thats part of what ORourke was up against when he ran against Reyes, who once spearheaded an effort called Operation Hold the Line. If he runs for Senate, hell face Cruz, who promised in his 2016 presidential bid to triple border security and build a wall that works a slogan that certainly worked for the man who won.
I just wish more people could see what I see, ORourke said.
To do that requires an early start.
That morning, he woke before dawn for a hike in the Franklin Mountains, leaving his wife and three children sleeping. With his old city council pal Ortega, he snaked up the trail under a full moon, passing the spiky silhouettes of cypress trees and clumps of greasewood plants. They perched on a rocky point near the summit where they peeled oranges and shared a thermos of coffee, looking out at the twin cities glittering in the dark.
It was nearly impossible to tell what was Mexico and what was Texas, and that, of course, was his point.
A Florida pastor who took his 11-year-old daughter to campaign-style rally for President Donald Trump said he hoped the event would serve as a civics lesson but that it turned instead into a spectacle where demonic activity was palpable.
Joel Tooley, lead pastor at Melbourne First Church of the Nazarene in eastern Florida, said that when he heard that the president and first lady would be passing through town, he decided to go see them in person.
I am enough of a sentimentalist that when I found out THEEEE President was coming to town, I got online quickly and reserved two tickets, he wrote on Facebook.
But the rally last weekend was not what the pastor had in mind.
As people were coming in, there was a lot of excitement and a strong sense of patriotism, Tooley wrote.
However, during a rendition of God Bless the USA, some attendees began to sing along and raise their hands in an almost religious way.
People were being ushered into a deeply religious experience, Tooley wrote, and it made me completely uncomfortable.
I love my country; I honor those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom and I respect our history and what we stand for, but what I experienced in that moment sent shivers down my spine. I felt like people were here to worship an ideology along with the man who was leading it. Dont get me wrong, it wasnt the song per se it was this inexplicable movement that was happening in the room. It was a religious zeal.
Tooley could not immediately be reached, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
On Saturday, Tooley said, he talked his daughter into going with him to the rally in Melbourne, near Orlando.
After all, how many times do you get to see the President of the United States in person let alone in your hometown? Tooley wrote. I was eager for her to have this experience. It has to be a pretty cool thing, as a kid to see Air Force One, the President and the First Lady.
Once the duo made it through the lengthy line, he said, they were handed pom-poms and signs reading, Make America Great Again!
They were then ushered into a massive crowd at Orlando Melbourne International Airport.
The music, he said, moved from patriotic to pep rally more Star Wars themed. Then Air Force One rolled up to the airplane hangar.
As they entered the venue and walked to the platform, there was terrific celebration, Tooley wrote. I have been in the room when other Presidents were in a similar mode it is always such a meaningful experience to be that close to them, regardless of whether or not you view them with adoration. Theeeee President of the USA!
The First Lady approached the platform and in her rich accent, began to recite the Lords prayer, he added. I cant explain it, but I felt sick. This wasnt a prayer beseeching the presence of Almighty God, it felt theatrical and manipulative. People across the room were reciting it as if it were a pep squad cheer. At the close of the prayer, the room erupted in cheering. It was so uncomfortable. I observed that Mr. Trump did not recite the prayer until the very last line, be the glory forever and ever, amen! As he raised his hands in the air, evoking a cheer from the crowd, USA! USA! USA!
Trump told the crowd he wanted to speak of our incredible progress in making America great again but without the filter of the fake news.'
Although the past several presidents have waited more than two years each before jumping back onto the campaign trail, Trumps first four weeks in office have shown that he just cant stand too much time in Washington, as The Washington Posts Jenna Johnson reported.
One adviser calls political rallies the presidents oxygen and Trump seemed to direly need a deep inhalation following a week that included his national security adviser resigning and his top replacement pick turning him down, his nominee for labor secretary withdrawing from consideration and accusations involving his campaign and Russia.
Life is a campaign, the president told reporters aboard Air Force One. Making our country great again is a campaign. For me, its a campaign.
During the presidential rally, Tooley, the pastor from Florida, said that Trumps speech evoked an angry response from the crowd toward others.
He wrote:
I heard two ladies off to my left chanting, not yelling or screaming but chanting, T-R U-M-P; thats how you spell bigotry! They repeated the rhyme over and over.
Two ladies in front of them began seething and screaming in their face while shaking their Trump signs at them. Another couple standing behind them started screaming at them as well. One of the chanting ladies had her eight-year-old daughter on her back; the other had a severely disabled child in a wheelchair in front of her. As they continued chanting, the people around them became violently enraged. One angry man grabbed the ladys arm thats when I went into action. I barged through the crowd and yelled at them to back off. My heart wasnt racing; I just instinctively became a protector.
I didnt actually want a Trump sign, but one of the volunteers had shoved it into my hands as I walked through the door earlier; Make America Great Again! That sign probably saved someone from getting hurt. I held the sign close to my chest as I positioned myself between the chanting protesters and the angry mob. My 11-year-old daughter was clinging to my arm, sobbing in fear.
The two angry, screaming ladies looked at me, both of them raised their middle finger at me in my face and repeatedly yelled, F*#% YOU! Repeatedly.
I calmly responded, No thank you, Im happily married. Their faces and their voices were filled with demonic anger.
I have been in places and experiences before where demonic activity was palpable. The power of the Holy Spirit of God was protecting me in those moments and was once again protecting me and my daughter in this moment.
I raised my voice and calmly said, These ladies have the right to do what they are doing and they are harming no one; this is America and they a right to express themselves in this way. They are harming no one. A couple of other people around me stepped in and supported me in protecting them as a barrier, as well.
My daughter was shaking in fear as she clung to me. The one man behind the protesters shoved himself forward, grabbed the lady by the arm and screamed with multiple expletives, Im going to take you out! This is my president and nobody has the right to disrespect him and nobody has the right to keep me from hearing him!
Im trying to separate how I actually feel about this man and his campaignisms, Tooley wrote. I know why people voted for him; I know why people voted against his opponent. But, at the end of the day, what I felt from his leadership in this experience was actually horrifying. There was palpable fear in the room. There was thick anger and vengeance. He was counting on it. I dont think Im exaggerating when I say that it would not have taken very much for him to have called this group of people into some kind of riotous reaction.
Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., got heckled, booed and yelled at Tuesday night during a contentious town hall meeting in his district. The loudest jeers related to the GOPs promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Many of the 150 attendees carried red cards to signal their discontent. A registered nurse who lives outside Brats district held up a sheet of paper that said LIE for the duration of the hour-long event. The problem is Obamacare has just collapsed, said Brat. The crowd began shouting: No, it has not!
Many Republicans are facing this kind of hostile reception as they return home for a week-long recess. Offices have been flooded with calls for weeks, and some liberal constituents are now looking for face-to-face confrontations with their lawmakers that can lead the nightly news.
Brat, who toppled House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a 2014 primary, is one of 21 House Republicans about to get some air cover from aconservative outside group aligned with Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and his leadership team. The American Action Network, founded by veteran GOP fundraisers to support the speakers agenda, will spend $2.2 million on TV and digital buys over the next two weeks to promote GOP efforts related to overhauling the law across two dozen media markets. Thats in addition to $5.2 million already spent on Obamacare-related advertising since the start of the year.
This is a critical time, Corry Bliss, the executive director of the group, said in an interview. A lot of the action for health care moving though the House will happen in the next two weeks. We want to be very engaged in reminding people whats at stake.
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said this week that he expects a new health-care plan to emerge in the first few days of March. President Donald Trumps top advisers held a three-hour meeting about health care at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, per The Associated Press, their third lengthy discussion on the topic in four days. The confirmation of Tom Price as health and human services secretary has sped up negotiations with the Hill.
The spot that the group is running stars Elizabeth Jacinto, a married mother of three children with a fourth on the way. She says that she lost her health coverage and her doctor despite promises to the contrary. She says she was kicked off her plan after giving birth, leaving her family uninsured for four months. As a result, she laments, her baby missed immunizations and her husband had to delay a previously scheduled surgery.
When Obamacare was first coming out, I was hopeful that it was going to work out for our family, and what ended up happening was an absolute nightmare, Jacinto says to camera. We need to have an option that allows all Americans a better plan and better health insurance, to have deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums be reasonable, and for people to get the coverage they want and need. Thats why we need to move forward with a new plan that Republicans are putting forward. I support the Republicans effort to fix health care for the American people.
The new effort, previewed exclusively for the 202, comes amid ongoing struggles by congressional Republicans to figure out both the politics and policy of repealing the ACA.
Politically, lawmakers are trying to soothe fears among voters that they are going to scrap the law without a clear roadmap for what comes next. While some of the opposition efforts at town hall meetings are being organized by progressive outside groups, there is also organic anxiousness. Our reporters who have fanned out across the country report back that many people theyre interviewing have never before attended these sorts of meetings.
Sensing the potential potency of this raw energy, two key Republican committee chairmen have softened their rhetoric around repeal and replace with talk about repairing the 2010 law. That messaging shift has inflamed conservative activists, who already think Congress is moving too slowly and now fear that they are being double-crossed by the establishment.
GOP leaders respond that theyre moving cautiously because they dont want to botch the specifics. Democrats deliberated for more than a year over what health reform should look like eight years ago, and the rollout was still a mess. Thats inevitable when youre playing around with one-fifth of the economy. Wise Republicans know that theyre going to wind up owning the mess that gets made by whatever, if anything, emerges from this process. This is the burden of governing.
Its still not obvious what exactly the replacement plan will look like, which is why the new commercial only states a few general goals of reform. There remains significant intra-party disagreement about what to maintain from the old law and how it will be paid for. Republicans leaders are trying to coalesce around core tenets of a replacement plan before fleshing out language.
So when will that happen? When we agree on what were going to do, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told The Post in an interview last week. This comment reflects the degree to which GOP leaders on the Hill are much more reticent to set expectations that they may not be able to live up to than White House officials like Priebus, who have never worked in government.
House Republicans exited a health-care meeting late last week with some new details on the options that their leaders are considering to replace the law. But they still dont have anything close to a complete plan. Some rank-and-file members worry about taking insurance away from millions of people, while others from redder districts fear that only cosmetic changes will be made to a law that they believe is ruining the country. Members of the Freedom Caucus fear that theyll wind up with some kind of Obamacare Lite that will simply be rebranded as Trumpcare with a few Band-Aids on it.
Trump himself told The Post last month that a goal of any replacement plan should be insurance for everybody, which is very expensive and requires significant government intervention in the marketplace.
Every day that goes by without a clear GOP replacement plan is a day that lawmakers will need to reassure not only their own base that theyre not going wobbly, but also their constituents who have grown increasingly dependent on a new entitlement that theyre not going to leave them holding the bag.
Democrats are trying to capitalize on GOP infighting and believe that the looming threat of repeal is allowing them to sell the public on the law in a way they have not been able to for seven years. Recent public polling suggest that support for the ACA continues to rise as the debate drags on.
Thats where the new American Action Network ad comes in. It makes the argument that the status quo is not acceptable, and that Republicans can offer better solutions, in a softer and more family-oriented way than we saw from right-leaning outside groups during the Obama years. It also reflects the desire to frame what Republicans are doing as a positive step forward, not a move to ax a government program.
The messaging is driven by a large national poll that the group commissioned early last month. The GS Strategy Group found that the most popular messages for what a replacement plan should have in it are coverage that provides ownership and portability, centers on what is best for the patient and lowers health coverage costs. The survey also found that people continue to like the idea of buying insurance across state lines and tax credits, instead of subsidies.
If the ACA worked and people liked it, we wouldnt be talking about health care, said Bliss, who managed Rob Portmans reelection campaign last year. I think its our most powerful ad weve released because its a testimonial that puts a human face on bad policy. . . . This message is a winning message. Period. Full stop.
Ryans office has been work-shopping some talking points in a similar vein. Take these two tweets from Tuesday:
Freedom is the ability to buy what you want to fit what you need. Obamacare is Washington telling you what to buy regardless of your needs.
Repealing and replacing Obamacare means Washington bureaucrats will give up control and let you and your doctor make the decisions.
AAN spent tens of millions of dollars on behalf of GOP congressional candidates last year. Set up under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, the group is not required to disclose the names of its contributors. AAN was founded by veteran GOP fundraiser Fred Malek and former senator Norm Coleman.
Most of the members who will benefit from the new buy are expected to have competitive races in next years midterm elections. The woman featured in the commercial lives in the district represented by one of them: Rep. Darrell Issa, who won reelection by only about 2,000 votes. Other front-line House members include Jeff Denham and David Valadao, also in California, along with Mike Coffman in Colorado, Carlos Curbelo in Florida, Rob Blum and David Young in Iowa, Will Hurd in Texas and Barbara Comstock in Virginia.
Others are noteworthy for how safe they are. The ad will run in the districts of Ryan and Kevin McCarthy, the top two Republicans in leadership. Others whose reelection is secure but are playing important roles in the fight are also getting backup, including Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady and Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden.
Also on the list are members of the very conservative Freedom Caucus, such as Jim Jordan, Raul Labrador and Mark Meadows. Their votes could decide whether a replacement plan makes it through the lower chamber.
The Washington Posts Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
A former CIA officer was jailed this week by Portuguese authorities and expects to be extradited within days to Italy, where she faces four years in prison for her role in the kidnapping of a terrorist suspect in Milan 14 years ago, according to her attorney.
Sabrina De Sousa, 61, was one of 26 Americans convicted in absentia by the Italian judicial system for the February 2003 extraordinary rendition of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar.
So far, none of the Americans have actually served time for their convictions since they had returned to the United States long before Italian courts ruled against them in 2009. But De Sousa, who holds dual American and Portuguese citizenship, moved to Lisbon in April 2015 to live near relatives. She was briefly detained that year in Portugal on a European arrest warrant, but released. Since then, she has lived with her husband in Lisbon, but has been bracing for Portuguese courts to issue an official decree to ship her to Italy.
In an interview with The Post on Wednesday, her attorney Manuel Magalhaes e Silva said the Portuguese judicial authorities recently handed down that final order, prompting her arrest at her home on Monday night.
As always, she has a very good temper. Sabrina is a strong woman. She was expecting this. We knew at any time it could happen, Manuel Magalhaes e Silva said.
She is currently being held at a facility in Porto, the countrys second-largest city. The attorney said De Sousa will likely be flown to Italy within the next four to six days.
De Sousa could not be reached immediately. The CIA declined to comment.
But De Sousas attorney also said that Portuguese courts agreed to detain and extradite her to Italy on one condition: that she be given a new trial with a chance to present new evidence. He worries that the Italian government will not comply with the stipulation.
If the Italian authorities dont comply with these conditions, thats a violation of the European arrest warrant, her lawyer said. Its a political situation. It depends on the Portuguese government making a complaint, saying Italy is not respecting the rules of the warrant. The intention at this moment of the Italian authorities that there will be no second trial.
The saga began almost exactly 14 years ago, on Feb. 17, 2003, when two men snatched Abu Omar off the streets of Milan while he was walking to a mosque. Hed been deemed a terrorist suspect and was wanted by the CIA. He was flown to Egypt, where he was tortured in a prison but eventually released.
At the time of the kidnapping, De Sousa was registered as a State Department officer at the U.S. Consulate in Milan but technically worked as a CIA officer. She believed she possessed diplomatic protection because she did not serve as a NOC, a covert operative with non-official cover who lacks immunity from a foreign governments prosecution.
In 2005, Italian prosecutors began investigating the case on the grounds the operation violated local and international laws for arresting terrorist suspects in Europe. In early 2009, De Sousa resigned from the CIA, and later that year, Italian courts convicted her and two dozen other Americans for the rendition, based largely on emails and cellphone records. The episode embarrassed the agency for poor tradecraft, and it strained relations between the two countries, alarming U.S. officials. They worry De Sousas case shows how little diplomatic protection American government employees have while working overseas.
De Sousa has fiercely maintained she did not participate in the rendition and was chaperoning her sons ski trip that day. She has, however, said that she flew to Italy in 2002 as part of a group of CIA officers who met with their Italian counterparts to discuss the logistics of renditions. De Sousa said she served as an interpreter between the services.
This has set a terrible precedent, De Sousa told The Post last year. This rendition was funded by Congress with approval of senior government officials in the U.S., Italy and Egypt.
YORKTOWN, Va. The raucous anti-Trump movement poured into this historic town Tuesday evening for a 75-minute showdown with a freshman Republican congressman, peppering him with questions on every key national news item.
Members of the roughly 750 in attendance pressed Rep. Scott Taylor, R-Va., a former state lawmaker and Navy SEAL, on President Donald Trumps connections to Russia and the specifics of what pieces of the Affordable Care Act he wanted to keep. They rained down a chorus of boos when he declared his opposition to federal funds for Planned Parenthood.
Yet by the end of the session, Taylor felt that he had weathered the evenings storm, which was a more civil event than a boisterous town hall the previous evening down the road in Virginia Beach, where he had drawn a crowd of 800.
This was a great audience tonight, Taylor, 37, said afterward.
Whether Taylors optimism is warranted is a key question for both Republicans and Democrats as they navigate a wave of anti-Trump hostility in dozens of congressional town halls across the nation this week.
If Democrats hope to win back the House and Senate, they must keep pressure on Republicans including Taylor and channel the energy of these hostile crowds into an actual political movement that will turn out and vote in next years midterm elections.
And if Republicans hope to survive, as Taylor believes he did on Tuesday, they must figure out how to work with Trump while navigating constituent anger over his more controversial policies, including a rocky attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act and an immigration ban that has been blocked by federal courts.
They must also continue to venture out into the storm, and put themselves in front of their constituents to explain what theyre trying to do in Washington.
Its a particularly acute issue here in the cradle of Americas birth, where the British surrendered to General George Washington in 1781, and where, down the road along the James River, the first English settlers arrived in 1607.
Virginias 2nd Congressional District should be competitive; Trump won here by a mere 3.4 percentage points, similar to Republican nominees Mitt Romney in 2012 and John McCain in 2008. But the local Democrats fielded a community activist who spent less than $5,000 on the race, and Taylor won by an astounding 23 percentage points.
Hes one of 10 Republicans who hold seats that Trump won by less than 4 percentage points. These seats, along with the 23 seats held by the House GOP that went for Hillary Clinton, form an initial target list for Democrats. Dont assume it will be easy: Republicans won most of those 33 districts by overwhelming margins against underwhelming Democrats.
Thats why Josh Stanfield, 30, was on hand at Tuesdays event at York High School, looking for new blood for the local Democratic Party. Stanfield runs a PAC called Activate Virginia and is now recruiting candidates to run in Virginias legislative races this fall, hoping new grassroots supporters will do more than just heckle their congressman at a town hall.
Theyre not flooding the [Democratic] committees, Stanfield said of the faces in the crowd. He wants to sign them up to work on legislative races and this years contest for governor as well as congressional races next year and beyond, when he expects new Census numbers to produce a congressional map that is more favorable to Democrats.
Well show you how to get involved, Stanfield explained before Taylors town hall. Above all, he said there was one goal: Get all these people to vote.
Kim and Elizabeth Sholtis illustrate this conundrum. Kim Sholtis, 45, said she and her husband, who serves in the Air Force at nearby Joint Base Langley-Eustis, are registered to vote in his hometown outside of Harrisburg, Pennsyvlania, under laws designed to help military members. They have not been engaged in local politics, but that changed after Sholtis woke up her daughter the morning the election to tell her Trump had won.
I thought she was joking, Elizabeth Sholtis, 17, recalled.
Neither mother nor daughter could recall anything about Taylors race in 2016. But they promise to be more engaged in 2018, when Elizabeth Sholtis will be eligible to vote and plans to oppose anyone on Trumps side.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is determined not to repeat last years mistake. It has hired a full-time staffer to work in the Tidewater region to help with recruiting and local activism.
Taylor, aware that the next election will be different, scheduled three straight evenings of town halls this week to help his constituents get to know their new congressman. Before taking questions Tuesday, he counseled the audience to avoid chanting and shouting so that everyone could be heard.
Weve got to remain calm. Calm is contagious, Taylor said.
He even suggested that local media coverage of Mondays meeting had scared away some of his conservative supporters.
He then took more than 25 questions that ran the gamut from the Obamacare repeal effort to Trumps rhetorical assault on the media to his own views on deportation of illegal immigrants. While the crowd cheered and jeered at times, the questions, picked randomly by the hosts, were thoughtful and sometimes peppered with personal family anecdotes about struggles.
Taylor distanced himself from Trumps most controversial positions. He dismissed as impractical building a wall along the entire Mexican border. He said Trump was 100 percent wrong to call the media an enemy of the American people. He aligned himself on Russia policy with traditional hawks such as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.
Im with Ryan. Im with Mattis. Im with Kelly, Taylor said, drawing bipartisan cheers while pointedly leaving Trump off that list.
Taylor is a fairly doctrinaire conservative. He wants to devolve much of Medicaid to the states. He eagerly supports repealing the Affordable Care Act. He views the Dodd-Frank Act, which regulates Wall Street, as crippling to business interests. And hes willing to support thousands of new border agents if Kelly recommends it.
Those positions drew the rowdiest opposition from an overwhelmingly anti-Trump crowd, but they are also positions that Republicans have long held while repeatedly winning elections. One question is whether they can continue to do so if Trump comes to be associated with that traditional Republican policy platform while also remaining unpopular. And one challenge for Republicans is to distance themselves from Trumps controversies, which have less to do with policy and often relate to personal behavior and business dealings, to allow voters to differentiate between them and Trump.
Taylor seemed to understand that Tuesday. And by the end of the night, he had found at least one unlikely ally, Delphia Hedgepeth, 83, a Democrat who went to Washington last month for the Womens March. She thanked him for at least showing up and facing the heat.
He was willing to take the questions, Hedgepeth said. He didnt make promises that he couldnt fulfill.
Less than a week ago, things were looking up for Milo Yiannopoulos. The Breitbart editor appeared on Real Time With Bill Maher on Friday, increasing his reach considerably. And then news broke that hed be speaking at CPAC. Suddenly an alt-right free speech activist on the fringe, who reveled in riling up liberals, was getting serious mainstream cred.
What a difference a few days make. Old videos resurfaced that featured Yiannopoulos condoning a hypothetical relationship between a 13-year-old whos sexually mature and older men. The statements, even he later admitted, took a flip approach to pedophilia. Suddenly he was without his CPAC speaking gig, not to mention his book deal with Simon & Schuster. He also publicly resigned from Breitbart.
Maher has an interesting role in all of this. Before last week, Yiannopoulos wasnt entirely unknown. After all, he had a book deal. But his appearance on Mahers show and the subsequent uproar elevated his profile. So how does Maher feel about his role in Yiannopouloss public meltdown?
As I say, sunlight is the best disinfectant, he said during an interview with the New York Times. Youre welcome.
In other words, Maher is taking credit for the turn of events. Not that this was his plan all along. He had no intention of turning Yiannopoulos into a pariah. That would be a little hypocritical.
Im somebody who, many times, people have tried to make go away, he said. They were successful that one time, for six months in 23 years, because thats how long it was between the two shows.
Maher used to host Politically Incorrect, first on Comedy Central, then on ABC. But in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, he stirred controversy when he agreed with his guest Dinesh DSouza, who claimed the terrorists on the planes were warriors.
We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away, Maher said at the time. Thats cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, its not cowardly.
Advertisers pulled out and the show was subsequently canceled, and Maher moved to HBO to start Real Time.
Maher, a self-professed liberal, who other liberals see as a provocateur, makes a point of inviting guests who rankle the left, including Ann Coulter, Piers Morgan, Grover Norquist and Tomi Lahren. In the scheme of things, Maher clearly sees Yiannopoulos as relatively harmless.
What I think people saw was an emotionally needy Ann Coulter wannabe, trying to make a buck off of the lefts propensity for outrage, he said during the interview. He also compared his guest to a bratty kid brother. That would make liberals his older teenager sisters who are having a sleepover and he puts a spider in their sleeping bag so he can watch them scream.
Maher still stands by having Yiannopoulos on, not to mention the way he handled the segment, despite some liberal viewers claiming the host handled his panelist with kid gloves.
Its not my job to hold him accountable to everything hes ever said or done, Maher said. We just had time to, sort of, start a discussion of the broad view of who he is. I dont think he frankly knows what hes going to say half the time, or knows what his philosophy is.
Maher didnt just take credit for taking down Yiannopoulos not to mention discovering Arianna Huffington he also singled himself out as the only person on television doing what he does.
I think everybody else in TV everybody else who does political commentary in a comedic way theyre all in one box, he said. Its so predictable, what theyre going to do, which is, never say anything that would make anything that would make any liberal give the slightest bit of discomfort . . . Im glad that we have enough credibility with both sides, that people who are Trump supporters will still do the show.
Of course, the Daily Show beat Maher to the punch on booking Trump supporter Lahren.
Randy Stiles learned the hard way: Having a Confederate flag tattoo that reads Southern Pride with a noose hanging off it isnt a path to success.
A lot of public ridicule came from it, Stiles, 25, said this month as he waited to get the flag on his right forearm removed. Ive got to get it gone.
Eliminating a tattoo like this takes hours under the needle and usually costs as much as $500. But Southside Tattoo in Brooklyn Park, Md., is removing the hate for free, covering up racist and gang-related tattoos as part of its mission.
A no-cost coverup fits right into Stiless budget. Though he got the tattoo at 18 when he was young and dumb, he said the father of three now hopes to move into management at the trucking company where he works and worries the tattoo could hold him back.
Though hes not a racist, he said, the tattoo made him look like one.
Its not something I would wish on anyone, said Stiles, of Baltimore. A racist [or] gang tattoo puts a target on you.
Dave Cutlip, who runs Southside, said he and his wife developed the idea of free coverups in January after a man came into his tattoo parlor hoping to get a gang tattoo removed from his face.
I could see the hurt in his eyes, Cutlip said.
Cutlip, 49, couldnt help the man, it turned out, because the tattoo was too prominent. Might he be able to help someone else? He and his wife turned to Facebook, offering free coverups for racist or gang tattoos with no questions asked.
Sometimes people make bad choices, and sometimes people change, the post reads. . . . We believe that there is enough hate in this world and we want to make a difference.
The post was so widely shared that Cutlip turned off Facebook notifications on his phone. He books the free coverup appointments on Tuesdays and has worked with seven clients so far.
The post also led to a crowdfunding effort for the Random Acts of Tattoo Project, which Cutlip created with his wife. Cutlip doesnt take any of the money, but plans to direct it to tattoo artists in other parts of the country who cant work for free and to those with training in laser tattoo removal.
In prison and on the street, he said, some people are forced into hate groups and gangs to avoid becoming victims themselves. But later in life, a tattoo memorializing that hatred and violence works against them.
Once you do something like that, youre always going to be a victim, Cutlip said. If I can help that person, thats my ultimate goal.
The desire to cover hateful or violent tattoos isnt new. One program that removed gang members tattoos began in Virginia in 2007. In 2010, a judge in Florida ordered a neo-Nazis tattoos to be covered with makeup during his trial; the Southern Poverty Law Center funded the removal of a skinheads tattoos the following year.
In this corner of Anne Arundel County, about a mile south of Baltimore, where Southside sits in a strip mall, its Facebook post brought diverse queries. Cutlip was asked about covering up an iron cross and a Dead Man Incorporated tattoo from a notorious white prison gang, among other pleas for help.
The challenge wasnt confronting hateful ideology but figuring out ways to erase it. Examining a photo of a swastika tattoo a woman wanted removed from her lower back she said it cost her young son a spot in a playgroup Cutlip begrudgingly admired its dark color and clean lines.
I hate to say it, he said. This is a great tattoo.
He decided that the Random Acts of Tattoo Project would pay for laser removal elsewhere.
To cover up his Confederate flag, Stiles, who has about a dozen tattoos, settled on a replacement he deemed patriotic: an eagle. The coverup involved two hours-long sessions, with Cutlips tattoo gun humming as it injected black and brown ink under Stiless skin, the artist periodically wiping the blood away.
Casey Schaffer showed up at the shop with the word white on one forearm and power on the other. The 29-year-old said the tattoos were a result of a one-year prison stint at Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown for assault.
Schaffer said he fell in with gangs in a prison environment where everybody sticks to their own kind.
I kind of did it to try to get in and prove myself to those guys, he said. They kind of took me in, taking care of me. I thought of it as paying it back to them.
Schaffers out of jail now and looking for work. He said he thinks construction would be a good fit and is also interested in nursing, but he said his criminal record and tattoos might create obstacles.
Working with Cutlip, Schaffer decided to cover up the word white with a heart and roses drawn by his girlfriend. Power could stand on its own, he said, but he decided to cover it with a hawk.
I think it looks pretty badass, he said. It works for me.
Cutlip, whos been tattooing for 25 years, said hes seen plenty of people make mistakes with ink, even involving more mundane designs. Decades later, a customer might not appreciate, say, a tattoo of a dolphin or a college beaus name.
He cant fix every bad tattoo, but he can fix some of the really bad ones.
I take each customer as they come, he said. I want them to feel that they have a say in this.
Video: Just south of Baltimore, Southside Tattoo is covering up racist and gang related tattoos for free. The shops owner, Dave Cutlip, calls it his Random Acts of Tattoo Project.
URL: http://wapo.st/2lE3MBC
LONDON A British suicide bomber who blew himself up in Iraq was identified as a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, prompting questions about how his case was handled after lawmakers and the media lobbied hard for his release.
Jamal al-Harith is said to have detonated a bomb this week at an army base near Mosul.
The Islamic State identified the 50-year-old bomber as Abu Zakariya al-Britani, a Muslim convert from Manchester. He was born Ronald Fiddler and was known more widely in Britain as Jamal al-Harith. He was also identified by his brother, Leon Jameson, who told the Times of London that the photo released by the Islamic State of a man in an explosives-laden car was his younger brother. He wasted his life, Jameson said.
In March 2004, after a massive campaign by politicians and the media, Harith was released from the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay along with four others who had been held for two years without trial.
He received a reported 1 million pounds in compensation in 2010 after the British government settled a lawsuit alleging that British agents were complicit in his torture.
Born in Manchester, Harith was a Web designer who converted to Islam in college, where he studied computing and religious studies. Shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, he was kidnapped when crossing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and handed over to the Taliban, who accused him of being a British spy. According to his Guantanamo prisoner file, published by WikiLeaks, he was later transferred to U.S. forces custody and taken to Guantanamo a few months later because he was expected to have knowledge of Taliban treatment of prisoners and interrogation tactics. The file also said he traveled to Sudan in 1992 with Abu Bakr, a well-known al-Qaida operative.
He reportedly struggled to find work when he returned to the United Kingdom, and in 2014, he traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State. Shortly after he left, his wife, Shukee Begum followed him to Syria with her five young children in an attempt to persuade him to come home. She described her time in the so-called caliphate as not my cup of tea.
Questions have been raised about how he slipped through the surveillance net and whether it was right for the British government to campaign for his release and then pay him compensation.
Arthur Snell, the former head of Prevent, the governments flagship counterextremism program, said that British authorities had failed to keep tabs on Harith.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: Its obvious that collectively the authorities and obviously I have some personal responsibility there we failed to be aware of what Fiddler was up to.
The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, took a swipe at Tony Blair, who was prime minister when Harith was released from the prison camp in Cuba.
Still Think He Wasnt A Danger, Mr Blair? Fury at Labour governments 1m compensation for innocent Brit, a headline said.
In a strongly worded statement, Blair called the Mails coverage utter hypocrisy.
It is correct that Jamal al-Harith was released from Guantanamo Bay at the request of the British Government in 2004, he wrote. This followed a Parliamentary and massive media campaign, led by the Daily Mail, the very paper that is now supposedly so outraged at his release and strongly supported by the then Conservative Opposition. The Mail headline shortly after he was released after months of their campaigning was Freedom At Last for Guantanamo Britons.
Jack Straw, a Labour politician who served as foreign secretary under Blair, told the BBC that he did not think the Blair administration had made a mistake.
I dont think I did get it wrong, Straw said. Its got to be acceptable, we have to be grown-up about this, that if you are asking ministers to release people . . . sometimes they may carry on with criminal activities.
CASA GRANDE, Ariz. More than 200 re-enactors are planning to gather at Picacho Peak State Park next month for a Civil War re-enactment.
The Casa Grande Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2mm0LDf ) that re-enactors will act out the battle of Picacho Pass, an Arizona battle, and two New Mexico battles over March 18 and 19.
Visitors travel from around the country each year to take part in the authentic historic re-enactments, which include a look at the lifestyle of soldiers in the Southwest during the 1860s.
A special entrance fee of $10 per vehicle will be charged during the historic re-enactment.
___
Information from: Casa Grande Dispatch.
President Donald Trumps cabinet will confront major hurdles in rolling back federal environmental regulations as political opposition, market realities and state policies potentially mute the impact of many proposed changes, PNM Resources chair, president and CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn said Wednesday.
Speculation about rescinding the 44-year-old Clean Air Act, for example, is unrealistic, she said in an address to the Albuquerque Economic Forum. That would almost certainly be dead on arrival in Congress, because the policy, in force since 1963, has been upheld and strengthened under successive Republican and Democratic presidents alike.
The speculation is that the act is toast, but thats not likely, Vincent-Collawn said. It would be difficult, if not impossible, because you need Congress to do it, including a 60-vote majority in the Senate.
Trumps campaign promises and cabinet picks since taking office have fueled broad debate over new policies that could spur a resurgence of fossil fuels such as coal, while stunting efforts to halt pollution from power plants. In particular, the new Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Scott Pruitt, has generated controversy because of his past comments questioning the science of climate change and his repeated court challenges to EPA regulations while he was Oklahomas attorney general.
Vincent-Collawn discussed many of those concerns in her remarks, which focused on the uncertainty facing the energy industry.
It can be challenging in stable times, but its even more difficult when the climate is unpredictable, as it is now in the transition to a new administration, Vincent-Collawn said. President Trump said he would roll back policies, and thats already started. With Scott Pruitt at the EPA, I think that rollback will now accelerate.
But many potential policy changes would have varying impacts in different states, such as any effort to rescind the EPAs regional haze rule, enforced under former President Barack Obama. That rule led to Public Service Co. of New Mexicos agreement to shut down two of the four units at the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station near Farmington.
Repealing the policy could affect power plants in states like Texas and Oklahoma, which have yet to reach agreements on meeting haze regulations. But PNMs plan for San Juan is already in place.
Even if they change the rule, it wont change our plans at San Juan, Vincent-Collawn said.
The Obama administrations Clean Power Plan, which calls for limiting carbon emissions from power plants, is likely dead under Trump, Vincent-Collawn said. The plan is tied up in the courts, and because its not yet become law, its an easier target for a Trump rollback.
That could reduce pressure to shut down the other two remaining San Juan units when the plants co-ownership agreement and coal contract expire in 2022. But market realities will determine the future of coal, Vincent-Collawn said.
Despite the rhetoric about reducing regulations, reviving the coal industry is unlikely, she said. Its not regulations pushing coals decline, its the market. Low natural gas prices are driving it.
Last year, natural gas-fired electric generation surpassed coal in the U.S., and given the nations abundant natural gas supplies, those trends will likely continue, Vincent-Collawn said.
Moreover, Trumps environmental proposals will likely face huge court challenges. And, state-level regulations may gain ground, as local officials move to set their own agendas.
Each state can seize opportunities to set their own course, and in New Mexico, I think its safe to say that many dont share Trumps environmental positions, Vincent-Collawn said.
In fact, federal efforts to streamline government regulations to allow rapid approval of energy development could lead to more renewable projects here by cutting red tape for building wind, solar and transmission infrastructure, Vincent-Collawn said.
A newfound solar system just 39 light years away contains seven warm, rocky, Earthlike planets, scientists say.
The discovery, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, represents the first time astronomers have ever detected so many terrestrial planets orbiting a single star. Researchers say the system is an ideal laboratory for studying alien worlds and could be the best place in the galaxy to search for life beyond Earth.
Before this, if you wanted to study terrestrial planets, we had only four of them and they were all in our solar system, said lead author Michael Gillon, an exoplanet researcher at the University of Liege in Belgium. Now we have seven Earth-sized planets to expand our understanding. Yes, we have the possibility to find water and life. But even if we dont, whatever we find will be super interesting.
The newly discovered solar system resembles a scaled-down version of our own. The star at its center, an ultracool dwarf called TRAPPIST-1, is less than a tenth the size of the sun and about a quarter as warm. Its planets circle tightly around it; the closest takes just a day and a half to complete an orbit, the most distant takes about 20 days. If these planets orbited a larger, brighter star theyd be fried to a crisp. But TRAPPIST-1 is so cool that all seven of the bodies are bathed in just the right amount of warmth to hold liquid water. And three of them receive the same amount of heat as Venus, Earth and Mars, putting them in the habitable zone, that Goldilocks region where its thought life can thrive.
Still, Earthlike is a generous term to describe these worlds. Though the planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system resemble Earth in terms of size, mass, and the energy they receive from their star, theres a lot that makes our planet livable beside being a warm rock. Further observation is required to figure out what the TRAPPIST-1 planets are made of, if they have atmospheres, and whether they hold water, methane, oxygen and carbon dioxide the molecules that scientists consider biosignatures, or signs of life.
You can bet people will be rushing to take those measurements, said Elisabeth Adams, an exoplanet researcher at the Planetary Science Institute who was not involved in the study. Thats going to be fascinating to see.
Whatever secrets it may harbor, the TRAPPIST-1 system will surely be a sight to behold. Though the star is small, its nearness to the planets means that, from their perspective, it appears about three times as large as our sun. The outermost planets enjoy the daily spectacle of their neighbors passing across the sky and in front of their shared sun, each world a large dark spot silhouetted against the salmon-colored star. Its dim glow, which skews toward the red and infrared end of the light spectrum, bathes the planets in warmth and paints their skies with the crimson hues of a perpetual sunset.
Gillon and his colleagues have been interested in TRAPPIST-1 since late 2015. Using the European Southern Observatorys Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) in Chile, they sensed small dips in the stars brightness at regular intervals. These dips were caused by planets transiting crossing between the star and Earth and blocking some of its light. Last May, the scientists published their discovery in Nature: three rocky bodies, dubbed TRAPPIST-1b, -1c and -1d, orbited the small star, they said.
But right around the time the study was published, Gillon noticed that TRAPPIST-1d was behaving oddly. When he went to get a closer look with the Very Large Telescope, ESOs gigantic observatory in the Atacama Desert, he realized that the dip in brightness he thought came from 1d was actually caused by three planets, all transiting at the same time.
This happens only once every three years, said Julien de Wit, a planetary scientist at MIT and a co-author on the study. The chance of catching it is less than one in a thousand, he explained. Its funny because its such a huge paper with amazing results, and we got it from sheer luck.
Next the team hurried to request time at the Spitzer Space Telescope, whose Earth-trailing orbit around the Sun offered an uninterrupted view of TRAPPIST-1 and its companions. During 20 days with the Spitzer telescope, the team witnessed 34 transits.
These observations lifted the veil on the architecture of the system, as de Wit put it. Instead of three, TRAPPIST-1 had seven planets, which were renamed TRAPPIST-1b through -h in order of their distance from the star.
The scientists determined that the six inner planets are locked in an orbital resonance, meaning that lengths of their orbits are related by a ratio of whole numbers. Because of this, the bodies exert regular gravitational influences on one another. By measuring those influences, the astronomers could determine the mass of the planets, something that is impossible to figure out from transiting data alone. That in turn allowed them to loosely calculate their densities giving a sense of how much iron, rock, water and gas the bodies contain.
The fact the planets are in orbital resonance also suggests that they formed farther out from their sun and then migrated inward, Gillon said. This makes it more likely that they will contain water in some form, since water and other volatile compounds (molecules that readily turn to gas) tend to concentrate on the outer edges of solar systems.
Coincidentally, TRAPPIST-1 is located in the constellation Aquarius the water bearer.
For years, evidence has accumulated that the Milky Way galaxy is full of Earthlike planets. The discovery of seven such worlds around a single, faint star suggests that they may be even more common than originally thought.
Gillon and his colleagues plan to seek out similar solar systems with a new project, Search for Habitable Planets Eclipsing Ultracool Stars, or SPECULOOS. (Like Trappist beer, speculoos cookies are a Belgian delicacy. His next effort will have to be called WAFFLES.)
Meanwhile, scientists are scrambling to get a better look at the Proxima b, a rocky world that was discovered orbiting the suns nearest neighbor, Proxima Centauri, last August.
But the TRAPPIST-1 researchers, along with several astronomers not involved with the study, say this system is our best target yet to search for extraterrestrial life. Though exoplanet scientists often focus on worlds orbiting sun-like stars, the brightness of those stars makes it difficult to spot small rocky planets. TRAPPIST-1s planets are easy to find amid its dim, cool glow. And the closeness of the system puts it within the reach of the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be able to detect atmospheric components and thermal emissions from the planets after it launches in 2018.
In the meantime, telescopes on several continents have been trained on the system to search for signs of life. Last summer, the scientists published an early analysis of the atmospheres of planets b and c using data from the Hubble Space Telescope.
This is direct exploration of another solar system that is happening right now, said Gillon.
Planets e, f and g are the most intriguing targets for astrobiologists because of their position in TRAPPIST-1s habitable zone. But even if they turn out to be warm and wet, these worlds might not be great places to live. The planets proximity to the star and one another means that they are probably tidally locked, like Earths moon. One side of each planet always faces the sun, the other is stuck in constant darkness. This would make for a dramatic temperature gradient that could generate powerful winds not exactly an Earthlings idea of a cozy home.
And Adams of the Planetary Science Institute cautioned that its very hard to tell whether a planet is habitable from a distance. An observer outside our solar system might look at Venus, Earth and Mars and reason that the sun hosts three habitable worlds. The alien would need to travel here in person to discover that Venus is a cloudy hellscape with a runaway greenhouse effect, while Mars is a barren, frozen desert with a defunct internal dynamo.
There are a lot of ways in which a planet could be like Earth, but not enough, Adams said.
Another major caveat, she added, is that the very idea of a habitable world is purely theoretical. Scientists have only one source of data on habitable planets, and thats Earth. We dont actually know the parameters that are needed for life on another world, Adams said, h ow much it has to look exactly like Earth, and how different life could be elsewhere.
Still, even if no life is discovered on them, the TRAPPIST-1 planets present an unprecedented new window on how solar systems work. Though each planet is more or less Earth-sized, their varying densities and distances allow for detailed comparisons of the worlds. Its almost as if someone designed an experiment in planet formation, controlling for the bodies size.
De Wit compared the new planets to seven new languages, each offering a new vocabulary for describing their corner of the universe.
They all have a slightly different perspective on the same story, he said, the story of this solar system.
Eldorado High senior Maria Duran has signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at Trinidad (Colo.) State Junior College.
Duran played two years with the Eagles varsity and was in the program for four years overall. She began playing at age 12 and current is with the Albuquerque Premier Team Zia 18s. She also was in choir for four years at Eldorado.
Duran plans on majoring in nursing at Trinidad and then transferring to attend Arizona State University to pursue her vocal music education, her family says.
INDIANAPOLIS When the Trump administration unveiled an executive order trying to bar Syrian refugees from coming to the United States, many who have resettled here in the American heartland felt a familiar sense of dread: Mike Pence is trying to ban us. Again.
Fadi Lababidi was shocked. He and his family arrived here in October 2014, greeted with a banner at the airport and kindness from strangers. Lababidi and his wife have made a life for themselves in Indiana, where they work at a hospital cafeteria. Their children attend public schools and now speak in fluent English to their month-old sister, a U.S. citizen named Selena.
Now the Lababidis and other families who have come to live here during the past few years are angry and shaken, worried that they might be forced to leave the country. Over plates of sweets, they discuss the anguish of knowing that it is possible their loved ones will not be able to join them in their adopted U.S. home, and they fret about their children, their jobs, their future.
I dont know what they will do to us here. Will they deport us back? Will they send us back? Will they keep us here? asked Lababidi, a genial 48-year-old. I started questioning my presence here and what will happen to me and my family.
The national ban has a familiar feel to Lababidi. It was a little more than a year after he and his family arrived in the United States that a terrorist attack in Paris spurred Pence then Indianas governor to direct state agencies to stop the resettlement of Syrian migrants in his state.
Pences decision was a surprise to us because it did not represent the American people, the way we were welcomed and the way we were treated in public, he said.
Exodus Refugee Immigration and the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana sued Pence, claiming he did not have constitutional authority to bar people from the state. Pence lost, with a federal appeals court ruling in October thatthe governors directive was discrimination on the basis of nationality.
The influx never stopped, and now more than 200 Syrian refugees live in this sprawling Midwestern city of more than 850,000. But now, Pence is vice president, and the administration moved to make a ban on Syrian refugees nationwide and permanent. The apprehension and fear Lababidi felt in 2015 is back at levels he never imagined.
This time it was the entire country, and it was specifically toward Muslims, he said.
And it has rocked the small Syrian community here, a city that is home to a fast-growing immigrant population and booming number of refugees, a blue dot smack in the middle of a deeply red state.
We won the battle, but were losing the war, said Cole Varga, executive director of Exodus.
Exodus resettled 947 refugees here during the past fiscal year, including 556 from Myanmar, 146 from Congo and 122 from Syria. From Oct. 1 to Jan. 31, another 83 Syrian refugees have arrived in Indianapolis through Exodus, and a total of 108 statewide. At least one Syrian family did not come to Indianapolis because of Trumps order, but another arrived recently after a federal appeals court struck down the administrations decree. A spokesman for Pence did not respond to requests for comment.
Pence at the time said he was trying to block Syrian refugees in the name of security, and some here agree.
Ive never met them, said Steve Munn, a 66-year-old woodworker. Supposedly weve got our fair share.
At a McDonalds on the citys south side, a traditionally white, working-class enclave that is home to a cluster of Burmese refugees, 61-year-old Warren Gregory said he has not worked in a year. He is studying for his MBA and a degree in natural health, exalting about the properties of myrrh oil and qigong. He will soon move 75 miles south, to a cabin where he can live for less than $300 a month.
The refugees are treated better than normal folks, Gregory said. I have nothing against them. I have something against them being able to come here and make more money than us and not even have to worry.
Gregory said that the United States has no proof of who the Syrian refugees are and does not think vetting is strong enough.
I dont trust the State Department right now, and I dont like the U.N., he said of the two agencies that conduct extensive vetting of Syrian refugees.
Syrian refugees are subject to an enhanced security review, a process that can take years and includes numerous interviews, biometric checks, a medical screening and security check by multiple federal agencies that is active throughout the entire process.
But the Syrians living in Indianapolis said they have become accustomed to what people call Hoosier hospitality. Volunteers drive refugees to appointments and an international store, where they can buy the closest thing Indiana has to Syrian bread. Families use apartment courtyards for weekend get-togethers filled with kebabs, dancing and children. Schools ensure Syrian refugee families are connected.
We feel like we are not by ourselves, said Alan Omar, who noted that he had to look up the city on Google because he had never heard of it before learning he would move there. There are good people around.
Omar, 21, fled Aleppo where he remembers fighter jet attacks and bombs exploding all around for a small Syrian village in 2012 and Turkey the following year. After nine vetting interviews where he was asked every single detail about his life, the United States granted him refugee status.
When he arrived here in May 2015, Omar barely spoke English and could not figure out where to take out the trash at his apartment complex. He found employment sorting packages in a warehouse and delivering pizzas. But he prides himself on his work ethic and wanted more.
He now works full time as a recruiter at a staffing agency, where colleagues treat me like part of the family. He speaks fluent English, attends adult high school classes at night with plans to continue to college and helps other Syrians navigate their new lives in the United States.
This is our second country, Omar said. Its our responsibility to take care of it.
But Trumps executive order has instilled trepidation in him and his family. His siblings are scattered around Europe; one still lives in Syria. Omars mother recently received a green card and had planned to visit a sister who recently had a baby in Germany. Heartbroken, she put her plans on hold because the family is afraid that if she leaves she will not be able to re-enter the United States.
Lababidis father, who is ill, is living in Jordan and is in the final steps of the U.S. refugee process. The two speak every day, the father asking the son for the latest news on the presidents decree and the son trying to maintain calm.
Because of Trump, we cannot see him or take care of him or treat him here, Lababidi said. My father is old 72 years old. Does this make him a terrorist?
As Lababidi spoke, his eldest child, 14-year-old Ebrahim, wearing bright silver sneakers, quietly listened. Twelve-year-old Shimaa and 10-year-old Mohammad played with a cellphone, Snapchatting and posting to Instagram. Eight-year-old Hamzeh alternated between rocking Selena in her car seat and snuggling under his fathers arm. Lababidi jokes that his children now speak so quickly in their new language, peppering their sentences with cool and awesome, that he needs an interpreter to understand them.
In school last month, one of Shimaas teachers told her class about Trumps order and singled out the girl as an example of the kind of person the law would keep out of the country an innocent sixth-grade girl.
He said that no one can come to America no more, and he stopped and he said, Shimaas Muslim. Is she racist? Is she a terrorist or something? the girl recounted.
They said no, Shimaa said, biting her hot-pink hoodie. She said she was a little scared and it was embarrassing, but said she felt good letting people know she is Arab.
Hamzeh said hearing Trumps voice makes him scared and sometimes makes him want to cry. Mohammad, in a Captain America sweatshirt, said he finally feels safe in the United States and likes speaking two languages.
Trumps order has spurred some here to respond in ways they never planned. Galen Denney, a 36-year-old Indianapolis native studying electrical engineering, was so incensed after Trumps order that he started a Facebook event for a rally at the Indianapolis Airport. Hundreds of people showed up.
The same outpouring of support that was perhaps more reserved during Pences attempts at legislating discrimination are now simply amplified by the attempts to move from state-level politics to the national stage, Denney said.
There is some optimism after the court struck down Trumps order. Varga, the director of Exodus, says there will be more battles to win, and Omar said it allowed him to see the equality in America again.
While Omar, Lababidi and others have nothing but thanks and gratitude for Americans, transitioning to a new life is difficult and not everyone has been welcoming.
Ebrahim Lababidi said he ignores nasty comments at school. Sixteen-year-old Rama Batman has dealt with students insulting her. Her mother, Lona Al Moghrabi, said two students got into a fistfight over Trump at her sons middle school and the police had to be called.
It was very scary, especially at the school, she said as her daughter interpreted in their living room. Trump took a lot of votes from Indiana.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. The city of Riverton and surrounding lands are not part of the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, an appeals court ruled Wednesday in a case that involves federal air-quality law and had major implications for the citys day-to-day business.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver overturned a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determination that the reservations tribes had authority to regulate air quality in the area.
More than pollution rules were at stake, however. Arguing against the EPA determination, state officials warned that Wyoming would lose jurisdiction over everything from law enforcement to public schools in the city of 10,000 people.
The court battle hurt the city by creating uncertainty, Mayor Lars Baker said.
The vagueness of the situation that weve been involved in has really been kind of detrimental to Rivertons potential, Baker said. And we think weve missed out on some business opportunities in the community and believe that theres been a chilling of land sales as a result of people just not fully understanding what the EPA case meant to them.
Baker said he hopes the ruling leads to stronger ties between the city and the tribes.
Gov. Matt Mead also welcomed the decision, saying the EPA overstepped its authority.
The EPAs decision went against 100 years of history and was one that should not come from a regulatory agency, Mead said.
The EPA didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes share the reservation. Northern Arapaho officials questioned how two of the judges determined that the tribes had ceded the portion of the reservation in question.
The tribes will appeal to the full 10th Circuit, said Northern Arapaho Business Council Chairman Roy Brown.
The case hinged on interpretation of a 1905 decision by Congress that threw open some 1.4 million acres of the Wind River Reservation to settlement by non-Indians.
Private citizens purchased more than 170,000 acres before the sales ended 10 years later.
The EPA in 2013 ruled in a Clean Air Act matter that, even though the land was sold, it remained legally part of the reservation.
Copyright 2017 Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico State Universitys police chief on Wednesday said his department wont seek authority to enforce immigration laws on campus.
In an email circulated campus-wide, NMSU Police Chief Stephen Lopez sought to allay student and faculty concerns after the Department of Homeland Security announced broad new immigration enforcement measures including authorizing local law enforcement to act as immigration agents through a program known as Section 287(g).
NMSU Police Department has never sought, and has absolutely no intention of obtaining, authority for its officers to enforce immigration laws under the Section 287(g) program, Lopez said in the email. Our officers have enough work to do enforcing state statutes and providing proactive crime prevention.
University of New Mexico Police Chief Kevin McCabe could not be reached Wednesday, and it was not clear whether the department had addressed similar concerns on campus in Albuquerque.
DHS announced sweeping changes this week to immigration enforcement protocol. The government may target for deportation any unauthorized immigrant suspected of, charged with or convicted of a crime, including minor offenses.
Thats a departure from the Obama administrations practice of targeting primarily violent criminals and recent border crossers for deportation.
The new policies continue to protect young immigrants known as Dreamers who qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program more than 10,500 people in New Mexico alone. But given that crossing the border illegally is a federal crime, and some traffic violations constitute crimes, advocates say millions of undocumented immigrants could be at risk of deportation under the new enforcement guidance.
Anxiety in immigrant communities in New Mexico has been running high since the election of President Donald Trump. While his hard-line stance on immigration energized many conservatives and federal law enforcement, it has left many families of mixed immigration status fearful.
Those concerns are present on campus.
NMSU police cooperate with federal agencies on investigations related to cybercrime, human trafficking, fraud, extortion, stalking and terrorism, Lopez said. On matters related to immigration law, police cooperate:
when the departments victim services personnel identify someone who has been a victim of a serious crime who may be eligible for a special type of visa;
to verify during a traffic stop that a foreigner is within the 30-day limit to obtain a New Mexico drivers license;
to meet federal reporting requirements when a foreign exchange student does not show up for school.
The NMSU Police Department does not know whether there are any undocumented students attending NMSU, as that is not a question that is asked, nor are records kept of such, Lopez said in the email.
The big airlines have jumped into the basic economy market, competing with the super-cheap airlines that cater to the most frugal passengers.
Within hours of each other, American and United announced that they had begun selling basic economy fares that push down the price of a ticket. The lower price can come with caveats, however, including having to pay extra for space in the overhead bin, boarding last and not having the option to pre-select seats when booking the tickets.
Analysts said the big airlines are going after the low-priced market more aggressively after watching the upstarts become so successful.
The Spirits and Frontiers have gotten so much bigger, said Kris Kelley, an analyst at Janus Capital Group. Now they are formidable competition that the big three carriers (American, United Continental, Delta) have to somehow deal with in their markets.
Low-priced Spirit, Allegiant and Frontier airlines have corralled a big chunk of the low-cost travelers by emphasizing prices that historically are less than what the cheapest major airlines can offer. The low-cost competitors have thrived by reducing frills to a minimum, packing in more seats, reducing time at the gate and keeping the planes in the air longer than their larger counterparts.
American, United and Delta now realize theres a big percentage of the population that just wants to get there cheaply and safely, and they are no longer willing to watch all that business go to airlines like Spirit, said Seth Kaplan, editor of Airline Weekly, which follows the industry.
American and United are following Delta, which had previously said it would enter the basic economy game.
American announced early Tuesday that super-cheap fares would begin on 10 routes from its hub airports in Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia and Charlotte, according to The Associated Press. United is selling reduced fares on certain flights from Minneapolis to seven hub cities, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, starting in April.
Lower fuel costs are part of the reason. Cheaper fuel has allowed the major carriers to reduce some fares to the level of the economy airlines with enough of a margin to still make money.
Spirit has always sold price. They led with price, Kaplan said. But airlines like American smell blood. If American can say to people, you can get the Spirit fare on American and still get certain extras, that puts even more pressure on Spirit.
Its like putting a virtual curtain in front of the last few rows, Kaplan said. Its not too desirable, but if you just want to see Grandma as inexpensively as possible, then we have a fare for that.
The Associated Press reports that two random early-March itineraries for American flights between Dallas and Baltimore priced economy tickets on Americans website at $249 and $309. The basic economy fares for those flights were $209 and $269.
Airline consultant Robert Mann said technology advances in recent years have allowed the big airlines to go after the low-cost market. The big airlines had previously stayed away from such ultra-low pricing because of the fear that it would cannibalize its higher fares. The airlines set up such fare rules as mandating Saturday night stays to discourage customers from picking the cheapest seats.
What changed? Technology, Mann said. There was a breakthrough. The big airlines developed a method of structuring a separate, lower-fare family.
Mann said the airlines also figured out how to roll out the new pricing so customers understand it and the limitations.
In the case of American and United, they will not allow you to use the overhead bin, he said. Thats one way which they have further fenced off customers from diluting their customer base.
The airline industry, with the exception of longtime Wall Street darling Southwest Airlines, has cruised into an investor renaissance after years of being in the dregs. Southwest, once a low-cost upstart, is now considered one of the four major U.S. airlines, along with American, United Continental and Delta.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who famously bemoaned his one-time investment in US Airways, calling it one of the biggest mistakes of his career, is getting in on the act with investments in all four. For years, Buffett avoided airline investments, saying that their relentless competition and massive capital investment requirements violated some of his basic tenets of investing.
Buffett called the airline industry a death trap for investors at his Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in 2013.
He told Londons the Telegraph in a 2002 interview: If a capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk back in the early 1900s, he should have shot Orville Wright. He would have saved his progeny money.
DENVER A Colorado judge has blocked a college towns law against women going topless, saying the law is likely unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson said Tuesday that Fort Collins ordinance is based on gender discrimination and issued an injunction against its enforcement.
Fort Collins indecency code makes it a crime for women but not men to show their nipples.
The law perpetuates a stereotype engrained in our society that female breasts are primarily objects of sexual desire, whereas male breasts are not, Jackson wrote.
Jackson accused city council members of falling prey to discriminatory thinking when they voted unanimously in 2015 to keep a law that prohibits the display of female breasts, rejecting a growing movement to remove gender-specific indecency codes.
The naked female breast is seen as disorderly or dangerous because society, from Renaissance paintings to Victorias Secret commercials, has conflated female breasts with genitalia and stereotyped them as such, Jackson wrote.
The irony is that by forcing women to cover up their bodies, society has made naked womens breasts something to see.
The hometown of Colorado State University had no cases on record of women being charged with the crime of going topless.
And the city did make an exception for nursing mothers.
But otherwise it was a $250 fine for a woman over the age of 10 in Fort Collins to display her breast below the top of the nipple.
Two women sued over the Fort Collins topless ban. Other cities in Colorado, including Denver, have no gender-specific indecency laws.
The plaintiffs lawyer, David Lane, said Tuesday that he wasnt surprised the judge blocked Fort Collins law.
My clients take a position that any statute with the words Women are prohibited from. is unconstitutional, and I agree with them. Apparently so does a federal judge, Lane said in a statement Tuesday.
___
Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt
PORTLAND, Maine The governor has asked Republican President Donald Trump to undo Democratic former President Barack Obamas designation of a national monument and give back the land that was donated for it.
Republican Gov. Paul LePage asked Trump to take the unprecedented step of returning land in the northern part of the state to private ownership in a Feb. 14 letter.
Burts Bees co-founder Roxanne Quimbys foundation last August donated 87,000 acres to the federal government for the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maines North Woods. Burts Bees is a personal care products company that calls itself Earth friendly and says it has a triple bottom line: people, profit, planet.
LePage said if the land remains a federal monument the state should manage it to avoid economic damage and protect traditional recreational use of it. He said he hopes Trump will create jobs and make the Maine woods great again.
The monuments creation was opposed by state lawmakers and critics who said they feared it would hinder efforts to rebuild a forest-based economy in the region. But supporters, including local businesses and environmental groups, have said the appeal of a national monument would help revitalize a struggling though lovely rural area.
The governor said hes hopeful Trump will heed opponents of the monument in Maines 2nd Congressional District, which sent Trump an electoral college vote in the November election. It was unclear what Trump planned to do, if anything.
Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said on Wednesday during a Maine Public radio interview that its a real legal question whether Trump can undo the designation.
Towns have started working together to make the best of the situation, she said.
The governor, in his letter, said there are those who would say a president cant undo a national monument because it has never been done before.
They also never envisioned President Trump, LePage said.
Quimbys son Lucas St. Clair, who had previously said he was pretty confident Trump wouldnt get involved, called LePages letter disappointing.
Theres been great investments happening already, and the economy of the Katahdin region is getting to show positive results from the designation, he said. And I think most people are excited and are moving on.
St. Clair rebuffed LePages claim that the national monument limits recreational pursuits and said the national monument has more relaxed rules for snowmobiling and hunting than Baxter State Park does.
He said the foundation chose a national monument over a state park because of research showing an increased benefit to rural economies.
While I love Maine state parks, he said, the governor in his most recent budget decreased the funding for our state parks.
RAMADI, Iraq The Islamic State is nearing defeat on the battlefield, but away from the front lines its members are seeping back into areas the group once controlled, taking advantage of rampant corruption in Iraqs security forces and institutions.
Police officers, judges and local officials describe an uneven hand of justice that allows some Islamic State collaborators to walk, dimming Iraqs chances of escaping the cycle of violence that has plagued the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
In the western city of Ramadi, retaken a year ago, officials say evidence against the accused disappears from police files, while witnesses are too scared to testify. A bribe of as little as $20 can buy a laminated security pass granting access to the city.
In Salahuddin province, a mayor recounted how Islamic State members had returned to his small town, later saying he had received death threats. In Kirkuk, a woman said police were asking for tens of thousands of dollars to release her son, who is accused of helping the militants.
After three years of fighting, security forces are on the cusp of clearing the Islamic State out of Iraqi towns and cities, launching an offensive Sunday for the western half of Mosul, the groups de facto capital in Iraq. But weakened by graft, the state is struggling to maintain control as the Islamic State and rival groups such as al-Qaida attempt to reestablish themselves in areas where they were once supported.
The plight of those majority Sunni areas also provides fodder for extremist groups to drive their recruitment. Parts of towns and cities have been reduced to rubble, with pitiful assistance for reconstruction and hundreds of thousands still displaced from their homes. Meanwhile, accusations of revenge attacks and human rights abuses by security forces have the potential to perpetuate rifts with the government.
The chaos risks unraveling the progress made by Iraqi forces backed by a coalition of allies including the United States, which spends $12.5 million a day on air operations against the Islamic State and has spent billions more training and equipping Iraqi security forces.
We are very concerned we will end up back at square one, said Eid al-Karbouli, a spokesman for Anbars provincial council. He said Islamic State members have already started to seep back into the city, adding: The locals know and recognize them.
It was in the Sunni cities of Anbar province that the Islamic State first gained a hold three years ago, seizing control of Fallujah and Ramadi and capitalizing on frustration with the Shiite-led central government that had manifested in months of protests.
Those areas are back under state control, but the U.S. militarys previous struggle against militants in the province is still fresh in the collective memory. Following a U.S. surge in troops and the co-opting of Sunni tribal fighters, then-President George W. Bush traveled to Anbar province in 2007 to highlight the military success against al-Qaida. Five years later, the Islamic State formed out of the remnants of the group.
So far, the U.S.-backed campaign has focused on defeating the Islamic State militarily rather than addressing the reasons so many of Iraqs minority Sunnis initially turned to the group.
President Donald Trump has said he instructed his administration to develop a comprehensive plan to defeat the Islamic State, but so far he has said little about what that might entail.
Iraqi commanders spearheading the fight complain that they dont have enough competent forces to hold recently recaptured areas. Reformed police forces are again riddled with corruption, and governance has been left to chronically weak institutions.
In Ramadi, Anbars provincial capital, buildings are scarred by the two-year-long struggle for control between security forces and the Islamic State, the longest period of street-to-street fighting against the group. The government declared victory a year ago, but allegations that the militants are returning are widespread.
At checkpoints on the edges of the city, cars wait in long lines to be allowed in and out. A white laminated pass from Iraqs Interior Ministry allows residents who are not wanted by authorities to travel through freely. But officials say the cards can be bought easily, opening the city up to attack by allowing militants to move in and out.
In his office next to Ramadis police station, Col. Ahmed Hussein Mohammed, the leader of a regiment of tribal forces in the city, pointed at one of the small cards.
The most important document right now is this, he said, adding that it costs as little as 25,000 dinars on the black market, or about $20. He says many of the people his forces arrest are soon back out on the streets, with witnesses too afraid to give evidence against them.
Col. Yassir Ismail Moussa, a spokesman for the Anbar police, conceded there was some corruption at checkpoints and said there are plans to introduce new identity cards to deal with the issue. Some detainees are rumored to be Islamic State members, he said, but without witnesses or evidence, they must be released.
This is our problem. Most witnesses dont have courage to come forward, he said, denying that police take bribes to release people or hide evidence.
But others say those problems are rife.
There is a cancer in the body of the police. We need to get it out, otherwise it will kill us all, Karbouli said. Right now its a small fire, but we need to put it out before it becomes a major fire that will burn the whole province.
The Islamic State lost much of the support it had garnered after people experienced living under the group, making it difficult for it to take territory again. Still, there is a problem with sleeper cells, Moussa said.
In majority Sunni areas like Ramadi, the Islamic State is not the only group attempting to reassert itself.
Last August, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri called on Sunnis in Iraq to reorganize and wage a long-term guerrilla war to oust the government from their cities. He urged al-Qaida members in Syria to assist, criticizing the mistakes of his rival, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State.
No way can al-Qaida come back, Moussa said, adding that al-Qaida members have all switched allegiance to the Islamic State and are on the run in the province, pushed out to its border areas.
But the Institute for the Study of War warned last week that a Sunni insurgency is forming in Iraq and that al-Qaida is trying to gain traction in it. Other Sunni extremist groups, including the Naqshbandis and the 1920s Revolution Brigades, are likely to take advantage, it said.
At the courthouse in Ramadi, Judge Ali Fadhawi said the system is overwhelmed. The ceiling sags from the impact of explosions, a reminder that not too long ago, the building was in the middle of a war zone.
The court tries to dispense justice as best it can, said Fadhawi, but there are not enough judges or police officers.
All this is not normal. We are sitting here, with the destruction all around us, he said. What can we do? Life must go on.
Fadhawi said the investigatory court here is dealing with more than 300 terrorism-related cases, but no one has been convicted. He said some of the accused bribe their way out of the system.
That exists, to be honest, its happening, he said. But most of the Islamic States leaders have been killed or have fled, he added. We do our best in order for none to get away without punishment.
Some residents have taken matters into their own hands.
One warm evening last summer, Mustafa al-Alwani pulled his truck to the side of the street near his home in Ramadi and fired three bullets into another mans chest.
He said the man was an Islamic State member responsible for killing his brother.
There is no justice here, the 31-year-old policeman explained. You have to make your own.
The men were members of the same tribe, and Alwani said it was well known that the man was part of a sleeper cell that ambushed police forces in the days before the city fell to the militants. More than a dozen officers were killed, including his brother, whose body was later found in a mass grave, he said.
Alwani filed a legal complaint, but no arrest was made. So he informed the leader of their tribe that he would kill the man unless he left the city.
After the government didnt do anything, I decided to take my revenge, he said, adding that his brothers killer was previously affiliated with al-Qaida.
Three of Alwanis brothers have been killed by the Islamic State or al-Qaida and another one lost his legs in an attack since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
An arrest warrant has now been issued for Alwani, though he said hes not worried and has continued to fight the Islamic State with his police unit in Mosul.
In Anbar, the law of the tribes is stronger than the law of the government, said Sheikh Omar al-Alwani, a tribal leader. He said that if 10 people signed a petition saying a house belonged to an Islamic State member, the tribe would blow it up.
With tribes and militias often acting as judge, jury and executioner, complaints of extrajudicial killings, beatings and detentions are increasing.
Innocent people inevitably get swept up in the fray.
Lists of accused collaborators contain an indescribable number of names, said one intelligence official in Ramadi, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with protocol. On mine there are tens of thousands, but national security, police stations, they all have their own lists.
Those with family members in the Islamic State are often banned from returning home and face revenge attacks. One young man, whose brother was an Islamic State member, described how he was pulled out of his car by tribal militiamen south of Mosul and beaten and robbed because of his familys links to the group. Hes now too afraid to be named for fear of reprisals.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a Facebook page called Mosul Eye, which has chronicled life in the city under the Islamic State, warned that abuses by some parts of the security forces were creating humiliation for the local population, while huge corruption meant that Islamic State members were going free.
Fadila Abdelaziz Saleh said her son was accused of working on an Islamic State water tanker in her village south of Mosul. She denies that he did, saying her family fled the village just weeks after the militants arrived.
She discovered the accusations when the village was retaken and families began returning. A list of the wanted circulated on Facebook, and he was on it.
A year ago, security forces arrested her son at their temporary home in a half-constructed building in Kirkuk.
After he was tortured, she said, he confessed to joining the Islamic State for three days and working on the tanker. He also said he guided the militants to two police officers houses, which were then destroyed.
Sitting on the floor of her icy home, Saleh tried to negotiate her sons release from prison. I dont have the money to pay $20,000, she cried into her cellphone. If it was $1,500, maybe I could pay that, maybe a bit more. Maybe if it was $5,000 we could find it.
She said the police had first asked for $35,000.
If you have money, you can get away with anything, she said.
Mustafa Salim in Ramadi and Aaso Ameen Shwan in Kirkuk contributed to this report.
PHOENIX More than 30 immigrants in the United States illegally were freed from jails in Phoenix over the past four days after the areas new sheriff shortened the length of time that hell hold such inmates before federal authorities take custody of them.
Sheriff Paul Penzones office said Wednesday that the immigrants went free because federal authorities declined to pick them up after they had become eligible for release from jail on state charges.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it has since arrested five of the freed immigrants.
On Friday, Penzone announced an end to a longstanding policy by his predecessor, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, that kept immigrants locked up past their release date to give federal authorities extra time to launch deportation proceedings. Penzone said issues surrounding the policys constitutionality left him no choice but to change the rules.
The policy change was made as President Donald Trump has vowed to toughen immigration enforcement across the United States, including erecting a wall across the 2,000-mile southern border and making it easier to deport those who are in the country illegally.
Under Penzones new policy, the sheriffs office gives federal agents five to eight hours of notice before immigrants charged with state crimes have been ordered released from jail by a court. The immigrants are set free if federal agents dont pick them up.
Its their responsibility to take custody if they want to take custody, said Mark Casey, a spokesman for Penzones office. But we can no longer hold them.
The release of the inmates harkens back to a decade ago when state and local officials in Arizona regularly criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement for failing to respond to calls from police to pick up immigrants detained in law enforcement encounters. The criticism became more muted in recent years.
Yasmeen Pitts OKeefe, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the federal agency will continue to seek collaboration from police agencies across Arizona to ensure that immigrants who may pose a threat to communities arent released to potentially commit crimes again.
She said the freed immigrants included people who had been convicted for drug offenses, extreme drunken driving and resisting a police officer.
Employees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been stationed at Maricopa Countys jails for several years to check on the immigration status of people arrested on state crimes. The federal employees remain within the jails even with Penzones policy change.
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, the countys top prosecutor whose office defends the sheriffs office in lawsuits, said Penzone changed the policy after a Texas judge concluded a month ago that county officials without federal authorization to enforce immigration law cant hold people beyond the time necessary to enforce state law.
Casey said the ban on federal authorities making arrests in Phoenixs jails is intended to protect taxpayers from legal liability. He said Penzone is discussing with federal authorities ways to lawfully exchange the inmates in the future.
___
Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud. His work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/jacques%20billeaud.
Aditya Swamy, Senior Marketing Director at Flipkart, has put in his papers, as per industry sources. It is learnt that Swamy will be joining Google.
Swamy had joined Flipkart in January 2016. Before that, he was with Viacom18 Media from June 2006 to December 2015. He had quit the organisation as Executive Vice President & Business Head.
Swamy had started his career at Coca Cola in sales, working both urban and rural markets. He left the beverage major as General Manager Marketing in May 2006 after a stint of eight years.
He had also led the MTV business in India and helped scale MTV from a TV channel to a multi screen content network across TV, web, mobile, social and live events. He also created multiple revenue streams and several cult formats like MTV Roadies, MTV Coke Studio, MTV Top Model and MTV Labs.
At Flipkart, Swamy has led the digital media and content charter. He has been involved in building a socially powered Content2Commerce program aimed at driving higher conversions across Flipkart platforms. On the digital media side, he has work closely with Facebook , Google and Twitter to drive reach, engagement and traffic across campaigns, events and launches.
InDeed, Dentsu Aegis Networks newly launched CSR Advisory, will facilitate corporate investments by companies in Corporate Social Responsibly, through insights & a brand-led approach.
InDeed, will provide best-in-class expertise and capabilities in Creative, Media, Digital, OOH, Activation and PR communications services, which will help brands build a truly Integrated and a Brand-Led CSR journey in India.
InDeed will work with clients to infuse brand purpose into their CSR strategies. The aim is to integrate branding and CSR in order to build a corporate culture around responsibility, leading to business sustainability and thereby reap reputational rewards. This will, in turn, make Corporate Social Responsibility into an opportunity that is accountable, measurable and scalable across several CSR areas of development. (eradicating hunger, poverty & malnutrition, education, gender equality, rural sports, rural development projects, measure for the benefit of armed forces, ensuring environmental sustainability, contribution to the prime ministers national relief fund and contributions or funds provided by technology incubators).
InDeed is building a repository of Indias most credible and reputed NGOs and will connect them to corporates on the basis of thematic and geographical priorities to create the best possible match. It will also be involved in conducting employee engagement activities and volunteering programs that result in a meaningful engagement of the staff in innovative social initiatives that are grounded in business practices.
Indeed has also invested in best brand led CSR case studies to link it to NGO / Brand / CSR activity. More than 2500 case studies are mapped by geography, cost, product, NGO and CSR activity to make sure the best brand-led CSR is delivered.
Commenting on the launch, Ashish Bhasin, chairman and CEO, South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, said, Today several of our clients are making a huge investment in CSR but in an adhoc manner. Many corporates want to give back to the society but often dont know how to go about it in a consistent and meaningful manner. Indeed will act as a catalyst in this entire process and Haresh and his team have really done pioneering work in this area. Feels great to be able to give back to society via a socially relevant business
Haresh Nayak, Mentor and Managing Director of Indeed, will lead this initiative from Dentsu Aegis Network. He strongly believes that brand building should be seamlessly combined with CSR strategies. He said, It is not enough for brands to just Greenwash their actions to provide PR-able fodder. Mostly such acts of philanthropic projects are short lived and rarely build a brand connect. However, if implemented in the right manner and with the right approach, brand building and CSR can perfectly complement each other.
Being a part of Denstu Aegis Network, InDeed will not only work with their existing clients but will also look at fresh collaborations.
Currently the InDeed team will be based out of Dentsu Aegis Network's Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore offices. Dentsu Aegis Networks presence in India comprises the global network brands Carat, iProspect, Isobar, Posterscope, Vizeum, MKTG, Amnet and mcgarrybowen along with the Dentsu branded agencies Dentsu Impact, Dentsu One, Dentsu India, Dentsu Media, Taproot Dentsu and Dentsu Webchutney. Also, newly added to the group are the recently acquired local brands Milestone Brandcom, WATConsult, Fountainhead MKTG, the Perfect Relations Group, Happy mcgarrybowen and Fractal Design Studio.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most followed world leader on Facebook with 40 million followers on his personal page, and U.S. President Donald J. Trump is in second place with 20 million followers on his personal page, according to the newly released 2017 World Leaders on Facebook study by leading strategic communications and global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller.
As of February 1, 2017, the institutional page of the Indian Premier, PMO India, is in third place with 13 million followers, ahead of Queen Rania of Jordan, in fourth place with 10 million. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rounds out the top five with 8 million followers. Besides Modi, the other Indian leaders to feature high in the rankings include The President of India at number 9 and the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sushma Swaraj at number 16.
The study also analyzes the activity of 590 Facebook pages of heads of state and government and foreign ministers throughout 2016 using aggregate data from Facebooks Crowdtangle tool.
Modi also had the most interactions (likes, comments and shares) of any world leader on Facebook in 2016. His post of a set of three pictures of his mother visiting his Prime Ministerial residence was the second most popular post. With 169 million interactions, Modis activity far outpaces the second-placed world leader, Cambodias Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, who had 58 million interactions. The now archived @ObamaWhiteHouse page is in third place with 36 million interactions, followed by Argentine President Mauricio Macri with just under 36 million. The personal page of Barack Obama completes the top five list, with 30 million interactions for 2016. Interestingly, Obama, who was until recently the most followed world leader on Facebook with 52 million followers, has one of the lowest interaction rates at only 0.15 percent. By contrast, Albanian President Bujar Nishani leads in this measure with a 10.79 percent interaction rate.
Almost 90 percent of all national governments have an official Facebook presence. In addition, 87 heads of state, 70 heads of government and 55 foreign ministers maintain personal pages on the platform, according to the study. Based on the data collected in February 2017, the World Leaders on Facebook study found that 169 of the 193 UN member states maintain an official Facebook page, which has not changed since 2015.
Burson-Marstellers second installment of the World Leaders on Facebook study demonstrates the effectiveness of political communications on the platform, said Don Baer, Worldwide Chair and CEO, Burson-Marsteller. It will be interesting see if business leaders take lessons from the ways world leaders use Facebook, such as bringing a personal tone to their communications.
Donald Trump Brings 20 Million Followers to the White House
When he came to power on January 20, 2017, U.S. President Donald J. Trump brought with him a Facebook page with nearly 20 million followers, by far the most of any newly installed world leader and a number which grew 400 percent during the course of 2016. He had 290 million interactions on his Facebook posts last year, including 33 million shares and 30 million comments.
Today, Facebook has become one of the key platforms for world leaders and governments to engage with voters, constituents and other important audiences. As of February 1, 2017, all of the world leaders combined had a total of 311,093,076 followers. In 2016, they published a total of 398,982 posts, prompting 772,441,676 interactions.
The findings revealed that, while more than half of the posts have photos, posts with videos attracted by far the most interactions: 4,847 on average, compared to 2,935 for photo posts. The 47,739 Facebook videos posted on world leaders pages in 2016 have been viewed 2.5 billion times.
In 2016 we saw just how influential social media can be in political developments across the globe, said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East & Africa and Global Chief Strategy Officer. As the worlds largest social media platform, Facebook has considerable power and influence, something that world leaders know all too well.
The Government of Ethiopias Facebook page is the busiest with an average of 29 posts per day in 2016, adding up to over 10,000 posts in the year. The Government of Botswana averages 28 posts per day and the Government of Honduras has 23 posts per day.
Other key findings include:
- The most visited institution is The White House, with 4 million check-ins, followed by the Ugandan State House with 35,000 and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Thailand with 35,000
- The White House is the page most followed by peers, with 26 peer connections. It is followed by the European Commission with 20 peer connections and the Council of the European Union with 19
- Other pages followed by world leaders include the United Nations (liked by 39), the European Parliament (liked by 25) and NATO (liked by 19)
- The governments, institutions and heads of state of 24 United Nations countries are not present on Facebook, one fewer than in last years study
- UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and the UK Foreign Office are the only two official government pages that follow the new POTUS page of Donald Trump. The Russian Foreign Ministry is the only official government page to have followed Trumps page.
Scarecrow Communications has won the creative duties of Indias iconic fruit beverage brand, Rasna. The company had entrusted Scarecrow with the task to develop the brands communication for this years campaign. Curry Nation is the incumbent agency on the account.
As the first creative joint venture, Rasna and Scarecrow have come up with a film, titled Pyarelal ke bachpan ka pyar. The official trailer of the film asking viewers: Kaun hai Pyarelal ke bachpan ka pyar? (Who is Pyarelals childhood love?) was launched this Valentines Day.
Watch the trailer:
https://youtu.be/ww5nuT-OVpw
Since then, more than 1.3 million viewers have been intrigued by this love story and want to know the answer to this.
The complete ad film will be launched on February 24, 2017. Veteran Bollywood actor Ram Sethi will be the lead actor in the ad film. He also appears in the trailer. Interestingly, Sethi has acted in more 20 movies as Amitabh Bachchans co-actor by the screen name Pyarelal, most notably in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar and Namak Halal.
When asked how Scarecrow landed up with the Rasna account, Manish Bhatt, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications, told Adgully, I had been invited as the chief guest at the 10 anniversary celebration event of One Advertising, an Ahmedabad-based agency. It was attended by all big entrepreneurs of Gujarat, including the management of Wagh Bakri, Rasna and others. Since then I was in touch with them. However, the reason we couldnt work together was because Rasna wanted to work on a project basis and we wanted to work on a retainer basis. Till very recently, we at Scarecrow had been working on retainers. In these seven years, I had been in touch with them and met them a couple of times. But this particular year we mutually decided to work on Rasna. There was no formal pitch. They know our work and we had been wanting to work with them for the last 6-7 years.
He further said, Very rarely do you get clients who give 100 per cent liberty to a creative agency to really recommend, suggest, execute and put forth its ideas. I think Rasna is that rare client I interacted with it. They have really honoured and respected our creative abilities and let us do what we felt was good for the brand. These are the two things which are very peculiar about our relationship.
In its bid to counter the growing menace of counterfeit merchandise, Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd. had undertaken an investigation that led to a raid in Mumbais market, Abdul Rehman Street. 2 stores, Shubham Return Gifts and Eliperi Stationery, were found to be selling counterfeit Dora the Explorer products. The stores were raided by a team comprising of Court Receivers of the Honorable Bombay High Court and representatives of Viacom18. The owners of the stores will be summoned to Court to identify the source and locations of the manufacturers of these seized goods.
"We see this as an essential step towards ensuring that our characters are not represented on inferior, unlicensed products - which may pose health and safety risks. We are extremely grateful for the cooperation of the judiciary and the police who have executed the appropriate legal action to protect our intellectual property and to prevent inferior, and potentially dangerous products from being sold to unsuspecting consumers. " said a spokesperson on behalf of Viacom18.
The Federal Council
Bern, 22.02.2017 - During its meeting on 22 February 2017, the Federal Council instructed the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) to draw up the substantive parameters for a new tax proposal by mid-2017 at the latest following the vote on corporate tax reforms. The objective remains that of strengthening Switzerland's competitiveness.
The Federal Council noted that, following the rejection of the third series of corporate tax reforms in the referendum on 12 February 2017, opponents and proponents were generally in agreement that a new tax proposal should be drawn up swiftly. The objective remains that of strengthening Switzerland's competitiveness and safeguarding the tax receipts of the Confederation, cantons and communes. The special tax arrangements for status companies should be abolished, as Switzerland undertook to do internationally. The Federal Council has instructed the FDF to submit substantive parameters during the second quarter of 2017 for a new proposal and suggestions on how to proceed.
These parameters are to be drawn up following talks with the political parties and in collaboration with the cantons, including the cities and communes. In addition, the business and workforce umbrella associations will be consulted.
Address for enquiries
Roland Meier, Media Spokesperson FDF
Tel. +41 58 462 60 86, roland.meier@gs-efd.admin.ch
Publisher
The Federal Council
https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start.html
Federal Department of Finance
https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home.html
Federal Department of Finance
https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home.html
Federal Department of Finance
https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home.html
We are gathering information for the 2022 general election. On desktop, click "election information" on the right side of this pag...
The Federal Council
Bern, 22.02.2017 - On application of the ETH Board, the Federal Council reappointed the Director of Empa, Gian-Luca Bona, for another four years on 22 February 2017. His third term of office will start on 1 September 2017.
Under the leadership of Gian-Luca Bona, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Empa, has evolved into an internationally leading research institute for materials research and innovative technologies. Thanks to this scientific basis, Empa prepares innovations for the market in cooperation with partners from industry. The transfer of knowledge and technology in the economy and in society is driven forward by numerous initiatives; by now, Empas network extends to more than 500 partner firms in Switzerland alone. In close cooperation with academic and industrial partners, Empas development projects include research transfer platforms with which innovative technologies and concepts can be translated into practice at a faster rate. Current examples are the Coating Competence Center and the Center for Advanced Manufacturing, the modular building laboratory for sustainable construction, NEST, a demonstration platform for tomorrows energy-efficient and resource-conserving mobility, move, as well as the energy research platform ehub (short for energy hub), which aims to optimise energy management at the level of urban quarters and to evaluate its impact on the entire energy system.
Gian-Luca Bona studied physics at ETH Zurich, where he obtained his doctors degree in 1987. After joining IBM, he worked in various fields in research and development, both in Switzerland and in the US. In 2009, he took up the post of Director of Empa, and in this capacity was also appointed Professor of Photonics at ETH Zurich and at EPFL.
Gian-Luca Bona is a member of various bodies involved in knowledge and technology transfer, such as in the Swiss Innovation Park Zurich Foundation, in Technopark Zurich and in the support centre for start-ups and innovation processes, glaTec.
Address for enquiries
Head of Information EAER
Tel. 031 322 39 60
Gian-Andri Casutt, Head of Communication, ETH Board
Tel. 044 632 20 03, gian.casutt@ethrat.ch
Publisher
The Federal Council
https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start.html
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
http://www.wbf.admin.ch
Federal Laboratory for Materials Testing and Research
http://www.empa.ch
State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation
http://www.sbfi.admin.ch
The Federal Council
Bern, 22.02.2017 - On 22 February 2017, the Federal Council once again tightened sanctions against the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea), thereby implementing UN Security Council Resolution 2321 (2016). The new provisions enter into force at 6pm on 22 February.
The UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted Resolution 2321 (2016) on 30 November, reinforcing sanctions against North Korea in response to its fifth nuclear test, conducted on 9 September 2016, which violated all previous UNSC resolutions. The resolution includes imposing tougher sanctions on trade in goods, on finance, shipping, air transport and on education. By its decision of 22 February 2017, the Federal Council implements in Switzerland these measures that are binding under international law.
Financial sanctions now specify that North Koreas diplomatic and consular representations in Switzerland as well as their diplomatic staff may hold only one bank account each. Any supernumerary accounts must be closed. Real estate owned or rented by North Korea may be expressly used only for diplomatic activities. Branches, subsidiaries and representations of Swiss banks may not be opened or operated in North Korea, and nor may Swiss bank accounts, unless they are used for humanitarian purposes, or for diplomatic or UN activities. Existing branches, subsidiaries, representations and bank accounts in North Korea must be closed by 31 March of this year. Any public or private financial support for trade with North Korea is prohibited.
In terms of trade sanctions, additional goods have been added to the current export ban on luxury goods and on certain dual-use goods for the production of conventional weapons. The purchase of certain raw materials (copper, nickel, silver and zinc) and statues of all kinds from North Korea is prohibited, as is the delivery of new helicopters and ships to North Korea. A new global limit not exceeding approximately USD 400m or 7.5m tonnes per year now has been imposed on the export of coal originating in North Korea. Compliance with these limits is monitored by the UN.
Additional sanctions are being introduced to shipping and air transport, including a ban on the procurement of crew services in North Korea. The provision of insurance or reinsurance is prohibited for ships owned, controlled or operated by North Korea, with the exception of cases where the activities of the ship are for the sole purpose of transporting essential goods or humanitarian purposes.
Existing education sanctions will also be extended. North Korean students will no longer be admitted to higher education programmes in materials science, machinery or electronics in Switzerland. Switzerland will suspend scientific and technical cooperation with North Korea, with the exception of medical cooperation.
The UN Security Council had already imposed sanctions several years ago against North Korea in response to its nuclear programme. On 25 October 2006, the Federal Council adopted the Ordinance on Measures against the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, which has been tightened several times since then. With this ordinance, Switzerland is implementing UN Security Council Resolutions 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009), 2087 (2013), 2094 (2013), 2270 (2016) and 2321 (2016).
Address for enquiries
Fabian Maienfisch, Deputy Head of Communications, SECO,
Tel. 058 462 40 20
Publisher
The Federal Council
https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start.html
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
http://www.wbf.admin.ch
We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain.
Evan Blass aka @evleaks has shared yet another interesting image via Twitter. If you take a look at the provided image, youll get to see the alleged Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6 smartphones, along with what seems to be their crystal clear cases made out of silicone. Along with this image, @evleaks shared this caption: Its never too early to start shopping for cases for your next phone(s).
Lets kick things off with the LG G6, shall we. Based on the LG G6s design here, this leak could even be legit, as this is a design of the phone that weve seen a number of times thus far. Pretty much every LG G6 leak that had surfaced in the last couple of weeks had shared this particular design, so chances are this is what you can expect LG to announce on February 26th. As you can see, the device will sport extremely thin bezels all around, which represents a considerable difference compared to its predecessor, the LG G5, which sported rather thick bezels, especially above and below the display. The LG G6 will be made out of metal, and as you can see, the phone will ship with two cameras on the back, and in between them lies a dual-LED flash. The phones fingerprint scanner is also placed on the back, and the two volume rocker keys are located on the left-hand side of the LG G6. The provided image also allows you to take a sneak peak at LGs custom UI, though LG already teased this UI via an official video.
The LG G6 will sport a 5.3-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) display which will come with an 18:9 aspect ratio. The LG G6 will be fueled by the Snapdragon 821 64-bit quad-core processor, along with the Adreno 530 GPU for graphics. Two 13-megapixel cameras will be placed on the back of the LG G6, and chances are well get an 8-megapixel shooter up front, though it is also possible LG will opt for a 16-megapixel camera, well see. Android 7.0 Nougat will come pre-installed on the LG G6, and on top of it youll get LGs custom UI. A Type-C USB port will be placed on the bottom of the phone, and the LG G6 will ship with a Quad DAC for audio.
Advertisement
The Galaxy S8 on the other hand, will also sport really thin bezels all around, along with a curved display on both its left and right side. The Galaxy S8 seemingly has even thinner bezels than the LG G6, and features a fingerprint scanner on the back as well, though its fingerprint scanner is placed right next to the rear-facing camera sensor. The Galaxy S8, based on this image, will sport four physical home keys, the power / lock key on the right, volume up and volume down keys on the left, and right below them the dedicated Bixby AI button. The Galaxy S8 will probably launch on March 29th, though Samsung will confirm its launch date during this years Mobile World Congress (MWC).
The Galaxy S8 will sport a 5.8-inch display, while its larger sibling, the Galaxy S8 Plus will ship with a 6.2-inch panel. The Galaxy S8 will be fueled by the Snapdragon 835 SoC, though it is possible that Samsung opts to release an Exynos-powered model as well, at least if recent leaks are to be believed, while the company also teased the Exynos 9 chip recently. The Galaxy S8 will sport a QHD (2560 x 1440) Super AMOLED display, and it will come with Android 7.0 Nougat with a custom UI on top of it.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus images have been leaking like crazy thus far, and a new one has just surfaced. If you take a look at the provided image, youll get to see both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, though truth be told, this is not the clearest image that weve seen thus far, but it might be one of the first real life images that is showing both devices side-by-side.
This design actually goes hand-in-hand with a number of other leaks that surfaced thus far, which suggests that this is the final design of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. As you can see, the two phones are identical in terms of the design, though the Galaxy S8 Plus is somewhat larger. If this image is to be believed, the Galaxy S8 will sport a 5.8-inch display, while the Galaxy S8 Plus will ship with a 6.2-inch panel. These display dimensions are nothing new, actually, a number of rumors already suggested that the two devices will ship with such large displays. As you can see, both devices sport really thin bezels all around, and their displays feature rounded corners. The power / lock key is placed on the right-hand side of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, while the volume rocker keys and the Bixby AI button are located on the left. As you can see, displays are turned on here, well, kind of, this seems to be Samsungs Always On mode, or something of the sort, where only some pixels on the display are lit up. Youll notice what seems to be an on-screen home button on the bottom of the display in the provided image, which suggests well see on-screen buttons on these two phones, though that was to be expected. Speaking of which, yesterdays Galaxy S8 leak actually showed us the on-screen back button, so the only thing thats missing at the moment is the overview (multitasking) key.
The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus will probably launch on March 29th, though Samsung will announce the exact launch date during their press conference at this years Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, which kicks off soon. The two devices will ship with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, and will be fueled by the Snapdragon 835 64-bit octa-core SoC. It is possible that Samsung plans to release an Exynos variant of these two phones as well, as the company had teased their Exynos 9 chip quite recently, and if rumors are to be believed, it will be called the Exynos 9810.
The Moto G5 has just leaked yet again, this time around we get to check out a Gold-colored variant of the device. If you take a look at the provided image, youll get to see the same smartphone that weve seen leak a number of times thus far, so this is yet another listing that more or less confirms its design. The fingerprint scanner is placed below this phones display, and this button will also serve as its home key, probably, though we dont know if its a physical button, or just a capacitive one, well have to wait for the company to introduce the device in order to get more info.
The Moto G5s design is nothing to write home about, weve seen similarly-looking smartphones before, and the phones bezels are not all that thin either, but the phone looks just fine from the design perspective, do keep in mind this is a budget device. That being said, the Moto G5 will sport some really nice specs considering its price point, or so the leaks have been suggesting. According to the leaked info, the Moto G5 will sport a 5-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) display, along with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable native storage. The device will be fueled by the Snapdragon 430 64-bit octa-core processor, along with the Adreno 505 GPU for graphics. A 13-megapixel shooter will be placed on the back of this smartphone, and a 5-megapixel camera will be located on its front side. A 2,800mAh battery will also be included in this package, and the phone will ship with a water repellent nano-coating. Android 7.0 Nougat will come pre-installed on the Moto G5, and this smartphone will ship with two SIM card slots. The phone will measure 144.3 x 73 x 9.5mm, while it will weigh 145 grams.
Most of this info surfaced quite recently, when the Moto G5s alleged promo images leaked. This smartphone was spotted on Geekbench quite recently as well, and it is expected to launch on February 26th during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, alongside its sibling, the Moto G5 Plus. The Moto G5 will be quite an affordable smartphone, though it remains to be seen how much will it cost exactly, based on its specs though, it will be a bargain.
Qihoo just launched the 360 N5 in China, as expected. The device comes with a price tag of 1,399 yuan ($203) for the 32GB model and 1,599 yuan ($232) for the 64GB version. The main selling point of the device is the fact that it comes with 6GB of RAM, making it the currently most affordable smartphone to offer that much RAM. While smartphones with 6GB of RAM have been hitting the market for a few months now, they generally cost significantly more than this particular device. For example, the LeEco Le Pro3 was launched in the United States in late 2016 at $399, while the Coolpad Cool S1 costs 2,499 yuan ($363) in China. As for the 360 N5, it is already available for pre-order in Black and Gold color options from 360 Mall and JD.com. Sales will officially start on Monday, February 27.
In terms of RAM, the 360 N5 is an upgrade on the 360 N4 that was launched last year with 4GB of RAM. Qihoos latest device is also a step above its predecessor in the context of many other hardware specs. The smartphone comes with a metal unibody design with 2.5D curved glass on top. It features a 5.5-inch 1080p display panel and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 system-on-chip which comes with the Adreno 510 GPU and a 64-bit, octa-core CPU clocked at 1.8GHz. The latest Qihoo-made smartphone also has a 4,000mAh battery with support for Qualcomms Quick Charge 3.0. On the software front, the device is running 360 OS 2.0, which is based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
As far as the cameras are concerned, the 360 N5 comes with a 13-megapixel rear camera with an aperture of f/2.0, a dual LED flash and phase detection autofocus (PDAF). The device also has an 8-megapixel front-facing camera that comes with FotoNation 4.0 technology. The handset weighs 156 grams, and measures 152mm in length, 76mm in width, and 8.25mm in thickness. In terms of connectivity options, the phone supports 4G LTE with VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, A-GPS, and GLONASS. The device also comes with a 3.5mm audio port as well as a standard MicroUSB port instead of a USB Type-C port thats expected to become more popular even among mid-range devices going forward.
Samsungs Galaxy J7 is rumored to launch on Verizon and TracFone as well as other carriers, although the only two carriers mentioned are the ones listed here. The Galaxy J7 carries the model number SM-J727 which is the 2017 model of the device as this isnt the first version of this phone that Samsung has released. For Verizon, the phone will be labeled as the Galaxy J7 V, and for TracFone the phone will be labeled as the Galaxy J7 Sky Pro, which is the name that Samsung actually trademarked back in the beginning of the this month but at the time it wasnt known where the device was headed.
One day after the Galaxy J7 Sky Pro name was discovered the SM-J727P was found in the FCC database which could be the Galaxy J7 Sky Pro, and with two appearances of different variants of this phone it was only a matter of time before the device was rumored to be headed to one or more U.S. carriers. Along with the mention of the Galaxy J7 for Verizon and TracFone there was an image posted that shows off the device, granted this isnt the first time the phone has been seen.
It isnt immediately clear which variant the image is showcasing, as its not mentioned, though it is worth noting that there doesnt seem to be any Verizon Wireless branding in sight so its likely that this isnt the model meant for their network. Other than the mention of carrier availability and the image there are no details on specs or other features, though its not likely that the specifications will be any different from the models that are available elsewhere. That being said, there could be some different features included, at least for the Verizon model, as they usually end up placing some of their own pre-installed apps on their phones and chances are the same will be true for the Galaxy J7 V. There is no mention of when either version of the phone will Verizon or TracFones networks, nor when it will launch on the other carriers that were mentioned, and there is no mention of cost.
General Motors, among others, is pushing along a new law called the SAVe Act thats aimed directly at entities like Uber and Waymo, which would limit the testing of fully driverless cars to established automakers, and Waymo CEO John Krafcik is among the people who are speaking out against it. Waymo put out an official statement saying that the bill is strictly anti-competitive, and that it will elevate established players in the auto market while bringing potentially lifesaving driverless vehicle technology out to consumers slower than it would otherwise roll out. The controversial act has made its way into law in Michigan, but with some language changes that included companies building self-driving technology. The bill is currently being considered with its original language in Georgia, Maryland, Illinois, and Tennessee.
Waymo and Uber arent the only players affected, and are certainly not the only ones speaking out in one direction or the other. Audi of Americas director of government affairs Brad Stertz called the bill a bad idea, mentioning that stifling competition can only have negative consequences. Harry Lightsey, a member of GMs federal affairs team, noted that the point of the law is not to stifle competition, but to ensure that the technology is eased out the door by trusted entities, keeping the public from rejecting it as a knee-jerk reaction. It should be noted that the bill was originally drafted up in collaboration between GM and Michigan lawmakers.
Government figures, for their part, all have varying viewpoints on the particulars of the law, but all seem to agree that the area of self-driving vehicles is in need of legislation that will help to ensure public safety while having minimal effect on the march of technological advancement in the space. William Lamberth, a state representative for Tennessee, said that he supports the bill as a way to explore what is safe for his constituents as the technology makes its way out. Illinois state rep Mike Zalewski, meanwhile, supports the bill as an easy way to define driverless vehicles and create a basic legal framework around them to aid in the creation of more varied and specific laws in the future.
Nokia and Withings have announced that they will be jointly holding this weekends MWC press conference. Its been rumored for some time now that Nokia has plans to launch a number of new Android-powered smartphones at its press conference on February 26th, and the companys teasers certainly suggested that as well. While this conference will probably focus on the smartphone side of things, Nokia does also own Withings and it makes sense to showcase their upcoming products. Withings is a company known for its connected health devices, with the company expected to join Nokia for a very exciting Keynote announcement.
Other than the fact that the company will be joining Nokia on stage, no details have been revealed surrounding what will be announced. Considering the fact that Withings have previously released wearable devices, and Nokias new focus on the platform, a new health-focused Android Wear smartwatch could be a wise move from the company, especially with Googles focus on fitness with the latest version of the platform. This isnt the only possibility, though, with any other fitness or health product also being possible, though considering the mobile focus of MWC and Nokias push with Android, its fair to say something Android-related is the most likely option.
No matter what ends up coming from Withings, this years MWC will undeniably be Nokias biggest, as the company is rumored to release three new smartphones during the tradeshow, the Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 8, though the company could also have some surprises up their sleeves. With under a week to go before the press conference, though, it certainly wont be long before all is revealed in terms of Withings and Nokias plans. Nonetheless, with the possibility that Nokia could soon be entering the wearable market, as well as its new lineup of smartphones, 2017 may well be the year Nokia becomes an important player in the mobile market once again. Only time will tell what surprises and announcements the Finish company has prepared for the rest of the year and how the public will react, but as of now, it seems as if Nokia has a pretty good chance of triumphing.
The Colemore Project Excavation (Credit: Liss Archaeology)
Colemore is in the west of the South Downs National Park with a fascinating buried landscape of past rural settlement. Eleven seasons of excavations, test pits, desk-based research and geophysical survey reveal a complex settlement of enclosures and habitation dating mainly to the Romano-British (RB) with glimpses of the Iron Age (IA). Buildings include a villa rustica with internal and external corridors, a possible tower at the southern end and known length to date being 25m+. The site has an RB fresh water management system, iron production and working plus an IA ladder style field system.
Several large trenches are planned. Compost toilets. Training is available in all aspects of archaeology, all skills levels welcome
Volunteers from all walks of life are welcome to take part. From 18 to 80s, all abilities. Activities include excavation, finds processing, sieving, soil analysis, recording, planning and drawing plus surveying professional standards. On-site archaeology education. Students are encouraged to experience community-based, volunteer archaeology with a friendly group of like-minded people. Booking/further info: www.lissarchaeology.uk
Location: North East Hampshire, halfway between Alton and Petersfield
Region: South East
Time period: Iron Age/Romano-British
Accommodation provided: Limited quiet camping available basic facilities, first come basis, must be booked in advance. Lifts available from mainline rail stations Alton/Petersfield. Both have good selection of accommodation available.
Level of experience required: No previous experience required; full training available on request. Skilled or unskilled all welcome.
Academic credit available: No can provide a reference; Cifa passport completion available; can be used as university placement
Extra on-excavation activities: Full training available by request. Geophysics, Finds Processing, Artefact Illustration. Day Schools, Planning/Drawing/Recording. Educational activities local school visits. Outreach education. Other Excavations Petersfield Excavation (July), Colemore (September) see other listings/website www.lissarchaeology.uk
Age limit: Over 18 only not suitable for children
Dates: April 28 May 24 (site closed on Wednesdays)
Cost: 6 per day; membership required (20 per year). Full-time students under 25 half price.
Contact name: Juliet Smith (Archaeological Director)
Contact address: 42 Furze Hill Road, GU35 8HB
Contact telephone: 07732327697
Contact email: [email protected]
Website address: www.lissarchaeology.uk
Social media:
Facebook Liss Archaeology
Twitter @lissarchaeology
Youtube Liss Archaeology
SUV
The regular F-Pace, is we may call it so, has become the quickest-selling Jaguar in the history of the brand, so it was only natural for the British automaker to bring us a range-topper for the crossover.The most power F-Pace to date is the S model, which is animated by a supercharged V6 mill churning out 380 ponies. The SVR badge should receive Jaguar Land Rover's blown 5.0-liter V8, but the ground clearance-friendly Jag might not get the engine in its most potent form.As such, we could expect the F-Pace SVR to pack under 550 hp. Saying it like that makes it sound like the newcomer will be less than a maniacal machine, but that's far from the truth.A reasonable expectation would be a 500 hp output, one that will allow the vehicle's 0 to 60 mph sprint to sit at around four seconds.With the German competition being as sharp as ever, Jaguar needs to make full use of its feline assets. As such, expect to receive an addictive mix involving an aggressive tune that will make the driving experience similar to a wildcat playtime session and a serenity-delivering mood that will surface once the driver decides to step off the gas.Jaguar should gift us with the F-Pace SVR by the end of the year, with the blownset to land as a 2018 model.This is also an excellent opportunity to remind you that, last fall, we saw the sprint-friendly crossover doing its thing on the Nurburgring - check out the clip below for a vivid reminder. Oh, and by the way, we wouldn't trust that partially-muffled aural experience delivered by the prototype.
Yep, has Ducati made significant progress in Indonesia, and now, after 15 years of the brand existence there, the companys CEO Claudio Domenicali made a trip there to congratulate the employees and see the facility for himself.Our importer in Indonesia, PT Garansindo Euro Sports, has done a superb job of interpreting Ducati brand values, said Claudio Domenicali at the Meet-and-Greet event held today at the Ducati Flagship Store Indonesia. The Jakarta showroom presents our products as true works of art in a well thought-out, decidedly premium setting. Plenty of space, a multi-floor display, attention to detail, the exhibition of vintage bikes, an entire floor dedicated to the Scrambler, welcome areas and a top-notch Service area make this store one of the best in the world.The casual event which also featured live music, a barbecue, reunited local Ducati communities such as the DDOCI and DSO Ducati Owners Clubs. The local media was present as well to meet Domenicali. It looks like people there have always been very supportive of the activities organized by Ducati."Ducati Asia is delighted that Mr. Domenicali has taken time from his busy schedule to visit Indonesia today, said Marco Biondi, Regional Sales & Marketing Director Asia. After just one year we are very proud to see the worlds largest Ducati store here in Asia, and we are also very happy to see the brand growing so strongly across Indonesia.Judging by the success of the Italian bike maker has in Indonesia, it seems that not every rider there wants to go to work on a flimsy, plasticky Asian scooter or moped. The Ducati Store there measures 3,000 square meters and is situated in Jakarta. It was opened last year and apparently is doing quite well.
If its March, youll find Harley-Davidson in Daytona, said James Newton, Harley-Davidson U.S. Events Manager. Each year the warm weather and clear roads of Florida reignite the passion for freedom we all feel when we twist the throttle. The bikes, the beach and the bonds of friendship are Daytona traditions that Harley-Davidson supports year after year. We invite everyone to swing by Harley headquarters at the Speedway to demo new motorcycles and have some fun.The event will give you the chance to see and ride more than 100 new 2017 Harley-Davidson models, including the just-released Road King Special and the rest of the touring machines powered by the new Milwaukee-Eight V-twin.Speaking of the devil, you can experience the all-new engine at the Milwaukee-Eight Display Truck. Here youll find technical displays and feel the rumble of the V-twin on the Harley-Davidson Jumpstart Rider Experience.If you sign in for a test-ride, dont forget to try on new H-D helmets and riding gear. A selection of new Genuine MotorClothes will be available for purchase on site. The Harley-Davidson fit consultants at the H-D1 Fit Shop will be at your disposal for any customization needs.However, these are just some activities you can do as the main events are scheduled to be held during the whole week. The first one is the H.O.G. (Harley Owners Group) Rally Rendezvous, which is set for Sunday, March 12 and Thursday, March 16, from 9 to 9 p.m.Next, is the Harley-Davidson Main Street Party, which happens on Monday, March 13 from 7 p.m. to close. If youre a girl rider, MDA Womens Ride takes place Thursday, March 16, and on the same day you can attend the American Flat Track Daytona TT.
The RM ARMY is a state of mind, a unifying force, and the umbrella under which our supercross and motocross racing programs will reside, said Chris Wheeler, Motocross Racing Manager at Suzuki.The RM ARMY was developed to create a sense of community for Suzuki racers. Connecting riders from around the country and projecting a larger Suzuki racing front is the goal. So whether youre a weekend warrior, a rider on our RCH/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing team, or anywhere else in between, if you race Suzuki, you are part of the RM ARMY.As you can already imagine, the riders who get signed in will be able to take advantage of over $6 million in available contingency allocated this year for motocross, supercross, and off-road racing.To join the party, you need to own an eligible Suzuki model, complete the online registration process at RaceSuzuki , race a specified event on the Suzuki Contingency Payout Schedule, and place in a paying position. Next, youll receive your rewards on your Suzuki Award Card and will be able to redeem it at any authorizes U.S. Suzuki dealership.But thats not all, as Suzukis Trackside Support will also be available at key amateur racing events. Its trucks carry a supply of parts available for riders in need at a discounted price along with skilled Suzuki technicians to help with replacing them.Last but not least, Suzuki RM ARMY racers are also allowed to attend the brands Camp Carmichael. This program allows the amateur racers to compete for the chance to train with 15-time MX/SX Champion, Ricky Carmichael, at his private training facility in Cairo. This is a once-in-a-life-time free opportunity only available to RM ARMY members.
The Range Rover family will get a new member in March, and we now have an official confirmation of its name, along with a photo of the production version.
56 photos
First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain.
Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that.
And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details.
If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This may sound odd but I was delighted when Kraft Heinzs proposed deal to buy Unilever fell through this week. Ive never worked for Unilever, dont know anyone who works there and dont really have much passion for their products.
But what I do have, in increasing amounts, is an appreciation for the company and the way it does business. Specifically, I like very much how it handles brands and the egalitarian manner in which it manages its tax affairs.
On the brand front, Unilever has been playing second fiddle for as long as it has been in business. Despite proving a notable pioneer of marketing since its formation in 1929, Unilever has had the unfortunate challenge of squaring up with the American consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble for almost 90 years.
No one does branding better than P&G. The Cincinnati-based behemoth literally invented brand management back in the 1930s and has been ahead ever since. But with dark rumors swirling that P&G might not survive 2017 in its current state thanks to shareholder impatience and the growing attention of a certain Mr Nelson Peltz, this could finally be Unilevers time.
The other reason to feel bullish about Unilevers branding capability is that it appears to have a core competence that most of its big, billion-dollar rivals lack. Starting with the acquisition of Ben & Jerrys back in 2001, Unilever has proven a master of acquiring kooky, high-potential brands and then (and this is the tough part) not screwing them up.
More recent notable purchases like Australian tea retailer T2 and economy razor company Dollar Shave Club both appear to be highly prized acquisitions but also ones that a giant, bureaucratic consumer goods company could easily destroy. The fact that they now belong to Unilever suggests they will not only survive acquisition but become more successful because of it.
The way that Unilever sent in its executives to work with Ben & Jerrys and restructure its systems, while retaining the essential elements of the brand and its operational culture, continues to be studied at almost every top business school as best practice. To be able to pick, acquire, integrate, grow and then sustain smaller, independent businesses is a core competence that almost every consumer packaged goods company, from Coca-Cola to Mondelez, now prizes above all others. And Unilever appears to have the magic formula.
Broken Promises
In contrast, consider Cadbury, which was acquired by Kraft in 2010 (before its merger with Heinz and before its confectionary business, along with Cadbury, was spun off as Mondelez). There are many who believe the Cadbury brand was significantly weakened after Kraft took control. Broken promises about manufacturing plants, changes in product formulation and bizarre attempts to co-brand Cadbury products with its new parent companys offerings (Cadbury chocolate with Philadelphia cheese anyone? Ritz crackers in your Dairy Milk bar?) have combined to leave Cadbury weaker than it once was.
And it isnt just branding in which Unilever excels. Despite the deluge of fluff that corporate social responsibility programs and brand missions have become in recent years, there is significant evidence that Unilever really does represent the acceptable face of responsible corporate capitalism. CEO Paul Polman is often caught sounding far more like a liberal Dutch politician than the boss of one of the biggest businesses on the planet and Unilever remains one of the most admired businesses for the way it handles its corporate affairs.
In particular, the company has an explicit policy on tax avoidance that sees it pay significantly more than most of its peers. Thats not saying much given the dreadful state of corporate tax affairs at most of the worlds largest companies but Unilever remains, if not perfect, the precept for how a big multinational company can manage fiduciary responsibilities without being tax dodgers.
I still recall the tension I felt when the Lux Leaks revealed a veritable Whos Who of corporations that had funneled billions of revenues through Luxembourg to achieve an effective tax rate of just 1% on their sales. Almost every major company, each with their bright shiny brand purpose and CSR statements, was present. From Apple to VW, the list of allegedly implicated companies was in the hundreds. I remember the dread of first thinking, Oh God Ill bet Unilever is on the list, and then the relief in seeing it absent under the U column.
Again, we could contrast what happened at Cadbury since its takeover by Kraft. Youd have to look a long way to find a family that gave more back to their community than the former and current heirs to the Cadbury family name. But the company, after its acquisition, has pursued a very different path. In 2015 Cadbury generated just under $62M in profits from its UK business and managed to pay not a penny in corporation tax. Where can I sign up for a similar arrangement?
In truth these two distinctive competencies of Unilever a more mature, progressive approach to corporate responsibility and an ability to acquire and then run smaller brands superbly are very much connected. The era of brands emerging from products built in laboratories with unique selling propositions that a company can then promote to the market using scale advantages and mass marketing is coming to a close. We are entering interesting new territory in CPG in which small, cool startup brands with a back-story, distinctive founder and a proper brand mission are now seriously threatening the global behemoths of the 20th century.
Unilevers ability to be the relative good guy when it comes to corporate activity, combined with its notable track record of understanding and respecting the nascent values of the brands it has acquired, will create a formidable advantage in the very different era for CPG that awaits. Its something the likes of Coca-Cola, which now faces the decline of its cash cow Coke and the immediate need to acquire well and acquire quickly would love to be able do as well as Unilever. It may even be one of the driving reasons for the approach from Kraft Heinz because that company, as efficient as it is, will surely struggle to acquire these meaningful big brands of the 21st century with the reputation it currently holds.
In the era of ROI marketing its very easy to see everything purely as a matter of profit. Perhaps from that point of view the Unilever acquisition really made sense to Kraft Heinz. But Im delighted the deal has fallen through and the company gets to continue its operations. Its a great manager of brands and an honorable company to boot. This no-deal is a true win for responsible business.
This thought piece is featured courtesy of Marketing Week, the United Kingdoms leading marketing publication.
The Blake Project Can Help: Disruptive Brand Strategy Workshop
Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education
FREE Publications And Resources For Marketer
Tributes have been paid following the death of one of Corks most popular businessmen and charity campaigners after a long and brave battle against cancer, writes Eoin English.
James OSullivan, a director of the family business M&P OSullivan Ltd and a long-serving director of Cork Business Association (CBA), died today surrounded by his family in Marymount Hospice, just weeks after his 58th birthday. He is survived by his wife Cathy and their children, Emma and Eoin.
The former chief financial officer of UK insurer RSA's Irish business has been fined 35,000 pounds and banned for three years by Britain's accounting watchdog over a book-keeping scandal.
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said on Wednesday it had fined Rory O'Connor and banned him for three years from the accounting profession for approving "materially inaccurate" financial statements.
O'Connor also agreed to pay 18,000 pounds towards the watchdog's legal costs.
RSA said in 2014 that a review of its businesses found that the accounting irregularities were confined to its Irish business, where there had been "inappropriate collaboration" among a small number of executives in Ireland.
The insurer was forced to inject 200 million pounds into its Irish business at the time and RSA Insurance Ireland said on Wednesday it has strengthened its control framework since 2013.
The FRC also made its first sanctions of actuaries, a move its executive counsel Gareth Rees said would send a strong signal to the accounting and actuarial professions of the importance of upholding high standards of professional conduct.
"They demonstrate the importance of compliance with the core principles of the Actuaries Code, including the obligation to speak up about, and challenge, improper conduct," Rees said.
Martin Ryan, former chief actuary for RSA in Ireland, admitted that his conduct fell significantly short of professional standards, the FRC said.
Ryan was fined 101,500 pounds and banned from the profession for three years. He will also contribute 11,000 pounds to the FRC's legal costs.
And Gerard Bradley, a former actuary at RSA in Ireland, also admitted his conduct fell short of professional standards and was fined 45,500 pounds, and will pay 3,500 pounds in costs.
Bradley failed to blow the whistle or challenge the inappropriate claims reserving, the FRC said. (Reuters)
Source: www.businessworld.ie
About us
Published On Feb 22, 2017 By Siddharth for Hyundai Grand i10
Is the refreshed Grand i10 better than before and how does it stack up against rivals such as Maruti Suzuki Ignis? We find out.
Car Tested: Hyundai Grand i10 1.2 U2 CRDi Asta
Engine: 1.2-litre Diesel Manual | 75PS/190Nm
ARAI-Certified Mileage: 24.4kmpl
Price Range: Rs 5.70 lakh - Rs 7.37 lakh
The Hyundai Grand i10 was the most attractive package in its segment when it was launched back in September 2013. It was priced aggressively, looked smart on the inside, had class-leading interior quality, segment-first features and was backed by a reliable after-sales network. While the Grand i10 was offered with both petrol and diesel powertrains, the diesel motor was not the most powerful in the segment - the only downside in an otherwise brilliant package. The Grand i10 facelift has been launched in India just over three years after the original model - it appears to be better in every respect and takes on a vastly improved competition. But is the refreshed Grand i10 better than before and how does it stack up against rivals such as Maruti Suzuki Ignis?
Exterior Design
The Hyundai Grand i10 was never exciting to look at, though it was certainly smart. With the facelift, the Grand i10 adheres to the company's new design philosophy. At the front, the biggest changes include a new cascading grille design, a reworked upper grille and a redesigned bumper with new fog-lamp surrounds and the all-new LED DRLs.
At the side, the changes are limited to the redesigned 14-inch alloy wheels. At the rear, theres a new bumper which includes a large black insert with circular reflectors. The new rear bumper design is expected to divide opinions - the pre-facelift model looked smart and the redesign feels unnecessary.
Interior Design and Feel
Step inside and the cabin has an airy and premium feel. Be it the seat covers, plastic trim on the dashboard or doors, the buttons and even the touchscreen operation - everything has a feel-good factor. Hyundai has not altered the design inside; you still get the dual-tone theme, four large circular AC vents on the dashboard, a deep-set instrument cluster, a three-spoke steering wheel with large multi-function buttons and the high-mounted gear-shift lever.
The centre console still sticks out a bit like before but now gets two new additions - a large 7.0-inch touchscreen display and a fully-automatic climate control console. While the screen is well integrated, the buttons around it seem to have been designed in a hurry and do not have the same feel as the buttons of the previous non-touch infotainment system. The climate control console is a welcome addition and brings the car up to date with its rivals.
The front seats are comfortable; the cushioning is neither hard nor soft. In fact, the seats are slightly contoured to give passengers a snug feeling. The driver seat is adjustable for height too. The only gripe is the integrated headrests - these look out of place in a cabin that is otherwise premium looking/feeling and also limit adjustability for shorter or taller passengers.
Rear seat passengers will find that the Grand i10 is best used as a two seater for a comfortable trip.
Though the cabin is wide enough to accommodate three passengers, a slightly raised centre tunnel and the rear AC vent console curb room for the centre passenger. The unavailability of a headrest (the other two passengers get adjustable ones) and a lap-belt (three-point units for the other two) make it a less safer position to be in too. The legroom, knee-room are adequate enough for passengers even with 6-footers occupying the front seats - though it is not class-leading. Tall passengers will find no reason to complain about the headroom.
The rear bench can be folded down, but cannot be split-folded - this does reduce convenience slightly. The luggage compartment has a 256-litre capacity which is unchanged from before - it is 5 litres more than the Ignis to remain the largest in the segment.
Technology & Equipment
The Grand i10 now features simple LED DRLs, which are placed low down on the front bumper alongside the fog lamps. While these are bright and do their job well, they look like after-market units. An interesting thing about the DRLs is that they switch off if you engage the parking brake even when the car is switched on; this can be beneficial to other road users as they can be sure that you are not about to move even though your engine is on.
Inside, the biggest change in terms of equipment is the new 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment screen. This can be connected to your smartphone via MirrorLink and has Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility for added convenience. The Grand i10 is also offered with a rear parking camera with guided-display on the new infotainment screen.
The Hyundai Grand i10 is one of the first cars I have tested which has seamless smartphone connectivity. It also surprised me with its responsive touchscreen. The infotainment system also responds well to the steering-mounted controls. The new Grand i10 also gets voice command for the infotainment system to take advantage of the smartphone connectivity.
Engine & Performance
The Hyundai Grand i10 is offered with two engine options - a 1.2-litre, 4-cylinder, naturally aspirated petrol motor paired to either a 5-speed manual transmission and 4-speed automatic transmission. The car we have tested is the new 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder, turbocharged diesel motor paired to a 5-speed manual transmission. The only time you feel the vibes from the engine is when you switch it off the cabin shakes vigorously.
The diesel motor is basically a revised version of the 1.1-litre motor which powered the older car. The increase in displacement has in turn helped increase the maximum power output from 71PS to 75PS and peak torque output from 160Nm to 190Nm - this makes the car very easy to drive, especially in town. The new 1.2-litre 'U2 CRDi' motor now develops 190Nm of maximum torque - from a very low 1,750rpm - the Grand i10 feels peppy at all times. Out on the highway though, the Grand i10 feels sedate in comparison - the power trails off after 4,000rpm and progress is slower past 110-120kmph. The Grand i10 diesel has a 0-100kmph time of 17.32 seconds, which is decent.
The 5-speed manual transmission is a treat to use, it slots in very well even when used in urgency. The pull-up type reverse gear-lock works smoothly and feels nice to hold. The Grand i10's new diesel motor is also efficient. It returned 19.1kmpl in the city and 22.19kmpl in the highway in our instrumented tests. Combined, the Gran i10 has an efficiency of 20.71kmpl, which is close to the ARAI-certified figure of 22.4kmpl.
Ride & Handling
The Hyundai Grand i10 has a suspension tuned for city use; it is neither too soft nor too hard - it feels just right. The suspension always works noiselessly, letting in only the most harshest of bumps inside. The combination of suppleness and firmness means the ride is never uncomfortable. This combined with the low engine noise and vibrations makes the Grand i10's cabin a good place to be in. The steering is light to use and combined with the tight turning radius makes the Grand i10 a usable city car. Out on the highway, the light steering does reduce your confidence - but the suspension and brakes (backed by ABS) work fine.
Performance in Numbers
0-100kmph acceleration - 13.21 seconds
30-80kmph in-gear acceleration (3rd gear) - 7.93 seconds
1st-gear max speed - 39.6kmph
2nd gear max speed - 68.3kmph
3rd gear max speed - 100.5kmph
100-0kmph braking - 3.55 seconds, 47 metres
80-0kmph braking - 2.84 seconds, 29.3 metres
Safety
The Hyundai Grand i10 features a driver-side airbag as standard across the range. On the top-of-the-line Asta variant which we have tested, safety features include dual front airbags, ABS, impact sensing door-unlock, rear defogger and rear parking sensors and camera.
The Hyundai Grand i10, for the price, does not offer as many safety systems as the Ford Figo. The Figo, with 6 airbags, ABS and EBD trumps the Grand i10 in terms of safety.
Variants
The Hyundai Grand i10 powered by the 1.2-litre petrol motor is offered in a total of 6 variants, while the Grand i10 powered by the 1.2-litre diesel motor is available in 4 variants.
The base Era variant is available with front power windows, manual air-conditioning, a driver-side airbag and gear-shift indicator. The Magna variant gets the above features and front fog lamps, keyless entry, full wheel covers and rear AC vents. The Sportz variant gets, over the equipment mentioned above, rear parking sensors, rear defogger, a cooled glovebox and a 5.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system. The additional equipment on the Sportz(O) variant include a 7.0-inch infotainment with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, LED DRLs and 14-inch alloy wheels. The top-of-the-line Asta variant is offered with ABS, push-button start/stop, automatic climate control and a rear spoiler.
It makes most sense to go for the Sportz(O) variant and up; the lower variants seem too spartan in comparison. It is especially surprising that the Era and Magna variants are not offered with a multimedia system at all from the factory. The ABS is limited to the Asta variant, making it the most sensible buy.
Verdict
The facelift helps the Hyundai Grand i10 remain a lucrative car to buy in its segment. While the exterior design changes are limited, there are significant improvements in terms of equipment on offer and the new 1.2-litre diesel motor. The problem is that most of these improvements are limited to the top-end variants. If looked at in isolation, the Grand i10 is still a comfortable, spacious, feature-laden family hatchback for the city. But, it fails to stand out amongst the competition, especially when compared to the Maruti Suzuki Ignis.
Things We Like In The Grand i10:
- Peppy diesel engine - extra torque helps it potter around town easily
- Cabin feels upmarket; overall quality is top notch
- Spacious passenger and luggage space; convenience features very well thought out
- New smartphone-compatible infotainment system (at least on the top-end Asta) works brilliantly
Things We Dont Like In The Grand i10:
- Base variants are equipped with only a driver-side airbag and no ABS; the Maruti Ignis offers dual airbags and ABS as standard
- ABS is only offered on the top-of-the-line Asta variant
- Audio system is not standard in base variants
- Integrated headrests for the front seats reduce usability
Stand Out Features:
- 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay
- Auto folding ORVMs during lock/unlock is useful and adds a premium touch
- New 1.2-litre diesel motor makes the Grand i10 better suited for the city
- Superb NVH control and overall quality of the interior makes the Grand i10 feel a segment above
The Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham has said that her office was not aware about the practice of charities wealth screening up until the media complaints in the summer of 2015.
Speaking at the Fundraising and Regulatory Compliance Conference in Manchester yesterday, Denham admitted that the ICO had been completely caught off guard by the fact that charities had been wealth screening prospective donors on an industrial scale.
There had been some extreme cases [of wealth screening] reported in the media, and my office had not taken action in the past. The fact is that we didnt know about wealth screening and we cant know about all the practices across all sectors. We have a very wide remit.
In its findings against both the British Heart Foundation and the RSPCA, the ICO said they had taken action against the charities because the kinds of wealth screening (amongst other things) the charities were doing fell outside what individuals would reasonably expect their data to be used for after they had donated.
Practice was 'invisible'
In response to a question from the floor as to what evidence the ICO used to come to this conclusion, Denham said that the practice was invisible to individuals and was therefore in breach of the Data Protection Act.
Commercial companies and social media companies in their terms and conditions, even if it is written in legalese, will spell out what is happening with a persons information. So in terms of wealth screening what were saying is, its invisible to individuals and in order for it to be lawful you need to inform individuals as to how youre using their personal information.
Its not something we plucked out of the air, so much as we understood in talking to individuals that it wasnt reasonably expected.
She also said that the ICO had received complaints regarding wealth screening and had had various responses from audiences when it had discussed the topic in public forums since 2015.
Weve had complaints to the ICO and responses from individuals when weve discussed wealth screening. Have I done a focus group with fundraising supporters? No, I havent. But we have heard this in spades from many organisations and individuals, as well as from complainants.
Denham said this despite the fact that both penalty notices to the BHF and RSPCA alluded to that those individuals caught up in the organisations wealth screening operations didnt know it was happening and, as a result, couldnt have complained to the ICO themselves.
The Data Protection Act does not stop you from doing your jobs, says ICO
In her speech, the Information Commissioner said that, in her conversations with other regulators in the sector, she appreciated that it feels like a tough time to be a fundraiser, but said that the Data Protection Act was not designed to stop them doing their jobs.
This feels like a tough time to be a fundraiser. Ive spoken to my fellow regulators, to government and to individual charities themselves I understand this is a time of confusion and flux and, in some cases, frustration.
But what Im here to tell you is that the Data Protection Act does not stop you from doing your jobs.
Denham said that the act simply obliges you to do it in such a way that respects the fundamental privacy rights of each and every one of your donors, your supporters, and your volunteers.
She said that the ICO was not the department of no but she said that it wouldnt tell fundraisers how to get around the Act nor would she tell you how to design a form with a tick box that lets you off the data protection hook.
She also reiterated said that she would be making her final decision on sanctions for the 11 charities named in the latest set of notices of intent to fine in the coming weeks. She reiterated however that, once that process was complete, the ICO wanted to draw a line under these investigations and move forward.
A full transcription of Denhams speech from the conference can be read here.
Yesterday the ICO, the Charity Commission and the Fundraising Regulator held a joint conference in Manchester. We compiled the best reactions to the second half of the conference.
More on
Drop the HTML, let's take a look.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Benjamin Disraeli
How do I incorporate Review Markup Schemas in a WordPress website? Thank you.
I'm very new to web development, so forgive my ignorance...
I've got a grid on a page, and it loads fine on startup. I then receive an event from a SignalR service. I want to reload the grid at this point. Here's my controller:
public class HomeController : Controller { private IDataAccess _dal; private DashboardClientProxy _dashboardProxy; private bool _isConnected = false ; public HomeController() { _dal = new DataAccess(); _dashboardProxy = new DashboardClientProxy(); _dashboardProxy.ResultsAdded += _dashboardProxy_ResultsAdded; try { _dashboardProxy.Connect(); } catch (Exception e) { throw e; } } public ActionResult Index() { var data = _dal.GetDashboardInfos( new DashboardInfoQueryArgs()); return View(data); } private void _dashboardProxy_ResultsAdded( object sender, EventArgs data) { RedirectToAction( " Index" , " HomeController" ); } }
I thought that by calling "RedirectToAction("Index", "HomeController") that the Index method would be run again, yet it doesn't work.
What am I doing wrong here?
Thanks
If it's not broken, fix it until it is.
Everything makes sense in someone's mind.
Ya can't fix stupid.
RedirectToAction returns a result to the client telling it to make a new request to the specified action. But it only works in response to a request from the client.
If it fires at all, your event is being fired on a background thread, long after the index view has been rendered. The client is no longer connected to your server, and is not waiting for a response.
But I suspect it will never fire. I believe the default is for MVC to create a new instance of your controller class for each request, and dispose of it once the request has completed. Since the controller owns the object which raises the event, there will be no reachable references to the instance, so both the controller and the proxy will be deleted.
Instead, you'll need to have the client connect directly to your SignalR hub in Javascript. It will need to listen for the event, and when it receives the event, either reload the page, or make an AJAX request to reload just the grid.
ASP.NET SignalR Hubs API Guide - JavaScript Client | Microsoft Docs[^]
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
I am using MVCGrid.Net.
From what I can see from their documentation the GridColum doesn't have a width property.
Anyone used this grid before? Any way to set a column's width?
Thanks
If it's not broken, fix it until it is.
Everything makes sense in someone's mind.
Ya can't fix stupid.
CellCssClassExpression Func Use this to specify a custom css class based on data for the current cell
I thought CSS allowed you to specify width of a field.
Hello.,
Here's my thing, I have a website that was created with MS Publisher and I used to modify and upload the information through core ftp lite. This website gets the job done with the pictures and information but now I need something more up to date and dynamic. I bought a hosting plan to Hostgator and was trying to use the wordpress and joomla thing but it seems a bit complicated and it's not as easy as I thought it would be when I created a free website in WIX. So I'd like to know what options do I have to build the website and what software is recommended to edit and upload all the stuff. My budget is limited now and my business is not that big so I don't think I could hire a Pro in the matter.
Thanks.
So, even if you are not a pro, or can't afford one you can still get the website's theme up to date by selecting from a lot of the available ones on the gallery.
As for the deployment options, WordPress and Joomla do provide an online editor for you to edit your content from the control panel. Otherwise, there is a tool by Microsoft WebMatrix, that is provided free of cost and is fully capable of editing PHP websites. Visual Studio Code is also available, if you are somewhat happy with editing of the application yourself. Otherwise, they got your back and their hands in your pocket.
The sh*t I complain about
It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem
~! Firewall !~
Could you please suggest me how i can make this concept ,if time1